[John Rofrano]

We’re still with ya’ Howie! 😀

Not sure why you chose to download and use the SheerVideo codec but unless your client told you to, chances are they don’t have this codec and won’t be able to read your file when they get it.

Stick with one of the standard Quicktime codecs. Sorenson Video 3 is the de’facto standard Quicktime codec that all Quicktime users will have this. You can render to it right from Vegas. Use the Frame size template NTSC Standard (720×486) and set the Quality to 100%. You could also use the Motion JPEG codec.

BTW, do you have your project set to 720×486? If not, you will get slight black bars on the sides of the video when you render it. If you shot 720×480 DV you need to crop to the D1 frame size. Personally I like to work in the same resolution as my output format. I would set your project to the NTSC Standard (720×486, 29.970 fps) just so there are no surprises.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

I’ve never used AAC but MP3 drops into Vegas just fine.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

NTSC: 720×486, 29.97 fps is commonly referred to as NTSC D1 as opposed to 720×480 which is NTSC DV. So the resolution is fine for AVI files… I’ve just never seen it used for MPEG2 files.

> …and we make this encode everyday.

So… what do they use to make this encode to MPEG2 every day? I would not be afraid to say that your MPEG2 encoder doesn’t support this resolution so if they could tell you what they use you will try that.

Quicktime may be your best bet.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

I would ask the client what MPEG2 encoder has given them 720×486 in the past because I believe that it is an invalid resolution for MPEG2. Some encoders are resolution independent (like HuffYUV) but others like DV and MPEG2 only support specific resolutions.

If you think about how MPEG2 works, it compresses “blocks” of pixels therefore by definition it cannot support a resolution that wouldn’t produce a complete block of pixels.

Are you sure they didn’t say 496? That would be valid.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

> How would I go about converting the MPG to AVI, and could I have the original media replaced with those avi files?

How many MPG files are we talking about? If it’s one or two files just drop them on an empty timeline and convert them to DV AVI. then open your project and go to the Project Media window and right-click on the MPG file and select the Replace… option and navigate to the AVI file and select it. This will replace the MPG media with the AVI media everywhere in your project.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

Vegas 6 supports Windows Media Video V9 already so there is no need for the media encoder. Just start with the 3 Mbps Video template and change the Bit rate to 1M. That should be a good starting point for YouTube.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

I don’t believe there is any way to fix Motion Judder in post. This is caused by motion that is too fast for the frame rate so that our “persisted vision” is not fooled into seeing fluid motion. When you shoot 25p or 24p you need to be very slow and deliberate in your moves. It’s not like shooting 50i or 60i.

You could try converting to a higher frame rate so that Vegas creates in-between frames, applying motion blur and converting back but I’m not sure what you will get in the end.

Maybe someone else here has a trick up their sleeve.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

I recommend that you re-install it. Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 comes with Over 377 video FX and over 239 2D & 3D transitions. It seems that something went wrong with your installation.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

> Using the iZotope plug-in, or standard Sony Vegas 8 assortment, what is a good setting(s) starting point? Which presets? Etc.

For iZotope Ozone 3 I would start with either Rock Master 4 Band With Excitation, Eq And Widening or CD Master With Excitation And Widener. But I would open the presets and select each one of the Mastering presets while the music is playing and see what sounds closest to what you are looking for. Obviously some of the presets are for drums, piano and other solo instruments. Select the one that’s the closet to what you want and then tweak to taste.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

> Does that make the video anamorphic too?

The video is already anamorphic if it is squeezed vertically. This will provide a complimentary “stretch” to compensate for the anamorphic “squeeze” yielding in the widescreen 16:9 aspect that you want.

Anamorphic is the process if squeezing a 16:9 image into a 4:3 frame. (actually it can mean several things but for the purpose of this discussion this is what it means) This can be done either optically with an anamorphic lens while shooting, or electronically by the camera. I’m assuming your camera electronically created the anamorphic image. We are just undoing it in Vegas to make it look 16:9 again.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com