[Luc Enders]

Just a guess but could this be an (de)interlace issue? Did you change inadvertently the interlace field order setting in project properties?

What type of source is it?

[Luc Enders]

Thanks very much. I was hoping I had some obvious bad setting so I could save one rendering step. Right now I do use Vegas for editing since it’s really great at that and output as Sony YUV. Then use tmpgenc for final output.

Related to this is that I noticed that when I output my AVCHD files to uncompressed AVI I lose slightly some contrast. But not with Sony YUV. Could that be explained that the uncompressed AVI is RGB and the source is YUV and in that conversion you might lose some quality/contrast?

[Luc Enders]

The filenames and path is what you entered each time you pressed render (I do the same: just select with mouse batch of clips and then select next batch and choose loop region only).

If these are MPEG2 HDV files then I believe Sony should be able to smart-render them. Open these files in a new project and match project property settings. Then choose matching HDV output when you render to final file.

If these are not HDV files then it’s tougher. There are several MPEG2 join programs available but don’t have any recent experience with these (see https://forum.videohelp.com/topic265916.html).

Another option would be to output the files to uncompressed AVI if you have enough disk space for the project (about 900GB for 1 hour uncompressed AVI and 450GB for Sony YUV). Then open the AVI files again and render these to final MPEG2 output.

[Luc Enders]

Here’s what I found out: if I render in Vegas 8 to AVI Sony YUV (UYUV) I get a playable AVI file and in Vegas 9 I don’t. I found the difference is in the format header:

Vegas 8 and Vegas 9 strf chunk:
7374 7266 2800 0000 2800 0000 8007 0000 3804 0000 0100 1000 …
7374 7266 2800 0000 2800 0000 8007 0000 3804 0000 0100 1800 …

Note that offset 22 I see a value of 0x10 for Vegas 8 and 0x18 for Vegas 9. Otherwise the AVI files are 100% same. Couldn’t find a reference yet for strf RIFF chunk but I’m guessing it indicates the compression format. For some reason 1 extra bit is turned on 9 which makes for me the file unplayable.

I created a little program that changes that byte from 0x18 and 0x10 and it fixed the playback issue. I reported the issue with these details to Sony.

If this is the same issue as your problem I don’t know. Which profile did you choose under AVI? Sony YUV or other?

[Luc Enders]

For me WMVHD never worked well with 8.0c either. I reported this to Sony but they claimed they never could repro.
I decided not to use the WMVHD codec since it doesn’t support 1080i and for 720p the downscale quality was inferior to Tmpgenc.
So I output first as Sony YUV and then use another renderer.

Yesterday I suddenly ran into an issue that the rendered Sony YUV avi files could not played back/imported. So I’m right now 100% stuck. I reimaged the system to no avail. I filed another support case at Sony but not sure if that will help.

[Luc Enders]

Which profile are you using for your AVI file?

I reinstalled new OS and still same issue. I’m puzzled since I still have Sony YUV files that I rendered earlier that do playback correctly.

I did noticed rendered AVI uncompressed files do work but Sony YUV not anymore which is strange. The reported codec is exactly same but frames cannot be opened. I’ve filed a support case but not sure if that will help (so far had no success getting solutions from Sony).

One thing I noticed is that I’m able to open the AVI file in Sony so maybe this is a different problem than yours. In your case I still would try a small clip without any effects and see if you can play that back.

[Luc Enders]

Just tried today to output to AVI using Vegas 9 and I ran into same problem:-(. File was unplayable. Never seen these issues before in Vegas 8 but maybe there’s another reason. The file header appears to be correct but otherwise unplayable. VirtualDub reports bad format.

Looking into this…

[Luc Enders]

I had the exact same issues and I reported this to Sony. Problem though is that they want an exact repro. My project was too large but if you have a small repro you could send it to them. I also send them a complete call stack while ago but they claim they can only look into it with repro (not so sure these issues will be fixed anytime soon as I had same issues in v8).

Here’s what you can try:
– Options/Preferences/General: Disable ‘Enable no-recompress long-GOP rendering’ (Sony suggested that but never worked for me though)
– Options/Preferences/Video: set max # of threads to 1 and restart Vegas. This might actually help in most cases
– Use 8bit for pixel format in project properties (in case you use now 32bit)

The other thing I found out that for me the 64bit version of Vegas 9 is very solid. If you are using now 32bit consider 64bit if that’s an option.

Last if everything fails I do this:
– Render as AVI / Sony YUV. This will create huge files so you need to have enough disk space. Once I get the AVI I use another renderer to render to final output (or try Vegas again)
– If above still fails after a while render in pieces and use 2nd rendering phase to put pieces together in final rendering process

Happy 4th of July.

[Luc Enders]

Sounds like it hang during rendering? I’ve had issue like that before but so far 64bit Vegas 9 has been fairly stable for me.

You could try this:

– In preferences: Set threads to 1 and disable long GOP rendering. Restart Vegas after changing these settings
– 32bit OS: exclude Vegas exe from Data access protection in system/performance/advanced settings (in case Sony crashes at startup which I’ve seen as well)
– Do not use 32bit color space if that’s an option (or if you already use 8 bit in project settings).
– Disable any Virus scanner or add Vegas90.exe to exclusion list and exclude folders

If all of these don’t work I typically output as AVI and choose Sony YUV uncompressed video. Then use another program (i.e. TmpGenc Xpress to render to final format).

[Luc Enders]

Never ever use CBR if your average bitrate is below 8Mb/s unless max quality is not most important. If you don’t choose VBR multi-pass you will lose some quality. Exception potentially is a slideshow (except for transitions) but extra cost of MPEG2 SD VBR is really cheap nowadays.

The average bitrate obviously decides the file size. Don’t forget as mentioned that you’ll have to add little bit of overhead for DVD menus. Look for a calculator that adds video + audio (I assume the bitrate calc referenced above allows you to enter AC3 bitrates).

For 1:30 video and 192Kbs AC3 audio you end up at around 6Mb/s as mentioned (max I’d set at 8Mb/s and min depends but typically 3-4Mb/s for most videos). I also would not exceed 8Mb/s for video. I’ve seen cases where it caused stutter in some DVD players (with self-burned DVD’s).

For best DVD compliance use AC3 audio always with 48KHz and either 192Kbs or 224Kbs works (officially bitrates between 32-1536 are supported).

The 384k bitrate is commonly used for 5.1 channels (and often commercial DVD’s are 448Kb for 6 channels).