1080-60P Render Settings for Vegas Movie Studio 10

[tbg]

I have 1080-60p camcorder footage from my Panasonic HDC-SD800 The goal here is to ouput an edited video as 1080-60p (same as source) for playback via my computer.

I know I can create a project and edit this footage in VMS10 by changing properties under custom settings (59.94 fps, progressive), but I can't find a render setting under either Mainconcept or Sony AVC that will work. I get the error message immediately upon starting the render.

[Steve Grisetti]

You're not going to be able to edit full HD 1080p footage natively in Vegas Movie Studio, tbg. The program doesn't work in 1080p AVCHD. So if you're expecting to get the same footage out as you put it, it won't work.

When you add AVCHD 1080p to Vegas Movie Studio, it blends it into 60i (interlaced) video.

Does your camcorder allow you the option of shooting in AVCHD 1080 60i? If so, you'll get much better results when you interface with the editor.

If you're determined to shoot in Full AVCHD at 60p, you won't be able to do so natively in any consumer program. You'll need to move up to Vegas Pro.

[tbg]

Thanks for the quick response, Steve.

Through lots of research, I did find a workflow that seems to work, but let me know if I'm missing something here . ..

1. Changed VMS10 Project Properties to custom template, with (1920x1080, progressive scan, 59.94 frame rate, deinterlace=none).
2. Dropped video clip from camera (shot at 1080-60p) into VMS10 timeline. I did not do any editing but presumably I could at this point??
3. Rendered video as Windows AVI file type, 1920x1080, 59.94p,Lagarith Lossless Codec (added this option into VMS10)
4. Rendered audio as Dobly Digital AC-3
5. Used Easy Blu-ray encoder to convert audio and video streams into Blu-ray compliant AVCHD 2.0 m2ts file (59.94p, 28.000 kbit/s)
6. Used tsMuxer and ImgBurn to create Blu-ray disc. Verified that disc plays.

To your point, I don't see where VMS10 is changing the footage into 60i in this process. But I'm relatively new to this, so please bare with me.


Thanks again,
Todd

[Steve Grisetti]

Ouch! That seems like a long workaround, Todd! You shouldn't need to do that much work to get a decent disc.

Is that your plan, by the way? Are you ultimately trying to output a BluRay disc? You didn't say.

If that's the case, you don't need to go through so many conversions.

Just create your movie on your timeline using the project properties you set up. Then, when you're done, select Make Movie/Burn to a DVD or BluRay/BluRay. (In version 10, I believe this will send your movie to DVD Architect Studio.) Outputting your video as an umcompressed AVI and running it through tsMuxer and all that other stuff adds no value whatsoever to your movie. It just takes a lot of time and a lot of space.

My main concern with your using 1080p footage as your source is that the program isn't capable of working in 1080p AVCHD. So, once you add the footage to your timeline, the program will interpret it as 30i. (Which means the same thing as 60i.) You probably won't notice the difference in this step-down but, if you working on a longer movie project or if your computer wasn't very powerful, you'd likely need to render your timeline as you worked.

But try the straightforward workflow. Start an AVCHD project. Create your movie on the timeline. Use Make Movie and DVD Architect Studio to output your disc. It's going to give you at least as good a quality as your other workflow -- but with a fraction of the time and trouble.

[tbg]

Thanks, Steve. I agree that there is an easier workflow, but that produces 1080-60i Blu Ray. For those projects, I shoot my video at 1080-60i to start with, and the results are excellent so no issues there. By the way, I have both your muvipix guides (DVDA5.0 and VMS 10.0) and they are a huge huge help!

With the long workflow noted above, I am simply trying to figure out how to get a 1080-60p file out of Vegas that I can play on a tv via my computer or blu-ray player. The new AVCHD 2.0 spec can handle 60p, and some players are able to play it at 60p, so that is why I wanted to try it on a Blu-ray and thus the used of tsmxuer and imgburn. You can also put the m2ts file on an sd card and play that directly in some blu-ray players.

So when you say the program interprets my footage as 30i, isn't that simply for editing purposes? When I go to render, won't it then start with the source file resolution and render to whatever I want (within the programs limitations). Or is the simple act of loading my clip to the timeline downrezing my clip. Mediainfo seems to indicate I have all 60 full frames. Agree I need a very fast computer.

[Steve Grisetti]

You can set up DVD Architect Studio to output a 60p BluRay, Todd. (I think so anyway.) Just go to Tile/Properties and select the option.

But your video is still going to be 1080i between Vegas Movie Studio and your final BluRay. There's no way around that. Vegas can not work natively with 1080p video. So even if you output a 1080p BluRay (and even if you use the method you found online) it will still be 1080p that's been stepped-down to 1080i then stepped back out to 1080p. So you still won't get the full effect of your 1080p video. (This is not true with Vegas Pro, by the way. Which can edit 1080p natively.)

There is simply no 1080p AVCHD workflow in Vegas Movie Studio that maintains your video at 60p throughout the whole process.

[tbg]

Thanks again, Steve. I appreciate the feedback. Looks like I will be taking your advice and stick with 1080-60i clips until I upgrade the software at some point.

[Steve Grisetti]

Anyway and regardless, thanks for the kind words about the books, Todd! I'm thrilled to hear we're able to help people.

[tbg]

Regarding the books, are the descriptions and techniques shown applicable / transferable to the "pro" products (Vegas Pro 11, Architect Pro 5.2)? Thinking of upgrading to Vegas Pro 11 given the amazon deal is so good.

[Steve Grisetti]

One of the nicest features of Vegas Movie Studio and DVD Architect Studio is that they are essentially scaled-down versions of the pro products. The interfaces are almost identical -- so it should be a smooth transition from the Studio to Pro products! And that also means much of the books will apply. Although, of course, the Pro products include many more features and settings.

Give the free trial downloads a try. I think you'll find you'll feel right at home!