Is there any prosumer video editor with batch rendering?

[bcalmac]

I currently edit my AVCHD home movies with Sony Vegas Studio and render them as MP4s (H.264 + AAC) for my personal archive. The only thing missing is batch (queued) rendering. Sometimes I decide to change the encoding parameters and I need to re-render many projects. It's just a pain to do them one at a time.

Sony Vegas Pro does have batch rendering, but $400 is a bit too much for a home user. Is there an alternative "prosumer" video editor with support for batch rendering (say under $150)?

[_Al_]

You can have batch encoding even with Vegas Studio version. Debug mode frame server > Avisynth > any x264 batch encoder ( ripbot264 , Megui ,...)

You need to install Debugmode Frame server and export signpost.avi out of Vegas Studio.
That signpost .avi (whatever name you give it) you load into Avisynth script and you load that script into any batch x264 encoder.
You change profile and que it again or batch it whatever it is called.
You can create more Avisynth scripts where you can trim video so you can get a subclip out of the whole video.
If it takes Vegas a load of time to render timeline (color corrections, denoiser etc..) it is better to get uncompressed or YUV whatever there is in export settings, and that file you can load it into x264 encoder.

[poisondeathray]

@_Al_ :

I don't think that will work for him, because he would have to load up another project in vegas to queue it - in the process that will close the old project and nothing will be frameserved

[budwzr]

You can pick up version 10 Pro cheaper, but you lose upgrade pricing in the future. Check amazon. Or ebay. Version 10 has batch, im pretty sure. Also fully supports avc aac.

Best deals are in jan.

[_Al_]

I'm not sure here. Project batch rendering we are talking here? What editor can render project without opening, or load project - que it for render and then close it , is there such a thing?
Vegas can open more instances at a time, but not sure how many. But that would get complicated for sure.

[poisondeathray]

Project batch rendering? What editor can render project without opening, or load project - que it for render and then cloased it , is there such a thing?
Vegas can open more instances at a time, but not sure how many. But that would get complicated for sure.

Vegas can, since version 10 (pro version), through a batch render script

Premiere pro can, with queing adobe media encoder (since version CS4)

To me, it sounds like he's most interested in the queue function

I don't think the veags studio version , or premiere elements versions can (the "consumer" versions)

Eitherway, it's going to be more than the $150 bcalmac wanted.

I dont' know what budwzr has been smoking , but a legit version is going to be more than $150 (unless you quality for academic pricing), maybe a shady version from some Chinese website might be cheaper

[Cornucopia]

I think he was thinking ebay - you can find a number of similar deals there or on craigslist, etc.

However, there really is no such thing as "prosumer" for less than $150. Items in that range are simple consumer, bordering on noob.

Scott

[_Al_]

Vegas can

Wowie wow , interesting ...

[budwzr]

I think he was thinking ebay - you can find a number of similar deals there or on craigslist, etc.

Exactly, Good call. All you really want is the serial anyway, and the seller has to notify SCS at the time of sale, then the buyer can simply download the current trial and convert it to legit via internet. It's very simple, I've done it before.

And I haven't been smoking anything, hahaha, that's ridiculous. Hehehe. Hoohoohoo, that's a good one, hehehe. I think somebody may be jealous about my correct answer. Maybe they want to cast expersions on me, hehehe. I could care less. harharhar.



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Thought For The Day: "Look forward, not backward"

[bcalmac]

To answer a few of the points made:

1. batching/queueing: I would be OK with either of them. I just don't want to open a project, start rendering, come 2 hours later, move to the next one, a.s.o

2. exporting an AVI out of Vegas and then use an x264 enoder: It's the same thing, I still have to wait until the AVI is rendered. Also, the extra transcoding might affect quality.

3. get an old serial off ebay. That's possible. It must be about $100 for the old version and another $200 to upgrade to Vegas 12. This is still high.

I took a look at the latest version of the consumer-level video editors and PowerDirector (from Cyberlink) does offer queuing of rendering jobs. However, they don't really have an H.264 encoder, they use the hardware encoding provided by the graphics card. In my case, that didn't render the video nicely, so PowerDirector is out of the question.

If I may have a little rant, the lack of queued rendering in the consumer-level editors is just a sign of how little the marketing department knows about the users of the product. They can easily differentiate the PRO versions based on supported input/output formats and sophisticated editing tools. No professional would skip those and go with the consumer version. However, it's reasonable to assume that many home users may have more than one project at a time. Queuing the rendering would be the next best thing after HD support.

[lordsmurf]

If I may have a little rant, the lack of queued rendering in the consumer-level editors is just a sign of how little the marketing department knows about the users of the product. .... it's reasonable to assume that many home users may have more than one project at a time.

Completely disagree.

Most users can't even handle one project at a time, much less multiples in a queue.
I know pros that can't even handle more than one at a time.

[bcalmac]

I might have used the wrong wording. What I meant by "at a time" is "during one session". Say after 3 months of shooting, I collect all the clips and make 6 videos (6 separate projects) out of them. I would edit the projects one at a time, but I would like to be able to render all of them overnight (once I'm done editing). I hope this makes my statement more reasonable.

Leaving queued rendering out cannot possibly be justified by a "simpler user experience". It can be optional (as it is in Vegas Pro) and it wouldn't change your workflow if you like immediate rendering.

[budwzr]

What's making it tough, is your workflow is helter-skelter.

[poisondeathray]

_Al_ suggested multiple instances - if you have lots of memory this could be an option . Just each instance will be slower, but you can still cut down on the idle time this way

The companies need distinguishing features between product SKUs' to provide marketing differentiation tiers so they can justify price gouging the pro market

[bcalmac]

In the case of Sony Vegas, I would restate as: "they need crippling limitations to reach the home market at a lower price without cannibalizing the pro market".

However, I personally think that queued rendering is not a differentiating factor between a home user and a pro. Both of them need it.

EDIT: As a good example, Capture One (my photo editing application) has a very sensible differentiation between the home and pro versions. I'm doing just fine with the home version, I don't feel it's crippled. And by the way, I can process photos in batch even in the home version.

[poisondeathray]

Maybe you can lobby/pester them or make a feature request at the vegas forum

Personally, I don't see it being a huge deal breaker for a typical home user.

The way it's implemented in vegas is through a script. Currently no scripts work in the studio versions. Not even free user scripts that are distributed in the community (let alone paid/ commercial scripts). They would have to enable scripting in the studio versions or do some sort of re-write

The way it's implemented in premiere is another separate application, adobe media encoder. If they included a gimped down version of AME (just enough to distinguish it from the pro version) that might be an option

I don' t know about the other competing NLE's like corel video studio, maybe someone else knows

[bcalmac]

I have already submitted feedback to them. Who knows, maybe it works.

In Vegas Pro they have the Network Renderer, which can be used for queuing rendering jobs. I would use it just for the queuing capability, I don't care about distributed rendering.

[budwzr]

No, Vegas Pro doesn't have network render anymore. Abandoned for lack of interest, presumably.

What's actually happening here is that apparently Marketing's feature placements are correct, and it appears that you are locked in. Hahaha, welcome to Sony Style.

[bcalmac]

Wow! I do feel like a dinosaur. Thanks for waking me up.

[bcalmac]

On the other hand, Vegas plugins such as Veggie Toolkit and Vegasaurus have a flexible batch rendering as their main feature. So I wouldn't be so sure about the "lack of interest" for batch rendering.

[Cornucopia]

No, Vegas Pro doesn't have network render anymore. Abandoned for lack of interest, presumably.

What's actually happening here is that apparently Marketing's feature placements are correct, and it appears that you are locked in. Hahaha, welcome to Sony Style.

?

When did they get rid of that? (I'll have to keep copies of my older versions - 6, 8, 10, JIK). Net rendering can make a difference in really long-form video (12-24 hour+ security stuff). Wow, guess I haven't used it (N.R.) lately...

Scott

[bcalmac]

I looked it up and version 9 is the last one with Network Rendering.

[budwzr]

On the other hand, Vegas plugins such as Veggie Toolkit and Vegasaurus have a flexible batch rendering as their main feature. So I wouldn't be so sure about the "lack of interest" for batch rendering.

Vegas has switched over to the Open FX architecture, so I guess just about anyone CAN provide this functionality, assuming there is demand.

The Media Manager is still there, though. I think few use that too, but actually it's quite capable if you can come up with your own customized tagging scheme. Granted, its more useful for finding audio snips and sFX.