Vegas : best codec for editing?

[grendizer]

Hi all,

I'm using Vegas Pro 9.0e 64 bits. I'd like to create an HD video : 1280 x 720.

I need to import some videos for editing in Vegas. I have a bunch of old videos that are encoded with the Intel Video Indeo 5.0 codec. They can't be read into Vegas as there is no 64 decompressor for this codec.

So I used Virtual Dub and the Ffdshow encoder to convert these videos to AVC. After this conversion, MediaInfo says :
Format : AVI
File size : 10.0 MiB
Overall bit rate : 45.8 Mbps
Writing library : VirtualDub build 32706/release
Video ID : 0
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High 4:4:4 Predictive@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Codec ID : H264
Duration : 1s 840ms
Bit rate : 45.7 Mbps
Width : 768 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 4.135
Stream size : 10.0 MiB (100%)
Writing library : x264 core 1679488396May 25 2009
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=0:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=5 / psy_rd=0.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=1 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=0 / keyint=200 / keyint_min=1 / scenecut=40 / rc=cqp / qp=0

While editing in Vegas : I have problems with these videos . Sometimes, some of them are shown red and "offline". After the rendering, some clips are rendered completely black. Sometimes a frame is rendered too dark, and the next frame will be too light. In a word, it's a mess. I'd like to know if other people manage to work with AVC encoded videos in Vegas?

Anyway, i'm pretty sure I need to convert my original videos to another format. I could use an uncompressed AVI or a Targa sequence, but it would take too much disk space. Also the original videos are compressed, so why not keep them that way?

So I'd like to know your suggestions for a compressed video format that works inside Vegas 64 bits.
Thanks

Gz

[grendizer]

Any Vegas user willing to share the love?

[guns1inger]

If they are standard D1 resolution (which they appear to be) I would use cedocida to output standard DV. Simplest to edit, and Vegas will have no problems working with it.

[aedipuss]

you could also try huffyuv or lagarith lossless codecs, but avc 4:4:4 is not a good choice.

[lordsmurf]

HuffYUV

[edDV]

Hi all,

I'm using Vegas Pro 9.0e 64 bits. I'd like to create an HD video : 1280 x 720.

I need to import some videos for editing in Vegas. I have a bunch of old videos that are encoded with the Intel Video Indeo 5.0 codec. They can't be read into Vegas as there is no 64 decompressor for this codec.

So I used Virtual Dub and the Ffdshow encoder to convert these videos to AVC. After this conversion, MediaInfo says :
...
Width : 768 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
...

So I'd like to know your suggestions for a compressed video format that works inside Vegas 64 bits.

That isn't HD video. It is a square pixel representation of 576 line progressive 25 fps SD video with 4:3 aspect ratio. It is encoded to AVC H.264 which will be difficult for Vegas.

I'd go back to Virtualdub and output to DV format (Cedocida DV codec) to 720x576i which is slightly horizontally compressed. This produces a DV standard definition result which Vegas can edit natively. Or, you could export square pixel progressive to huffyuv and create a custom 768x576 project template in Vegas.

If you intend to upscale this to 1280x720p (960x720 square pixel with side pillar bars) better to do it in AVIsynth before import to Vegas. Use huffyuv as the transfer format then set a 1280x720p Vegas project.

[grendizer]

Thanks a lot for your answers, they are very educational.