[Vegas Movie Studio] Export list of files, or read .VF file with other app?

[yetanotherlogin]

Hello,

For some reason, VMS keeps failing to create an MP4 file out of the current project I'm working on.

As a work-round, I'll try again using Shotcut.

To avoid starting from scratch, is there a way to get the list of files used in the project (MPG and JPG/PNG), each with the in/out timecodes? I see no option in File > Save As = TXT.

Thank you.

[smrpix]

AFAIK Only Vegas Pro can output an EDL.

What kind of error message are you getting when your output fails? It may just be one or two pieces of bad media that need to be dealt with.

[poisondeathray]

As another workaround, can you successfully export another format? Such as AVI, etc... Then you can encode that with another application

[yetanotherlogin]

Thanks for the tip.

I tried again with a new merge of the MGP files into a single MPG, no go.

I need to do this ASAP, so will just move over to Shotcut.

Thank you.

[yetanotherlogin]

I'm having the same issue with Shotcut.

Turns out the issue is the MPG2 input file, which is a merge of multiple MPG2 files: Since my camcorder uses FAT32, files have a 2GB size limit, so I used VOBMerge to join them into a single MPG file… but neither DOS* nor ffmpeg** did any better.

So I reencoded it in x264…

ffmpeg "merged.mpg" -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 -ar 44100 -threads 2 -f mp4 "merged.mp4"

… and : It finally worked!

This is the first time I'm having this issue, so I guess there was a glitch somewhere in the MPG2 files. At least, I'll know what to try if the problem pops up again.

Thank you.

* copy /b file1.mpg+file2.mpg merged.mpg
** ffmpeg -i "concat:file1.mpg|file2.mpg" -c copy -target pal-dvd merged.mpg

PS: FWIW, here's what the first MPG file is:
C:\>ffprobe -i M2U00422.MPG
ffprobe version 4.2.1 Copyright (c) 2007-2019 the FFmpeg developers
Input #0, mpeg, from 'M2U00422.MPG':
Duration: 00:29:57.12, start: 0.226767, bitrate: 9445 kb/s
Stream #0:0[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fltp, 448 kb/s
Stream #0:1[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p(tv, top first), 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], 25 fps, 25 tbr,
90k tbn, 50 tbc

[_Al_]

Wanted to ask, why do you need to join them at all? Its not going well if loaded separately?
Then if you want it to behave as one event, select them all and press G to group them.

[yetanotherlogin]

Thanks very much for the tip.

I didn't think of this because each conference turns into several MPG files, and I didn't know about that grouping feature, but I'll give it a try next time and see how it goes.

[yetanotherlogin]

I had to record a conference this week-end, so used the opportunity to switch from "[Standard ] (STD 9M (HQ)" (MPG-2) to "[Standard ] (AVC HD 9M (HQ))".

Turns out the filesize is the same: The only difference is the video codec and the container.

Here's what the first file looks like:

C:\>ffprobe -i 00000.MTS
ffprobe version 4.2.1 Copyright (c) 2007-2019 the FFmpeg developers
Input #0, mpegts, from '00000.MTS':
  Duration: 00:29:46.70, start: 1.040000, bitrate: 9511 kb/s
  Program 1
    Stream #0:0[0x1011]: Video: h264 (High) (HDMV / 0x564D4448), yuv420p(top first), 1440x1080 [SAR 4:3 DAR 16:9], 25 fp
s, 50 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
    Stream #0:1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3 (AC-3 / 0x332D4341), 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fltp, 448 kb/s
    Stream #0:2[0x1200]: Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle ([144][0][0][0] / 0x0090), 1920x1080

Next, I d'n dropped the *.MTS files into Vegas' playlist, and then d'n dropped them into the video track. For some reason, Vegas adds fade in/out between each segment

So, I tried to join the MTS files into a single file using…
1. My MP4Box GUI: Nothing happens
2. MP4Joiner: Fails ("Unknown registration descriptor HDMV")
3. ffmpeg: OK!
(for %i in (*.MTS) do @echo file '%i') > part1.txt
ffmpeg -safe 0 -f concat -i part1.txt -c copy part1.joined.mp4

I then added slides in the video overlay track, compiled an MP4 file, and… "An error occured while creating the media file part1.joined.mp4. The reason for the error could not be determined."

Shotcut managed to render the file, although in both cases, it took hours in my years-old Windows 7 host. To speed things up, I'll investigate slicing at keyframes, turning slides into MP4 files, and rejoining videos + slides.

Regardless, Vegas and Shotcut seek features aren't as good as VLC anyway, so I need to first join the MPG/MTS files into a single MP4 for that purpose.

Thank you.

[abolibibelot]

So I reencoded it in x264…

ffmpeg "merged.mpg" -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 -ar 44100 -threads 2 -f mp4 "merged.mp4"

You didn't choose a x264 encoding parameter, so you get the default, which IIRC is -crf 23, which is rather low quality – well, it's okay-ish for delivery, i.e. final encode, but for an intermediate file, if you absolutely need to transcode, you want a very high quality preservation, with something like -crf 16. Better yet, if storage is not too limited, use a lossless codec like Lagarith / MagicYUV / UT Video.

Turns out the filesize is the same: The only difference is the video codec and the container.

And a much higher resolution.

So, I tried to join the MTS files into a single file using…

TSMuxer should do that flawlessly (use the “add” button or drag-and-drop for the first file, then the “join” button for any subsequent file).
But can't you undo those automatic fades ? If not, weird behaviour from that software.

(for %i in (*.MTS) do @echo file '%i') > part1.txt

With this command each line printed by the “echo” command replaces the one before, it requires two “>” to add several lines to the same file, e.g. “>> part1.txt”. If you typed that exact command and got the expected output that's yet another weirdness...

I then added slides in the video overlay track, compiled an MP4 file, and… "An error occured while creating the media file part1.joined.mp4. The reason for the error could not be determined."

I HATE that kind of message...

Did you try searching that error message ?
https://www.google.com/search?q=vegas+%22an+error+occurred+while+creating%22
Apparently a workaround (rather than fix) would be to turn off GPU rendering.

[_Al_]

Next, I d'n dropped the *.MTS files into Vegas' playlist, and then d'n dropped them into the video track. For some reason, Vegas adds fade in/out between each segment

Then why not to turn that off. Or did you follow manual how to put your clips into PC.