Help: Canon HF200 footage + Sony Vegas 9 Rendering

[orlandojumpoff]

I'm a noob and this is my first post, please be patient.

I've been on the web/YouTube all day trying to figure out the best render settings (using Sony Vegas 9) for the HD footage I shot with my Canon Vixia HF200.

I shot video at full HD camera settings (MXP 24Mbps, 60i frame rate).

I've seen a lot of different settings to use for project video properties and render settings.

Which video properties and render settings should i set if I want 1080 video? I either pick settings that make it skip or the colors get washed or it's fuzzy.

How about it I want to bring the 1080 video down to 720, which project properties and render settings do i use?

Thank you for anyone willing to help me out... it's been a frustrating day.

Btw, I can play the raw files from my camera on my computer without issues.

[edDV]

Is your goal an AVCHD DVDR for playback on a Blu-Ray Player?

What are your computer specs? (including video card)

[orlandojumpoff]

Thanks for the quick reply

I recently went on vacation and have an hour and a half or so of footage (filled a 16GB memory card). I'd like to put the footage on DVDRs for playback (I'm not sure how many discs it would take to still have great quality) on a bluray player. But, I'm also interested in having a copy to just store on a DVDR as data for playback on computers (for family).

My computer specs: i7 860 CPU, 2.8GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI RADEON HD 5700

[edDV]

Thanks for the quick reply

I recently went on vacation and have an hour and a half or so of footage (filled a 16GB memory card). I'd like to put the footage on DVDRs for playback (I'm not sure how many discs it would take to still have great quality) on a bluray player. But, I'm also interested in having a copy to just store on a DVDR as data for playback on computers (for family).

My computer specs: i7 860 CPU, 2.8GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI RADEON HD 5700

You would set an HD 1080-60i, 1920x1080i/29.97 project and then import your files

When done, you can encode (Render AS) SONY AVC *m2ts, template AVCHD 1080-60i (1920x1080i) then import your m2ts file into MultiAVCHD to create the AVCHD/BDMV file structure, then burn to DVDR with Imageburn.

An alternate render format would be Blu-Ray 1920x1080i/29.97 MPeg2 which might play easier on other computers. MPeg2 can also be imported into MultiAVCHD and added to a AVCHD/BDMV file structure for playback on a DVDR in a Blu-Ray player.

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/tutorial.php
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

[orlandojumpoff]

I'll try those out and report back. Thanks again for taking the time to give me advice.

Few questions about your reply.... So I don't have to make any custom render settings using those templates? And for project settings before importing, is it okay if I use the "match to media" option... also, do I have to change field order to progressive scan or leave it as upper field first (not sure what either of those mean, but I keep seeing people saying to set it to progressive).

[edDV]

I'll try those out and report back. Thanks again for taking the time to give me advice.

Few questions about your reply.... So I don't have to make any custom render settings using those templates? And for project settings before importing, is it okay if I use the "match to media" option... also, do I have to change field order to progressive scan or leave it as upper field first (not sure what either of those mean, but I keep seeing people saying to set it to progressive).

No changes for project setting - keep it interlaced (upper field first), the Blu-Ray player or HDTV will deinterlace.

Try the default 16 Mbps for AVCHD render first. Then try 24 Mbps. Not all players accept the higher bit rate.

I've never tried the "match media" setting for AVC. Don't know.

Progressive will cause the video to go jumpy (30p). Not what you want for Blu-Ray playback.

[orlandojumpoff]

wow, just made a sample dvd-r to play on my bluray player and the video looked great! the multiavcdhd program will take a bit of time to figure out. For some reason, i get a crash dialog when i click certain things (i also got a few while processing) and some options are grayed out... under author it won't let me create a top menu and i can't configure/preview the welcome screen. Have you experienced or heard of these issues?

Great start from where I was earlier today. Opened a new door for me, Thanks again!

[edDV]

If you have your m2ts files, MultiAVCHD is fairly quick although it has many advanced features.

1 Add video files (if two or more it will generate a menu)

2 Select a destination

3 Press Start

4 Select AVCHD Relaxed.

If you link to Imageburn it will auto burn the DVDR as well.

[orlandojumpoff]

If you have your m2ts files, MultiAVCHD is fairly quick although it has many advanced features.

1 Add video files (if two or more it will generate a menu)

2 Select a destination

3 Press Start

4 Select AVCHD Relaxed.

If you link to Imageburn it will auto burn the DVDR as well.

Ahh, I see... I only had one file.

Hmm, that's weird. I tried Relaxed the first time and nothing would show up on my bluray player (ps3). I then tried strict and it worked like a charm. What's the difference between relaxed and strict and do you know why I had trouble with relaxed, but not strict?

And yes, I linked to imageburn.. very convenient. Thanks for the two programs.

[edDV]

If you have your m2ts files, MultiAVCHD is fairly quick although it has many advanced features.

1 Add video files (if two or more it will generate a menu)

2 Select a destination

3 Press Start

4 Select AVCHD Relaxed.

If you link to Imageburn it will auto burn the DVDR as well.

Ahh, I see... I only had one file.

Hmm, that's weird. I tried Relaxed the first time and nothing would show up on my bluray player (ps3). I then tried strict and it worked like a charm. What's the difference between relaxed and strict and do you know why I had trouble with relaxed, but not strict?

And yes, I linked to imageburn.. very convenient. Thanks for the two programs.

Read the tutorial on specific config on PS3. I don't have one.

There is a button at the top for PS3 on flash.

[orlandojumpoff]

Looked through the tutorial and didn't see anything that mentions the difference between strict and relaxed for ps3/standalone blu-ray. I did, however, notice that under AVCHD to DVD-R, that it says "Stricter AVCHD folder format option is recommended (only standard folders)." Wondering if "stricter" is referring to the choice between relaxed and strict.

Any input on why you use relaxed over strict? I guess if I can't get relaxed to work, then strict is my only option anyway. Hopefully I'm not doing anything wrong that causes the PS3 to not recognize relaxed mode.Also, I hope it will play on traditional blu-ray as well, not just my PS3... Do you have any experience with strict not being compatible with your blu-ray player?

Thanks.

[edDV]

Looked through the tutorial and didn't see anything that mentions the difference between strict and relaxed for ps3/standalone blu-ray. I did, however, notice that under AVCHD to DVD-R, that it says "Stricter AVCHD folder format option is recommended (only standard folders)." Wondering if "stricter" is referring to the choice between relaxed and strict.

Any input on why you use relaxed over strict? I guess if I can't get relaxed to work, then strict is my only option anyway. Hopefully I'm not doing anything wrong that causes the PS3 to not recognize relaxed mode.Also, I hope it will play on traditional blu-ray as well, not just my PS3... Do you have any experience with strict not being compatible with your blu-ray player?

Thanks.

If relaxed doesn't work, try strict. He mentions Panasonic players require strict but didn't mention PS3. You can email Dean directly.

[multiAVCHD]

I'm using [Playstation 3] mode all the time for my Playstation 3 (it is my only hardware player to test multiAVCHD with). It is meant for USB HDDs/Sticks/SDHC cards. For DVD-R/RW PS3 works just fine with [AVCHD Strict] and [AVCHD Relaxed]. For Blu-ray discs (BD-R/RE) [Blu-ray]/[AVCHD Strict]/[AVCHD Relaxed] all work.

It is possible that the menu wasn't authored properly (you'd see error lines in the log) and it may cause your [AVCHD Relaxed] not to work off the DVD-R disc.

Dean

[orlandojumpoff]

I'm using [Playstation 3] mode all the time for my Playstation 3 (it is my only hardware player to test multiAVCHD with). It is meant for USB HDDs/Sticks/SDHC cards. For DVD-R/RW PS3 works just fine with [AVCHD Strict] and [AVCHD Relaxed]. For Blu-ray discs (BD-R/RE) [Blu-ray]/[AVCHD Strict]/[AVCHD Relaxed] all work.

It is possible that the menu wasn't authored properly (you'd see error lines in the log) and it may cause your [AVCHD Relaxed] not to work off the DVD-R disc.

Dean

Hello Dean,

Thanks for the feedback. It's good to know strict works perfectly fine for DVD-Rs and the PS3. And now that I know relaxed works, I may try it again. Thanks!

[orlandojumpoff]

edDV, since you gave me such great suggestions for getting my footage on DVDRs for playback on a blu-ray player, I'm actually hoping you can give me some more advice....

I would like to upload some video to YouTube using the same 1080 footage I mentioned at the beginning of this thread. Do you have any recommendations for which preferences/templates to use in Sony Vegas 9? Obviously with YouTube, filesize is a concern, but I want to have the best quality I can for videos that range from 1 to 5 minutes. And I desperately want to make sure the video will not skip or end up blurry from choosing the wrong settings. Thanks.

[edDV]

edDV, since you gave me such great suggestions for getting my footage on DVDRs for playback on a blu-ray player, I'm actually hoping you can give me some more advice....

I would like to upload some video to YouTube using the same 1080 footage I mentioned at the beginning of this thread. Do you have any recommendations for which preferences/templates to use in Sony Vegas 9? Obviously with YouTube, filesize is a concern, but I want to have the best quality I can for videos that range from 1 to 5 minutes. And I desperately want to make sure the video will not skip or end up blurry from choosing the wrong settings. Thanks.

I don't know the limits for YouTube but you have many options to try. They are going to re-encode anyway.

You could send them MPeg2 interlace or progressive.

You could send AVC h.264 interlace or progressive.

See which works best. I'd expect the highest quality would result from an external deinterlace in AVISynth then send them the maximum bit rate they will accept.