Sony Vegas Help!

[chaosrealm93]

Hello guys, im new to the forum. i need some help in vegas pro 9. i recently downloaded two short clips off of youtube using "youtube downloader" and it saved them as two .mp4 files. i imported them into vegas in an attempt to merge the two clips together for viewing simplicity. upon exporting, i noticed that the video quality DRASTICALLY dropped when i used the same format (.mp4), however, when i tried using .wmv, the quality was equal to the original. can someone explain this to me? (im a complete noob at video)

*also, can someone recommend a format that will yield the BEST quality, at all costs
**is there a hierarchy of video formats? if so, can someone tell me?

thx guys.

[geneaum]

Chaos, why not download the 'tubes as flash, then use a joiner util to stitch them together without re-encoding? flvjoin is one I use.

[chaosrealm93]

what program should i use to DL them as flash? flv = flash video?

*i thought "rendering" them as mp4, the same format they started with didnt count as re-encoding... =S

[Baldrick]

Try join the mp4s with avidemux(use copy mode) or MyMP4BoxGUI and you wont lose any quality. But they must have identical properties. Or else use HIGHER bitrate or quality settings in vegas.

[chaosrealm93]

they're the same bitrate and everything when i view them in vegas. i just cant seem to understand why choosing mp4 as a "render as" format will yield lower-than-original quality.

[Baldrick]

Cause vegas reconverts. Try other simple joiners first.

[chaosrealm93]

ok, i tried avidemux 2.5 and it seemed to work. thx for the suggestions!

[budwzr]

Vegas Pro is not a "utility" application, it's a production environment. You wouldn't use a Ferrari to open a can of beer.

[chaosrealm93]

well i figured it was a high-end program, so it would offer the best quality and options for the final output

[filmboss80]

well i figured it was a high-end program, so it would offer the best quality and options for the final output

Vegas is indeed a high-end editing program (especially the Pro version), but there is nothing high-end about most YouTube downloads (most of which are heavily-compressed, low resolution .flv or .mp4 files). It's like pouring the crappiest wine into a crystal decanter, then expecting fine wine to come out.

[chaosrealm93]

well.. i would agree that some of the youtube videos are indeed trash, but take a look at this (x2). im sure you would agree its decent quality in 720p. (i was trying to join the two clips together)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHfDLBBk1Mw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbTQYBuJ0GE&feature=related

[budwzr]

Was your project set to 720p30? If so, did the template you chose match? Was there a little "=" sign next to it? How about your general preferences, is render quality set to "Best" or just "Good"?

Is "Adjust Media To Match Project" setting on? What about resampling? Yes, No, or Smart?

Your post is titled "Sony Vegas Help!" We got the "Vegas Sucks" part, but not much else.

[chaosrealm93]

no, the clip was 1280x720x12 23.976fps

i set the template to match the video settings and rendering to best, same for sound. i didnt "adjust media to match project", cuz i figure it would mess with the source and i didnt know where resampling was..

[budwzr]

I'm rendering now, I'll post back when it finishes. I didn't see an AVC/AAC template for 720p24, so you must have created a custom, which is what I did. We'll see what happens.

[chaosrealm93]

wow, you're gonna have to wait a LOOOONG time..

[budwzr]

It's done, and looks great. I skipped around, audio stayed synced up. I'll upload it to YT, and post back when it's done.

[chaosrealm93]

which format did you use to "render as"? i tried mp4 and quality was crap across the board, regardless of pixel format, render quality etc..

[budwzr]

Since there's no 720p24 template I used the 720p30 template and went into custom and set to 23.97, and that's about it. The ABR is about 7Mbps, and the resulting file is about 800MB, but should go down considerably after YT processes it.

It took about an hour to render on an older dual core 2Gig Vista 32 bit machine. I used the "Sony AVC" encoder.

I'm curious myself to see what YT will do to it.

I agree that if you just want to join two files, Vegas is not the fastest way to do it because it's a full blown editor. But I would also like to clarify that if you render an MP4 in Vegas, it's not going to be "Crap across the board".

UPDATE: That stinkin' YT rejected the video because it's over 15 minutes. I didn't pay attention.