Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Settings

[brazen]

Hello,

I'm a newb and would like some suggestions on how to render AVCHD video for various purposes. My camera is a Sony Handycam HDR-CX500V. I want to edit and render these AVCHD files in Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD 10. I can edit just fine but am having real difficulties with the rendering because I don't know what format I should be using. It seems every choice I try the files end up either HUGE or crappy quality. For example, I just rendered 6 minutes worth of footage to .AVI, default settings, and the file came out to 30GB. WTF? The .mp4's seem to have studder issues when I play them back. Can anyone just tell me what settings are best to use for 1) saving an original in HD format, 2) burning to DVD, 3) uploading to Youtube. I want all these to be as high quality as possible. Also, please feel free to point me to some tutorials as long as they are relevant. I'm not going to spend 7+ hours learning everything there is to know about video formats and conversion, etc.


Here is some info about the raw video files:
Type: MPEG-2 Transport Stream
Video: 00:00:49.550, 29.970 fps interlaced, 1920x1080x12, AVC
Audio 1: 00:00:49.550, 48,000 Hz, 5.1 Surround (stereo downmix), Dolby AC-3
Audio 2: 00:00:49.550, 48,000 Hz, 5.1 Surround, Dolby AC-3

[edDV]

I've got Vegas 10 Platinum here. (also Pro 10)

First set new project to "Blu-Ray 1920x1080 60i"

Import and edit your video

"Render as" Sony AVC using the "Blu-Ray 1920x1080 60i, 16Mbps video stream template
If you are shooting 24 Mbps, you may want to edit a custom template with 24Mbps

For You Tube they may take 16 Mb/s clips or you can use the 10 Mbps or a custom setting. If that is still to large, use the internet 1920x1080 30p setting.

For DVD "Render as"
Mainconcept MPeg2, DVD (*) 5Mb ave
For better quality create a custom 9Mb ave template.

[brazen]

thanks edDV, I'll try these now.