NLEs with MPEG-2 smart rendering?

[Brad]

Usually I use Womble for cutting/joining MPEG-2, but its lack of a second video track is going to be a pain for a project I have in mind. Any recommendations for a multitrack editor that can smart render DVD-spec MPEG-2s?

[jagabo]

Sony Vegas.

[poisondeathray]

Yes, vegas has been able to smart render mpeg2 natively for years , but sometimes it's a PITA trying to "convince" it to work (you need to match settings exactly)

[Brad]

Thanks. Does it have an obvious indicator of which portions it is re-encoding?

[poisondeathray]

Only when you render it (you can't tell ahead of time which sucks*) - the preview window will say "smart rendering : no recompression required" (or something along those lines) and zip past those segments very fast

* the reason it really sucks is sometimes you have to multiple small test renders to make sure the export settings match. Even if something tiny is "off" it usually won't work, it will re-encode . When I say settings must "match" - I really meant it. It is very finicky and simply won't work unless everything matches

[budwzr]

Anything "MultiTrack", by definition, is going to preclude Smart Rendering. Unless maybe there's no compositing between tracks, but then you wouldn't need multiple tracks anyway.

Hahaha, I didn't think that through. You don't mind rerendering in areas where you want to make something. Whew, too early in the morning. Didn't have enough coffee yet.

There's a little "Match Media" thingy-doodle in the upper right corner of the Project Properties dialog. Use that to get your project in spec for SmartRen.

Vegas conforms media automatically, and is resolution independent, so it's imperative to understand that the "Project Settings" determine how it makes the conform. The "Project Settings" are the "Frame of Reference" for everything.

If you simply pick a project template from a list, that you think matches your media, you probably only have a 50/50 chance of success.