Project Propeties

[biferi]

I need help understanding how the Project Properties Settings work in Movie Studio 15?

The Project Properties Template I Pick HD 1080 60i 1920X1080 29.97 FPS.

If I am Right this just means after I open a Video in my TimeLive it will Display like this in the Preview Window?

And because I am not Capturing Analog Video can I Set Field Order to None?

[Cornucopia]

You chose 60i. aka Interlaced. Therefore, it MUST have some field order - either Top(Odd) or Bottom (Even). It cannot (certainly SHOULD NOT) be set to none, that would only be appropriate for Progressive.

BTW, the idea of storing interlaced fields in digital frames means that it doesn't matter whether the original source was analog or digital - both A & D can be interlaced. And interlaced fields stored in digital frames MUST have a field order. Start with Bottom Field First (BFF), as that is the more common in modern times.

And you can (and should) do a short test to confirm compatibility. If it doesn't work right, use the other one.


Scott

[johnmeyer]

The Vegas Project Properties template is a strange one because it should only affect playback, but a few of the options also affect how the video gets rendered. I stopped upgrading Vegas at version 13, but I expect it still works the same. The options above the line in the attached photo control how the video gets displayed on the timeline, and the ones below affect how the video gets rendered. For most projects, you want the settings above the line to exactly match the footage you are importing. Vegas now does this for you automatically when you import the first clip into a new project.

However, if you are mixing clips that have different formats (i.e., 1280x720 with 1920x1080, or 24 fps with 29.97 fps), then you will have to choose which format you want to display on the timeline. In this case, you should choose the settings which matches the format to which you will render the finished project.

The key thing to understand is that if Vegas has to change the video from the native format of the clip to the format you specify for timeline playback, it will significantly slow down the playback speed. This happens because Vegas has to make so many calculations that it cannot output 24, 25, 30, or 60 frames per second to the timeline and therefore has to drop frames.

When you match the formats, Vegas can usually playback the native clip (i.e., no fX) at full speed and resolution, using a modern computer, even with 4K footage. However, if you don't match the project properties above the line to the footage, you will not only end up with slower playback, but also a picture that is degraded, especially if the fps doesn't match because Vegas blends frames in order to achieve the new framerate.

The settings below the line affect how the project is rendered. My strong recommendation is to not touch them unless you already know what they do. Back when I used to post on the Sonic Foundry (and then Sony) Vegas forum (over 6,000 posts), I can't tell you how many times all of us had to help someone fix problems caused by them deciding to change these settings below the line, without really understanding what they were doing. By contrast, if you screw up the settings above the line, all it will do is make the timeline performance sluggish.

[biferi]

The only Setting for Digital is NTSC DV 720X480 29.97 FPS.
So I would Pick this because everything is Digital Right?

This is how it will be Displayed in the Preview Window Right?

Even if I have a Video Clip that is Analog if it is on the PC. it will be Digital anyway Right?

[aedipuss]

nothing processed on a computer is analog, it's all digital. pick the closest setting to your source., or make up your own custom setting. especially the interlaced/progressive setting. if interlaced make sure the ttf/bff setting is correct.

[biferi]

so I would be ok Picking NTSC DV 720X480 29.97 FPS.
Because all of my Clips are Digital anyway Right?

So you would Pick Prograsive for Fields Scan but one thing?
This is Talking about how Frames are Displayed on Screen in the Display Window.

And I have an LCD Screen so it will not Display as Analog Right?

So my LCD Screen will not be Displaying Every Frame Prograsive?

[johnmeyer]

The only Setting for Digital is NTSC DV 720X480 29.97 FPS.
So I would Pick this because everything is Digital Right?

This is how it will be Displayed in the Preview Window Right?

Even if I have a Video Clip that is Analog if it is on the PC. it will be Digital anyway Right?

You've posted essentially this same thing twice, but I can't understand what you are trying to say. You need to provide the exact specifications of the video you are trying to edit. You can download Mediainfo and it will give that to you. What we need is something like this:

720x480
29.97 fps (frames per second)
Field order: Lower field first

or

1920x1080
59.94 fps
Field order: Progressive

The first is a common North American type for older analog video that has been digitized (as already noted, once on your computer, all video is digital), and the second example is fairly typical for modern HD video.

If you are editing 4K video, you will have yet another set of numbers.

Finally, even though I have the pro version of Vegas, I am quite certain that the Studio version has at least a dozen presets other than the one single one you quote. Look again at that drop down at the top of the dialog. I have attached a snapshot of the Vegas Pro Project Properties preset drop down to show you the choices. I am 100% certain that you have a large number of these available in Studio.

[Cornucopia]

These are just SOME of the digital types available out there (just showing a small subset that includes many of the capture formats), and they can be either 60/NTSC or 50/PAL systems families:

DV
DVCam
DVCPro
DVCPro50
DVCPro100
DVCProHD
HDV
DigiBeta
IMX
DVD - mpeg2 (NTSC or PAL)
AVCHD
AVC in MP4
AVC-Intra
XAVC
XAVC-S
ProRes (in MOV)
ProRes Raw (in MOV)
MJPEG (in MOV, AVI)

They are ALL digital, but only the first 3 are appropriate to use the DV codec option that you are suggesting (otherwise, you'd be doing lossy transcoding).

Many of them are Interlaced, Many are Progressive.
Some are SD and some are HD (or better)
Not sure what you're meaning by "Prograsive (sic) for Fields Scan", but am guessing you might be referring to PsF ("progressive, segmented frames" = storing a progressive clip as an interlaced clip, for compatibility with legacy systems).

All consumer LCDs are digital. So, anything displayed on them must be digital. Either natively digital, or analog using an Analog-to-Digital converter on input.

Unless you have a rare and VERY SPECIAL or EXPERIMENTAL version, all LCDs displays are progressive. So progressive frames should display as progressive - hopefully every frame, but it is possible some are dropped due to a sub-standard pipeline. And interlaced frames will ALSO display as progressive, as they will be converted to progressive (either on-the-fly in hardware, or in software).

(also too late)

Scott