Which Template in Vegas for 16:9?

[white_2kgt]

So I create a project in Vegas, HDV 1440x1080x1.33 PAR. What template should I use when rendering to get a 16:9 widescreen video?

[veg]

This is the point at which the HD converts to SD so I use the 'DVD Architect PAL Widescreen video stream' template and then a separate render of audio as AC-3, with exactly the same file name as the video, save them both in the same folder. When you open the video file in Architect, the audio will automatically load with it.
I'd be interested to know if your project has any hand held footage in it and how it all comes out on DVD, smoothness etc.

[white_2kgt]

I do not want SD, nor do I want PAL (sorry I need to put the fact I'm in North American in my profile). I want HD 16:9 out of it, 1080 would be my preference. The only way I can get HD 16:9 is if I do 720p (and have a decent file size, ~500mb for 10 minutes).

[veg]

Ah!
I'm not near Vegas at the moment but isnt there a couple of Blu-print templates?

[white_2kgt]

Here are the AVI templates I have,

http://www.2kgt.com/gallery/d/13798-1/vegas-avi-templates.jpg

HDV 720-24p intermediate is the only one that will give me widescreen other than HD 1080-24p YUV, which generates a 10gig file for 10 minutes (vs 500mb for the 720p). If I do HDV 1080-24p I get a 4:3 file, not widescreen.

[white_2kgt]

When I try to use MainConcepts Blu-Print 1080-24p and include the audio stream in the file (mpg) I get an error. If I render the files out separately (m2v/mpa) it works fine. Suggestions?

[white_2kgt]

basically I want to output the same as I'm putting in. I have an HDV m2t (MPEG2 with Transport Stream audio?) I put it on the timeline, crop a few scenes out and I want to get out an m2t, but I can't. Why? What am I doing wrong? What should I do?

Thanks!

[24Peter]

basically I want to output the same as I'm putting in. I have an HDV m2t (MPEG2 with Transport Stream audio?) I put it on the timeline, crop a few scenes out and I want to get out an m2t, but I can't. Why? What am I doing wrong? What should I do?

Thanks!

(This assumes you have Vegas 7) Set your project properties in Vegas. First capture your footage from the HV20 using Vegas' internal capture. Then set your project properties - go to file>properties. In the properties box there is a template dropdown at the top. All the way to the right there is a folder icon. This matches your project properties to the properites of your clips. Click on this icon, browse to the clip you want to match and select it. Vegas will automatically match the clip's properties. OK out of that and before you close the properties window there is a check box near the bottom that says something like "use these settings for new projects". Check that so you don't have go through the process each time you start a new project.

[white_2kgt]

Thanks peter, yes I'm on Vegas 7. I tired that, clicked the folder icon, selected my m2t file and it set the properties to 1440x1080. I then tried to render using MainConcept MPEG-2/Blu-Print 1080-24p with 'Save as separate Elementry Streams' unchecked I still get the error. As long as I leave this checked the render process works but I get 2 separate files, one video and the other audio. The video file looks amazing and is exactly what I want, only I want audio in the same file as well.

The only template I've gotten close to what I want with is HDV-25p but the resolution is only 1280x720 :(.

Thanks,
Chad

[24Peter]

Chad - I thought you wanted to match input with output. Select the HDV 1080 60i template to render out HDV (with the 1.333 pixel aspect ratio I think it plays as 1920X1080 on your HDTV.)

Have you checked the Vegas forums? http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowTopics.asp?ForumID=4
You may want to post your question there.

[white_2kgt]

Chad - I thought you wanted to match input with output. Select the HDV 1080 60i template to render out HDV (with the 1.333 pixel aspect ratio I think it plays as 1920X1080 on your HDTV.)

Have you checked the Vegas forums? http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowTopics.asp?ForumID=4
You may want to post your question there.

So even though I'm shooting 24p I'd want to output 1080 60i? So confusing...I'll give that a try. Thanks.

[white_2kgt]

ek, 1080-60i looks like butt. I can SEE lines and square looking pixels in the playback video, and still can't get audio out of it. So far the best looking footage is 720-25p...

[terjeber]

So I create a project in Vegas, HDV 1440x1080x1.33 PAR. What template should I use when rendering to get a 16:9 widescreen video?

This isn't an easy question to answer, since there is not enough information in it to figure out what is the best format. What do you want to do with the resulting video?

If you want to play it on your PC (assuming Windows), wmv is probably the most straightforward format with good quality.

If you want to share it with others, perhaps H.264 is a more appropriate format, but then you will exclude viewing for everybody except the ones with the latest and greatest hardware (if you do full 1920x1080 HD).

Do you want to create a high-def DVD? Well, then you can probably use MPEG-2, H.264 or Windows wmv.

So, the real question is - what do you want to do with the result?

[white_2kgt]

I want to save the outputted video for archival and use it in future projects AS WELL AS watch it on my plasma via a HTPC.

Basically I take a 1hr tape. Capture it to m2t, then I go back and make sub clips and give them distinctive names so I know whats on them. This may be 4-5 different clips. I edit out fluff, talking, handing the camera back and forth etc, so I may only get 30 minutes of usable footage from 1hr tape. There's no need for me to store the original m2t files if I could just get the same quality file back out of Vegas. I want to delete the original 1hrs worth of m2t files and just keep the 30 minutes of video, but only if it's of equal quality of the original m2t file. So far I have no found that format. The MPEG2 Blu-Print format produces very nice video but that audio is in a separate file and Vegas errors when I try and save them in the same file (not elementary streams).

Does that make sense?

[terjeber]

Yes, this makes sense. If you want to archive footage you want to do as little encoding, transcoding, decoding as possible. In other words, you want to cut-edit your MPEG stream (including audio) without converting to other formats of any kind.

When you convert video, even if you convert to a less lossy format than the original, you can change the video slightly, and you risk quality loss. Doing no conversion of any kind is therefore preferable.

Vegas doesn't give you this option. If you output your edited video as MPEG, it will re-encode. There are packages out there that will allow you to cut MPEG video streams and not re-encode, look at tmpg and others. Check htttp://www.videohelp.com/ for other tools. Some of them are free.

Guides on videohelp for splitting and joining MPEG http://www.videohelp.com/edit#5;18

[white_2kgt]

Vegas doesn't give you this option.

Hu, Guess I can stop going crazy now :hv20-smilie36::hv20-smilie70:
Thanks!
Chad