Equal quality?
I have a hypothetical question. Using Vegas MSP8, I create an HDV project. After finishing all my edits, I create a DVD. I then render the project to a m2t file. After importing this file into a new Vegas project, I burn a second DVD.
Are these two DVD's equal and indentical in quality? I'd like to avoid rendering the initial project with a lossless codec.
No, the first DVD export is better, because the second m2t is recompressed. Only Vegas Pro can recompress without re-encode m2t (and that, only if you don't add plugins/transitions). In general, the original m2t file will produce a better quality -- very slightly, possibly not even perceivable.
If you don't want to export in a lossless codec, simply keep around the original project and m2t files. Don't delete them after the first export. Additionally, if you export with cineform, it's only a bit bigger than the m2t exported file, so that's not a bad deal either. If that doesn't satisfy you either, get a bigger drive.
Is cineform lossless?
Panasonic HMC 151E - Canon HV20 - Twoneil 35mm Static Adapter - Nikon f1.4 50mm - Rode Videomic - 2x AudioTechnica ATR35 - Zoom H2 - Steadicam JR - Custom LED Lamp
Thanks for the tip Eugenia. I just rendered a 1:18.12 m2t clip using the Cineform HD Codec v2.5. I think I read somewhere that this is a mid-range Cineform codec. The Cineform clip is approximately 5x larger than the original clip. However, in VMSP8 it plays much more smoothly than Huffyuv or Lagarith. Is this the Cineform codec you suggested? Also, how would you compare the quality of this intermediate Cineform codec with Huffyuv and Lagarith?
VLC won't play the Cineform clip. Do I need to download the Cineform player?
>Is cineform lossless?
No, it's visually lossless. So it's close to the real thing as it gets, without getting too slow to edit.
>Is this the Cineform codec you suggested?
Yes. Cineform creates smaller files than Lagarith.
>VLC won't play the Cineform clip
That's normal. VLC and any other freeware/open source effort don't support Cineform, because bluntly put, the open source developers don't care about video editing, they care about video viewing. And so they would go into great lengths hack/re-create delivery-grade codecs, but they snob intermediate codecs like ProRes, AIC, Cineform etc.
Remember, ancient Greeks said it well: Many people hated wealth, but no one hated glory. There is no glory re-creating something like a Cineform codec, because very few people would use it. And OSS development from those bedroom hackers is all about glory, not always about substance. ;-)
Not quite
Well. Cineform gives a playback codec for free anyway..It can be used within MPC or VLC..
I use MPC - Is this better playback than VLC ?
Originally Posted by Eugenia Loli-Queru
No, it still won't work with VLC. In order to use Windows codecs, the application must support the Direct-thingie API (I can't remember how it's called now, it's been years since I developed for Windows). Thing is, all Linux-derived apps, like VLC, don't use that API, and so they can't benefit from the Windows codecs. They have to carry their own codecs, VLC uses ffmpeg under its hood.
MPC might or might not work, depending how it handles the several strains of AVI.
Hi Eugenia. I can confirm that MPC does work..Cheers!
On my MPC, version from April, Cineform does not work correctly. I can see a double streak of images. I have the same problem with WMP too.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote