Bob, perhaps I'm too tired and sleepy after all day work - but don't quite follow; how do you do all this in one pass, if the Unsharpen Mask is applied AFTER downconversion? Doen't downconversion require a separate render? Please elaborate on your steps; TIA>

No, downconversion etc can all be done in one pass.
Open SD 50i 16:9 project. Drop mxf clips onto T/L and edit.
You can control where in the chain an FX is applied in Vegas by The Triangle. See attached screenshot. For many FXs it doesn't matter, in this case it does. Try clicking the triangle to change its direction while monitoring the output.

Thanks Bob - I leaned something new on Sunday :)

The Manual only mentions the possibility of using Pre/Post Toggle triangle when the event is being panned/cropped, but from what you're saying it also works with downscaling a HD clip in an SD project - am I getting you right?

Bob, I tried it and frankly, cannot see a difference - apart that with the "pre" setting (trangle pointing to the left) the preview is slower!

What I am unclear about is this: regardless of the projects settings, I understood that the downconversion only takes place when rendering HD out to SD MPEG-2 (for SD DVD). Setting the project to SD only changes how the HD clip is previewed. Where am I wrong?

Oh, and I tried it with 25p mxf in a 25p (not 50i) SD project - does it matter?

Bob, I tried it and frankly, cannot see a difference - apart that with the "pre" setting (trangle pointing to the left) the preview is slower!

What I am unclear about is this: regardless of the projects settings, I understood that the downconversion only takes place when rendering HD out to SD MPEG-2 (for SD DVD). Setting the project to SD only changes how the HD clip is previewed. Where am I wrong?

Oh, and I tried it with 25p mxf in a 25p (not 50i) SD project - does it matter?

Try looking at your output on a SD CRT monitor as you change the triangle.
I've only tried this in a 50i project with 50i footage destined for SD DVD.
Yes downconversion only takes place when rendering to SD. However using a SD project does mean you get to see what you're going to get.
If you're rendering out to HD i.e. your source and destination resolution is the same that triangle isn't going to make any difference. It does effect where Vegas applies FXs during composits e.g. adding a glow before / after a mask.

Also be warned. If you encode to 25p SD mpeg-2 the player will still output 50i unless you're very lucky. It might looks fine on a LCD, it may look bad on a CRT.

Try looking at your output on a SD CRT monitor as you change the triangle.
I've only tried this in a 50i project with 50i footage destined for SD DVD.
Yes downconversion only takes place when rendering to SD. However using a SD project does mean you get to see what you're going to get.
If you're rendering out to HD i.e. your source and destination resolution is the same that triangle isn't going to make any difference. It does effect where Vegas applies FXs during composits e.g. adding a glow before / after a mask.

Also be warned. If you encode to 25p SD mpeg-2 the player will still output 50i unless you're very lucky. It might looks fine on a LCD, it may look bad on a CRT.

There should be no problem with encoding with a progressive flag...


regards Dennis