Tom,

Speaking of smart rendering mxf in Vegas:

Yes, I'm aware I can get a 100 Mbps file smart-rendering nanoFlash 100 Mbps clip - but it works with VP 8.0 only; with 9.0c (both 32 and 64 bit) all I'm getting is audio... There must be some problem with how Vegas Pro 9.0 handles mxf, as each nano clip starts with a green frame when put on timeline.

Can you confirm that?

I also agree it's sad that authoring apps (like DVDA) do not accept mxf...

Piotr,

I'm sorry. I don't have the version 9. I am still using version 8.0(c) running under Vista. Don't you remember me telling you I'm a fossil?

For me there is no problem with mxf or getting a green frame on the timeline.

Also under 8.0(c), DVDA 5.0 does accept mxf for input, it just doesn't smart render it. There are other authoring apps that will however.

Piotr,

I'm sorry. I don't have the version 9. I am still using version 8.0(c) running under Vista. Don't you remember me telling you I'm a fossil?

That makes two of us (fossils) ;)

Also under 8.0(c), DVDA 5.0 does accept mxf for input, it just doesn't smart render it. There are other authoring apps that will however.

Interesting what you are saying about DVDA - yes, mxf is accepted, but requires re-compression even at 35 Mbps 4:2:0 (which is a pain in DVDA not only due of no smart-rendering, but generally DVDA renders slower (using just one CPU), and lower quality (at least with MC MPG2)).

As to the 9.0, while it brings a couple of nice improvements, handling mxf (not just from nanoFlash - also EX native ones) is flawed. Smart-rendering or even simple timeline playback causes memory leaks (the RAM usage goes up continuously at the rate of some 0.1GB/sec, which eats all my 8 GB RAM at no time, then freezes the whole system).

And indeed, the green frame problem is non-existent in VP 8.0c.

Piotr,

If you don't want to recompress mxf in DVDA, there is a workaround. I've done it many times, and it only works on the 35 mbps mxf you get off the SXS due to the bit rate being too high for the ones coming from the Nanoflash.

But what you do, is use Vegas Pro to encode a separate elementary stream for the audio, usually an AC3 5.1 file. Then you use a program to strip away the mxf file headers, leaving you with just an mpeg-2 file with the file extension .m2v. The .m2v file is accepted for input by DVDA. You point DVDA to the 5.1 dolby audio file as well as the .m2v video file. Both of these files will smart render from DVDA without recompression, at 2-3x faster than realtime. The only thing that will slow down the process, are your menus etc. If you delete them, you'll see how fast it really flies.

I'm going to email you the utility for stripping away the .mxf headers. It will separate the .mxf into (3) native essence files, (1) video and (2) audio. Uncheck the boxes for the audio files, you can't use them. Instead use just the .m2v video file it creates, and the ac3 5.1 audio file you created in the earlier step with Vegas.

I guess you will have to use 8.0(c) to do this. I assume you still have it. That's a shame btw, that version 9 is broken like that.

Piotr,
Email sent

Thanks Tom.

I remember I did use Snell&Wilcox utility over 2 years ago when I first came into contact with mxf files from my EX1; now, I must be a real "fossil" as I all forgot about it since:)

Probably because it never actually installed as an Explorer plug - I used it in stand-alone mode.