I shoot a clip, EX1 at 1080 30p, and pop it on the timeline in Vegas Pro 10. I confirm that it is indeed 1080 30p. I prepare to render as XDCAM (*.mp4) and Vegas is telling me the template that matches my project is =HQ 1920x 1080 60i 35 Mpbs VBR. So I go with those settings and the rendered clip is indistinguishable from the original, at least to my old eyes, but it is about 20% smaller than the original. Re-compression happened, I think.

Then I select the HQ 1920x 1080 24p 35 Mbps template and change the 24p to 29.97p and ‘no re-compression required’ as one might expect.

Why is Vegas Pro 10 encouraging (if that’s the right word) me to render as interlaced?

Oh, I should add I’m viewing the rendered files on a somewhat new top-of-the-line Dell 24” monitor.

Many thanks.

John

can't help really as i don't have an ex1 - however, i notice you're in nz. why are you shooting ntsc?

Today NZ, tomorrow maybe back to Mexico, or Canada, but does it really matter. My web site is hosted by Bluehost in Utah, USA, and my understanding is that my neighbors HDTV doesn’t care one way or the other and I prefer the look of 30p versus 25p (the EX1 won’t shoot 50p which I might prefer) so what’s a boy to do?

But that’s a different conversation...

Hi John.

Apologies if this is not the answer but I've had similar problems with Sony Vegas Studio 10 HD where I use the handy use the format of the file adding to the project. Mine are 1080p AVIs after Cineform conversion....The answer I got when asking why it thought mine was 1080i @60 was the program literally cannot tell the difference from the file so it guessed at i instead of p and also therefore sets it to 60.

I always open up in the 1080p 30 template now and forget the set project to file source.

Thanks Harry, appreciate your comments. Interestingly, a moment ago I went to render a 1080 30p project (clips shot with the EX1) and the template Vegas Pro 10 presented with the = sign was in fact the =HD EX 1920x 1080-30p template which of course makes perfect sense. Go figure!