Can someone tell me the difference between the =NTSC DV template and the Default Template (uncompressed) in Vegas Pro 10?

Thanks.

Contrary to popular belief, AVI using the DV codec is compressed. It's very good compression, and some serious-minded people have shown that using Vegas and successive DV renders, it's good for 11 or more generations without visual degradation.

So, we usually think of it as equal to uncompressed - but it's not. It is compressed about 5:1, in addition to its chroma subsampling of 4:1:1.

DV is standard def, period. Although an excellent codec, that might otherwise have application for Digital Intermediate work in hi def, it is restricted to standard def. You can't select the DV codec for a 1280x720 render, for example.

Default Template (uncompressed) has 5 times the data rate for standard def (more than some disc drives can play back for previews at best-full), 5 times the file size, can have less or no chroma subsampling, depending on the original material. It has an available transparency channel (Alpha channel). In Vegas, when you select it for rendering, it is automatically sized to the project properties, eg. standard def, 720p, 1080i/p, etc.

Thanks Seth for the great explanation. It's been ahwile since I needed to render to AVI so I've forgotten a few things.

Seth, just to make sure, not that I use NTSC DV codec, but if I did, well I wouldn't be wise, since it won't give me enough color information if my raw footage is 4:2:0 sampling right?