HC7 and Vegas

[Joseph Freeman]

Hello everyone, the HC7 and a copy of Sony Vegas 7 Platinum should be here next week. I'll be utilizing the two to shoot some corporate training DVD's.

I'm running a Dell PC, 3.06GHz with 2GB of RAM. Will this work well with the HC7, Vegas and HDV?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Ray Bell]

Get the Cineform intermediate too... makes life so much easier when
editing HD footage...

you can download a trial to see if you like it or not..

[Jeff Belknap]

Originally Posted by Joseph Freeman

Hello everyone, the HC7 and a copy of Sony Vegas 7 Platinum should be here next week. I'll be utilizing the two to shoot some corporate training DVD's.

I'm running a Dell PC, 3.06GHz with 2GB of RAM. Will this work well with the HC7, Vegas and HDV?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi Joseph,

Are you happy with the DVD's you can make using Vegas 7 Platinum? I was struggling to get a good quality DVD using the "studio" version of Vegas.

My specific struggle point had to do with custom settings in the MPEG-2 codex, basically you can't access any of the custom settings with the "studio" version of Vegas. So... I upgraded to the non-studio program. I am very happy with the quality of DVD I can get now... here is the process I follow:

* Record video in HDV1080i (HDR-HC7)
* Capture to Vegas as 1080i with the following adjustments to the properties: Field order = None (progressive), Full res rendering = Best.
* After edit, render as: MainConcept MPEG-2 with the following custom settings: Video rendering = best, In video tab: Output type = DVD, Width = 720, Height = 480, Field order = Progressive only, Video quality max (31), Constant bit rate = 9,800,000. (don't render audio)
* After I render the video, I do the audio: Render as: Sony Perfect Clarity Audio with the default template.
* I create the DVD in Sony DVD Architect Studio 4.0

I found that using the process above provides much improved DVD quality...

Note: CBR of 9800 can not be played in some DVD players... you may want to test the condition with your equipment.... so far, I have had zero problems playing the DVD on all of the players in my home.

Hope this helps...
jb

[Tony Spring]

Originally Posted by Joseph Freeman

Hello everyone, the HC7 and a copy of Sony Vegas 7 Platinum should be here next week. I'll be utilizing the two to shoot some corporate training DVD's.

I'm running a Dell PC, 3.06GHz with 2GB of RAM. Will this work well with the HC7, Vegas and HDV?

If you can afford the full version of Vegas 7 get that cos you'll be able to edit HDV natively with it on your PC and you wont need the Cineform intermediate. I've got a 2ghz dual core laptop with 2gb of ram.

I'd also advise rendering to HDV and then converting to DVD using TMPG Express 4.

[Ray Wesley]

I use basically the same settings for my HC7 video and also am very happy with the quality of DVD's I get. I have version 6 and am using a P4 3.2 GHZ and 2 gigs or ram with no problems at all rendering albeit it takes about 7-8 hours to render a full hour of HD video to get it ready for burning. How fast is it for everyone one else say on a dual core processor and what is your configuration.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

I've got a full hour of HD that is on it's fourth day on a dual core, using two networked computers. It all depends on what's happening with the video. Blurs, color correction, compositing, 3D, etc. All of that can slow it down.
If it were straight cuts-only, no FX...it would probably take around 30 mins.

[John McGinley]

Originally Posted by Jeff Belknap

Note: CBR of 9800 can not be played in some DVD players... you may want to test the condition with your equipment.... so far, I have had zero problems playing the DVD on all of the players in my home.

You should try playing with the VBR settings with 2 pass encoding, you can get some really nice images and longer length on a single disc this way, I usually go max: 9,000,000 avg: 8,000,000 and min: 6,000,000 in NTSC widescreen, deinterlacing the 1080i with blend and have been very pleased with the results in quality and compression size.

And I've never had a problem with the disc being incompatible with any player.

[Joseph Freeman]

As I'm still wating for the delivery of the products, I'll ask a few more questions:

1. How does the Cineform intermediate actually help? Vegas supposedly will capture and edit HDV.

2. Thanks Jeff for the information...once everything is here I'll let you know how it goes.

3. Tony, you recommend rendering to HDV in Vegas and then taking that file and convert to DVD using TMPG Express?

4. Does anyone have experience with placing text over an image in Vegas? Maybe from a photo or video grab. I'm not specifically speaking about titles, but maybe a mask or something else that will allow me to place text over picture...

Thanks once again and I'll be in touch soon...

[Ray Wesley]

I believe Vegas Platinum comes bundled with DVD architect. I use Vegas 6 Platinum and DVD architect to render HDV from my HC7 and burn SD DVD's with ease.

[Mark Bryant]

Originally Posted by Tony Spring

If you can afford the full version of Vegas 7 get that cos you'll be able to edit HDV natively with it on your PC and you wont need the Cineform intermediate. I've got a 2ghz dual core laptop with 2gb of ram.

Sony Vegas 7 Movie Studio Platinum can also edit native HDV without an intermediate, and performs well on a reasonably spec'd PC.

[Paul Kepen]

Originally Posted by Jeff Belknap

Hi Joseph,

Are you happy with the DVD's you can make using Vegas 7 Platinum? I was struggling to get a good quality DVD using the "studio" version of Vegas.

My specific struggle point had to do with custom settings in the MPEG-2 codex, basically you can't access any of the custom settings with the "studio" version of Vegas. So... I upgraded to the non-studio program. I am very happy with the quality of DVD I can get now... here is the process
I follow:

* Record video in HDV1080i (HDR-HC7)
* Capture to Vegas as 1080i with the following adjustments to the properties: Field order = None (progressive), Full res rendering = Best.
* After edit, render as: MainConcept MPEG-2 with the following custom settings: Video rendering = best, In video tab: Output type = DVD, Width = 720, Height = 480, Field order = Progressive only, Video quality max (31), Constant bit rate = 9,800,000. (don't render audio)
* After I render the video, I do the audio: Render as: Sony Perfect Clarity Audio with the default template.
* I create the DVD in Sony DVD Architect Studio 4.0

I found that using the process above provides much improved DVD quality...

Note: CBR of 9800 can not be played in some DVD players... you may want to test the condition with your equipment.... so far, I have had zero problems playing the DVD on all of the players in my home.

Hope this helps...
jb

I have been disapointed with the interlacing artifacts I get in my DVD's. I've tried capturing with cineform HDlink and using it to make a progressive file. The result was very little artifacting, but the image was noticeably soft. I've played with field order (none, upper, lower).. My sharpest DVD's are interlaced ( at least I think they are - I use Vegas 6 and DVD architect) and have the resulting artifacting I tried Adobe PPro and results were inferior to Vegas 6.

I'm somewhat confused, because as I understand it HDV is upper field first, while NTSC, DV, etc. are lower field first. Is this correct? Therefore you not only get the slight motion irregularity that always happen with 3:2 conversion 60i to 24p, but you will also be mixing the field order from Upper first to lower first. I would think (and my experiments seem to show it) that would throw things off even more.

Does everyone agree with Jeff Belknap's workflow for best results for 1080i HDV to DVD? ( dis regarding the CBR vs VBR choice and max bits your dvd player will handle)?

Mr. DSE, is this the way you do it?

Sorry to be a simpleton, but all these variables: ie. field order, interlacced, progressive, 3:2, etc. has caused me to wast hundreds of hours experimenting without success. Thank you all very much - PK