Rendering from Vegas for Sorenson to flv at DVinfo.net

Stuart Campbell · February 12th, 2008, 01:55 PM

I've just completed a short test on an edit in development using Vegas 7.0e (not installing 8 yet until I'm satisfied it'll work)

http://www.campbellvideo.com/montytest

I've noticed that any colour correction work done seems to toggle on an off once in a .flv (you'll see it toward the end of the test).

Don't worry about the other issues like stutter on the slo-mo section (this is just a test). I'm just curious as to why my colour correction is misbehaving!

Rendered to uncompressed then 1327 Kbps in a 768x432 frame for .flv all at 24fps from a 25fps project.

Any ideas would be great here!
Cheers
Stu

Paul Kellett · February 12th, 2008, 02:02 PM

Stuart,that's good quality.You rendered that with vegas ? I'm using vegas pro 8 and have just started messing with rendering for web.
What was your template ? How long was the original file and what did you compress it down to.
thanks,Paul.

Stuart Campbell · February 12th, 2008, 02:12 PM

Hi Paul

That's draft quality! It'll be better. Draft quality render settings below

Project Duration 9 mins
1280x720 at 25fps
rendered to wmv 5mps bit rate default 1280x720 HDV
Convert to a LargProg FLV at 768x432 at 24 fps with a key frame every 30 frames
Make sure you keep your aspect ratio in multiples of 16!!!!
Bitrate target 1400 ish
By the end it's about a 100 Mb Prog FLV

Paul Kellett · February 12th, 2008, 02:27 PM

Stuart,thanks for replying so quickly.
I just looked at my WMV template,i don't have all those settings,what is LargeProgFLV ?
Have you used only vegas for everything ?
The second video is awsome quality.
I'll be getting my own website soon so want to know the best i can render to,using vegas pro 8,for people to play back on their pc's,presumably using flash.
If you've used just vegas,can you give me the whole template.
Thanks,Paul.

Stuart Campbell · February 12th, 2008, 03:11 PM

Hi Paul,

No, unfortunately Vegas is an editing tool, not a web authoring tool as well! Wouldn't it be great if it was!!

Ideally you should render to an uncompressed AVI in Vegas. Then, you'll need a converter such as Sorenson Squeeze for Flash to convert your rendered AVI into an .flv before you can put it on the web.

A Progressive .flv is a flash file that progressively downloads and allows the viewer to start watching whilst it downloads the rest. It's a cheat of streaming really, but works great for me.

There are a TON of ways of doing this and sadly there's NO hard and fast rule of thumb for putting a good quality video on the web. You just have to find the right balance between quality of photography, project content, target size, audience etc etc etc!!! As far as I've learned very recently, the only way to do this right is to do a series of tests until your happy!! and this can take a while! I find that different settings are required for different film subject matters!

Let me know when you start and I'll help you out more if you like!

Good luck!

Paul Kellett · February 12th, 2008, 03:44 PM

Thanks Stuart,i'll look at sorenson squeeze. I've heard quite a few times that h264/mp4 is good quality,i can export this with vegas,i'll just have to wait till i get it on my own site to see how it downloads,i've put some on youtube,as experiment,end's up a bit crappy,but that's youtube for you eh.
Thanks for the offer of advice,i might well take you up on it soon.
Many thanks,Paul.

Jeff Harper · February 13th, 2008, 05:21 AM

I see the issue you're talking about Stu, I haven't experienced it with converting to FLV (yet), but will interested if anyone comes up with an explanation...Maybe when you render to flv from higher quality it will affect it, eh? But I doubt that is the cause. I render using Flash CS3 encoder, but I doubt that it works any better or much differently than Sorenson.

Stuart Campbell · February 14th, 2008, 03:47 AM

Problem solved. I re-rendered the test clip out of Vegas again and this time it's ok. No Idea what happened. Maybe a glitch in rendering? Maybe I fat thumbed something by mistake! I'd like to know, but more importantly the problem has disappeared!

Jeff Harper · February 14th, 2008, 03:54 AM

Had a new hard drive installed today. Seemed bad. Took it out, re-booted, shut down re-installed it, works fine. So many things with PCs just need to be re-done. Some days I marvel at the wonderful things we can do with these machines, and other days I just shake my head at the inconsistency with them.

Glad you "fixed" your problem!

Stuart Campbell · February 14th, 2008, 02:34 PM

I'm totally with you on this one Jeff. It never fails to amaze me how something can work one minute and not the next!

Glad your drive was OK. Things like this can be incredibly frustrating, especially when there's no logical explanation!

February 12th, 2008, 01:55 PM	#1
Stuart Campbell Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Hannover, Germany Posts: 400	Colour Correction Oddity in Vegas to FLV render! I've just completed a short test on an edit in development using Vegas 7.0e (not installing 8 yet until I'm satisfied it'll work) http://www.campbellvideo.com/montytest I've noticed that any colour correction work done seems to toggle on an off once in a .flv (you'll see it toward the end of the test). Don't worry about the other issues like stutter on the slo-mo section (this is just a test). I'm just curious as to why my colour correction is misbehaving! Rendered to uncompressed then 1327 Kbps in a 768x432 frame for .flv all at 24fps from a 25fps project. Any ideas would be great here! Cheers Stu Last edited by Stuart Campbell; February 12th, 2008 at 02:25 PM.

February 12th, 2008, 02:02 PM	#2
Paul Kellett Trustee Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 1,273	Stuart,that's good quality.You rendered that with vegas ? I'm using vegas pro 8 and have just started messing with rendering for web. What was your template ? How long was the original file and what did you compress it down to. thanks,Paul. __________________ Round 2 GH5,FZ2000

February 12th, 2008, 02:12 PM	#3
Stuart Campbell Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Hannover, Germany Posts: 400	Hi Paul That's draft quality! It'll be better. Draft quality render settings below Project Duration 9 mins 1280x720 at 25fps rendered to wmv 5mps bit rate default 1280x720 HDV Convert to a LargProg FLV at 768x432 at 24 fps with a key frame every 30 frames Make sure you keep your aspect ratio in multiples of 16!!!! Bitrate target 1400 ish By the end it's about a 100 Mb Prog FLV Last edited by Stuart Campbell; February 13th, 2008 at 02:15 AM.

February 12th, 2008, 02:27 PM	#4
Paul Kellett Trustee Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 1,273	Stuart,thanks for replying so quickly. I just looked at my WMV template,i don't have all those settings,what is LargeProgFLV ? Have you used only vegas for everything ? The second video is awsome quality. I'll be getting my own website soon so want to know the best i can render to,using vegas pro 8,for people to play back on their pc's,presumably using flash. If you've used just vegas,can you give me the whole template. Thanks,Paul. __________________ Round 2 GH5,FZ2000

February 12th, 2008, 03:44 PM	#6
Paul Kellett Trustee Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 1,273	Thanks Stuart,i'll look at sorenson squeeze. I've heard quite a few times that h264/mp4 is good quality,i can export this with vegas,i'll just have to wait till i get it on my own site to see how it downloads,i've put some on youtube,as experiment,end's up a bit crappy,but that's youtube for you eh. Thanks for the offer of advice,i might well take you up on it soon. Many thanks,Paul. __________________ Round 2 GH5,FZ2000

February 12th, 2008, 03:11 PM	#5
Stuart Campbell Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Hannover, Germany Posts: 400	Hi Paul, No, unfortunately Vegas is an editing tool, not a web authoring tool as well! Wouldn't it be great if it was!! Ideally you should render to an uncompressed AVI in Vegas. Then, you'll need a converter such as Sorenson Squeeze for Flash to convert your rendered AVI into an .flv before you can put it on the web. A Progressive .flv is a flash file that progressively downloads and allows the viewer to start watching whilst it downloads the rest. It's a cheat of streaming really, but works great for me. There are a TON of ways of doing this and sadly there's NO hard and fast rule of thumb for putting a good quality video on the web. You just have to find the right balance between quality of photography, project content, target size, audience etc etc etc!!! As far as I've learned very recently, the only way to do this right is to do a series of tests until your happy!! and this can take a while! I find that different settings are required for different film subject matters! Let me know when you start and I'll help you out more if you like! Good luck!

February 13th, 2008, 05:21 AM	#7
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	I see the issue you're talking about Stu, I haven't experienced it with converting to FLV (yet), but will interested if anyone comes up with an explanation...Maybe when you render to flv from higher quality it will affect it, eh? But I doubt that is the cause. I render using Flash CS3 encoder, but I doubt that it works any better or much differently than Sorenson.

February 14th, 2008, 03:47 AM	#8
Stuart Campbell Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Hannover, Germany Posts: 400	Problem solved. I re-rendered the test clip out of Vegas again and this time it's ok. No Idea what happened. Maybe a glitch in rendering? Maybe I fat thumbed something by mistake! I'd like to know, but more importantly the problem has disappeared!

February 14th, 2008, 03:54 AM	#9
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Had a new hard drive installed today. Seemed bad. Took it out, re-booted, shut down re-installed it, works fine. So many things with PCs just need to be re-done. Some days I marvel at the wonderful things we can do with these machines, and other days I just shake my head at the inconsistency with them. Glad you "fixed" your problem!

February 14th, 2008, 02:34 PM	#10
Stuart Campbell Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Hannover, Germany Posts: 400	I'm totally with you on this one Jeff. It never fails to amaze me how something can work one minute and not the next! Glad your drive was OK. Things like this can be incredibly frustrating, especially when there's no logical explanation!