How-to: achieving best possible Vegas editing experience at DVinfo.net

Magnus Helander · November 13th, 2010, 12:57 PM

I've written a wiki-page on how to get the best possible editing experience with Sony Vegas Pro.

This is based on almost ten years (started with v4 2003) of relying on Sony Vegas for meeting client demands.

Magnus Helander - random findings / Optimizing Sony Vegas editing

/Magnus

Paul Fierlinger · November 14th, 2010, 07:18 AM

You say this is written for Wikipedia? Sorry, there are too many hard sell cliches in the narrative to meet my expectations for objective information. Just seeing the phrase 'editing experience' in the title made me cringe. I would have preferred a simple "editing results" Would Wiki even consider entering such subjective How-To topics as how to enjoy some brand name product?

Magnus Helander · November 14th, 2010, 04:31 PM

Paul, these are my personal observations and recommendations from 10 years with Sony Vegas.
They are not objective and definitely not suitable for Wikipedia or any other unbiased media.

The focus is not technical results, codecs or image quality - it's "how to get an optimized Sony Vegas editing system".

Paul Fierlinger · November 14th, 2010, 04:41 PM

>>>>I've written a wiki-page <<<<<
Sorry Magnus; this line confused me then.

Gregory Gatz · November 14th, 2010, 05:08 PM

Really a commendable effort ( for the effort ) .. But right off the bat you have me confused..

You write:

Sony Vegas is not hardware accelerated - it relies on (and scales with) your hardware configuration ..

I have a feeling you meant to suggest something other than how it reads..

P.S.
OK, one more:

" Read media from your RAID unit and write renders to a separate drive. Massive speed gain when rendering."

Simply not true.. Disk I/O has little, if any effect on rendering speed.
But I will agree it is a good idea to have your source and output media on separate drives for organization and backup purposes .

Magnus Helander · November 14th, 2010, 05:43 PM

Quote:

"Sony Vegas is not hardware accelerated - it relies on (and scales with) your hardware configuration .."
I have a feeling you meant to suggest something other than how it reads..

ROTFL - I can't believe I wrote that!! Thanks for pointing it out.

Separate media and render drives will give you a massive performance gain.

To verify this:
1. Open a reasonably complex Vegas project with all media stored on a standard SATA drive, something like... E:\media
2. Render your project to same physical drive, E:\media. Time it.
3. Now render with same settings to a different physical drive, external USB or similar such as F:\usbdrive or another SATA drive. Time it.

Compare the timings. See what i mean?

/m

Gregory Gatz · November 14th, 2010, 05:49 PM

What codec and length of media are you talking about ?

I'll try a few simple renders. I may have spoken too soon, and will be prepared to apologize..

Magnus Helander · November 14th, 2010, 06:07 PM

The longer and more complex the project the bigger the difference - stills, lower thirds, vo, music, PiP..

Haven't really tested/timed simultaneously reading & writing to logical RAID units, but assume they perform better when only reading.. I always render to a separate physical drive.

/magnus

Jeff Harper · November 14th, 2010, 06:32 PM

I don't agree with several points, but that is unimportant. I commend you for the effort, well done.

Jon McGuffin · November 14th, 2010, 07:52 PM

I too commend you for the work done, good stuff!

Marc Salvatore · November 15th, 2010, 12:45 PM

I find this very helpful. Thank you.

Roy Alexander · November 22nd, 2010, 03:11 AM

Hi Marc. Do these interesting observations also apply to VMS 10 HD platinum.

November 13th, 2010, 12:57 PM	#1
Magnus Helander Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 221	How-to: achieving best possible Vegas editing experience I've written a wiki-page on how to get the best possible editing experience with Sony Vegas Pro. This is based on almost ten years (started with v4 2003) of relying on Sony Vegas for meeting client demands. Magnus Helander - random findings / Optimizing Sony Vegas editing /Magnus __________________ Magnus Helander, Crossmediageek on G+

November 14th, 2010, 07:18 AM	#2
Paul Fierlinger Major Player Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Wynnewood, Pennsylvania Posts: 355	You say this is written for Wikipedia? Sorry, there are too many hard sell cliches in the narrative to meet my expectations for objective information. Just seeing the phrase 'editing experience' in the title made me cringe. I would have preferred a simple "editing results" Would Wiki even consider entering such subjective How-To topics as how to enjoy some brand name product? __________________ Paul

November 14th, 2010, 04:31 PM	#3
Magnus Helander Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 221	Paul, these are my personal observations and recommendations from 10 years with Sony Vegas. They are not objective and definitely not suitable for Wikipedia or any other unbiased media. The focus is not technical results, codecs or image quality - it's "how to get an optimized Sony Vegas editing system". __________________ Magnus Helander, Crossmediageek on G+

November 14th, 2010, 04:41 PM	#4
Paul Fierlinger Major Player Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Wynnewood, Pennsylvania Posts: 355	>>>>I've written a wiki-page <<<<< Sorry Magnus; this line confused me then. __________________ Paul

November 14th, 2010, 06:07 PM	#8
Magnus Helander Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 221	The longer and more complex the project the bigger the difference - stills, lower thirds, vo, music, PiP.. Haven't really tested/timed simultaneously reading & writing to logical RAID units, but assume they perform better when only reading.. I always render to a separate physical drive. /magnus __________________ Magnus Helander, Crossmediageek on G+

November 14th, 2010, 05:08 PM	#5
Gregory Gatz New Boot Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 16	Really a commendable effort ( for the effort ) .. But right off the bat you have me confused.. You write: Sony Vegas is not hardware accelerated - it relies on (and scales with) your hardware configuration .. I have a feeling you meant to suggest something other than how it reads.. P.S. OK, one more: " Read media from your RAID unit and write renders to a separate drive. Massive speed gain when rendering." Simply not true.. Disk I/O has little, if any effect on rendering speed. But I will agree it is a good idea to have your source and output media on separate drives for organization and backup purposes .

November 14th, 2010, 05:49 PM	#7
Gregory Gatz New Boot Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 16	What codec and length of media are you talking about ? I'll try a few simple renders. I may have spoken too soon, and will be prepared to apologize..

November 14th, 2010, 06:32 PM	#9
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	I don't agree with several points, but that is unimportant. I commend you for the effort, well done. __________________ "The horror of what I saw on the timeline cannot be described."

November 14th, 2010, 07:52 PM	#10
Jon McGuffin Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Carlsbad, CA Posts: 634	I too commend you for the work done, good stuff!

November 15th, 2010, 12:45 PM	#11
Marc Salvatore Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Medford, OR Posts: 351	I find this very helpful. Thank you.

November 22nd, 2010, 03:11 AM	#12
Roy Alexander Major Player Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 354	Hi Marc. Do these interesting observations also apply to VMS 10 HD platinum.