HD editing in Sony Vegas PC question
 

According to the Sony website, Vegas requires the following min sys reqs:

Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2 or Windows Vista™
1 GHz processor (2.8 GHz recommended for HDV)
200 MB hard-disk space for program installation
600 MB hard-disk space for optional Sony Sound Series Loops & Samples reference library
1 GB RAM
OHCI-compatible i.LINK® connector1/IEEE-1394DV card
(for DV and HDV capture and print-to-tape)
Windows-compatible sound card
DVD-ROM drive (for installation from a DVD only)
Supported CD-recordable drive (for CD burning only)
Supported DVD-recordable drive (for DVD burning only)
Supported Blu-ray recordable drive (for Blu-ray burning only)
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0
QuickTime 7.1.6 or later

My PC is as follows:

NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE 256MB DDR2
Intel Pentium D 820 2.80 GHZ
2GB DDR2 667 RAM
2x 500 GB WD SATA HD
2x 21" LG WS LCD Monitor (1 for preview)


My problem is extremely choppy playback of anything in HD on the timeline even without any effects/transitions added. SD video is fine, although after adding 2-3 effects etc, it starts to playback choppy as well.

I bought Vegas using these min sys reqs, and am completely dissatisfied with it. Am I doing something wrong here? Does anyone else have problems with HD editing or do we just need a super computer for this?

Well there could be any number of issues.
First Vegas is pretty much completely processor and RAM dependent. the faster the processor the better it works.
Secondly, if the preview is set to BEST Full or GOOD Full the preview may very well be choppy because Vegas will drop frames in order to try to keep up. Set the preview to PREVIEW AUTO it's good enough to edit with.
Third, depending on any effects or CC that might have been applied to the footage be it at track level or clip (event) level that can also slow it down.
I know way too many guys using Vegas with HD/HDV NOT having any problems to condemn the software.
While I am not shooting HD/HDV and am still using version 6 for my work, I found it to be both stable and reliable but also can and does bog down when I throw effect laden clips at it or if for some reason I set the preview to anything but PREVIEW Auto.
Just some things to think about

Remember the specs from Sony are MINIMUM and nowhere near real world work. Hell I had versions 4 5 and 6 running on an old P3 laptop with 512 RAM. While running slow it ran solid and did the job on many occassions.

Don

As Don said, minimum specs are just that... MINIMUM. Now that said, your machine seems to be ok for what you want to do. There are some things that will help though.

My FIRST question is what kind of file you have on the timeline. If you are forcing Vegas to calculate it's screens in full res (or any other NLE for that matter) by dropping native HDV files on the timeline, you're going to be in for some heartache. You need some REAL muscle to drop HDV or AVCHD files in 720p or 1080p on the timeline and expect them to play. I'd suggest strongly you render to a lossless AVI type file. That will double or triple your performance.

Second, as Don mentioned, are you previewing in Best Full or something similar? If you're having trouble this may well be why.

Third, Vegas doesn't leverage the graphics card. So it's not helping you at all. Third, you're a bit shy on RAM. RAM is cheap, fill it up.

Generally, when I hear about people who have issues with Vegas, it almost ALWAYS come down to one of the things I mentioned above or one other thing. They have not optimized their PCs.

So do this. Do a fresh boot on your PC. Let it come up with whatever it normally starts with, then load the task manager. Click on performance. Then see what the following parameters say:

1. Processes: How many are running
2. PF Usage: How many MB are being used before you kick off Vegas.
3. Physical Memory Available: How much RAM is actually available to Vegas.
4. Average CPU usage. Your CPU should be idling around 5-10%. If its more than this, you need to address what your machine is running.

You might also look at your disk I/O performance, as once you start doing playback, that is going to be your bottleneck. Are your drives defragged? Do a reformat on your video drives. You'd be AMAZED how much faster things go.


-P

First, thanks for the replies guys.

I forgot to mention a few things. I am running Vegas 7E on Windows XP. It is aclean install, with nothing installed except for Vegas and Architecht 4. My preview is always on "preview auto", but the lag and choppyness also occur on "draft auto".

As far as the type of file I am placing on the timeline, I will try your advice and try the AVI, although that will mean rendering in order to render?

RAM - I can load up to 4GB on my MB, so I will try that too. Would an Intel Core 2 quad Q6600 make any difference from what I have?

I run a duo core 6600 and it has made a hugh difference from my old 3.06HT processor.

As for the files well first off version 7 is fine but 8 is better for HD editing.

Perhaps a look at that might be the better option.

Don

Save money and get an extra 1GB instead of 2GB - Windows can only use up to ~3.2GB (32-bit Windows, that is) and Vegas has a 2GB limit (like any other application except a few odd-balls).

Your dual core 820 is like a snail compared to a Q6600. (BTW, I have a similar system though the D920 and Vegas 8. I'm happy with its HDV performance).

Here's another question...I have my finger on the button to purchase an LG GGW-H20L Blu-Ray burner...min sys req for this says 3.2GHZ. Isn't the Q6600, at 2.4 GHZ slower than my 2.8 GHZ CPU, and to slow for the LG burner? I guess I just don't get the whole CPU speed thing. Basically, I want to know if I buy a Q6600, will I be able to burn with the LG and edit/author in Vegas, given the min sys reqs for both?

You D820 has two 2.8GHz cores.

The Q6600 has four 2.4GHz cores.

Just on that basis alone, the Q6600 will be able to perform nearly twice as well as the D820. In reality, the performance boost is even greater. The Core series of processors uses an architecture that can perform more instructions per cycle.

The requirement of 3.2GHz for the Blu-Ray writer is unclear. It probably refers to a single-core processor - most likely an older CPU such as the Pentium 4.

Take a look here:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_20...=899&chart=432

It shows CPU comparisons for HD MPEG2 to WMV encoding using Premiere Pro 2.0. Your two CPUs of interest are shown in red. You can select difference benchmarks, too.

Thanks for the info John. I just went out and bought the Q6600, with an extra 1GB of RAM. I am sure this will help out emensely.