Editing HD1 mp4 with Vegas
 

Sorry if I come back with stupid beginners' question but I am still stuck in my learning process.
Starting from the premise that I would like to use Vegas(6.0d) and keep the highest ouput quality, which procedure should I follow?
I presume that I have to convert my mp4 files in another format prior to start editing? But which format? Using which software?
I have tried Mp4cam2avi and it seems like Vegas doesn't like the resulting avi files because I cannot import them!

When I import mp4 files straight into Vegas, I cannot get an acceptable preview frame rate which I understood is quite normal with native HD1 footage.

Many thanks

Vegas 6 editing
 

I had the same problem with vegas 6. I went to the sony website and downloaded the h264 mpg4 codec for vegas. I believe it was on the updates page for vegas. I was able to import files that I used mp4toavi on first. I still havent bought the camera yet, just downloaded samples from peop0le who posted footage here. Wanted to make sure my system could handle footage before I bought. After importing footage into Vegas,(still choppy but usable) I exported to an mpeg 2 right in Vegas. The dvd quality from this camera is awesome! I watched it on a sony lcd tv at work and it looked excellent. I hope this helps and sorry if you have figured this out already. Takecare,
Arlan

I'm in a hurry, so I need to be brief. Try Ulead Studio 10 Plus.The Plus version edits and outputs HD. I use it and it edits mp4 with no problem, It then exports HD in either mpeg2 or WMV.Price is 99$.It also supports HD DVD burners (when they arrive) and will work on 64 bit systems as well as 32.

Thanks for this info. I will try this since I don't think I have this codec.
Btw, when you say that you export to mpeg2 in Vegas, do you mean before editing?
Cheers,

Erick

[QUOTE=Philip Raymond]Try Ulead Studio 10 Plus.The Plus version edits and outputs HD.QUOTE]

Yes Philip, you are right but would appreciate an editing software like Vegas and Cie... ;>)

Thanks anyway.

Erick

I would appreciate just a SIMPLE lossless or near to it way of simply CUTTING the videos files like you can in camera without having to wait the eternity it takes to do so in camera.

all I want to do is pick a start and end point and say cut that out for me. thats it !!!

the trick is I don't want to recompress it !! the in camera would be fine if it let me define both a start and end in one operation (ie usually my clips are a few seconds long) right now I have to play to beginning and tell it delete 1st half then I wait forever.

Then I play this new clip to my end point and tell it delete second half and it once again takes forever. Grrr just for a 15second clip Grrr

Suggestions ?

http://www.naramlive.com/

Why can't you just use mp4cam2avi which does no compression to pull all the clips to one avi, then VirtualDub with direct stream copy, which has a very simple system for cutting bits out. Then you'll get no recompression in the output avi. No clever transition stuff mind you..

Hmmm never tried that. I tend to shy away from virtualdub because its usually VERY compliated to use in a rush enviroment. Is it still time index based or do they have a preview gui for picking the start and end points now (I will try tommorrow sometime and see what happens)

also once I run the avi coverter on it I can't put it back in the camera which right now is the only way for me to output HD to a television set (still have to stop by best buy and jack into one just to see what it looks like :-)

Chris Taylor
http://www.naramlive.com/

The current version is very clean and, in my view, straightforward to use:
http://www.virtualdub.org/download

You can of course make it complicated and have hours of endless fun playing with the filters and compressions, both the inbuilt ones, and the ones on the net:
http://www.hlinke.de/Home_e/Vdub-Fil...ilterlist.html

But it does provide in and out preview, realtime shuffle edit, and you can delete a block by marking it and pressing delete.
However, as you say, you can't reconstitute into the original format and put the result back in the camera.

As for outputting to tv, I noticed yesterday that Pinnacle, who've been take over by Avid seem to be clearing the deck and in the UK have their multimedia box, the Showcenter 200 on a cutprice offer.
http://estore.pinnaclesys.com/servle...11000&Env=BASE

This is supposed to handle HD, and output in 720p or 1080i. I've ordered one to see whether it will handle the HD1 output, both raw and converted. In their UK shop its 129UKP, down from 179, but it still seems to be $299 on the US site:
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSit...Center+200.htm

Hello Mike and Chris,

I've tried reading converted MP4 HD1 files with mp4cam2avi into virtualdub but during playback, I get a lot of interferences (small horizontal lines) on the right part of the display only.

Any idea how it comes?

Erick

This is just using direct stream copy on both audio and video? Or have you got a compressor codec on the output? What are you playing the clips with?
I don't get this problem either in MPC or PowerDVD 7, nor on output built with Divx 6 compression.
PS, there are the usual diagonal compression artifacts of course, where they are present in the source.

No, I wasn't ouputting anything! Just playing the avi files with Virtualdub and hoping to get them trimmed easily. At that stage, the clips were played back showing some small interferences.
So, it doesn't encourage me to continue that way...:>(

With direct stream copying on, then the input and output images should be identical. Use right click to size the windows so you can see both ok.

Ulead is simple and fast
 

I just downloaded the trial and did two tests with xacti footage and Uleads VideoStudio 10 plus, based on Phillip's recommendation. Very simple and intuitive and had no problems reading and editing mpeg4 footage. I outputed to wmvHD and mpeg2hd. The windows media hd file was 3x the size of the original, but was better quality than the mpeg2 hd (all at 720p).

I was hoping to output edited footage in the same codec and format as the xacti for full screen playback on my LCD, but I wasn't able to do so as the settings wouldn't allow 1280x720 in mpeg4.

I think I will buy this software, as it is only $99 and has a lot of options for output. I also liked the feature of exporting jpeg image sequences.

I have been searching for a way to join my clips together without recompression and so fare I have come up empty. You can look at a thread that I started here http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=69125 about the subject. In theory you should be able to do just that with Quick Time pro as well as the other freeware program mentioned in that thread. It does work, but when I play back the new clip that consisted of joined clips I loose the audio after the first join point. I have tested this on several diffrent computers using VLC player and I always get the same result on matter how I join them together with the exception of doing it in the camera.