Vegas Pro 8 project settings/Cineform HDV capture
 

I downoaded a trial version of Cineform HDV, and used it to capture HDV clips from my Canon XH-A1. I used the default Cineform settings, except high quality instead of medium.

I'm ready to do the editing in Vegas. I will be burning a DVD for playback on SD TV, and I want to have the highest quality picture I can get. I'm looking for advice on project settings in Vegas.

Should I use the NTSC DV template, or the HDV 1080-60i template?

I'm thinking of using 32-bit floating point - does that sound appropriate?

As I said, I'm looking for advice.

If you're going to use Cineform, then I would suggest you use the HDV1080i/60. Otherwise, I can see no reason to use Cineform, and would instead simply capture as DV.

Stephen , im inthe same boat you are. I have a canon XHA1 , and 6 HDV tapes that i need to convert to the best quality from this camera. So i downloaded the trial version of HDV and HD. When my trial runs out ill have to buy NEO HDV and B&H photo.com . They have it for 219 or something like that. Cheaper than the cineform site. Im going with the HDV version because i didnt see any quality difference using the NEO HD. So id rather spend 200 than 600.


I captured one whole tape the other day. My settings were......

Preferences
automatically convert to AVI- checked
quality high - checked
framerate automatic- checked
I enabled smart rendering but i think im gonna try this off with a recapture

resize video - none
split file on scene changes


1 tape was 95 gig. I couldnt believe it. I think its because i enabled smart rendering. Did u have that enabled?

Chris,

I used the exact same settings as you did, except I did NOT have smart rendering enabled.

yea , im gonna disable smart rendering and see how big my file size is tonight . And also if the playback is better on WMP classic. Im sure i wont notice a difference in picture quality.

then , im gonna render something small in vegas 7 , until i get 8 , and see what the best settings are for that as well.

What settings do you use for rendering? I'm curious as to both video and audio settings.

stephen , last night i captured the same tape using cineform hdv but this time disabled smart rendering and it came out to be 70 gig , instead of 95 gig.
Im gonna get two 500 gigs and raid stripe them so i get a total of 1000 gig and itll be faster and cheaper than just one tarabite drive. Ill put my vegas production .veg files on another drive thats mirrored so i dont loose any information.

Im gonna render a clip in vegas tonight and see what gives me the best possible picture for my jvc 70inch display. my TV takes 1080i so i think ill keep that framerate , but if vegas allows me to change to progressive , ill try that too. My vp50 can take the 1080p and deinterlace it to 1080i for my TV which then converts it back to 1080p. I have a feeling that just leaving it 1080i is better for me because theres less processing invloved........

Let me know what render settings (audio as well as video) give you the best sound and video quality!

stephen , sorry i havent replied back with some news , ive been busy trying to finish up my kitchen. Im at the end of my remodeling project. I have a copy of vegas 8 pro , so im gonna install it tonight and this weekend do some short editing and rendering. I havent forgotten about you.


Chris