Vegas 8 footage "choppy" versus FCP & Premiere
 

I find that my edited footage in Vegas is "choppy" compared to footage by FCP and Premiere. I typically edit HDV (.m2t) into 1080-30P wmv or 720-30 wmv files. Here is a screen shot of my set-up screens for my fellow Vegas experts to diagnose for improper set-up:


Any ideas how to make things silky smooth?

Couple clarifications would be useful...

What camera was the footage shot on, interlace or progressive, any rescaling on capture, what capture tool?

Are you finding your footage choppy in your previews, in your renders, or both?

Are you using the default wmv templates for your renders, or, what bitrates are you using?

I shoot an XHA1, usually on 60i. The final renders into 8Mbps or 6.4Mbps wmv are choppy when panning or motion on the screen. The images don't blend together as movement takes place.

If your previews are looking OK in Vegas, that seems to implicate the conversion from 60i to 30p on render.

I don't have a direct answer for you, and perhaps some others who have more 60i-30p experience will chip in, but here's what I'd try:

Find a short sequence that always shows choppiness (a few seconds are plenty)...

Render as you have been, but to 60i. (allowing WMV to perform the progressive conversion instead of vegas)

Render as you have been, but change Deinterlace method in project properties to interpolate instead of blend.

Render with interpolate or blend, whichever was better, and right click on the media on the timeline and change the "disable resample" setting. If it was off (probably), turn it on, if it was on, turn it off.

In each case above, take your render out to wmv and look carefully at the results and keep track of which changes result in improvements.

One thing to keep in mind is that progressive conversion reduces the time slices by 50%, therefore pans and motion really won't ever be as finely presented as in 60i. But Vegas should be able to keep up with Premiere & FCP in this.

If none of these things help... are you shooting in actual 60i, or in some sort of frame/progressive mode that gets embedded in 60i in the camera? Please post a screen shot of the video tab in your typical render settings for wmv, found on "custom" button in the render dialog.