My clips playback fine in the camera, Ex1. HD1920X1080 30P.

I imported the clips as MXF and then mp4, first using clipbrowser and then using Explorer.

I can't get a ten second clip out of Vegas without dropping big frames and freezing playback. I tried rendering as qt, and wmv, with the same results.

I wonder if this is a computer problem. I'm running on an underpowered system - Core Duo 2ghz, 2ram, 32 bit version of vegas - until I get a new desktop built. On this system, playback along the timeline is heinous.

I'm going to check import and render settings but I thought I'd ask if this if this is a computer issue.

Can you trust the playback of your renders on this system?

I'd recommend rendering to something real small, say 854x480 WMV at 1200Kbps bitrate. Your PC should be able to play this back with no problems - that may tell more of the story.

If it still has big drops & etc., you will indeed have to look at every previous step.

If it looks good, the problem would be your computer's ability to play back renders with the settings you'd used previously.

That you can't really preview the footage makes it difficult to troubleshoot.

The render process *should not* be the problem in this. A slower system should just slow down, typically no frame drops take place during rendering, they really shouldn't.

Yes, could be a playback problem.

Still, I'll do exactly as you suggest. There may be an import\export problem but I'll run some renders, too.

Thanks.

Much better performance editing native 1280\720 30p, and rendering out as same with Sony AVC setting for youtube playback. The computer still can't cope with the vid on the timeline but the playback once rendered out is solid. Some initial juddery motion to the clips I've rendered, but after that smooth.