Wolfgang, perhaps you could share any computer fine tuning tips and tricks you've used to help those of us who are having Vegas playback issues resolve them. I have a system close to yours (i7 @ only 3.33 though) and can't get native m2ts files to playback at all on a Vegas timeline or in the Viewer. The same files playout fine in PPro CS5 in Windows so I'm pretty sure it's a Vegas setup issue and not hardware. Any tips would be appreciated as this playback issue is what prevents me from using Vegas more often.

And I'd also love to hear what GPU has worked for others. I've done a lot of homework on this, online, but most of the reviews are about 3D gaming, rather than production.

The following page from Sony's site has information on which GPUs function with their graphics acceleration.

Vegas Pro 11 GPU acceleration (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/gpuacceleration)

On controls like ghost busting and features like 3D text, Tim Dashwood's Stereo Toolbox 3D can't be beat. He has a much more robust toolset than either Neo3D or any NLE standard tools like Vegas or Avid MC 5.
Bruce, thanks for the tip.

I have a current project, a small youtube consciousness documentary interview with my dad, who is a psychology professor. I shot it with the TD10 and GoPro rig as b-camera. I am posting it (so far) on Vegas. Once I have a rough cut, I think I'll try to bring the footage into FCP, and invest in the Stereo Toolbox to finish the project.

And then I'm going to try to integrate stereo CGI (purchased brain models, animated in 3D Studio Max) in the Z-space (and nose room) in front of my dad. That'll be a whole new learning curve...

Wolfgang, perhaps you could share any computer fine tuning tips and tricks you've used to help those of us who are having Vegas playback issues resolve them. I have a system close to yours (i7 @ only 3.33 though) and can't get native m2ts files to playback at all on a Vegas timeline or in the Viewer. The same files playout fine in PPro CS5 in Windows so I'm pretty sure it's a Vegas setup issue and not hardware. Any tips would be appreciated as this playback issue is what prevents me from using Vegas more often.

Well, I am talking about 1080 50i MVC files, from my Sony TD10 but also from my Panasonic Z10000. Playback of those files works fine in Vegas Pro 11 build 425/426, if I use an overclocked i7 2600 K. In more detail, I use the preview settings "preview full" to achieve my 25 fps.

The hardware I use to preview those files is a Quadro 2000D, together with a nvidia 3D vision and a 120 Hz 3D ASUS monitor - what is a nice combination. The reason why I use the Quadro is that only with a Quadro you have a secondary preview with Vegas (even if I know that one of the new features of Vegas Pro 11 is that it should allow the 3D preview on a single-monitor setting too, but a lot of people have issues with that).

I do not use the GPU acceleration really, since I have seen that the Quadro 2000D is so weak in terms of CUDA cores, that it slows down the system in both preview capabilities but also render time. I have in addition a GTX 570 in my system, what is a little bit tricky to install beside the Quadro - but you can do that in a way where the GTX acts als CUDA slave only. But even here I see a speed improvement in render time, but not really in the preview of MVC files. So for preview I stick still to CPU only (what you adjust in Options/Preferences/Video).

For sure, the project properties have to be adjusted to the footage we use - but that is standard I think.

So I was talking about MVC m2ts files only. If you have 2D m2ts files that does not play back really, then there must be another issue. 3D MVC 1080 50i/60i is more demanding then 2D AVCHD 1080 50p/60p, and that is more demanding then 2D AVCHD 1080 50i/60i.

Wolfgang, yes I was referring to stuttering playback on MVC 3D files. I use a NVidia GTX 285 CUDA graphics card but it doesn't seem to help much in Vegas 11 nor did it in 10E.

Vegas seems to have no trouble with standardized codecs like XDCAM or AVI but the highly compressed AVCHD type files seem to choke it on playback.

I think maybe the GTX 285 is not strong enough, in relation to your CPU. So I would try the preview with disabled cuda in options/preferences/video, where you set cuda to none.

What kind of hardware do you use - beside the i7? What is the 3D preview hardware?

I assume that you use an NTSC model, so are the project properties set to 1920x1080, upper field first, 30 fps?

How many frames/second do you see in your internal preview, what preview settings do you use, for a pure Sony TD10 file, without any filters?

Wolfgang, I'm anxious to try out those settings, but I have to go out and shoot a quick shout-out with Mrs. Pitt today. I'll get back to you tomorrow on this.

I installed some recommended player and AVI converter files and wound up with a Trojan virus - Bunat@rts which appears as Smart HDD. Not sure which file had the nasty in it -- the AVI converter or the player or the fffd driver file. Beware.