Rendering in Compressed Formats?
 

Does anyone know how I would use Vegas 6.0d to render my finished video project as a compressed format? I would like a compressed video format (not sure what format this would be) with compressed audio format (.mp3 instead of uncompressed PCM) in say, an .avi container.

Vegas uses the DV output format as a primary output. You could render a more highly compressed .avi, and render an MP3 audio file, but you'll need to use another software to mux them, since Vegas won't do this for you.
What is your end goal?

What does mux mean? My end goal is to have a file that is still nearly the same video and audio quality as seen in Vegas, but not have that file be enormous. I once rendered a 7 min video project in .avi with uncompressed PCM audio, and it came out to be around 1gb (a little more). A .mov rendering of the same 7 min project was almost 20gb, so big that it couldn't even play without lagging on my computer with Quicktime Player.

The project I'm working on now is 2.5 hours long. I would like to render it as an .avi, but have the end product compressed (so .mp3 for audio, and a compressed video format - not sure what format that would be? Fill me in). I'm looking for a file size of around 1 to 1.5gb.

You really still haven't given your end goal. Standard DV-AVI is about 13gig/hour. That's simply how large it is. If you want to go to DVD (which can hold about 4.3 Gig) then, naturally, a two hour video (originally 26 Gig) will have to be compressed. DVDs are MPEG2 format.

If you're wanting to put it on the internet, you might look at WMV for your output format. Plus, the current versions of Vegas can output to MPEG4 format as well.

There's many formats available that are more highly compressed than DV. What is your end goal for these files you're wanting to compress?

Well, mostly I just wanted a smaller file to save on my harddrive and that's pretty much it. I want to play/watch it using players such as Winamp, GOM, DivX, or whatever. Eventually, I may want to split up the file into a few segments and burn them onto several CDs, and maybe even turn it into a DVD.

Also, how do I do the MPEG4 output? I have Vegas 6.0d, but when I go to Render As, the only options I see are:
(screenshot here): http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/9513/renderas9dp.jpg

Go further down the "Save as type" list and you'll see Sony AVC/AAC (*.mp4).
That's the MPEG4 option. Select Custom - Video for even more options.

Mike

The MainConcept AVC/AAC (.mp4) option is MPEG4 also.

Thanks Patrick. I completely missed that :-)
Any idea if one is better than the other?

Oh okay, thanks, I was under the impression that .mp4 and .mpeg4 were different. On the topic, what about .mpeg4 versus .mpg4 - any difference?

MP4, MPG4, and MPEG4 are all different abbreviations for MPEG4.

Thanks, but my question is still here: how do I get a compressed file?

It seems Vegas does not have the capabilities to render as a compressed format, so third party software must be used? Is that right?

How would I go about doing that? I would like .mp3 compressed audio, and either .mpeg2 (for DVD) or .mpeg4 (what would this format be good for?) for video.

I'm confused because when I go to Render As and choose .mpeg2, it says:
Audio: None
Video: 29.97 fps, 720x480
Use this setting to create an NTSC video-only MPEG-2 file compatible with DVD Architect.

Why is there no audio when choosing .mpeg2?

And when I choose .mp4, it says:
Audio: 128 Kbps, 48,000 Hz, AAC.
Video: 512 Kbps, 29.970 fps, 320x240

I have no idea what that means, can someone tell me what format that would get the video and audio into (choosing .mp4)?

File>Render As>then choose WMV, REAL, MP4, or QT. You can then choose the bitrate. They are all capable of heavy or light compression, you determine the bitrate in those dialog boxes.

The DVD Architect presets assume you will be rendering the audio as AC3 and giving both the MPEG2 and AC3 file to DVDA. Therefore, the audio has been "turned off". You can easily turn it back on by going to the audio tab in the MPEG2 custom settings.

Well, the best procedure is editing in DV-AVI format: the one provided by your cam. After editing you can output either to
1. MPEG2 for authoring and burning Video DVDs or to
2. WMV, AVI (using Divx, Xvid or other codecs installed on your Windows system), MP4 (yes the Mainconcept H.264 codec is much more potent and configurable than the Sony PSP optimized one), or other compressed format (you don't have to worry about compressing the sound separetely).

Just stick with DV-AVI for editing (and storing either back to tape or to hard drive). Only use the compressed formats for output/distribution, never for editing - unless you don't have the choice.

Of course. I'm using footage directly captured from my camera for editing (DV-AVI). But when I render a .avi, it still comes out huge, I guess around 13gb/hour. How do I render as a smaller .avi? Can the bitrate be adjusted for .avi as well, like the WMV, REAL, MP4, or QT formats Douglas mentioned?

Click on Menu - File - Render As - click on 'Save as type' and choose 'Video for Windows' - click on the button 'Custom...' - click on tab 'Video' - click on drop down menu 'Video format' - Choose DivX or Xvid codec (if they are installed on your computer). Be aware that the AVIs that will result have nothing to do with DV-AVIs, not all PCs can read them (but there are some newer DVD players that can play them) and they are NOT suitable for editing later...

If you do not have any of these codecs you can try rendering as Windows Media Video (*.wmv, all Windows XP PCs can play them) or MainConcept AVC/AAC (*.mp4, QuickTime7 or VLC player needed to play them). Again these two formats are NOT designed for editing.

If you plan editing at a later time DO NOT erase your original DV-AVIs. Keep a copy (on tape or on PC).

I'm pretty sure I have the DivX/Xvid codecs. Will choosing those codecs when rendering as .avi result in a much smaller, more compressed final file? If DV-AVI is 13gb/hour, I'd like my .avi rendering to be about 1-1.5gb/90 minutes, unless that will sufficiently decrease the video and audio quality. My goal is to get a smaller .avi file without sacrificing too much quality. I don't really want to quality loss to be easily noticeable when compared to DV-AVI.

Also, why is it that the resulting .avi, or .wmv, or .mp4 files are not suitable for editing?

Most of these codecs perform quite well quality wise. The compression is configurable: the more you compress, the less quality you get (for a given codec).

Because they are heavilly compressed with lossy, approximation, irreversible algorithms.

File Size: The Curse of Video Editing
 

You have found the curse of video editing. File sizes. I have only a few current projects, but I have already chewed up 250GB of space. I have to swap projects from my ackup HD on to my edit system because its drive is only 150GB.

If you do not want a loss of quality then the ONLY answer is keeping the native DV-AVI files and always using them for editing. That may mean reserving ~>80GB of space for each new project, calculating how many projects you expect to edit simultaneously, then purchasing HD space to meet or exceed that requirement.

I deleted the native files for one project because it was finished and I needed the room. I wish I didn't have to do that because I am a digital pack rat..... I never delete anything if I have a choice (hence my heavy use of gmail).

jason

Remember, you still have the original tapes as "backup".

What else plays .mp4 (MPEG4).....does WM Player play them? Only Quicktime 7 or LVC?

Software? Several, but not WMP currently. Micro$oft is trying to get their own MP4 derivative off the ground. (VC-1)
Not sure if WMPClassic plays em' or not, I think it might.

Hardware? Several settops play it, same for iPod, PSP, and other similar devices.

I've been looking into the various means of web delivery. People keep mentioning this H.264....is this a mpeg4 codec? Is it part of Quicktime 7?
What is the best way to get HDV clips to the web? I know, a million questions, finding all this stuff in one place can be tough.

A bit late now, but if anyone is digging through the archives, the answers are: yes, H.264 is an MPEG-4 codec, and it can be rendered by Quicktime 7. Probably the best low bit rate codec at the moment. I do not know about the best way to get HDV clips on the Web, but one way might be to upload it to Youtube or Google Video after making an H.264 clip out of it. Just keep the bit rate generous if you decide to do this, as they will recompress it (e.g., Google recommends 2mbps for MPEG-4).