Creating AVCHD proxy files for Vegas Movie Studio 10

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ba74
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Creating AVCHD proxy files for Vegas Movie Studio 10

Post by ba74 »

I’m trying to create AVCHD proxy files for editing (mpeg2 or avi) but I am limited to the number of video files I can import into my project (less than 30 or the equivalent to 1-2 hours of video). Even in projects that are Stereo and not 5.1 Surround, it appears that Vegas is unable to decode them on the fly. I can see every file I bring into the project using up a portion of my 4 Gigs of RAM. When I reach somewhere near 78% RAM used, I get an error message and the program closes. In the past I have had some extremely large projects in SD and HD and never had a problem but all those projects were imported through Vegas from DV or HDV tape cameras. I can only assume that when Vegas Movie Studio pulled the footage off the tapes it saved it in a compression format that it could work with on the fly or using minimal RAM.

I am really not excited about converting AVCHD to AVI Proxy files on the timeline, one clip at a time, within Vegas Movie Studio to get a usable format/codec (as the help menu seems to suggest under "Creating HD Proxy Files"). so can anyone suggest batch a converting method that will give me a file format/codec that Movie Studio likes (doesn't eat up my RAM)?
Computer Info: Dell dual core 6600 @ 2.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Vista- 32 Bit Operating System, NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS Video Card
Video: AVCHD Files are from a Sony HDR CX550V
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Stephan
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Re: Creating AVCHD proxy files for Vegas Movie Studio 10

Post by Stephan »

Hello, welcome!

Cineform neoscene maybe?

Cineform were pioneers in third-party intermediate codecs right from the start of the 'affordable HD' era in 2003-2004, and they've been very well recognized. They say that neoscene supports Vegas Movie Studio (no mention of which versions though), and there's even a 15-day trial download for you to try.
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Doughie
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Re: Creating AVCHD proxy files for Vegas Movie Studio 10

Post by Doughie »

ba74

To echo Stephan, Cineform Neoscene will solve the problem.
I have a very similar setup to you : I have a Sony XR520 cam, generating AVCHD .MTS files.
I use Vegas Pro 9.0 which does work fine, BUT with my corei3, 4Gb, laptop it does struggle to playback smoothly and editing becomes a bit tiresome. Massively processor intensive.

So... I tried Cineform Neoscene, which transcodes the .MTS files to Cineform AVi files (which are huge, around 7 times larger?? something like that), BUT it takes a massive weight off your processor. I drag and drop these AVI's and you will find your editor has a much much easier time of it. Only down side is larger files, which is the nature of the beast as these Cineform AVIs are much less compressed and therefore your poor Pc doesnt suffer as much. I recommend a large 7200rpm external hard-drive, put all your media files on that, then render back to your internal hard-drive or another external hard-drive.

Neoscene is US$129, and you purchase it direct from cineforms' site, and then you just download it.

ONly thing is i have no idea if Movie Studio will recognise Cineform AVIs. I assume it does, but please do check on the cineform site, that should tell you. Or like Stephan says, just try the free trial and that is the easiest way of seeing if it works - once i tried the trial i was completely sold (i had a 3-cam shoot to edit, and there's just no way at all i would have been able to do multi-cam editing in Vegas 9 using .MTS native files!).
ba74
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Re: Creating AVCHD proxy files for Vegas Movie Studio 10

Post by ba74 »

I tried Ciniform. The files were huge but very high quality. It has an OK interface but not a lot of choices for the output file. I was hoping for the ability to convert AVCHD to Standard Def AVI's. Nice program but $$$ I was really close to buying it and then got an email from Sony offering half off on an upgrade to Vegas Pro. I couldn't pass that up.

So, I don't know if having Vegas Pro changes anything. I have tried several other converters including FREEMAKE and SUPER both of which were free. SUPER seems to have the best potential but all my converted files come out playing at half speed. Not sure what I'm doing wrong there.

I also discovered another useful tool called GSpot that identifies the codec details of video file. SUPER appears to have the ability to convert AVCHD to the same codec that Vegas uses when I captured video from Mini DV Tape. If I can figure that out then I could edit in SD without problems and then replace the SD files with the original AVCHD files for the final render.

Any more suggestions? All thoughts are welcome!
acgold7
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Re: Creating AVCHD proxy files for Vegas Movie Studio 10

Post by acgold7 »

You're unlikely to find any freeware that's decent. In SW you really get what you pay for.

You either need a better PC or Cineform. Either way, you pay.
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Doughie
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Re: Creating AVCHD proxy files for Vegas Movie Studio 10

Post by Doughie »

OK but AVCHD was created for Hi-Def files, so what would be the point converting 1920x1080 AVCHD files to Standard-Def AVIs?

Most cams that shoot AVCHD (like my XR520) can also shoot Standard-Def MPEG files.
Also if you import the AVCHD files in Sony Vegas Pro, you can just render that video immediately to an AVI file (hidef or Standard-def) or MP4 or MOV or all sorts of files. I would recommed you take that upgrade to Vegas Pro.

With the multi-cam shoot i did a little while ago, there's no way we could have edited that in native AVCHD. Cineform Neoscene made it editable.
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Stephan
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Re: Creating AVCHD proxy files for Vegas Movie Studio 10

Post by Stephan »

Doughie wrote:OK but AVCHD was created for Hi-Def files, so what would be the point converting 1920x1080 AVCHD files to Standard-Def AVIs?
My understanding now (check the topic's title) is that ba74 wants to do proxy editing - convert HD to lower-res video only for the purpose of editing, and then use the original HD files in the final conforming stage.

I don't remember clearly which NLE software support proxy editing. This used to be popular when CPU power was insufficient and intermediate codecs (like Cineform) weren't mature yet, either in low-end NLE like Pinnacle (not sure here) or high-end cinema industry stuff like Avid. Generations of cinema editors have worked with proxy editing.

I wouldn't advise do-it-yourself proxy juggling with the video files, back and forth. Either your software supports proxy editing out-of-the-box, or else you're in for a long quest losing your time and pulling your hair.

It's a pain that AVCHD is so CPU-intensive, but look at it this way: Cineform is an elegant solution that may let you keep your PC a bit longer.
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