Help with HD in Vegas Video 8
 

I'm a HD noob. It comes in as AVCHD and I need to do some rough cuts and render it out to AVI uncompressed, but when I do the file size is HUGE!!! 100+ gigs!!!

I know something is wrong and I'm missing something.

What is the proper process to do this?

THANK YOU!

AVCHD is a very compressed format so converting it to avi is going to be big. You can try mpeg2 it will be smaller but good quality.

Vegas "shivers" :Oh crap

shivers? Vegas is fucking awesome, you betta recognize

What's wrong with Vegas. Educate us.

Yeah it is........... :Oh crap

Nothing but problems with Vegas and probably wont end either, we do use it in rare occations when someone submits a project where we have no way out but its pure hell especially with HD.
Then again if you dont plan on editing a lot why change to FCP "Final Cut Pro".

Vegas is a bit ass backwards in everything it does compared to all other programs.

This is not a Vegas issue.
It is a file format issue.

Uncompressed AVI is not the way to archive HD video.

It is best to keep the HD video in it's original format - edit - then render into the final formats that you are going to publish.

Try rendering out to DV uncompressed. Once you get to HD, avi is hard to work with.
I used to do that too.. Dont bother. Choose another intermediate format to work with.
Duke

loL what he said :)
duke

No problems here from Vegas, and I've done everything from super low quality 15 second promo clips up to commercial DVD. So I guess the problem comes down to "personal taste."

Commercial dvd still isnt HD. thats 640x480.
1920x1080 is HD. big difference. Esp in working with raw files.
Duke

You could use free tools:
1) Mux your AVCHD files to TS container using tSMuxer. You can cut your resulting TS without preview in tSMuxer - lossless
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/tsMuxeR
2) Cut your "short" TS using preview in TSSniper - lossless
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/TSSniper
3) Demux your short TS files using tSMuxer again to elementary streams - H.264 video and audio streams - lossless
4) Open elementary H.264 streams in avc2avi and mux them to AVI container (there will are AVI files with H.264 with no audio, don't forget set H.264 - H CAPITAL LETTER!!!, plus manual framerate changing to standard - 23.976 or 25.0 or 29.97 etc - the same as on step 1) - will be shown in tSMuxer) - lossless
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=110083
5) Add elementary audio streams to your silent AVI files using VirtualDubMod - from AutoGK package - lossless
http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=Downloads
6) Convert your AVI (H.264) to AVI (XVID) using AutoGK - if your AVCHD files were interlaced AutoGK will remove it with AVISynth filters - with loss, final encoding

Ask for more comments here.

Agreed. Though what I replied to was Loch saying "Vegas 'shivers'" not "editing HD in Vegas 'shivers'". Generality vs. specificity.

True enough, i just cant stand that program.
We have it in the office and everyone is always running from it like a wildfire lol

But give me a shout on icq and i can have one of the editore help out on monday/tuesday

Download the free trial for NeoScene from Cineform.com and convert the AVCHD to their intermediate AVI codec. The file size will be double to triple the original, depending on your quality settings, but the file will be a breeze to edit in Vegas or Premiere, even on an older computer - which can not be said for AVCHD editing. The new file will also be much easier to apply effects and color correction to as well, as it is a 4:2:2 file with roughly twice the color information as the 4:2:0 AVCHD file. It is well worth the 130 bucks if you are going to be editing AVCHD on a regular basis.

this is a weird deal here. vegas handles 'mts' files fine.... why would I need to spend $130 and convert them?

Assuming your computer is fast enough to edit AVCHD natively, and the video does not require intensive effects, you probably don't need it. I think this post is a good summary regarding this program, though a bit out of date. I was making the assumption that the computer the OP was using might be a bit older and was having trouble editing the AVCHD natively. In such a case, Cineform would definitely make the video easier to edit. I will quote part of the post above:

"What Cineform does is transcode the mpeg2 long gop to a frame-based lossless compression format and expands the colour space from HDV native 420 to 422. Whilst this doesn't make the image any better in look it does make it technically better with greatly expanded colour space and this can be a huge benefit when doing lots of chromakey, effects work, compositing, motion graphics or heavy colour grading. Cineform is also great if you're mixing a lot of different formats like HDV and AVCHD because it unifies everything into a single lossless format and everything runs smoother - especially AVCHD which is a nightmare to edit natively....

Short answer is, if I'm working fast on a project that doesnt involve several layers or compositing or heavy colour effects i work native HDV in Vegas. if I'm doing layers, composits and heavy colour grading then i use Cineform for the benefits of the extra colour space and format robustness...."