did anyone else nearly lose their minds while learning about formats and codecs?

[rayortiz313]

So after spending a week downloading and trying to learn countless complex freeware (ffmpeg, avisynth, avidemux, etc) and being confused and bewildered about how to workflow my 24p HDV footage, and testing and experimenting for days and days, I discover that the "smart resampling" function in my old copy of Vegas is actually doing a form of reverse telecine, making probably 75 percent of the time I spent researching null and void.

I feel like Im losing my mind

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGG

I HATE VIDEO right now.

 

[Mark Watson]

Sounds like you're just starting to scratch the surface on this issue. My advice is to just do your own research, figure it out for yourself. Why? Because for every correct answer you get on the forums, you will get 3 responses that are incorrect in some way, leading to more confusion. There are some resources out there, web-sites that discuss codecs in great detail, or just Google it.

There was a time when the words, "That's not a codec, it's just a wrapper" would sort of send me over the edge. Now I just do my own research and find out what I need to know, and then stop. No sense going down that rabbit hole any further than I need to.

 

[Chris Santucci]

... workflow my 24p HDV footage, and testing and experimenting for days and days, I discover that the "smart resampling" function in my old copy of Vegas is actually doing a form of reverse telecine, making probably 75 percent of the time I spent researching null and void.

More recent NLEs are setup to work with ANY kind of footage files. I seem to recall the asinine anamorphic pixel cameras driving me nuts with respect to aspect ratio. I was SO happy when more cameras started using square pixels. After struggling to understand "pull down" back in the day, I finally realized understanding it wasn't useful at all, hahaha. The main thing is maintaining the fidelity of your footage from ingest to output.

 

[Patryk_Rebisz]

Vegas was the first "Pro" software that i learned on but after discovering how crappy it was i ditched it years ago.
The reason it sucks is specifically because it asks you to become a quasi computer scientist to learn to work with other pieces of software. You need an all inclusive solution such as Premiere, Avid or, dare i say it, FCP.