HMC firmware issue (?) and Vegas workflow

F

Fa451

Member
I'm testing HMC / Vegas workflow these days and it seems that we have a double major problem here...

1.The HMC150 firmware may have (or has) issues with interlaced file encoding. I compared footage from Darren and the footage from Dream on Creative . The first files play perfectly in the Vegas 8.0 c timeline in all formats and all project types. The second ones are immensely problematic and jerky in all interlaced formats when played in a progressive scan project.

The footage from Dream on Creative also cause major freezing issues when playing the last frames of clips in Vegas. The footage from Darren do not seems to create any of these problems.

I wonder if Panasonic may have updated the HMC firmware since the very first production units.

2. Vegas seems extremely erratic with SD rendering from AVCHD files (any format). The playback from NTSC rendered files is jerky and inconsistant in a SD project.

All this can make me totally reconsider HMC150 acquisition and go with the HPX170 instead...
 
Sony Creative Software has acknowledged there is an issue in Vegas 8.0c with HMC150 footage. I expect it will be fixed in the next point release. In the meantime I have found a couple of workarounds. Your mileage may vary but give these a try.

1. I now always set my project to the stock Vegas 720p30 template. When I made my own that matched my actual footage I would get sporadic behavior.

2. I can't get 720p60 to work at all UNLESS I render it using the batch render script that comes with Vegas. For some unknown reason, if I create a region that encloses what I want rendered, and select the region option in batch render, it ALWAYS renders perfectly. I can't explain why this would work but I did notify SCS about this.

Since doing these I have been able to render straight from AVCHD to my various target formats. And this is on a very slow Pentium 4 3Ghz computer. I do have a new i7 quad computer on order and I expect that and a new release of Vegas will make a big difference for me with the HMC150.

logiquem said:
2. Vegas seems extremely erratic with SD rendering from AVCHD files (any format). The playback from NTSC rendered files is jerky and inconsistant in a SD project.

All this can make me totally reconsider HMC150 acquisition and go with the HPX170 instead...
Click to expand...
 
Yep I agree with Jerry, we have too experience problems editing 720P 50 footage and are forced to shoot everything in 1080i or 720P 25 neither of which cause problems at all in Vegas, only the long GOP 50P causes crashing problems & erratic behaviour. Hang in there :)
 
Evro, you should try the batch render script with your 720p50, and let us know if it works for you.

Jerry

Evro said:
Yep I agree with Jerry, we have too experience problems editing 720P 50 footage and are forced to shoot everything in 1080i or 720P 25 neither of which cause problems at all in Vegas, only the long GOP 50P causes crashing problems & erratic behaviour. Hang in there :)
Click to expand...
 
Jerry, I would if I only had problems with rendering but unfortunately both my machines behave erratically when editing the 50P footage on the timeline as well.

If I wasn't so busy with the wedding peak at the moment I would seriously go out and shoot some 50P footage and do some more experimentation, however for now I've gotta stick with standard sized GOP until the winter off peak, hopefully Vegas will come back with an update before then.
 
Evro, your point is correct. It is not realistic to scrub through 50/60p HMC footage in Vegas today. My editing was limited to some basic color correction which didn't require me to scrub through. The only problem my suggestion solves is the jittering that Vegas render was introducing into my 60p footage.
 
Okay Jerry, so today I just finished editing a 4 minute wedding highlight all shot in 1080i 50 (interlaced) and after Vegas intermittently crashing twice during the rendering stage I thought I'd try the Batch Rendering Script - sadly that too crashed. It seems to be really hit and miss with this AVCHD footage, regardless of what frame size or rate used.

Boy I really hope that for the sake of people who are shooting and editing AVCHD projects now that Vegas gets this business sorted out quickly. With my backlog at the moment I'm kind of lucky because apart from the occasional Same Day Edit I won't actually get around to editing my AVCHD footage till next year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top