Exporting with Vegas for Vimeo HD
Posted on Fri 9 Nov 2007 at 1:45 AM PST. Filed under Software.
You got that shiny HD camera recently and you want your footage to show up on Vimeo HD, correct? Follow this Sony Vegas Platinum/Pro guide on how to setup your project settings, and how to export from it in a way that Vimeo re-encodes your footage as 720p HD. The following exports are also compatible with the XBoX360, YouTube HD, Sony PS3, and if you export in MP4 at 23.976 frame rate and lower bitrate, the AppleTV too.
1. Project Settings
On Vegas, it’s very important to have the right project settings before you start editing. From the main menu select “Project Properties”, and a new dialog will pop up. In there, click the right outmost icon called “Match Media”, the one that looks like a yellow folder. From there, select one of the files you will be editing with, and click “open”. Vegas will now automatically fill up most of the project settings for you, after analyzing the video file you picked.
After it does that, you need to do a few changes manually to that dialog: For the de-interlacing option select “interpolate”, and for the Quality option select “Best”. You can save a new template with these settings, so each time you start a new project with the same kind of footage, you can just pick it from the list! So, after your project settings are set, click “Ok”, and edit as you would normally do. Save often.
- Special Cases (not applicable for the majority of users)
*IF* you shot in PF24, PF30 or PF25 modes (which are non-default modes, found only on Canon HD cameras and a few Panasonic ones), you must check this project properties tutorial instead, and then come back here.
2. Ensuring visual quality
After you have edited, select ALL clips in the timeline (e.g. by using the SHIFT key), right click, Switches, Disable Resample. By disabling resample we ensure no ghosted image (especially if you used slow-motion).
3. Exporting with Vegas Platinum: Windows Media WMV
For the “Movie Studio HD” and Platinum 7/8 edition of Vegas, WMV is the only workable solution as it’s the only “delivery-grade” encoder that allows user customization. To get the WMA 9.2 audio abilities you need to install first Windows Media Player 11 for XP (Vista/Win7 comes with it), and then follow the visual guide here to export in WMV. The only thing that might need adjustment is the frame rate if you shot in 25 fps PAL, or if you shot in true 24p. This WMV export works great with the XBoX360 too. Important: If you are using Vegas Platinum 9 instead of versions 6/7/8, prefer to export in Sony AVC instead of WMV, as shown in the SonyAVC link below.
4. Exporting with Vegas Pro: MP4 h.264/AAC
If you have Vegas Pro 7/8/9 instead, you can export to h.264 either by using MainConcept’s or Sony’s h.264 AVC encoder. Use this visual guide to export to MainConcept (recommended method), or this one to export to Sony AVC. The only thing that might need adjustment is the frame rate if you didn’t shoot in NTSC, or if you shot in true 24p. Please note that if you are getting crashes during rendering, you must go to Vegas’ Settings, click the video tab and lower the number of threads to “1″. These h.264 files work with both the XBoX360 and the PS3 too.
5. Conclusion
So, after your rendering is complete with one of the methods above, simply upload the resulted video file to Vimeo, add the comma separated tags “HD” & the model of your camera (e.g. “HV20″), and in about an hour’s time (depending on your uploading internet speed) it will be available in glorious HD through the web browser. Please note, you will need a really fast computer to get HD Flash video playback smoothly on your web browser. If Vimeo does not re-encode your HD video in HD mode, it means that either one of their encoders crashed (it happens regularly, so you will have to leave them a message at their forum and ask them to fix it for you), or you are already used your “1 HD video per week” allowance that Vimeo enforces to their non-paid users. Finally, I recommend you allow users to download your videos, as it’s nice to be able to get our hands to the original higher bitrate/quality version and enjoy it via a proper media player, or the Xbox360/PS3/AppleTV on a big HDTV.