[QLab] Best render format / Vegas

[stbo]

I am evaluating QLAB as a show-control platform.

I use Sony Vegas for all video production, and would like to know what
the optimum rendering format for QLAB is.

I am concerned that playing some formats may be affect live show
output.

For example, I have loaded FLAC to allow me play wmv files. I have a
two wmv files loaded into qlab. I can view them fine.

If I send the firrst file to the display monitor, when I click on the
second file to preview it to line it up, there is a 1-2 second pause
in the main output while the second file is loaded into the preview...

My question is whether this delay is due to some wmv-related overhead,
and whether it woul dbe more efficient for me to render from Vegas in
any particular format.

Are there any users out there who have a similar workflow? If there
are - any advice on how to best prepare the source files for qlab?

Environment: Macbook Pro 17 with i7, 4GB RAM, 7200rpm 500Gb internal
drive, latest OSX loaded, and latest eval of qlab downloaded. Display
is 800 x 600, 4:3, SD with 192Khz audio.

Many thanks,

Stewart Bourke
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[Christopher Ashworth]

Hi Stewart,

There is unfortunately no silver bullet when it comes to video codecs. However, PhotoJPG and H.264 are common choices that often work well.

I would personally avoid WMV if possible, although I should allow luckydave or other experts on the list to weigh in on that more than me.

Also, I should say that luckydave wrote up a nice blog post discussing some of these issues, and he has been patiently waiting for me to post it. I should really do that! Will try to do so soon.

Best,
Chris

[Paul Gotch]

On Mon, Nov 01, 2010 at 04:33:18PM -0700, stbo wrote:
> For example, I have loaded FLAC to allow me play wmv files. I have a
> two wmv files loaded into qlab. I can view them fine.

FLAC is Free Lossless Audio Codec, which doesn't have anything to do
with Windows Media Video. Have you actually installed Perian? Perian is
a QuckTime codec built out of a large number of opensource codecs.

If you really want to use WMV then you should use

http://www.telestream.net/flip4mac-wmv/overview.htm

Which were developed in co-operation with MS.

However a good first rule is to avoid codecs which require thirdparty
QuickTime components to play and stick to ones which are supported by
Apple provided components out of the box.

> My question is whether this delay is due to some wmv-related overhead,

> and whether it would be more efficient for me to render from Vegas in
> any particular format.

There is no silver bullet. However:

- Some newer Macs will accelerate H.264 using the video card, even
without acceleration my decrepit 4 year old Macbook Pro can deal with
2 x 1080p streams before falling over.

- In general the less processor heavy the video codec is more disk data
rate it needs.

-p
--
Paul Gotch
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[Andrew Nagy]

I agree with Chris. I always use H.264 in my productions and I never run
into any problems.

I don't think Mac has native support for WMV files, I believe they are
run through a third-party program, usually flip4mac. So instead of just
playing right from quicktime, as is how it works with H.264, WMV files
are first pushed through flip4mac, then through quicktime, at least
that's how I believe it works.

WMV files are always a nightmare for me on my MacBook Pro, I can't
imagine how they'd work in QLAB