The correct property setting for Sony Vegas

Have been chatting with Eugenia (from the HV20 forums) and she has been really helpful to me. I learnt that I may not have been setting my properties settings right. And when I dont, apparently I lose quality in my videos. Anyway, I'm glad that now I know the correct settings.

2 different properties setting:

fp25 (slow mo or NOT)= Field: PROGRESSIVE, Deinterlace: NONE
50i (slow mo OR NOT)= HDV 1080/50i template, Filed: UPPER FIELD FIRST, Deinterlace: INTERPOLATE

If you used the "normal" ways of slowing down footage, like you always did it, then you just keep the HDV 1080/50i template. If you're mixing PF25 and 50i footage (slowed down normally, or not), then use the project properties of the most used format in the timeline.

'Slow motion does not impact the project properties. The project properties are simply a mirror of the original FORMAT you're using. You only use the PF25 settings for 50i footage AFTER you have used my tutorial to slow it down.'

Here's the tute, taken off Eugenia's blog:
Sony Vegas-only way (FOR SMOOTH SLOW-MO)

1. Load Sony Vegas. On Vegas, it’s very important to have the right project settings before you start editing. From the File or Project 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 the video file you want to slow-motion, and click “open”. Vegas will now automatically fill up most of the project settings for you, after analyzing the video file you picked. Now, 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”. For frame rate use 59.940 for NTSC videos, or 50.000 for PAL videos. Then, change the field order to “none (progressive)”. You can save a new template with these settings (e.g. name it “slow-motion”), so each time you start a new project that’s destined to become slow motion, you can just pick it from the list! So, after your project settings are set, click “Ok”.

2. Load your file in the Vegas timeline. Make sure that resampling is set to “smart resampling” (in the clip’s properties dialog). Now it’s ready to render it out. Select “Project” or “File”, and then click on “Render As”. Select the “Video for Windows (avi)” in the “Save as type” option, and then click “Custom”. In the new dialog that poped up, select “Best” for “Video rendering quality”. In the second tab named “Video”, select the following options: 1440×1080 or 1920×1080 frame size (same as what Vegas used in your project properties dialog), 59.940 (NTSC) or 50 (PAL) frame rate, “None (progressive scan)” field order, 1.3333 or 1.000 aspect ratio (same as your project properties), and then select either the Cineform or the Lagarith codec option from the “video format” menu (any will do, although Cineform is faster and smaller — Lagarith’s installation procedure is detailed in method 1 above). Then click “ok” to close this dialog window. Finally, give a filename to your “Render As” dialog (e.g. slowmotion1.avi), and click “Save” to save it in a folder that you can easily find back.

3. Create a new project on Vegas. Use again the “Match Media” function on Vegas’ Project Properties dialog, and select the new slowmotion1.avi file. Make sure field order is still “none (progressive)” and frame rate of NTSC 59.940 fps or PAL 50 fps (or just use the “slowmotion preset that you might have created in step 1). If Vegas doesn’t recognize the file as progressive (some Cineform files are not recognized as such), then right click on the clip in the Media Bin (before is dropped in the timeline), and click “Properties”, and set its progressiveness in that dialog. Then, drop the slowmotion1.avi in the timeline. Slow-motion it the way you want to. Then, right click on the clip, click “Switches”, and then “Disable resample”. Now it’s ready to render it out. Select “Project” or “File”, and then click on “Render As”. Select the “Video for Windows (avi)” in the “Save as type” option, and then click “Custom”. In the new dialog that popped up, select “Best” for “Video rendering quality”. In the second tab named “Video”, select the following options: 1440×1080 or 1920×1080 frame size (same as what Vegas used in your project properties dialog), 29.970 (NTSC) or 25 (PAL) or 23.976 (film) frame rate (export at the same frame rate as your main project this clip will be incorporated into), “None (progressive scan)” field order, 1.3333 or 1.000 aspect ratio (same as your project properties), and then select either the Cineform or the freeware Lagarith option from the “video format” menu (any of the two will do, although Cineform is faster and smaller — Lagarith’s installation procedure is detailed in method 1 above). Then click “ok” to close this dialog window. Finally, give a filename to your “Render As” dialog (e.g. slowmotion2.avi), and click “Save” to save it in a folder that you can easily find back. After a while, the video will be ready.

4. Now, bring that new slowmotion2.avi file to your main Sony Vegas project! If Vegas doesn’t recognize the file as progressive (some Cineform files are not recognized as such), then right click on the clip in the Media Bin (before is dropped in the timeline), and click “Properties”, and set its progressiveness in that dialog. Just make sure your main project is also correctly setup in the Vegas’ “Project Properties” dialog (your exported avi file above should have been exported at the same frame rate as your main project). Also, in the final edit prefer “interpolation” as the de-interlacing algorithm, and don’t forget to disable resampling on all clips in the timeline. Now, edit as you please and enjoy!

Method 2: Important Notes

1. To use the Vegas method with miniDV footage, you need to change all resolutions and aspect ratios mentioned in the tutorial to mirror your camera’s format. E.g. MiniDV NTSC Widescreen would be 720×480 with aspect ratio 1.2121. For the rest of the combinations Vegas has the info you need if you look hard enough.

I will attempt to do a test slow mo vid one of these days. May do a 25p slow mo, 60i slow mo and 60p slow mo (using Eugenia's method).