Thread: Help with Avi and Rendering

Okay, so I'm having 2 problems.

First is that Sony vegas won't import avi files no matter what I do. Is there any way to fix this?

Second is that I can't seem to render other files that I edit at a reasonable size without a loss in quality. I have 3 m4v files that I cut a little bit out of and then throw together. Each are between 320-380 MB. Together, they add up to about 1.02 GB. Yet when I have to choose between a drop in quality or an extreme size when I try to render it. It seems absurd to me that I can't simply cut and paste them without re-encoding/recompressing it. Is there any way?

If you can't open a .avi file this usually means the codec that made the file is not present on you computer.
Tell Vegas not to re-render the bits of the video that have not been changed. Go to the preferences, on the general tab make sure "enable non-re-compress long-GOP rendering" option is ticked. This will enable Vegas to do a "Smart render". BUT only in certain formats.

This is what Sony Vegas helps says about it:-

If you've prerendered your project,
those prerendered sections can be used for your final render when the
destination formats match.

When you render video to any of the following formats, unedited video frames
are passed through without recompression (smart rendering):

• 
  DV AVI
  
• 
  DV MXF
  
• 
  IMX MXF (IMX 24p MXF is not supported
  for no-recompress rendering)
  
• 
  HD MXF
  
• 
  MPEG-2 (for files such as those from HDV and DVD camcorders)
  
• 
  XDCAM
  EX supports smart rendering across the following formats:
  
  
  
  • 
    SP 18.3 Mbps CBR 1280x720p to/from XDCAM
    EX and HDV HD-1
    
  • 
    SP 25 Mbps CBR 1440x1080i to/from XDCAM
    EX, XDCAM HD, and HDV HD-2
    
  • 
    HQ 35 Mbps VBR 1440x1080 to/from XDCAM
    EX and XDCAM HD
    
  • 
    HQ 35 Mbps VBR 1280x720p to/from XDCAM
    EX
    
  • 
    HQ 35 Mbps VBR 1920x1080 to/fromXDCAM EX

In order to perform
smart rendering, the width, height, frame rate, field order, profile, level, and
bit rate of the source media, project settings, and rendering template must
match. Frames that have effects, compositing, or transitions applied will be
rendered.

You can clear the Enable no-recompress
long-GOP rendering check box on the General tab of the Preferences dialog to turn the
feature off.