Format for Vegas to Architect w/o recompr

[zicmubleu]

What is the format to use with Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 as the intermediate file for import into Sony Architect Pro 5 to avoid recompression and also give highest resolution?

I want to create a Blu-ray slideshow with sound of primarily jpeg, AVCHD and .avi video, by first combining multiple images into a single file in Sony Vegas for import into Sony Architect without having to recompress the files in Architect. Since I want the highest resolution the video format available seems to be MPEG-2. The Sony AVC option seems to limit the horizontal resolution to 1440 pixel width, but it is shown as a .mp4 extension, presumably MPEG-4 which I thought was the Blu-ray format of choice.

I have cropped my pictures to fit a 16:9 screen size, I don't want to distort the images and generally there is sky and ground scenery that can be eliminated allowing me to utilize the full HDTV screen. For the images where the vertical can't be cropped I will accept the side bars being blacked out. It is desirable to do the initial processing in Vegas to get around the file quantity limitation of Architect since I generally have a few hundred jpeg images for the slideshow.

I have successfully created Blu-ray discs with this software viewable in conventional standalone players and the images look good, but the recompression in Architect takes about 12-13 hours and is most likely degrading the images at least a little bit.

I couldn't do a screen snapshot (ignorant of method) for the pull down options given in Vegas but I have copied them accurately below.

Video format: Sony AVC (*.mp4;m2ts,*.avc)

Video Template: Blu-ray 1440x1080-60i, 15 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1440x1080-50i, 15 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1440x1080-60i, 8 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1440x1080-50i, 8 Mbps video stream


Video format: MainConcept MPEG-2 (*.mpg;*.m2v;*m2t;*.mpa)

Video template: Blu-ray 1920x1080-24p, 25 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1920x1080-50i, 25 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1920x1080-60i, 25 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1440x1080-24p, 25 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1440x1080-50i, 25 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1440x1080-60i, 25 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1440x1080-24p, 8 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1440x1080-50i, 8 Mbps video stream
Blu-ray 1440x1080-60i, 8 Mbps video stream



Audio format: Dolby Digital AC-3 Pro (*.ac3)

Audio template: Default Template
Stereo DVD


Audio format: Sony Wave64 (*.w64)

Audio template: 48,000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo, PCM
48,000 Hz, 24 Bit, Stereo, PCM
96,000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo, PCM
96,000 Hz, 24 Bit, Stereo, PCM

I am not concerned with the audio at this time but included it in case it has some bearing on the recompression issue. Thanks for any suggestions, it will take me some time to try different options, long render times, but I will try what sounds like the probable best course of action at my first chance.