"COMPUTERS!" - Video Editing

[sharkz]

okay. so as you may or may not know, i bought a decent miniDV cam in the spring, which i've shot a decent amount with.

to edit i've been using "Video Explosion Deluxe" ... which once i edited together almost two hours worth of footage, it did a horrible job rendering.

i downloaded sony vegas the other day, only to discover that they have the same interface... and only to realise that yes, they are the same program. both developed by sonic foundry. i changed the extension of a VED project file and it opens fine in vegas. but again, i did a little test and the MPEG2 rendering is not up to snuff.

so i guess i'm asking for the opinion on whether this is the fault of having an a 1.10 ghz athlonXP still serving as my processor or whether i should still be searching for another app.

[GT2000]

Hmm...I don't really do any video editing myself, so I couldn't tell ya if having the low-end processor you do would actually affect the quality of your renders, or just make it a horribly slow process which I'm sure you've noticed.

When you're rendering, you make sure ALL background apps that could be interferring are closed, correct?

[sharkz]

When you're rendering, you make sure ALL background apps that could be interferring are closed, correct?

i've tried, but of course i havn't tried as hard as i can. although i think the main cause of the bad quality is something else, i'll definetely make sure everything is shut when i try again just to see if that affects anything.

[GT2000]

Yeah, I really think the actual cpu speed shouldn't matter..I know from when I used to encode a little here and there on my 1ghz T-bird.

Lemme know.

[Jesse]

I too have just purchased a nice MiniDV camera. Sony DCRHC20. At first though, I went with a JVC GRD33US. I did a lot of research on cameras before I went and dropped a nice chunk of money on one, and I read that the JVC had good performance in low light areas. Well, no, it doesn't. The "Night Alive" option slows the shutter down so the video is very choppy, and not even worth keeping. So, a week after I bought it, I took it back, spent $70 more, and got the Sony. Very very nice camera, really small, great features, great pictures, just a great camera.

Anyway, I've done LOTS of video editing on my computer. I used to be in a small VCD group, and I learned a lot of nifty things.

What you want to do is make sure you get a great capture file. Vegas Video is alright, but, I mean, nothing really special. For the last couple videos I've edited on my computer, I just used Windows Movie Maker, which is fine for anybody that just wants to edit some film and get a nice product.

When you begin to capture in Windows Movie Maker, you're prompted to select a bitrate to capture at. Now, depending on the purpose of your footage (do you plan to send it to friends? Or upload it to webspace? Or just to have on your computer? Burn it to VCD/SVCD/DVD?) So, if you want a small file size, but ok quality, I usually go with 512kb/sec capture. If size is no issue, I go with 1 or 2 mbps capture. There are other programs out there that will give you more control over your capture (like VDub for example) but, if you want to keep it simple, stay with Windows Movie Maker. Windows Movie Maker is good for capturing some good raw video, and it's simple.

As far as editing goes, you could use Windows Movie Maker for editing as well, but, with such simplicity, you lose a lot of features and what not. Though you can do a lot of basic transitions and things with Movie Maker, it's just not gonna do it for somebody that's trying to put together a really complex video.

And that brings you to the Windows solution to video editing. Adobe Premiere. If you're in the know, you can acquire a copy. I highly suggest using this app for somebody that wants to get serious with video editing.

And also, how are you capturing your video? Firewire, USB, A/V IN? Different capture methods play a big role in capture quality.

[testtubebaby]

computer speed does not affect quality of render.

computer speed does, however, affect speed in which a rendering takes.

jerm and i make films with miniDV (XL-1, specifically, edited on an athlon 64 3000) and, while it's much faster to render up preview shit, it has absolutely no baring on the quality. we don't use vegas (though we have a good friend who does and swears by it), we use the newest adobe premier. as long as your camera is good, and you have a good program for editing and encoding, it should look fine.

[sharkz]

wow, shit, jesse. my camera is a matter of fact... the GRD33. yeah, night alive sucks.

the capture quality from vegas has been OK and watchable. I use firewire for transfer. after rendering to mpeg2 though (yeah, i do want to burn to DVD for most of what i'm doing), i do get a more blocky-yechhh quality. i've tried the preset for "best" quality, but maybe i need to try messing with those presets even more.

i'll definetely keep in mind trying WMM for capture.
when i got vegas (Which i love working in, it's just this quality thing), i meant to try premiere but got sidetracked. i'll premiere out soon, though i don't think i can run the newest version with my processor, i've heard.

[Jesse]

What do you encode it to MPEG with?

What I've done lately, is capture it with WMM, and then open up TMPGENC, and encode it to whatever format using the preset.

If you're not using TMPG, give it a shot. Goggle: TMPGENC.

[Plain Old Jane]

What do you encode it to MPEG with?

What I've done lately, is capture it with WMM, and then open up TMPGENC, and encode it to whatever format using the preset.

If you're not using TMPG, give it a shot. Goggle: TMPGENC.

theres also another way to do it:

step one, slit my throat

step two, play in my blood

step three, cover me in dirty sheets and run laughing out of the house

step four, stop by lake michegan and rinse your crimson hands.

[sharkz]

What do you encode it to MPEG with?

What I've done lately, is capture it with WMM, and then open up TMPGENC, and encode it to whatever format using the preset.

If you're not using TMPG, give it a shot. Goggle: TMPGENC.


i have it... the only thing is i'd have to pre-render in AVI if i'm editing in vegas. maybe i'll try though it though. or as i said before, try capturing differently and using premiere.

right now i just render with vegas.

[Jesse]

How do you capture video?

Firewire? USB? A/V In?

Edit: Nevermind, you already answered this.