Editing with a MPEG-2 render

bbrooks wrote on 6/15/2004, 7:47 AM
If I dump my video footage into my computer in DV NTSC format and render it to MPEG-2 using Vegas and then edit the MPEG-2 version in Vegas, will I need to save that as DV or MPEG-2 post editing? If I save it as DV, DVDAC will want to compress it anyway if it's a large file.

If I do save it as MPEG-2, edit, and then save again as MPEG-2, the footage would be compressed a second time as I understand it. Would that result in a loss of quality like you would have with audio files?

I am trying to do some editing of footage done over several years (MEMORY HOG) and want to save some space on my hard drive. What is going to be my best option?

BB

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/15/2004, 7:58 AM
The best option is to keep it in DV until the final render and get more hard drive space if you need it. DV takes about 13GB/hour, so a 120GB drive would hold over 9 hours worth, which is probably enough for 5 DVDs.
bbrooks wrote on 6/15/2004, 8:00 AM
...another reason I ask this question; A 2 hour movie in DV is WAY to big to back up on a DVD. I can't afford a 180 gig hard drive for every project. I can of couse save a large MPEG-2 file but if I want to edit later, I am stuck with the MPEG-2 format. Thus the concern on degredation of quality.

Any advice on how to handle this as well?

BB
bbrooks wrote on 6/15/2004, 8:11 AM
So do you just hang on to your extra hard drive with the original footage in case you want to edit again later?

...and thanks for the QUICK response

BB
bStro wrote on 6/15/2004, 9:28 AM
Not only does rendering an MPEG from Vegas to a new file cause a loss in quality, it takes a looooooong time. Vegas has to uncompress the entire file, make your changes, and then recompress the entire file again.

If you plan to regularly edit MPEG2 video, I would recommend getting a program geared towared MPEG editing (Vegas is not). Check out Womble software. Also, some PCI tuner cards come with MPEG editing software, though most are't as good as Womble's.

The nice thing about Womble's programs (I use MPEG Wizard, but MPEG-VCR is good, too) is that when you save to a new file, they re-encode only the part you changed instead of the whole file. So if you only make cuts, the new file can be ready in minutes instead of hours.

Rob
bbrooks wrote on 6/15/2004, 10:50 AM
Very cool info. I am still new so I don't know which end is up yet.

It's one of those things where I want to start out making a few concert videos of groups in town, but my better half says "oh I know what you can make the family for christmas". So I have to hit the ground running.

Most shows I would record would be around an hour, so rendering to DV would take...hmm...forever. I don't have a lot of storage space either thus the MPEG-2 questions.

So, if I understand this correctly. i can render a DV movie to MPEG-2 and use MPEG Wizard to edit without any loss of quality, and this would not only be a space saver but a time saver too due to shorter rendering time?

BB