Having an unexpectedly hard time with Movie Studio

Bahger wrote on 2/16/2014, 8:42 PM
I was thrilled to be rid of MovieMaker but Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12 has turned out to be a lot more of a teeth-grinding experience than I had expected.

I'm not a total novice with DV editing and yet the following issues have been vexing:

- I cannot seem to get it to output at a resolution/file size that isn't HUGE. While I appreciate the quality of the output files, they are so big that they are almost unusable. The interface for determining output file size/res/format I find confusing.

- The direct-to-YouTube function does not appear to work.

- An attempt to upload to YouTube manually failed after I got the message that I needed an audio codec that I did not have installed.

Can anyone offer me a few tips that will set me on course not to go running back to MovieMaker? Thank you!

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 2/16/2014, 8:46 PM
Movie Studio offers a template for virtually any situation.

What do you plan to do with the file you output from your Movie Studio project? Use it in another project? Post it online? Use it to create a DVD or BluRay? Port it to an iPod or other portable device? That will determine which template will produce a video optimized for that purpose.

Meantime, if you're interested, I've created a free 8 part Basic Training tutorial series for Movie Studio 12. You can find it along the left side of this page.
http://muvipix.com/sms12.php
Bahger wrote on 2/16/2014, 9:03 PM
Thank you for such a helpful and encouraging response, Steve. I will now buy your book.

Meanwhille: I am trying to edit game video recorded using FRAPS at my screen resolution of 1200 x 1920. The FRAPS video is a pretty big file but after editing it in MSP 12, the output file is bigger still, when what I need to do is compress it to the best format for YouTube, HD if possible.

I use Virtual Dub to compress FRAPS video for YouTube, which works beautifully, but that's only when I do not need to edit the footage. Unfortunately whenever I take those FRAPS files and edit them in MSP 12, I wind up with very large, unwieldy files and last time I tried, an audio codec was missing.

Can you point me at those templates and possibly let me know how to install and use them?
musicvid10 wrote on 2/16/2014, 10:46 PM
There are ample threads and techniques for FRAPS->Vegas->Youtube.
They are to be found on the FRAPS forums.
Check there first, and post back if you have additional questions.
Warper wrote on 2/17/2014, 3:10 AM
Your in-game resolution is not youtube-friendly, if you upload 1920*1200, you movie will end up in letterboxed view. It might also cause some problems with renderers in movie studio as this resolution is not standard FullHD res.

1. Keep same fps in FRAPS capture, project and rederering.
2. In every video event disable resample in event properties.
3. Use 8-bit project with studio gamma, field order:none, picture quality: best, deinterlace method any but none (not really useful for proper fraps, but can be handy for mixed content if you put your face from some video camera, for example).
3. Apply "Sony Levels" video FX with preset "Computer RGB to Studio RGB". Most straightforward approach is to apply it as Output FX through the puzzle button in preview window. But you can apply it on every event, on track or on FPARS media/screenshot media.
4. Use Mainconcept AVC/AAC preset "Internet 1080p HD", set profile to High, set fps to your FRAPS/progeca value, set progressive download checkbox, set avegare bitrate to 8M or 12M or 20M, set maximal bitrate to 20M or 29M.
The bigger bitrate the better is quality. Note that now youtube will shrink bitrate down to 3M-6M so resulting youtube quality can be much worse in extreme cases regardless of your local settings.
After you set up preset, save it under new name, for example "Frapsed 1080p".