Render to hard drive - highest quality

jay204 wrote on 8/15/2012, 11:59 PM

I am really new at this and could use some help. All my video files are coming from my Panasonic HDC-TM700 and are 1920x1080 AVCHD 60 fps. I guess that's considered 1080p, right?

So I've created my first project and have managed to burn it to BluRay without any problems. My question is in regards to long term storage on my hard drive. I'd like to render the highest quality file to keep and view on my computer in future. When I use the Make Movie tool I am given a ton of options for my output. It looks like the highest quality file I can choose is the Blu-Ray 1920x1080-24p, 16 Mbps video stream. The problem is, it's just a video stream. There's no sound. From what I've gathered, this is for saving the video portion for future DVD burning and you're supposed to render the audio track seperately?

If I want one complete file with both video and audio, what's my best choice? If I want to burn this file to BluRay in future without going back into the Sony Movie Studio software version 13 or 14 a year from now will I be able to?

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jay204 wrote on 8/21/2012, 12:38 PM

Any chance of one final thumbs up or down on my "plan" before I go out and buy VideoRedo TVSuite H.264 ?

musicvid10 wrote on 8/21/2012, 3:21 PM

Yes, I suggest you test drive VideoRedo h264 before purchasing.

Do I understand you are now wanting to archive your source footage and your BluRay?
For the latter, you could just keep the ISO and convert to MKV for delivery later.

jay204 wrote on 8/21/2012, 4:43 PM

Well after all the input you guys have given and after I've played around with different renders of some projects, I can see that the raw footage is superior.

So, I figure if I am going to be doing some trimming, I may as well trim the source footage first and keep it in its original format. The trimmed files will be what I pull into Movie Studio to add titles and fades etc in order to make my BluRays.

That way, when I am archiving the original footage, it'll be trimmed original footage. I can edit out the times where the camera was pointed at a room my daughter had crawled out of long before I turned the camera off etc.

I may never go back and look at the original footage once the BluRays are burned but it'll be nice to know I still have it and that it's not taking up 4 or 5 TB for no reason.

Chris Burian wrote on 10/25/2012, 10:14 PM

This was a very helpful thread. At the end, the original poster found that original footage is best.

I bought VMS in order to do fades, titles, multiple cameras and such, stepping up from free software. But one of the greatest features is that I don't need to render a high quality keeper, I just keep the source media and keep the project. So I render an AVCHD and/or a DVD and/or a progressive MP4 and/or an interlaced MP4 and keep them as needed, but I don't need a high-res, high-bitrate "archive" render at all. All the original footage big files exist just once. (Well three times, because I keep the tapes, and I back up the HDD).

I see the future as being an external USB3 chassis with a bunch of hard drives in it. But I haven't bought USB3 yet.

jay204 wrote on 11/18/2012, 8:17 PM

Well I wouldn't say that this is completely resolved yet. I finally got around to downloading the free trial for VideoReDo TV Suite. I still find it silly that I paid $100 for the Sony software and cannot edit and save the footage in its original format. Am I missing something?

Well anyways, I am playing around with VideoReDo but when I save the edited footage, the audio is no longer 256k 2-track and the video bitrate is being lowered.

Any other suggestions? AVS Video Editor?

videoITguy wrote on 11/18/2012, 8:57 PM

As you seem to be finding out and exactly what most of us cautioned you very early in this thread exchange - when footage is priceless then the archive of the original is the straightforward answer.

I think your immediate concern arose out of high-shooting ratios - like 10 to 1 - that is really not that unusual for production efforts in any case. One way to help yourself greatly is to train yourself to be a better cameraman and capture less with better goals and reduce the really high shooting ratios. I can say after being a cinematographer professionaly trained and veteran of 25 years shooting - I am able to deliver many projects with shooting ratios of 3 to 1.

At any rate the question of what you do with your footage is not one of codecs, trims, or recompression - It's all about storage format.
If I were you I would be transferring all originals to 25gig Blu-ray rom discs as the archival media.

musicvid10 wrote on 11/19/2012, 2:05 AM

"but when I save the edited footage, the audio is no longer 256k 2-track and the video bitrate is being lowered."

If you will use TS Intelligent Recode, VRD does not change your audio bitrate. The extremely complex GOP is re-indexed (not rerendered) so of course the video bitrate shows a little different. Probably compresses the headers too. It is still a frame-for-frame copy of the original.

Vegas does not smart-render AVCHD. If it was as simple as you imagine, wouldn't Sony already be doing it?