Saving edited AVIs / Batch conversion

Geoff_Wood wrote on 7/31/2003, 8:12 AM

I load up an AVI, and do some basic tidying up - trimming size and maybe a video/audio fade in and out, audio level, etc.

To save this it seems I need to render it to another file in AVI format, rather than just save over the original. Is there any loss to the video and audio parts (apart from the edits) or is the original quality maintained.

I have about 50 small clips, and would prefer to edit each in it's AVI form, and then maybe batch-convert all the resultant AVIs to MGP(1), if possible. Sound sensible ?

Anybody got a script for the batch conversion ?

geoff

Comments

mikkie wrote on 7/31/2003, 8:22 AM

SOFO's batch convert prog might work well for you. Can't help but remind that mpg1 is for VCD players (& not much else I can think of at the moment).

If you have an avi file, saving to the same format, using the same codec at the same qual. setting if applicable, Vegas (or any other major NLE) will just re-encode the parts that have changed, ie. where a fade or FX is added and so on.

Whenever you re-encode/re-compress, you will take a slight quality hit. How much depends on where you're at and what you're going to. Mjpeg is usually pretty good about preserving quality, and is a common choice, though if space allows, uncompressed works better.

Chienworks wrote on 7/31/2003, 8:30 AM

If your .avi files are uncompressed or DV, then any parts you haven't edited will be copied bit-for-bit instead of re-rendered. In your case, the only parts that will be hit are the fade ins/outs. The unmodified section inbetween won't be affected at all.

Even in areas that you do modify, SonicFoundry's DV coded is extremely good and very resistant to degradation. There have been reports of many generations of re-renders without noticeable loss of quality.

Search through the scripting forum. I know someone has created a script that renders out sections between markers as individual files. You could load all your clips onto the timeline sequentially, put markers between them, and run this script.