Editing MPEG 2 Instead of AVI

[crash447]

I am about to start teaching a Digital Movie Making class at a high school and I just found out the hard drives are only 20GB. My experience is with editing AVI and then converting, but would it be possible to convert our DV footage to MPEG 2 and then go in and add background music, graphics, etc.

[rcb]

Very difficult to do serious mpg editiing as you describe. Suggest staying with avi... but using smaller files to accomodate equipment limitations.

[Tommyknocker]

I do know if you have DV footage and load it into Ulead Video Studio, you can add transitions, sounds, subtitles, etc. You can also captuure in MPEG as well, and save any of your formats in MPEG, should the school board decide not to give you bigger hard drives.

[bugster]

Use VERY short clips!

Or convert to divx. Still avi format. SHould work fine with most editing software too.

[tigerman8u]

My vote goes to Ulead Video Studio. Of the programs I've tried, ease of use, quality, functions, etc. You can load mpeg files in this and add background music, fades, transitions, still pictures, etc. Make your menu, author etc., then preview, then save to hard drive or burn.

[presto]

Yes, avi is the way to go for real editing but mpg editing has come a long way and you can really get a lot done. Your cutting out the hours and hours of rendering.

You should probably do both.

[qlizard]

If you use Ulead VS7 or MSP to edit MPEG (which I do), keep in mind that in the sections where you add transitions, titles, filters, etc., that those sections will be rerendered (with loss of quality), even if you use "smartrender". If you simply cut out parts and you leave the project settings (bitrate, resolution, etc.) the same, it should "smartrender" without loss of quality.

[edsmith77]

crash447,
Remeber the purpose of the class is to teach process. So large files are not needed. Just big enought to do the processes you need to do. As Bugster said, use short clips and focus on the techniques not the file size.