switch between 2 video sources

[greymalkin]

Hello!
I am attempting to compile my brother in laws wedding video and this is the first time I've ever tried it using 2 different video sources (myself and my OTHER brother in law were both recording the event from different places). They are both digital sources, one is 704x480, the other is 740x480.

I am using Adobe Premiere 1.5 and I have synced the two video's up with no problems. I've also figured out how to apply the various filters/adjustments to the video clips. the only thing I CANNOT figure out, however..is how to swap back and forth between the 2 different camera angles! I want to keep both of the audio tracks as they both have their good qualities about them...I just cannot seem to figure out how to get the transitions from one to the other. One of the sources is mpg and the other is DV...perhaps this is the hangup? I might have to convert the .avi to mpeg first? I'll try that tonight and see what happens...if anyone else has something else I need to know please tell me!

[guns1inger]

Try adding the cross fade transition. You can control which direction it goes (i.e. track 1 -> 2 or 2 -> 1) and the duration.

[greymalkin]

thanks for the reply! I figured out first of all I needed to convert the .avi to mpg so I could blend them togtether with the scene transitions..i cropped it to 704x480 as well since thats what the existing mpeg is already at.

i should have known that from the start. I'll give the cross fade a shot..it seems like most of the cool transitions will only allow you to insert them in a break in the film. What I was doing is using the razor tool on both peices every time I wanted the video source to swap from one to the other. I'd have to manually cut both peices in the exact same place..then cut them both again when I wanted to change back and delete the section that I didn't want playing during that part. I'm just worried i'll accidentally slide one of the tracks and mess up the audio sync :P

I'm sure with a bit of tinkering i'll get it all figured out...

[Richard_G]

I can't help with how to switch between the two streams as I don't use Premiere (I do it in Ulead MSP) but DO NOT convert to mpeg yet. Mpeg is a final format, not intended for editing. Do all the editing in .avi and, once you are happy with the result, then, and only then, convert to mpeg.

[dphirschler]

You could always try AVIsynth too.

http://pigseye.kennesaw.edu/~dhirschl/avisynth.html#swapping


Darryl

[greymalkin]

i understand that compressing to mpeg prematurely is not desireable, but leaving it in .avi poses 2 problems.

1) The second source I'm using is already mpeg. It won't let me do fades or transitions between the 2 differing video formats. Only when they are both the same will it give me this ability.

2) I have a 3.0ghz P4 w/1gb of DDR400 memory and the .avi files when played along with the mpg track still stutter like crazy. I can't do a good job of editing when I can't see what the video is doing. I have 2 36gb WD Raptor drives in RAID 0 and the video is on a 200mb ata133 drive w/8mb cache.

I have always wondered how people actually do edit video in .avi format without these issues.

[Richard_G]

It may not be the fact that they are different formats, it may be because one is an mpeg. Fades will hardly ever look smooth on mpeg files because of the way they are compressed. A full frame (I frame) is only sent every 12 frames, those in between only contain data that has changed.

Why you are getting stuttering on the avi files, I don't know. You pc spec are easily good enough to do any amount of video editing. I started editing using a 550MHz processor and playback was smooth, it was just any rendering and encoding that took about a week! In fact, when I changed from my previous 1.33 GHz Athlon to my present one there seemd to be hardly any difference until it came to encoding.

Maybe you don't have a codec loaded that you need for the particular file types. As it is DV avi, have you a DV codec installed? Will the avi file play smoothly in Media Player?

As an aside, would it be possible for you to borrow the other tape, transfer it as DV and at least then you'll have both files in the same format?

[greymalkin]

hello again!
the dv .avi file plays just fine in media player. The only way i could get them both to .avi would be to decompress the other video. One camera was a miniDV, but the other recorded straight to a dvd-ram disk. So it's already 704x480 mpg.

When I tried to do the transitions or even change the opacity of the .avi track all the way to zero I would get black instead of the other video source. I then remembered when I had both .avi clips and I was messing around it let me do the transitions and things..perhaps i should decompress to .avi and it will play fine if both feeds are the same...

UPDATE: Well i got a bit further last night. I started by unlinking the audio/video since i want both audio sources throughout. I then simply cut both video sources at the same point when I want to go from one to the other...when I want to go back I cut them both at that point. I then delete the part I didn't want and either leave it as is or slide the part i wanted into the "main" track. So once I'm done everything will be running on a single video track. Right now I just have hard cuts but i'll go back and make better transitions once i establish my cuts...

UPDATE#2: I've heard the mpeg encoder in premiere isn't that hot...should I have it render/save the project as an uncompressed .avi?