Saving HD space whilst retaining quality

[chris_man]

Hey guys.

I'm developing an ongoing project for work which is basically a series of promotional videos running consecutively through a 15-20 minute video, on repeat, in stores across the country.

However, because of the nature of the project I have a lot of mixed material. Some of it is footage we receive from the manufacturer, some of it is stuff we've shot ourselves and had to edit. So basically I have a lot of files linked into this one video, which is edited in Vegas.

To conserve HD space, and make things easier to move around, I want to render the video as it is now, into one file, which I can then use to burn off whenever a new DVD is required, or edit and RE-RENDER when a completely new video is required. I hope that makes sense.

Basically, I need to render this video using the best settings that will allow me to effectively do this. I can't lose quality, and I can't make it ridiculously difficult to load the file up in Vegas everytime I want to edit.

It's possible that rather than rendering the whole 15 minute video, I'll render each individual segment. But the same factors apply - I need to retain that quality each time.

Can anyone suggest a good way of achieving this, please? It would be greatly appreciated.

(This is for use on tablet DVD players and a projector, by the way.)

Thank you!-

[edDV]

You have two separate types of DVDR to produce. One is your "distribution master" that can be copied to produce more copies for the field. This DVDRshould only contain the authored DVD files (VOB, IFO and BUP).

You also need a project archive DVDR or set of DVDR, tapes etc. that are saved by directory to allow you to reload the project for re-editing in the future. You need to save all the raw elements Vegas is using to create the edit (video clips, audio clips graphic elements etc.) so that the project can be reloaded to the HDD. Usually you don't want copies of the raw elements to go out into the field.

Some will use backup software to make this task easier.

Before you delete anything from the HDD, you should test the project archive to make sure everything reloads properly.

[Cornucopia]

Depends on the codec of the source (DV? most likely). Couple of suggestions:

1. Render as either DV and/or losslessly compressed (HuffYUV, Lagarith, etc) as one long file.
2. Then, load into Virtualdub. Setup for "Direct Stream copy" (both audio & video), then "Save as Segmented AVI" with 4GB boundary (4096MB). Save those AVI's to DVD-R for archiving.

3. Also Roll out to tape for backup DV master. (I guess you could even try using firestreamer, or some similar data-backup-to-DVtape utility)

Scott

[Cornucopia]

You may or maynot want to "compact" your source files. This would keep only the segments of the source files that are actually used within the sequence timeline.

You might also consider (specifically if you don't want to compact) making a "super timeline" of all your unedited clips, that you can roll out to DV for batch redigitizing--although the best way to do this would have been before editing at all so the tape timecode reference is based on the "super timeline" master tape)

There are a number of strategies you could use here--figure out how much of the material is important to you.

Scott

[oldandinthe way]

It's hard to believe you are doing this for money and cannot afford to buy a big external disk for this project.

You are selling your time and skill. You should not be wasting it on strategies for being a cheapskate.

Buy enough disk so you can concentrate on the finished product and don't risk its quality to save on storage..

[Cornucopia]

If the guy is a new freelancer and just got a break, he may be getting sources from some major players, which could be pretty hefty, and yet he might not yet be able to realize enough payback to be able to afford "correct" storage/backup/archive strategies.

I thought the same thing as y'all, but I was giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Scott

[chris_man]

Unfortunately that's the case. I get paid about £5 an hour for work on this. Unfortunately, it doesn't take more than a few hours to complete any job.

[edDV]

Unfortunately that's the case. I get paid about £5 an hour for work on this. Unfortunately, it doesn't take more than a few hours to complete any job.

If you need to revive the project, you need to archive it correctly. If the project is small, just save the source material and do it over. Larger projects could take weeks to recreate.

[Wile_E]

Well if that's all they are paying you, I say render in MPEG2 at a high 15000kb/s. Then save this and your vegas templates to DVD-R. This will save you some space and shouldn't look too bad when you need to re-render. You could also save to DV-AVI, but this takes 13GB storage space per hour.

[chris_man]

Out of curiosity, how much would any of you guys expect to be paid for a job such as this?

Basically it involves taking the aforementioned manufacturer videos, as well as filming/editing our own stuff and placing them onto a timeline. Then creating interesting, animated transitions between them featuring the store name.

Then I have to render said timeline and burn it to however many DVDs are needed each time, based on which stores need what, and post them off.

I also sometimes have to render and burn individual videos for use on their own little tablet DVD players.

Am I being underpaid?

[edDV]

Depends how productive you are vs. farming it out and how many of these need to be done. I would have contracted it out if I was the boss rather than pay someone to learn on the job.