Some help needed, Trying to find the best approach to edit MPEG

[chadwill]

A little about my project:

I am responsible for editing/authoring video clips for my school.

So i film with a Sony DCR-SR82, 3 days a week i need to record 6,5 hrs worth of film.

I edit out all the class-breaks and other unwanted buzz.. in the end, im left with approx 5 hrs film,
cut into clips for diffrent classes/courses. And i later publish them to a web server as .flv files.. ready to be played by students.

All i ever used as software is Corel VideoStudio 12.

So my question is.. Is there a better way to do all of this? VS12 seems slow and painfull to use..

Tried avidemux once, but it was a little hard to use since i use a LOT of small clips and do a lot of rearranging.

Using Adobe Premiere/Sony dont seem to work well with the camcorder video/audio format, as neither product will include the sound on the videos, if i try to import.. only the video and not the sound is imported.
But this seems to be a common problem with many Sony camcorders.. atleast what i can gather from endless hours with google search and forum reading.


The reason why i decided to go for .flv(flash) as my end product, is that it gave the students the possibillity to scrub the timeline of the videos(similar to YouTube).

I also tried with .WMV in the past.. but then the whole file needed to be downloaded before they could scrub.

I will here list the properties of the raw fotage from camera and the end product:
RAW:
Format : MPEG-PS
Video
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 9 100 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL

Audio
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz

.FLV:

Format : Flash Video
Video
Format : VP6
Bit rate : 783 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4/3
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.102

Audio
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Layer 3
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 56.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 22.05 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits

[chadwill]

I shold also metion that i was told to batch render all my raw mpeg clips to .flv/.wmv/.mp4 and cut/join my clips after the encoding, as it would be a lot faster to work with the files.

I tried this, but when i was rendering my edited video clips,
(same encode profile).. it took the same time as the first encoding and the ending video result was even worse quality after the 2nd encoding.

[minidv2dvd]

it might be faster if you had womble video wizard to work in mpeg2 with ac3 and save out the pieces without re-encoding.

both vegas pro9 and premiere pro cs4 work with mpeg2 video with ac3 audio. the ac3 audio imports to the timeline fine in both cases.

[qpskfec]

If the source files are MPEG2, then use an MPEG2 editor like VideoRedo to cut/join the MPEG2 files, then render to flv using another application.

[chadwill]

it might be faster if you had womble video wizard to work in mpeg2 with ac3 and save out the pieces without re-encoding.

both vegas pro9 and premiere pro cs4 work with mpeg2 video with ac3 audio. the ac3 audio imports to the timeline fine in both cases.

cs4/vegas 9 does not work correctly with the video/audio on the camcorder in question.. was even thinking that there was somthing wrong with it at a point.. until the school bought another Sony camcorder named DCR-SR75, wich has the same video/audio.. And both cs4/vegas only imports the video, and no sound.

the following programs ive tried that imports the sound well: Ulead VS/Corel VS, VideoRedo, avidmux and a bunch of other less usefull suites..

@ qpskfec

VideoRedo, seemed nice, i just tried it but at first glance.. it seems difficult to work with when i need to split/join a lot.. i usally play around with 20-50 clips for each class/course video.. and i see no possibility to reuse my cutouts to place them elswhere in the timeline again.

[poisondeathray]

Hi, I agree with minidv2dvd - Vegas Pro 8/9 and Premiere Pro CS4 should have no problems importing your files either as MPEG-PS or demultiplexed.

Are they the full versions or trials? (The trial versions have some limitations)

Maybe you could upload a tiny sample here so we can determine if it is the sony file vs. software vs. something else like your system setup

What was "slow and painful" about the Corel software? What specifically do you hope to improve by using other software?

[sanlyn]

http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tme3.html

[minidv2dvd]

chadwill - post a small sample and we'll try it, but the problem is most likely at your end, not with vegas or pp.

under 6mb sample can go attach here. or a file sharing site for a larger one.

[qpskfec]

re VideoRedo, you might try the "joiner" function, you can add multiple clips to the joiner list and change the order as needed.

This will allow you to reuse clips.

[chadwill]

Found a 4mb clip i had laying around..

Yeah, it was the full lisenced versions of premiere/vegas, i think the school bought the lisences last year, i have no way of checking the version atm.
But will check once im back in my office next week.

And i doubt that there is somthing wrong with my system/setup.

Software/codecs i had installed:
K-Lite codec pack FULL - latest version
VirtualDub
WMEncoder x64 (ms)
Corlel VideoStudio 12

@poisondeathray

I mean its slow in general, and that i cant drag the time bar of my clip.. like a jog wheel.. all the time i need to play the clips again and again.. and press pause before i make the clip.. etc etc.. just a lot of slowness

m2u00794.mpg

[greymalkin]

so you are wanting to cut out parts and paste them back later on in the timeline? Is this right?

If you're just cutting out bits then I'll put my vote in for womble mpeg video editor, it's super easy to use and doesn't re-render the video when writing back to an mpg file.

[poisondeathray]

@chadwill - your clip works fine in Vegas 8 and 9 , PP CS4 , at least on XP

Just a guess, but try installing AC3ACM. On vista x64 you might need the instructions on this thread https://forum.videohelp.com/topic364494.html

[minidv2dvd]

poisondeathray is correct. vegas has no problems with that cam footage at all - it even picked up the 16/9 flag. audio worked fine and goes on the timeline ok. pp and other editors use it fine also.



m2u00794.mp4

[sanlyn]

Whew! Wears me out, just reading about it. How well I remember, all of it. Timelines. Audio outta synch. Unnecessary re-encoding (it went on for hours. Days.) I wanna cut one frame, the software wants to cut 3 frames. Dragging stuff all over. 25 dialog boxes onscreen. Controls hiding under 7 levels of menus. Wrong update to the updated version of the previous update. Video encoder not found. Windows has encountered a problem and must close this program.

I kept saying there had to be an easier way (there was).

Sorry, I'm just thankful for a thread that reminds me why I'll never go back to the stuff you're talking about.

[chadwill]

so you are wanting to cut out parts and paste them back later on in the timeline? Is this right?

If you're just cutting out bits then I'll put my vote in for womble mpeg video editor, it's super easy to use and doesn't re-render the video when writing back to an mpg file.

Wow.. this really saved me "Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD" is awesome.. lightning fast to work with, it saved me many hours of waiting/work.

I can even start to work on my next clip, while its rendering the one i just done.. just superb.

I now use it in tandem with Prism video converter, to batch encode all my clips to .flv