Is an .avi lossless in this instance?

[Slowburn]

I have an old version of Studio which I use to add a fade in or out effect to an .avi file before I use TmpGnc to convert it to an .mpg for authoring.

Does adding this effect cause the .avi to be re-encoded in any way, losing quality?

Visually, it doesn't seem to, but I'm asking more theoretically.

[edDV]

I have an old version of Studio which I use to add a fade in or out effect to an .avi file before I use TmpGnc to convert it to an .mpg for authoring.

Does adding this effect cause the .avi to be re-encoded in any way, losing quality?

Visually, it doesn't seem to, but I'm asking more theoretically.

What dio you mean by ".avi"? Camcorder tape? Divx? Uncompressed?

Pinnacle Studio? Yes it will recode the whole thing. Look at Womble VCR.

[poisondeathray]

Which "studio?"

Some software, when adding effects, cause re-encoding of the entire video. If the version or software advertises "smart rendering", this will re-encode only the effects section, but allow pass through of untouched segments. "smart rendering" usually only works for certain types of files, like dv-avi, so it depends what compression your avi is using.

If you are in doubt, you can render to a lossless format to be sure, before rendering to mpg.

[edDV]

Womble VCR if the source is MPeg that is.
http://www.womble.com/

[jagabo]

AVI is a container. It can contain audio and video compressed, or not, with any of dozens of compression schemes. You need to more exact about what was in the AVI file and what software you used. You're asking something akin to "I bought a TV in a cardboard box. Is it a good TV?"

[Almost Human]

I load my DV-AVI into Pinnacle Studio 7.15, add the transitions, make cuts, then save as DV-AVI. I load the resultant DV-AVI file into TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 and render to MPEG. This will only re-encode the transition portion, leaving the rest unaltered.

[jagabo]

With DV AVI a good smart editor would only reencode the frames with the transition effects. Pinnacle Studio 7.15 is pretty old. I don't know if it has a smart renderer or not. Maybe someone else here knows...

[Slowburn]

The .avi file comes from my Canon HV-30 to my computer. I do any editing in VirtualDub before adding the effects in Studio 8.

If only the effects are re-encoded, that answers my question. Thanks.

[edDV]

The .avi file comes from my Canon HV-30 to my computer. I do any editing in VirtualDub before adding the effects in Studio 8.

If only the effects are re-encoded, that answers my question. Thanks.

So you mean SD DV format from the HV-30? If this is DV format in and DV format out it probably is only rendering the transitions. Old versions of Pinnacle Studio would re-render all MPeg2.

[Slowburn]

I use the DV Lock feature on the camera and copy from tape to computer, which saves it as an .avi file. The HD is still available on tape if required.

I trim and sharpen in VirtualDub and re-save as an .avi.

In Studio, I add the effects and also re-save as an .avi.

In TMPGenc, I convert to .mpg then load into TDA to produce the files to burn with ImgBurn.

Working good, so far.

[edDV]

I use the DV Lock feature on the camera and copy from tape to computer, which saves it as an .avi file. The HD is still available on tape if required.

I trim and sharpen in VirtualDub and re-save as an .avi.

In Studio, I add the effects and also re-save as an .avi.

In TMPGenc, I convert to .mpg then load into TDA to produce the files to burn with ImgBurn.

Working good, so far.

DV-AVI or uncompressed AVI? You always need to specify a codec with an avi wrapper.

[Slowburn]

Settings are uncompressed in both Vdub and Studio.

[edDV]

Settings are uncompressed in both Vdub and Studio.

OK, if input and output uncompressed settings are identical, then pinnacle will only render the transitions.