An LG 360º CAM editing question- Premiere Elements or Creative Cloud?

[ahhaa]

So for the past week, I've been playing around with this brilliant little VR & photosphere camera: the LG R105.
You can see it here :
https://www.google.com/streetview/publish/

It has lots of features and lets you remote control it via most smartphones, using Bluetooth & wifi. There is also laptop software- but it is all for shooting!
Many other social media sites now support the format, so you can VR'em or just track around within them like on Google Earth.

But this camera also does 2K video and that's where my problem lies; well, partly.
LG has absolutely minimal info on basics of operation, and none at all on editing the video you create (did I mention 5.1 sound?).

So I went to Youtube and there are a lot of unboxing vids and such, many with outdated info (like needing a smartphone to stitch).

There are a couple passable vids with workflow info, but they just casually mention 'well, I dumped the files into Premiere and...' or ;I can get close to 4K quality, but then the site knocks it down for bandwidth conservation'...

Here's one of the better ones: https://youtu.be/95UPBXsXtV0

My Problem is there's no technical discussion of what Premiere modules are used and there are now 3 versions of Premiere- Pro, Elements, and Creative Cloud. Another guy is using Photoshop to title and tinker, but the same applies. Elements may not have the 'right stuff'; Pro is pricey and Creative Cloud adds up monthly- not to mention my rural broadband is one step up from tin cans & string.

Anybody know much about these file types and other editing options?

(My reason for haste is that Premiere Elements & Photoshop Elements are bundled til Saturday for $90...

[JVRaines]

The thing to do is note your camera's format specifications and check them against product manuals to see if they're supported. For example, your codec, maximum resolution and 5.1 audio format are supported in Premiere Elements, according to the help document.

[ahhaa]

Thanks JVR-

The 'creative' questions are kinda driving me nuts; for example:
where do you put your lighting in a 360° scene?
where (and how) do you insert your titles and can you transition between flat & 360° footage?

Removing the proscenium changes a storyline into a 3-ring circus at best- how do you seamlessly step from one bubble to the next?


Anyway, you've helped better define my question- Premiere Elements isn't the top-rated video editor, Corel, Pinnacle, and Cyberlink all seem to be rated above it.
Also, I don't have a win10 machine and am into Raspian Mint, so there's that...

[ahhaa]

Thanks JVR-

The 'creative' questions are kinda driving me nuts; for example:
where do you put your lighting in a 360° scene?
where (and how) do you insert your titles and can you transition between flat & 360° footage?

Removing the proscenium changes a storyline into a 3-ring circus at best- how do you seamlessly step from one bubble to the next?


Anyway, you've helped better define my question- Premiere Elements isn't the top-rated video editor, Corel, Pinnacle, and Cyberlink all seem to be rated above it.

So how do I quickly choose on such things like 5.1 sound tracks editing and even machine specs for reasonable workflow,etc?

Also, I don't have a win10 machine and am kinda into Mint, so there's that... so many choices, so little time!

[Cornucopia]

My thoughts:

Lighting: Unless you are a seasoned lighting director, I suggest you use natural light.

Titles: can be wherever you want them, but for continuity with other clips, it is recommended to put them Front & Center (0 degrees longitude, 0-30 degrees latitude). Or if you want to go crazy (along with your audience), have them circle the sphere.

You don't transition between flat & 360. They are either stitched/distorted & recognized as such, or they aren't; you cannot combine them into a single title. I guess you COULD use a playlist..

Transitions: Dissolves, Fade-to-Black-to-Image (aka Dip2black), 360degree wipes!, or no change except camera movements?...

Premiere Elements: IMO it's equivalent to Cyberlink PP, and BETTER than Corel or Pinnacle stuff (though Pinnacle MAY have improved somewhat since they got bought by AVID, but I doubt it). Don't know who is giving you those ratings, but I very much disagree.

Choosing equipment: Go to the website of the software you are thinking of trying, they should have a page that has "System requirements". Most of the time, those are MINIMUM. I recommend that you double, triple or quadruple the RAM that is suggested for Minimum. Make sure you also have plenty of high-speed/fast-access storage (internal PCI/E/X/Sata/M2 or External eSATA, USB-C/USB3, Thunderbolt2/3, etc. SSD is preferable to HDD, though RAID could be OK (but I don't recommend it if you aren't a seasoned video/computer veteran). USB2 only as a last resort.
This all also depends on the codec/bitrate of the source & destination footage. IOW, if you stay highly compressed the whole way, your drive speed requirements will be much more modest.

If you seriously want to regularly MAKE VIDEOS and not FIDDLE/TWEAK with your computer, use Windows as you editing OS, not Linux. I don't recommend a Mac, either, unless you are ALREADY a Mac user.

5.1 is something that the software has to tell you EXPLICITLY it supports, unless you want to fudge with multiple parallel stereo tracks that you multiple-render and then resync & recombine later (poor man's surround). You create it as a determiner of the session/project type, before ANY files are imported. And you very well may not be able to get started if your system isn't already equipped with surround audio for monitoring.

Scott

[ahhaa]

Very good suggestions, Scott! Thanks!

Regarding the lighting, much of the interesting stuff will be interiors and the camera goes a bit noisy with less than full light. It is more of a problem with stills actually; there are some tricks (like the pioneering use of flashlights in X-Files) for video in dark situations.

Yeah and thanks for reminding me about the extra RAM needed, and NO I don't want the computer being fussy or unreliable- I looked at the comments about linux editors and the word crash was frequent tho it was all 5 stars or 1 star and the one stars seemed kinda flustrated.

USB3 is also preferable, and I hadn't thought about my laptop's limitations screenwise- no HDMI out.

BUT... I am more interested in the creative understanding; because VR is coming.

For example, how would a 'suspenseful' 360º movie differ from existing 360º computer games?

On the practical side, I'm seeing a few uses that should definitely pay me back for the device, and it is small enough to have with you when needed, if only for 180º sunset panos or even holiday dinner photos!

The LG R105 is already one of my favorite cameras, and I've used so many I can't count'em all.