TMPGenc->MPEG2->Premier 6: Not working

[ewingr]

Trying to conserve disk space as I capture files to AVI:

I am using TMPGenc to convert to MPEG2, then import the clips into Adobe Premier 6 for editing. I get messages that the format is unsupported. Does it not support MPEG2?

Assuming that it does: I have been reading all kinds of message here and am becoming quite confused, Evberybody has a different opinion (that's live, huh?). Oh, I digress...

Anyway, I've tried various things with CBR, VBR, Loading the MPEG2 template that comes with the TMPGenc and not changing it, to no avail.

I am presuming that if I convert them to MPEG1 from AVI, that if I ultimately want SVCD, then I would lose quality by taking them to the MPEG 1 format first. That's why I'm trying to get them to MPEG2. Maybe that is a wrong assumption.

I have Nero to convert to MPEG2 from others if I need to.

BTW...this form is great! Going to take me awhile to sort through all the different things, and learn what everyone's talking about, but I'll get there.

Thanks!

[TOMMO]

Adobe Premiere 6 does not support MPEG2.

Depending on what operating system you use you might be better approaching the task differntly. 98 will only allow an AVi of <2GB. WIN2K will support files larger than this.

I would recommend editing your AVI in Premiere using the timeline, the export directly as either VCD, SVCD or Mpeg2 directly from the timeline to TEMPEnc using the Frameserve method.

[ewingr]

Thanks for the prompt response.

I do plan on editing in Premier with the timeline, and exporting like you say, with a Frameserve method. I have already installed and tested the Premier Videoserver plugin from videotools.net.

The problem is, that I have several more tapes that I want to capture to disk (including old stuff...Beta, 8mm movies, and 8mm Analog) before I do my editing and combining clips.(I may even include some stills) I am saving to a second drive, but it is only ( only? <GRIN&gt 80GB. So, before editing in Premier, I want to convert the AVIs to something that is good enough quality, so I can delete the AVIs, and download more files.

So, given that scenario, I am looking for suggestions.

And, one of my first questions again: "I am presuming that if I convert them to MPEG1 from AVI, that if I ultimately want SVCD, then I would lose quality by taking them to the MPEG 1 format first". Is that true?

Thanks

[WildStyle]

ewingr wrote,

((And, one of my first questions again: "I am presuming that if I convert them to MPEG1 from AVI, that if I ultimately want SVCD, then I would lose quality by taking them to the MPEG 1 format first". Is that true?))

That's true. If you want SVCD, then encode to SVCD.
______________________________

ewingr wrote,

((The problem is, that I have several more tapes that I want to capture to disk (including old stuff...Beta, 8mm movies, and 8mm Analog) before I do my editing and combining clips.(I may even include some stills) I am saving to a second drive, but it is only ( only? <GRIN> 80GB. So, before editing in Premier, I want to convert the AVIs to something that is good enough quality, so I can delete the AVIs, and download more files.))

The most your going to get with SVCD on one CD is less than 1 hour. Assuming your going to have a compliant stream, that is watchable. So instead why not just capture clips that you KNOW your going to use? I mean if your going to have a part of your movie where character A is fighting B, you don't need to cap the part where B is fighting C. Yes, that may be in your movie, but you don't have to have that part capped yet. Just be more judicious with your capping.

Or you could also get a bunch of 120gig drives and cap everything in sight. But I doubt that you'll be doing enough editing to justify the cost. ; )

[ewingr]

Your logic makes some sense. On the other hand, I don't know what is on every tape where. The old ones have various things all over them. Another goal is to not to have to search multiple tapes multiple times to make multiple CDs. But, instead, to capture using someting like Scenalyzer Live (which breaks the Captures into various files by scene), organize them into various directories by topic, then edit them together. And of course the rub is disk space.

But, when MPEGS are 1/20 the size of AVI files, then 80GB will allow me to do this to some extent. But, I don't want to do this if working from MPEGS doesn't make sense.

It's not sounding like it's a good idea, considering that Adobe won't work with MPEG2, and that if I encode to MPEG1, then I lose some of the quality. I may have to fight the multiple passes of capture. This will increase my time effort many fold.

I'll wait for a little more feedback before I make a decision.

Thanks...keep it coming.

[TOMMO]

There is no shortcut i'm afraid.

Because MPEGs are already in compressed format, editing MPEG1 within Premiere will not give you the quality results I expect you are looking for. I my opinion, you should edit as AVI.

You will have to sort through your tapes, capture the sections you want, edit, add transitions, titles and Music in Premiere. Then MPEG them.

You then need to consider carefully the format you want to save the final MPEG. VCD or SVCD.

VCD - straightforward and very compatable.
SVCD - I found this hard to get right, but the quality when converted properly is superb.

Initially encoding to VCD and then rencoding to SVCD will make no sense at all. The quality would suffer I expect.

I know this is probably a stupid thing to say, but if I could afford it, I would buy a DVD+RW and burn as DVD quality MPEG. But that costs a lot of money.