DV Editor

[jlorelle]

Is it possible to edit DV files and then save the changes? I want to remove a lot of white space from the files and re-save them. I understand that I can modify the files in products such as QT Pro and Premiere but I always have to export to a new format. I know that exporting to another DV file is an option but it takes a long time and I am concerned about quality loss. I compare it modifying a Word document and then saving the changes over the same document. Is this possible? Thank you.

[redwudz]

If you are just cutting and pasting, no need to re-encode. I use VirtualDub and just save as 'Direct stream copy'. This is very quick. But if you add filtering or modify the video or audio, then you will need to re-encode. I use the Cedocida DV Codec for re-encoding when required and the quality loss is minimal most times.

[filmboss80]

In Premiere, you should have the option to export to DV-AVI without recompressing everything. (What version of Premiere are you using?) Only transitions and effects would get recompressed that way. The export should not be taking a long time.

[JohnnyMalaria]

For simple cuts, even Movie Maker will do the job. It doesn't do anything other than copy the desired frames as-is from the source to the destination.

It uses DirectShow and this copying is pretty fast. If you compare the time taken to use Windows Explorer to copy a file to that of Movie Maker, it isn't dramatically different.

Whichever program you use, two tips:

Try to write the output to a different hard drive that the source

Minimize the app so that preview windows etc aren't updated. Even if the software is dumb and just blindly updates the windows, Windows won't do anything if the update is off-screen.

HTH

[jlorelle]

Thanks for the information - I will give that a try.

JohnnyMalaria - unrelated question. Is there a way to batch process multiple files with your app?

[JohnnyMalaria]

Not directly from the main interface. The software is fully programmable and you can write software in many different languages to control it including VBScript.

It is fairly straightforward to process multiple files to adjust things like brightness, add the timecode etc. Processing parts of files rather than the whole requires more fanciful programming.

[jlorelle]

Thanks - I'll check it out. I saw that you had some samples in there.