Replacing mpeg to avi in Adobe Premiere

[Cyroq]

Hello,

Past months I have been working on a movie which is captured in VRO format (some kind of VOB/mpeg). Premiere couldn't read this properly so I converted it to mpeg2. Now I discovered that a convertion to DV AVI results in better quality (mpeg resulted in quite shocky video).
I have converted it to DV AVI successfully. Is there a way to replace all mpeg files in my Premiere project into the new avi files? When I use "Replace footage" the clips are replaced, but the video isn't working anymore. I seems to be played at 1% speed or something, I only see the first few frames playing at very low speed.
I hope I don't have to re-edit everything, it will cost me weeks...

Thanks in advance,
Cyroq

[guns1inger]

How are you converting the VRO files to mpeg ? The video in the VRO files is already mpeg, so you should be able to extract them without re-encoding and without losing any quality.

[Cyroq]

I used SUPER to do all the convertions, it's a very neat tool.
When I try to open VRO in Premiere (or change the name to .mpeg or .vob before importing them) not all video that is captured is imported in Premiere, like some parts are cut out. Also, the synchronisation of audio and video isn't right anymore.
When I convert it to mpeg2 Premiere imports everything right as one long clip (but with 'shocky' quality). I thought converting to DV AVI would be the best for Premiere to handle, and I wouldn't lose much quality.

[guns1inger]

I would try mpeg-streamclip to see if it cam produce an mpeg file without the re-encoding that SUPER does. I suspect that that is where a lot of quality is being lost.

Also, Premiere is not a native mpeg editor, so you will have to re-encode the entire video when you export from Premiere.

The best plan, whenever possible, is to avoid re-encoding until the last possible moment, and do it once. Every re-encode using a lossy codec - mpoeg2/4, DV etc - costs you some quality. It may not be noticeable the first time, but the damage compounds and quickly adds up.

[poisondeathray]

Try avidemux in "copy" mode for audio & video, format "mpeg-ps". Another option is mpeg2cut2

Both will re-wrap your vro into mpeg. No quality loss. Better quality than DV conversion , because converting to DV is lossy.

[Cyroq]

Thanks for the replies. I am now saving a VRO file as mpeg4, it is still converting. Meanwhile I am downloading avidemux, let's see if that solves my problem.
I think the problem is VRO files contain 'clip points' or something: marks that indicate where a new file begins and ends. Premiere couldn't handle this, I hope these programs solve the issue.

[filmboss80]

If you want frame-accurate edits in Premiere, the WORST thing you could do is encode as mpeg4. Either extract the native, unaltered mpeg2 file out of your VRO file, or convert correctly to DV-AVI or lossless avi.

[Cyroq]

Coincidentally my computer crashed somehow while mpeg-streamclip was running, so I only used avidemux. Encoding to mpeg-TS worked quite well: Premiere likes these files and I can easily replace them without loosing the transistions and effects. Normal mpeg video didn't contain any audio.
I couldn't use avi as a replacement, because apparently Premiere uses clip references in the mpeg files and things become messed up if I replace them with avi.

Now, when I export the movie in DV AVI the image is still a bit shaken on heavy movement, but I think that is probably the lack of my camera (a simple handycam). I can see that the image quality is improved, though.
Unless somebody knows how to undo all the shakyness, this problem is solved I guess