Lowering the size of video and editing

[imenica]

Ahoy folks!
I have one question, and i believe this is right place for help.
My friend captured me a video from my Sony DCR-HC24E camera.
The size of a 60 minute clip is around 12 GB.Video property's are:
size:720x576
fps:25
Data rate:28806kbps
Total bitrate:29830kbps
These 2 last dont mean anything to me, but i guess they will to you

I wonder how i can lower the size of the file, while the quality remains the same.
I also need to cut the video in few pieces, so i was wondering which program is the best and
that uses less memory and CPU because im using laptop with 2 gb of ram, 3ghz cpu...
Thanks for your time people!
All the best!

[turk690]

What do you ultimately intend to do with the video clip? Make a DVD-video? Upload to YouTube? Store on your HDD??

[redwudz]

That sounds like you have a DV-AVI file. Very easy to edit. Maybe AVIDemux.

I wonder how i can lower the size of the file, while the quality remains the
same.

You can't. Whenever you re-encode, you will lose some quality.
But you should be able to preserve most of the quality, depending on the output format you choose and the size you want.

And welcome to our forums.

[imenica]

Thanks for welcome and your help guys!
I get it, if i need to lose a little on quality, its ok, but 12 GB for 1 hour is too much...
I plan to make a DVD, and also to store it to HDD so i can play with it a little in some video editor.
If you have any suggestion for software to resize it, plz help

[hech54]

If you have any suggestion for software to resize it, plz help

You will not be resizing it....you will be encoding it to MPEG2, then authoring it to DVD.

[imenica]

I am amateur at this, so i dont know much, and that is a reason why i asked..
Redwutz, tnx, i will try AVIDemux

[edDV]

Normal workflow for DV video is

1. Archive the original as is to hard drive backup. This is known as a source archive or camera master.

2. Use an editor in DV project mode to cut the video, add transitions or effects.

3. Most will then archive the result at full quality as an "edit master".

4. Encode for various distribution formats.

4a For DVD encode MPeg2 in one hour mode constant bit rate (~9500 Kbps CBR). If the program length exceeds one hour, variable bit rate (VBR) encoding can be used. This brings your 12GB DV file down to 4.3GB to fit a DVD.

4b For youtube, deinterlace and encode to h.264 in mp4 wrapper with AAC audio at approx CBR 8000 Kbps (lower if youtube max file size exceeded).

4c For email attachment encode to wmv at very low bit rate. Experiment with Windows Media encoder presets.

[bfleming76]

Sorry to jump in on your thread, but I am curious. I am new to all this, but doing a descent amount of editing. What would you consider to be "Normal Workflow" for AVCHD?? I could probably streamline my workflow a good bit.

[edDV]

Sorry to jump in on your thread, but I am curious. I am new to all this, but doing a descent amount of editing. What would you consider to be "Normal Workflow" for AVCHD?? I could probably streamline my workflow a good bit.

Normal wouldn't be on a Mac. On a Mac the work flow is spelled out by Apple as usual but depends on the program used.

For iMovie or Final Cut Express, you capture to Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC). Export options are limited since Blu-Ray and AVCHD discs are not supported. That is unless you go third party with Toast or similar.

For Final Cut Pro, you convert to AIC or ProRes422 codec.

For native AVCHD editing you would need Premiere Pro and a Mac tower, not a MacBook.