Joining two, 2 minute videos takes 6 hours and only 30% done. VideoStudio

[happydog500]

A friend took a video with his ipod. He took another one, each about 2 minutes long. He asked me if I could join them together.
He gave me the two videos.

I put them in VideoStudio 11.5+, added them to the timeline, and saved them, "same as project settings" so it woudn't have to convert them to a different format.

After 6 hours, it was only 33% done. I think that's a bit long for a 4 minute video. The original video is .mov file.

What could be the problem?

Thank you,
Chris.

[smrpix]

iPads, iPhones, iPods use variable frame rate video so even two clips shot on the same device may not match. VideoStudio is probably trying to reconcile the clips with each other, and possibly even trying to reconcile each clip internally.

If your computer is the one listed in your profile you are way, way, way underpowered for this kind of material.

[happydog500]

I have a lot better computer now. Sorry to have outdated specs listed.

I found the problem. I reinstalled yesterday and I installed the wrong one. I originally had VS7, then upgraded to 11.5. When I reinstalled, I grabbed the wrong disc and had VS7. I installed 11.5 and it worked good.

Both videos are totally 581MB. If I save them in .mov files, it's 30GB!! If I save them in AVI, I lose quality. I can join them, but can't figure out what format to save them in for quality and size.

Chris.

[Cornucopia]

iOS-recorded videos are almost always AVC in MOV or MP4. Heavily compressed & very often variable framerate (VFR). VFR makes most editing jobs a nightmare.

If you are lucky you can get an "joiner" app (such as ffmpeg can do) that is VFR-aware and will just append the one to the other. That still doesn't guarantee smoothness & compatibility of playback - VFR is just one of those hidden gotchas, you may not notice it at first, but when you do, it's already a problem.

The safe alternative is to convert to a CFR (constant framerate) stream, but that entails re-compression. Re-compression entails loss of quality. How much loss depends on the material, the codec used to re-encode, and the settings (mainly the bitrate).

When you're saving to MOV, you are using a different codec which probably has a much bigger bitrate, and that is why it is larger, but with the bigger bitrate the loss is minimal. When you are saving to AVI, you are probably ALSO saving to an even different codec (my hunch would be Xvid) at a similar bitrate to the originals, but because Xvid isn't nearly as efficient as AVC, your quality takes a major hit.

These assumptions can be verified if you post the MediaInfo detailed text readouts of them here.

I suggest if you have never worked with VFR, or with joining tools that deal with vfr, that you:
1. Re-encode first to a near-lossless, high bitrate intermediate format (MOV or AVI) that is CFR.
2. Edit/append your files and save/render out the master in the same intermediate format.
3. Re-encode back to AVC again, but this time keeping it CFR.
4. Then, if you want, you can get rid of the intermediate files, or not.

Scott

[Baldrick]

I have a lot better computer now. Sorry to have outdated specs listed.

I found the problem. I reinstalled yesterday and I installed the wrong one. I originally had VS7, then upgraded to 11.5. When I reinstalled, I grabbed the wrong disc and had VS7. I installed 11.5 and it worked good.

Both videos are totally 581MB. If I save them in .mov files, it's 30GB!! If I save them in AVI, I lose quality. I can join them, but can't figure out what format to save them in for quality and size.

Chris.

Save as h264/avc in a mp4 in VS(Videostudio??).

[happydog500]

[/QUOTE]
Save as h264/avc in a mp4 in VS(Videostudio??).[/QUOTE]

When I do it in this, the program crashes.

Chris.