Complete newbie needs to edit 2 hours of AVCHD video

[Schmidty3634]

Hi forum. I am brand new to the video realm and in need of serious help. I recently took on the task of recording a dance recital for my daughter's studio, never having done so before. I purchased a panasonic v770, and recorded the show, which turned out great. My problem is I am now stuck with over 2 hours of AVCHD video, at over 20 gig, that I need to edit a little and share with others. Can anyone provide advice on how to tackle such a task?

[redwudz]

You might try AviDemux.

And:

Schmidty3634, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks,

Moderator redwudz

[Schmidty3634]

Much appreciated redwudz. Like I said, completely new to all this!

To add to my question, and to make it more specific, here is what I am seeking to achieve.....

1. Edit out bit of dead time in between dances, as I let the camcorder record straight through. To do this, is it best to edit in AVCHD first, and convert to another format after, or convert then edit?
2. Convert or compress into a suitable format to burn onto disks to share with other families.
2a. What software is suggested to accomplish this?
3. Considering the size of the file, I imagine compressing and fitting onto DVD just isn't likely, so I should assume I need to acquire a Blu-ray burner?
4. What file format, assuming I need to convert prior to burning to disks, would be ideal to preserve quality as much as possible?

Any help anyone can offer would be appreciated.

[videobruger]

You might start by providing more info:

Are all recording with the same settings (resolution, fps, aspect)?

Use MediaInfo (View -> Text) and copy/paste the result to provide info about the recordings.

What sort of editing do you have in mind? Cut out scenes? Having transitions between scenes? Speedup/Slowdown? Zoom? Color corrections? ...

How do you intend to share? DVD/Bluray with menus? Youtube/Vimeo? Disc/USB devices with video files? ...

How do you intend it to be played? By computors? TVs? Mobile devices? ..

[manono]

3. Considering the size of the file, I imagine compressing and fitting onto DVD just isn't likely...

There's no reason you can't make a DVD of it, particularly if you're willing to go to the larger-capacity DVD9. I expect your AVCHD is in hi-def (?) while DVD isn't, so you'll take a resolution hit. But 2 hours on a DVD - even a DVD5 - is very doable, no matter the source file size.

[Schmidty3634]

videobruger, thanks for responding.

The video in question is 3 parts (1 file for each act of the recital).

It was recorded in the highest setting for the camera (1080/60).

As for editing, I am simly looking to cut out the dead time in between dances.

I am looking to share on a disk, playable on a TV via blu-ray players.

Hope this helps.

[Schmidty3634]

3. Considering the size of the file, I imagine compressing and fitting onto DVD just isn't likely...

There's no reason you can't make a DVD of it, particularly if you're willing to go to the larger-capacity DVD9. I expect your AVCHD is in hi-def (?) while DVD isn't, so you'll take a resolution hit. But 2 hours on a DVD - even a DVD5 - is very doable, no matter the source file size.

My current files are AVCHD, 1920 x 1080i / 60 fps (24 Mbps), and approx 20gig in size. What software would you suggest to compress that small enough to fit on a DVD9, with minimal resolution hit?

[videobruger]

And I'm too slow at typing.

Your camera seems to come with HD Writer AE 5.2 editing software? Did you check that out?



And manono already answered about using DVD discs.

[julitomg]

I agree that the software recomendation depends on the complexity of what you´re trying to do editing-wise. You may also think right now thta you only want to cut out "dead time" or errors but when you already are at it you probably´d start thinking that a fade here, a disolve there, a couple of transitions and other effects as well as some color correcting could really improve your video. Avidemux is a great program, but it´s more of a very good video converter which also happens to offer several tools (container changing, simple cutting, muxing/demuxing, adding filters, etc...)
You may want to take a look a more complete editor, here´s a good starting point:
https://www.videohelp.com/software/sections/video-editors-advanced
Ideally, the editor (or NLE) you choose will let you import directly your camcorder files (.mts or mp4 I presume), most modern programs do, so you don´t have to convert them first to another format, remember there´s some quality loss whenever you convert or even if you convert to a lossless format (look around in this site to learn more about it) you´ll still loose a lot of time doing the conversion. One thing to consider is that the hardware (be it PC or Mac) has to be powerful enough or you´ll notice jerkiness, dropped frames, system unresponsiveness or even freezes. For example, some people try to edit video while surfing the web, with all sort of other programs open and antivirus scanning...with their laptops. That´s an invitation to disaster
Once you´ve made all your cuts and modifications the NLE will provide you with different choices of export. Depending if you want to make DVDs, Blurays or mp4 files for youtube/vimeo uploading.

[Schmidty3634]

And I'm too slow at typing.

Your camera seems to come with HD Writer AE 5.2 editing software? Did you check that out?


[Attachment 37232 - Click to enlarge]

And manono already answered about using DVD discs.

I'll take a look at the HD Writer. To be honest, as I do a lot of traditional photography, I have grown accustomed to ignoring the "included software" that comes with the cameras I purchase, as it is usually garbage. Perhaps this isn't the case with video.

[manono]

Perhaps this isn't the case with video.

No, you're probably right about the software included with the camera too. However, you're just doing simple stuff and it should have at least some editing functionality. The ability to make cuts, at least, and probably to make simple transitions as well.

You want to be careful to make sure it doesn't reencode the whole thing when doing these edits and, at the most, just reencodes between keyframes when necessary after making cuts or setting up transitions.

What software would you suggest to compress that small enough to fit on a DVD9, with minimal resolution hit?

You don't have a choice with the resolution. - it'll be 720x480 or 720x576, depending on if you're making NTSC or PAL DVDs. And when all done the editing, you'll probably want to use AvsToDVD to make the DVD. Be sure to choose HCEnc as the encoder (there are choices) and to choose the right type of DVD, NTSC or PAL. I believe it makes PAL DVDs by default. There are guides here for its use.

[Schmidty3634]

As a follow up, last night I downloaded a trial version of PowerDirector, which worked beautifully for the edits, but when I converted to mpeg-2 to fit it onto a DVD9 disk there was a serious hit to quality. Is there a better converter tool I should look at, or is it too much to ask to get the 28gig file down to a size that would fit onto a DVD? Perhaps I need to begin exploring Blu-ray burners?

[usually_quiet]

As a follow up, last night I downloaded a trial version of PowerDirector, which worked beautifully for the edits, but when I converted to mpeg-2 to fit it onto a DVD9 disk there was a serious hit to quality. Is there a better converter tool I should look at, or is it too much to ask to get the 28gig file down to a size that would fit onto a DVD? Perhaps I need to begin exploring Blu-ray burners?

Going from HD to SD will automatically reduce the perceived quality. You could try AVStoDVD using HCEnc with DVD9 output for the DVD conversion to see if it looks any better. If the results are still disappointing, then I think you need to start looking for a Blu-ray writer. Yes Blu-ray writers are more expensive than DVD writers, but Verbatim BD-R media (avoid Verbatim LTH type media) costs about the same as Verbatim DVD+R DL AZO.