How the hell do you edit a 5GB+ video file?

[JackBurton]

I just captured 5.2GB worth of mpg video, and every software I try freezes during editing. WTF? How do you guys edit large video files?

By the way, I've used the software that came with my capture card nanoPEG Editor 2.3 and Adobe Premiere 6.5.

 

[Czar]

mpeg is compressed, convert it to, uncompressed dv and then edit it

 

[JackBurton]

I see. What is the best way to that? What software?

 

[Nothinman]

Get a Mac =)

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Get a Mac =)

That is too cheap of a solution. I need something a little more expensive.

 

[Nothinman]

Ah, I guess that's why you started with Windows and software from Adobe =)

Are you sure the software is frozen and not just really slow? All of my video experience is basically just viewing, ripping and transcoding things on Linux so I doubt I'll have any real answers for you.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Ah, I guess that's why you started with Windows and software from Adobe =)

Are you sure the software is frozen and not just really slow? All of my video experience is basically just viewing, ripping and transcoding things on Linux so I doubt I'll have any real answers for you.

Yeah, i do ALOT of ripping and encoding, but I've never dealt with 5GB+ files. I usually limit my final videos to a maximum of 2GB (they are usually just over 1GB though). I can edit those files pretty easily, but I'm lost on this one. I just want to burn it to DVD, but I need to cut some of the crap out of the video.

 

[Czar]

try doom9.org or vcdguide.com for converting help

 

[manko]

If your capture/editing drives are NTFS, you should be able to edit 5GB files. The simple solution is to just recapture in smaller segments, which will be easier to work with anyway.

Originally posted by: Czar
mpeg is compressed, convert it to, uncompressed dv and then edit it

DV is also a highly compressed, lossy codec and the recompression will add an extra generation of artifacts. The best solution would be to recapture the original source in DV or lightly compressed MJPEG.

If recapturing isn't an option and depending on how complicated your project is, you can look into MPEG editing. If that doesn't look feasible for you, then your only choice is to transcode to DV or MJPEG.

MPEG isn't a good format for editing, but it is possible with the right tools. The reason it's not good for editing is not because it's compressed, but because of the frame structure.

Why MPEG Editing is Hard

Here's a list of basic MPEG splitting and editing tools.

Mainconcept releases MPEG editing plugin for Adobe Premiere Pro

Although Premiere Pro can import MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files, for effective editing the material must be transcoded to the project?s format, such as DV. But if the project needs to be output to an MPEG format such as DVD, it has to be transcoded back to MPEG. Unnecessary transcoding can result in quality loss and lost productivity.

MainConcept MPEG Pro adds native MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 editing to Premiere Pro, using smart rendering and requantizing to eliminate unnecessary rendering.

MainConcept MPEG Pro

Also have a look at the Official Adobe Forums.

Adobe Premiere 6.5 Review

Premiere has overcome its problems with large file support - it used to be limited by the Video for Windows standard of 2 gigabytes for any one file. But now that it is OpenDML compliant, and I can confirm you're only limited by the maximum size of file for your particular operating system (which, if you're using Windows 2000 or XP, is effectively unlimited).

Working With File Size Limitations in Premiere 5.x and 6.0x

According to Microsoft the maximum filesize on XP Pro is 16 Terabytes and 2 Terabytes NTFS systems not using XP Pro's dynamic volumes.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: manko
If your capture/editing drives are NTFS, you should be able to edit 5GB files. The simple solution is to just recapture in smaller segments, which will be easier to work with anyway.

Originally posted by: Czar
mpeg is compressed, convert it to, uncompressed dv and then edit it

DV is also a highly compressed, lossy codec and the recompression will add an extra generation of artifacts. The best solution would be to recapture the original source in DV or lightly compressed MJPEG.

If recapturing isn't an option and depending on how complicated your project is, you can look into MPEG editing. If that doesn't look feasible for you, then your only choice is to transcode to DV or MJPEG.

MPEG isn't a good format for editing, but it is possible with the right tools. The reason it's not good for editing is not because it's compressed, but because of the frame structure.

Why MPEG Editing is Hard

Here's a list of basic MPEG splitting and editing tools.

Mainconcept releases MPEG editing plugin for Adobe Premiere Pro

Although Premiere Pro can import MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files, for effective editing the material must be transcoded to the project?s format, such as DV. But if the project needs to be output to an MPEG format such as DVD, it has to be transcoded back to MPEG. Unnecessary transcoding can result in quality loss and lost productivity.

MainConcept MPEG Pro adds native MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 editing to Premiere Pro, using smart rendering and requantizing to eliminate unnecessary rendering.

MainConcept MPEG Pro

Also have a look at the Official Adobe Forums.

Adobe Premiere 6.5 Review

Premiere has overcome its problems with large file support - it used to be limited by the Video for Windows standard of 2 gigabytes for any one file. But now that it is OpenDML compliant, and I can confirm you're only limited by the maximum size of file for your particular operating system (which, if you're using Windows 2000 or XP, is effectively unlimited).

Working With File Size Limitations in Premiere 5.x and 6.0x

According to Microsoft the maximum filesize on XP Pro is 16 Terabytes and 2 Terabytes NTFS systems not using XP Pro's dynamic volumes.

Thanks for all the info man! Great stuff!

 

[igowerf]

Perhaps you can split it into smaller and more manageable chunks using TMPGenc?