Video editing - Which format????????

[johnmaster]

hi,

can anyone advice me which video format is suitable for video editing? (avi or mpeg or........)

i have the following softwares for my editing tools...... tmpeg, virual dub and premier........

i have few mpeg clips and would like to do some editing in premier but not sure in which format.....shall i convert it to avi and import it to premier?.......or import mpeg directly into premier?......

by the way my final output will be in VCD.........and any tips?

thanks.....

 

[yakko]

Both types are suitable. Leave it as mpeg since that's what VCDs use.

 

[ScottMac]

My understanding is that AVI is the preferred format for editing. The audio should be uncompressed (or you may run into sync problems).

Some MPEG formats cannot be edited without converting them to "ALL I Frame." Since MPEG is a sequence of frames where there is a base full-frame (I), followed by partial updates (B) and (P) frames as a Group of Pictures (GOP), there is no way to tell when you cut & edit if you've performed the cut or edit on an I-Frame boundry.

If you cut or edit mid-GOP, there (usually is) may be artifact in the video. If you convert the video to "all I frame," then every frame is an acceptable boundry. When you're done editing, re-render to "regular" IBP MPEG for your VCD.

AVI works well because the video and audio are interlaced in the file, making it easier to maintain AV sync.

Either can be rendered to whatever format, but my understanding is that the "norm" is to edit as an AVI, then render out to the final format. In many cases, even if you started with an MPEG file, once you edit it, it'll require re-rendering anyway to re-sequence the GOPs.

FWIW

Scott

 

[onelin]

avi for editing definitely... hey that must be why my sound was out of sync the other day, I used an mp3 while in the editing process still and it kept changing on me slightly (that or a bad app ... mpeg or whatever when you're done since I'm on dialup and not doing VCDs, I use the latest divx. turns my 115mb avi into 4mb and looks almost the same