Hi again -
I think that you didn't answer my question about the loss of quality when merging the GoPro Videos.
It's actually a tough question to answer simply. There are so many variables. What I was suggesting (the thing that failed to answer your question) is that I try to limit the variables at the shooting stage in order to maximise quality in the production stage.
Look - I'm not a technical guy - the little bit I have picked up has been in these & other forums. That has guided my workflow.
PowerDirector Moderator pointed out some of the
possible drawbacks with mixing frame rates. i.e. it could result in loss of visual quality. You're also asking about mixing videos shot at different resolutions and (maybe) different video bitrates. In theory, those variables are going to cause a compromise in quality... but in practice, it's probably subjective.
Anyway, I tried this little test using a variety/selection of GoPro videos.
The videos (all HEVC)
3840 x 2160 - 80Mbps - 59.94fps
1920 x 1080 - 66Mbps - 100fps
2704 x 1520 - 45Mbps - 29.97fps
3840 x 2160 - 100Mbps - 59.94fps
3840 x 2160 - 100Mbps - 29.97fps
5312 x 2988 - 120Mbps - 23.976fps
Lined them up in the timeline & trimmed each clip to ~15-30 secs, then produced the mixed clips to different profiles. I did this knowing that I was potentially sacrificing quality:
eg. trying to produce a 1080p video to 5.3K
trying to render a 24fps video at 60/100fps
trying to produce a video shot at 120Mbps to a much lower bitrate
The 4 production profiles I used:
1080p - 38Mbps - 24fps
2.7K - 40Mbps - 30fps
UHD - 60Mbps - 60fps
5.3K - 100Mbps - 100fps
Like I said, it's a bit subjective so you judge for yourself. I've uploaded the 4 produced videos to Google Drive. Each segment is labelled with the original video properties. Each video is named according to its production profile.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_pA5_VR5TRgOmBbHRmvZwt3Kr4kKcX-U?usp=share_link
Cheers - Tony
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