HD conversion questions

Violinik

Newbie Location: St. Louis, MO Joined: May 17, 2011 09:14 Messages: 7 Offline

Solved by

May 17, 2011 13:44

Hello, I am a first time poster, but I've been searching the forums for answers to many of my questions. However, I cannot seem to find the answer to one issue. Please bear with me as I try to clarify my concerns with a bit of background.

I just purchased PD9 as an upgrade from PD7, which shipped on my computer. I have had great success editing videos in the past but I am trying to improve my skills and efficiency. My concern is that I am not using the best video format in converting HD video.

My main purpose for the program is using it to edit my husband's live musical performances. I receive the raw footage from the cameras and a separate audio track from the engineers. The problem is that the footage I receive is either MTS or MP4. Under PD7 I would convert everything to AVI, edit and burn the final product to DVD. My understanding is that there is really no way to burn HD video to a DVD so I haven't really tried to edit HD video at all.

My question is twofold: Am I underutilizing the program by NOT trying to edit in HD and is there another format I should convert to that would give near-HD viewing quality? I want to provide my husband with the best product, but he even said he doesn't really have a need for anything to be in HD and was happy with the quality. Should I be trying to edit in MP4, is that a better "container" as far as quality goes? I was thinking it would be a waste to edit in HD if I can't really provide him with a disc that can be played in a regular DVD player. I just want to make sure that I'm doing this the best way.

Also, is it OK to post the dxdiag and stuff in a new thread to see if my system can even handle HD edits? I thought it might be nice to find out what I'd need to improve to make that happen. Thank you so much for your replies.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

May 17, 2011 17:29

Hi Violinik -

What you're doing with your editing sounds like fun... and a challenge!

Your question has many parts & there are some complexities. The best thing to do with editing different formats is to keep it simple & consider the final "product".

OK - you have the .MTS & .MP4 clips & your purpose is to burn to standard DVD. Yes? Do NOT bother about converting anything to .AVI - just do your editing and produce to MPEG-2 DVD HQ or burn straight to DVD. Standard DVDs are encoded in that format anyway. Each time you re-encode video, you'll lose quality.

PD Ultra can also burn AVCHD DVDs which can be played ONLY in a Blu-ray player or a PS3. Another option is to produce the video in HD (either AVC H.264 or MPEG-4) and use a media player, connected to your TV. That's my personal preference.

About your DxDiag - you can simply save it as a text file and attach it with your reply http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/15/9621.page#45200

Cheers - Tony

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Violinik

Newbie Location: St. Louis, MO Joined: May 17, 2011 09:14 Messages: 7 Offline

May 18, 2011 08:34

Thank you for your reply and I apologize for the delay in responding, I got home from rehearsal very late last night. Just for kicks I did try to play with an MTS file on the timeline and to my dismay I can't really even play it back well without the audio and video quickly going out of sync. My preview quality is set to Normal and I didn't have shadow files enabled, so now I will give you the information you need to tell me if I must upgrade my brand new computer *sigh*

1. I opened one of my project files that included MTS video files
2. I dragged an MTS file to the timeline
3. I tried to play it back on the timeline and after about a minute, the audio was out of sync with the video

My version - PowerDirector Version Build 9.0.0.2316

My system specs:

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium(32-bit) on an HP s3712f

My processor is a Pentium Dual CPU E2220 @ 2.40 GHz

Only 3.00 gigs of RAM

I copy project files to my main c: drive as needed - I was having problems using them from the external drive where they are all stored.

I have attached a screenshot of my workspace and the DxDiag -- I'm not sure how to make a smaller clip of my MTS files, but I will try to do this if you need it. Please do let me know if I need to provide additional information and thank you again!


Filename	Violinik Screenshot.png	Download
Description	Screenshot of my workspace
Filesize	239 Kbytes
Downloaded:	135 time(s)

Filename	Violinik DxDiag.txt	Download
Description	DxDiag file as requested
Filesize	77 Kbytes
Downloaded:	279 time(s)

James1

Senior Contributor Location: Surrey, B.C., Canada Joined: Jun 10, 2010 16:20 Messages: 1783 Offline

May 18, 2011 10:21

Hi,
If you post a DXdiag file here of your computer full specs would be more beneficial. The spec you gave don't really tell the members much info. run DXDiag and save the results to a text file and post here. The members will be more helpful. Also vieeo editing PD9 (or any video editing program) require a LOT of process poser and memory, your specs are short of Memory to begin with I think.
Jim Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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Violinik

Newbie Location: St. Louis, MO Joined: May 17, 2011 09:14 Messages: 7 Offline

May 18, 2011 10:41

I am confused. I just checked my previous post and I was able to download my DxDiag text file. Is this not what is needed? I am going to attach it again directly to this post. Please let me know if this is not what is needed and I will try again.

Filename	Violinik_DxDiag.txt	Download
Description	Violinik DXDIAG text file
Filesize	77 Kbytes
Downloaded:	271 time(s)

James1

Senior Contributor Location: Surrey, B.C., Canada Joined: Jun 10, 2010 16:20 Messages: 1783 Offline

May 18, 2011 11:19

Hi,
your DXdiag didn't show for me the first time, my apology. You are running the bare minimum for Video editing, my opinion. running with this setup you may have to enable shadow files, and altho' PD9 seems like it is freezing it may just be working in the background.
Jim Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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Violinik

Newbie Location: St. Louis, MO Joined: May 17, 2011 09:14 Messages: 7 Offline

May 18, 2011 11:26

Thank you for your quick reply. I understand that video editing takes a lot of resources but I do recall reading that another user (I think his name was Bubba?) said he did just fine with 32 bits and 3 Gigs of RAM, so I will make do -- I can use PD9 just fine when I convert my MTS files to avi for my project needs.

In your opinion, do you think that maxing out the memory would be a viable solution? Is it the system in general that is not capable of HD editing or do I need to upgrade the video card as well? Or do I just need a brand new system in order to edit HD?

***EDIT: I am an idiot. I didn't have any idea until I looked at my DxDiag that my graphics card isn't even in the same zip code as the other models able to run this program and my memory is at the bare minimum. Sorry, y'all. Any suggestions for improvement are definitely appreciated though! Thanks JAMES1 for your time.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at May 18. 2011 11:38

James1

Senior Contributor Location: Surrey, B.C., Canada Joined: Jun 10, 2010 16:20 Messages: 1783 Offline

May 18, 2011 11:44

Hi,
I am failry new to PowerDirector my self, so am no authority. I myself was running a similar system to yours only with a geforce 240 1 GB graphic accelerator card installed and found that to do any serious editing and effects titles and such took forever.
I myself upgraded to Windows 7 64Bit with Intel i7 2600 processor 12GB and a GEforce 560ti 1GB graphic card and have no problems.
I would recommend a better graphics card at least and max out Windows 7 to 4GB memory as that is the max 32bit recognizes.
JIm Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

Visit GranPapa64's channel for your YouTube experience of the day!

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

May 18, 2011 16:06

Hi Violinik -

I concur with Jim's assessment of your system. Short of investing in a whole new rig, upgrading RAM & your GPU would be the most basic improvements needed. Most editors would be recommending a quad core processor too.

I'm not sure how converting to AVI would help your PC cope with the editing you're doing. I'm not doubting what you're saying, but it's a step I'd leave out.

In the meantime - until you upgrade components or invest in a more appropriate (for video editing) PC - you should:
(a) update GPU driver - here's the one you need - http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-32bit-270.61-whql-driver.html
and
(b) install the latest patch for PD (2702) - http://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/support/powerdirector/patches_en_CA.html

Cheers - Tony
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Violinik

Newbie Location: St. Louis, MO Joined: May 17, 2011 09:14 Messages: 7 Offline

May 18, 2011 17:06

Tony, I'm not sure how converting it helps either, but somehow it does. I did have problems previously trying to edit the MTS video on the timeline (it would go out of sync, even with lowest quality selected in the preview window), which is why I used the .avi workaround. If you have a moment, some samples of my editing are on youtube and I am providing links below. The footage I have been using is MP4 video footage along with the MTS converted to .avi. Please do let me know what you think if you have time to check it out -- these are my very first editing efforts and I want to get better at this.

I am looking into upgrades for RAM and graphics card now, and I'll also see what I can do about getting a better system. In the meantime I would like to thank you and James so very much for your quick and forthright responses to my inquiries and for the links to the updates!

Nikki

"Movin' Out/New York State of Mind" http://youtu.be/t-dlcmrtEo8

"My Funny Valentine" http://youtu.be/p6nONn7TArM

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

May 18, 2011 17:26

Great work Nikki!

Here we are pulling your system to bits & there you are pumping out videos. Nice editing work.

I imagine that the quality of the original clips was much crisper & cleaner than what landed on YouTube. That degradation is partly down to the pre-conversion you're doing & the fact that it's uploaded in a lower resolution (480p?).

How great it would be for the band to be performing in HD!

Cheers - Tony

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Violinik

Newbie Location: St. Louis, MO Joined: May 17, 2011 09:14 Messages: 7 Offline

May 18, 2011 17:49

Thanks so much Tony! It means a lot coming from someone who obviously knows what he's doing. I can't wait to get home and keep working on this -- I would love to get some of my husband's stuff in HD. I will do the updates you gave me links to tonight and also try to get my hands on some RAM and a new video card. Take care!

pjc3

Senior Member Location: Australia Joined: May 29, 2010 19:33 Messages: 247 Offline

May 18, 2011 21:03

Considering you just want to produce to DVD, have you considered just converting the raw video files to mpeg2 (instead of AVI) then using them to edit into PD? This way you won't need to upgrade and PD should be able to use SVRT so you will only be transcoding once. Panasonic SD9, Panasonic TM700, Panasonic SD600, GoPro HD Hero.

Violinik

Newbie Location: St. Louis, MO Joined: May 17, 2011 09:14 Messages: 7 Offline

May 19, 2011 00:49

Thank you for the suggestion! I will try that tomorrow with some of my files.

I really don't quite understand the difference between video formats, I just had a vague understanding that MTS files were super-compressed and AVI files were uncompressed -- I am not even sure where I read that! I think I was just trying to get a solution so that I could more easily edit the video since all my footage came from HD cameras.