New to video: what do I need to edit HD files?

G

GarageBoy

Member
So I have a bunch of clips that I would like to combine and put into something resembling a watchable video. I have no idea what I'm doing.

I had clips from a Sanyo HD1000, a Sony TX7 (AVCHD), a Panasonic FZ100 (AVCHD), and from a Panasonic GH1 (AVCHD)

What software do I need to cut them together (preferably without any quality loss)? I'd also like to output to a file I can share with friends (one of them is my aunt's Chinese Opera concert)

Thanks

I also stupidly only copied the .mts files for some of the videos
 
Sony Vegas has a few entry level offerings that are good.

THe audio is also in the .mts ... at least it has been for both cameras I've owned that use .mts
so therre's no problem with only having the .mts files.
 
Do I need anything else besides the NLE to get started?
I'm a little confused with the workflow, as I often hear about transcoding before dropping it into Premier or Vegas
 
Some people do, I suspect, because they always have done. I don't, and my experiments didn't seem to prove much at all.

If you buy the editors being talked about, then in general, the workflow usually is a variant of this.
Take the card out of the camera, and copy it to a folder on the biggest hard drive you have inside the computer. If you only have one drive, don't panic, but most people like to have windows on one, and files on the other.

Once you've copied the contents, then (a) if you a rich, put the camera card somewhere safe and grab a new one, or (b) reuse the card, or keep adding more files. Personally, with the cost of cards dropping, I'm using them like I did tape, and like the security of having the originals always available, just in case.

Point your editor to the files on the hard drive and edit away. Pretty well all the latest version of the popular software are happy editing what comes off the camera in terms of file types. depending on the file type, your editor might need you to hang around a bit while it converts some file formats into something it can manage better. This is where some people will have converted their camera files in advance - based on their opinion that the conversion can be done better externally.

Once you are done, your computer will then chug around for a while exporting your edit to the output format of your choice. This needs you to make decisions - based on what quality and format you need - so perhaps an mpeg for a DVD burn, or some strange H264 preset optimised for Vimeo at HD. In Premiere CC, which I've just upgraded to, there are new presets for Vimeo, which seem to process the video in a way friendly to Vimeo - certainly it appears the converting time is now less when I use these presets - but as with all things video, it's subjective because you really don't know what your computer is actually doing - and very often things might appear to be quicker, because the computer has already created cache files and is using them!

Depending on the software, the only extra software could be for authoring a DVD, where it's not just the video, it's clever menus and that kind of thing.

Editors put great demands on your computer. My Macbook struggles with HD video, if I'm honest - much more waiting around, but it was quicker than my two year old PC, but my new PC seems to whizz along.

Please don't buy a 'home editing' package using things like Serif, or the built in movie making software. In fairness, they're perfectly serviceable, but with editing it's th small things that the pro software has - my favourite feature being the ability to edit the audio and video edit points separately. The cut down versions of the popular software offer the majority of the features, but have an upgrade path if you need more! Learning a new bit of software is VERY frustrating.
 
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