Comparing Export Options When Shooting HDV

[George Tyndall]

You should also keep in mind that adding motion to a video clip, especially an HDV clip, is enormously taxing to the CPU and RAM and can easily cause PE to lock up. .... Short of getting a faster PC, I would definitely recommend working in smaller segments and reassembling them after they're edited.

Hi Jack,

Thanks for that tip.

I had 3 identidcal HP PCs with the description below but one of them had a failed internal HD and video card so I took it to Fry's, where I have a 5-year "performance guarantee." They upgraded the second internal HD to 500 GB (now my "scratch disk") and they also replaced the 7600 graphics card with an 8600. Of the 3 machnes, that is the one that I currently use with Premiere 3.0, and it seems to handle occasional scaling of my clips well. (I use scaling occsaionally as a method of cropping out extraneous objects on the peripehery that "snuck into" my cliips during studio shooting.)

BTW, I'm very glad to know that my contriubtions to this fabulous site have value. Thanks for informing me.

[jackfalbey]

If you're curious about PC usage while editing, hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to open up the Task Manager and select the Performance tab. You can see the CPU's workload as Elements is running on various editing chores. I find it interesting to see which effects use the CPU most. In fact, I always keep the Task Manager open on my 2nd monitor while editing, so if I see it get near 100% across all 4 cores I'll just wait a bit before doing anything else to avoid overloading it.

On a side note, I do have the full version of Production Studio CS3 and I'd be happy to help you explore the downconverting & exporting options within CS3, but I don't have an HDTV so I wouldn't have any way of viewing them to compare... If you'd like, you can upload a 1-minute .m2t to the gallery and I'll download it, run it through whatever convert/export tests you'd like and upload it back to you... my Matrox RT.X2 workstation handles HDV very quickly, so I could have it done in a day or two.

[George Tyndall]

Glad you got it worked out George

If you want to save your edited video you can export, just extend the work area bar over only the section of the timeline you would like to export. Then when you select your export options be sure to choose 'Work Area Only'

Hi Chuck,

Regarding saving one's original but edited m2t clips for future use (say, for export in a different format or for inclusion in a different movie or to use in a video montage), I've noticed that, even with longer movies, my PREL files are only about 1 MB.

The nice thing about PREL files, it seems to me, is that they preserve for access on the Timeline all my ORIGiNAL BUT NOW EDITED m2t clips. I don't usually export as m2t/MPEG2 because this format is not supported by the PSE4.0 Organizer and also will not play from My Videos in Windows Media Center, but even if I did export my m2t Timeline as m2t, won't there be some visually-apparent decline in quality upon playback, in comparison with playing the original m2t clips?

Also, if in the future I decide that I do want to export an existing project to a differnt format, say, for a friend's portable video player, or for streaming an wmv file on the internet, won't the quality be higher if I export the original m2t clips from the PREL Timeline, as opposed to exporting a movie that I've previously exported as m2t?

In other words, when the very best possible visual quality in the various formats is always one's foremost concern, doesn't it make sense to archive one's PREL files as opposed to utilizing one of PE3.0's archive options?

(With PSE4.0, even when I've already "output" [exported] my completed slideshow as an wmv file, I always keep in the Organizer the original edited version for possible future re-editing and re-export--I can't count the number of times i've been glad I'd done so--and that's what prompts me to ask about preserving my PREL files.)

[George Tyndall]

If you're curious about PC usage while editing, hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to open up the Task Manager and select the Performance tab.

Hi Jack,

Yes, I, too, keep the Task Manager open on my second monitor, the reason being that my machines, in terms of CPU and RAM usage, meet only the minimum requirements for most editing programs. I usually don't come close to using all the RAM, but there have been plenty of times that CPU usage has been at 100%, at least transiently. There isn't much I can do about that, becausse I am not plannning to change computers in the forseeable future. Also, given that I only rarely use most of my 2 GB of RAM, am I correct that I would see no improvment in performance by increasing the amount of RAM?

Thank you very much for your offer to try one of my clips in your editor, but as I wrote in another post, I've now discovered TMPGEnc (with the help of members of this site), which is giving me SD DVDs of downconversion quality, so I am now a very happy camper.

[jackfalbey]

Premiere is primarily a CPU-intensive application. You're correct that more RAM wouldn't make a difference for you, and many users have found that Elements runs best with 2GB rather than more.

When you save a .prel file it only saves the instructions that tell Premiere what the edited video should look like. It doesn't actually save any video, it just refers to the original video clips in the media window. This is why .prel files are so small. It is also how you can edit using a lower-resolution SD clip to ease the workload on your PC, then replace that clip with an identical (timecode-wise) HDV clip before exporting for delivery to get full HD quality.

If you export an .m2t edited timeline, even to .m2t, you will experience "generational loss" because of the recompression applied during export. To preserve full quality for later use or changes, while diminishing file size, you can "Archive" the project from the "File" menu. This will save everything on the Timeline exactly as it is; your longer clips in the media window won't be saved, but everything on the timeline (video, audio, edits, effects, etc.) will be saved as-is without any loss of quality. You can re-open the Archived file later and pick up where you left off. You can also delete the original captured clips to save room on your hard drive because you'll have the trimmed clips preserved in the Archived file.

[Bob]

many users have found that Elements runs best with 2GB rather than more

Personally, I put that in the category of anecdotal evidence. People have reported that, but that doesn't mean that's what caused their problems. Applications don't have direct access to the RAM anyway, only the OS does, they are working with virtual memory and see the same amount anyway regardless of how much RAM is installed. Too little memory causes a lot of I/O to the system paging file which degrades performance. As long as your total committed memory is less than your installed RAM, you've got enough memory. Your 2GB should be fine.

[Chuck Engels]

I run 4GB on my new machine and have always run 3GB on my Dell Dimension without any problems at all.

[jackfalbey]

I have 4GB on both of my desktops and they run Premiere (both Elements and CS3) just fine, too. I just thought I'd pass that anecdote along...

George's question was if he would benefit from increasing his 2GB to 3 or 4; I think we all agree that he probably wouldn't see an improvement in PE4's performance. However, a faster CPU with more cores will most definitely improve performance.

[Chuck Engels]

I agree with you Jack, the only real difference you will notice after 2GB of RAM will be a faster processor.

[George Tyndall]

....You can also delete the original captured clips to save room on your hard drive because you'll have the trimmed clips preserved in the Archived file.

My goodness gracious, Jack, that is EXACTLY the goal I am trying to achieve. Thanks so very much for clarifying that.

BTW, I am assuming that, to achieve the result you describe, I should choose Archive Project rather than Copy Project. If I choose instead Copy Project I assume that all the unedited media in the Media panel will also be saved? If I have the hard drive space, is there another reason not to choose this option? The reason I ask is that to choose the latter option might make me feel more comfortable about trashing all the m2t clips that I have recorded with HDVSplit.

[George Tyndall]

As long as your total committed memory is less than your installed RAM, you've got enough memory. Your 2GB should be fine.

In other words, the OS would not need any hard disk for virtual memory?

In the Task Manager, is "PF Usage" (currently 1.51 GB) the place to look?

Which, if any, of the other boxes are important?

[George Tyndall]

I agree with you Jack, the only real difference you will notice after 2GB of RAM will be a faster processor.

Hi Chuck,

Do you mean that doubling my RAM to 4GB will make my processor run significantly faster, for example, I will see faster rendering by PE3.0? If that is what you mean, then I am very willing to do so. Or, are you saying that, now that I have 2GB of RAM, only a different computer with a faster processor will help me achieve faster rendering?

Is it possible to install a faster processor(s) in my existing machines but keep the same OS?

[jackfalbey]

I don't know about the Copy Project option; I haven't used it. I do have to give credit where credit is due... back when I was new here I had the same question you have about storing projects for later use while maintaining full quality, and Chuck told me about the Archive feature. He can probably answer your question about the Copy feature as well.

And no, doubling your RAM will make little to no difference at all. Only a faster CPU will do that.

[George Tyndall]

And no, doubling your RAM will make little to no difference at all. Only a faster CPU will do that.

As I asked Chuck, can that be accomplisehd while keeping the same machines and their OSs?

[jackfalbey]

The short answer is... maybe. It all depends on your PC. Prebuilt computers like Dell, Gateway, HP, etc. often use proprietary motherboard designs which make upgrading the CPU difficult if not impossible. The other thing to consider is if your PC is more than 2 years old, it will probably not be able to accept a new Quad-core processor anyway.

This leaves you with 3 options:

1) Keep your current PC and continue working as you've been doing.

2) Buy a new PC. Dell regularly offers new Quad-core Inspiron desktops under $500 on sale, and their Outlet often has workstations at great prices too.

3) Build your own PC. The advantage over buying a Dell, HP, or other OEM computer is that you get to select exactly the components you want, and upgrading it down the road is much easier. Although it's harder than just buying one prebuilt, it's not nearly as hard as it sounds. Several of us have recently built our own PCs specifically for video editing, and most of us had never attempted anything like this before. If you can swap out a hard drive or add RAM, then you have all the skills necessary to do it yourself. The cost to build an entry-level Quad-core should be under $750 (even less if you recycle some parts from your current computer) and you can build a screaming-fast monster for under $1500. If you decide to go this route, you can expect lots of help from us!