I'm an honest 65 year old virgin when it comes to video editing so I ask a little understanding if I totally misunderstand some of the things on here. I thought video editing was beyond me but I plan to be taking several over seas trips and bought a new Panasonic Lumix FZ-300 camera hoping to shoot some 4K videos and put them on DVD's for the family to watch. I will be asking tons of beginners questions.

I live out in Western Kentucky and just bought a new PC and Photoshop Elements 15 & Premiere Elements 15. I also ordered Muvipix Guide to Premiere Elements 15. I hope to learn how to turn my home videos into a better video than I did when I was in my 20's and 30's before PC's were common.

Hi Wildcat, Welcome to the friendliest, kindest, greatest forum on the internet. we have nothing but patience and understanding

I will turn 61 this year, if I can do it I know you can too

To start with, 4K video is great but you can't put it on a DVD. At least not at the same quality

We are here to help so ask away and we will do what we can. We also have a lot of other resources available. Be sure watch our free basic training videos, created by the author of the Muvipix Guides Steve Grisetti himself.

Premiere Elements Basic Training

There are also many more resources that are for subscribers, subscriptions help to allow us to keep doing what we do and help folks like you. At $70 per year or less the price and quality can't be beat.

Muvipix Subscriptions

Happy Editing !! I know you will love it here at Muvipix

Thanks, now I've learned something on my very first post first post.

What about AVCHD? Will they work with DVD's? Ever BluRay DVD's?

Good to have you here Wildcat!

Welcome aboard, Wildcat! Looking forward to seeing some of your work!

DVDs are basically made for standard definition video. You can take any of your footage and put it on a DVD but the quality will be standard definition quality.

Blu Ray discs are high definition but you need a Blu Ray burner and Blu Ray player to burn and play them.

There are now 4K Blu Ray burners and players, you can then create 4K discs but won't look awesome unless they are played on a 4K TV.

Basically it depends on your audience and how you want to distribute your movies. Many people are just putting the video onto a flash/thumb drive and playing it through the USB port on a smart TV. There are lots of options for playback of your edited movie that we can cover. If your audience does not have 4K TVs then 4K doesn't really matter.

I do hope you have a very powerful computer as editing 4K video is a very intensive process and takes a lot of computer power to edit without issues. I think that before worrying about how to deliver the final product it would be good to get to know the software and get past all of the initial challenges first.

Welcome to Muvipix, Wildcat. Don't be afraid to ask as many beginners questions as you need. We remember what it was like when we were first learning video editing and we are very patient and understanding.

Premiere Elements should be able to handle all the resolutions your camera records and create DVDs, Blu Ray disks, or video files for distribution and viewing depending on what you want to do with your finished edited videos. You don't need to shoot in standard definition to make a DVD -- Premiere Elements will make the conversion for you. 4K ultra high definition footage takes a lot of computer power to process. You may want to shoot some test videos at the various resolutions and see how well your computer handles them (and compare the visual quality) before you take your first trip.

Welcome.

Depending on your system you are using, trying to record your source video in 4k is not a bad way to go. My system is a bit less robust that I would prefer so shooting in 4k means that it is just a much slower process. I usually render my 4k videos overnight because they take so long.

But I have noticed a difference that video I record in 4k and output to 1080p seems to look sharper than video recorded at 1080p

One of the good things about Muvipix is that there are a variety of ideas and 99% of the folks appreciate your interest and want to help you by providing strategy options to help you on your way.

Sidd

Hi, Wildcat. and welcome!

When I first started taking video, I approached it like I did photography:
I took as many shots as I could, didn't worry if they were all usable, and figured that there would be enough good ones. I though that I could fix the bad ones in post if I didn't get the shot properly recorded.

Well, I was in for a surprise. Camera work does matter. You can fix a lot less in post with video than photos.
So, my piece of advice is to practice using that camera and think ahead about camera settings and plan how you want to frame your video.

Welcome Wildcat to Muvipix! You have come to a great community to learn. I joined over a decade ago and was computer illiterate. I asked lots of questions, watched the tuts here, and read Chuck & Steve's books.

Take test clips with your camera before your trip and edit and export. You can fine tune your camera settings that way and check out how you framed your shots. Panning....however slow you think are going go slower. Leave some heads and tails on the clips to help in editing later (shoot extra video before and after the shot you wanted). And like Peru stated think about framing.

With 4k video you have options. If you want to burn to DVD, edit your 4k video in that timeline/project setting. Export by down converting to SD. Save a 4K edit of your project to your computer. You could join Vimeo and place your file in a private album and share with friends and family. They would also have an option to download in various sizes. Another option to share is to transfer the completed HD project to a thumb drive.

Congrats on your new camera! Happy shooting and editing!

Nothing to add to the above except top say that we were all beginners once and we all remember well the help and support that we received from this community.

Welcome to Muvip[ix; you'll like it here.

One thing to add: extra batteries. Higher file sizes will drain your battery fast. Again take some tests.