Clean Up Folder Time

[raygulaskey]

Help. My PE 4 newbie ?'s again. OK. I completed my very first copy of video onto DVD. Yippieeee. Now I see all these folders in my main Ray's Video folder. These sub- folders are named APE Auto-Save, APE Preview Files, Wedding file, Encoded Files, Media Cache Files, another Wedding notebook, PE4 Proj Wedding file. I want to clean all this stuff and start my next video download. I would like to keep everything that I NEED in one folder. In that folder I would like to be able to have a video file that I can watch my completed video on my computer. Or do I always have to open PE 4 to watch every completed project? I attempted to do a Share to a folder, but I am not sure where or what it looks like if it exists and how to run it. PE 4 said that it was completed. It could be one of the folders stated above is part of that file. Also, can I delete the original video clips (scenes) from the original. If I have to keep these clips, I will soon run out of memory on my computer.

Thanks,
Ray

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Ray,
Here are some answers for you

1. It is best to always create a new folder for each new project. That way it is easy to get rid of the files and folders that Premiere Elements creates when you are finished.

2. Share to Folder will create a DVD image that can be burned to a DVD using an external program like ImageBurn, Roxio or Nero.

3. To get a good video file that you can watch on your computer simply go to the main menu, File/Export/Movie.
This will create an AVI file that can be watched in Windows Media Player or Quicktime.

4. You can keep the captured video or not, it's up to you. If you still have the tapes you can always capture the footage again.
If you want to possibly make changes to the project in the future there are a couple of options, like the project archiver.

5. Other than the project file (projectname.prel) and the video clips used in the project you don't have to keep anything else.
You can delete all other folders and files, Premiere Elements will create them as needed when you open or project again.

Hope that answers some of your questions, I'm sure others will have comments also

[Bobby]

I put each project in its own folder. I only put the input files (AVIs, etc.) there, along with any photos or music (usually in a Music or Photos subfolder). Any project files (.prel for PRE, menu files for Sony DVD Studio Architect, etc. are also in that folder.

Everything else goes into a temporary folder (using the scratch disk redirection) and also the final DVD output. I used to discard all that including the DVD output once the DVDs were written, but with with cheap large hard drives, I am keeping those also in case I have to re-create a DVD.

The question you have to ask is whether you are going to want to come back later and re-work or re-edit the project. That will determine how you save stuff.

[mark hansen]

I do basically the same thing, everything in one folder. I keep a folder, with the sub folder (audio folder, sound effects folder, still pic folder etc.) ready to go --- and it has the name "new video project for copy". When I start a new project, I take that folder and copy and paste it. Then rename the new copy the name of my project. That way the structure I'm used to is already there.

Oh yea, another thing I have in this starter folder is a blank project. In that project (inside PE) are folders waiting for the media I need (media folders for audio 1 and 2, sound effects, pictures 1, 2, and 3 etc etc etc).

So to start a new project, I make a copy of the folder. then rename it. Start up PE and open the blank project... then do a Save As name the project.

I guess another way to do things.

[raygulaskey]

I am using PE4. In an earlier post, Chuck mentioned to get a good video file to go to File/Export/Movie. When I go to File, the Export is not selectable. I would like to create a video file/clip that I can keep on my computer without taking up too much space on the hard drive. I did try the Share/PC and filed a copy that way. The Movie clip plays on the Windows video player like I want it to but there is no sound. Will that get me what I want with sound? The PC volume is up. After I confirm that I have a movie clip that I can watch and hear, I want to discard the original captured video clips. After I did the Share/PC it also came up with .mpg.empses and .xmp files. What are these 2 files for? Can I delete them?

[Chuck Engels]

Be sure that the Timeline is Active/Selected, then the Export option will be available.

[raygulaskey]

That did it. But the file size for the movie clip is just over 10 GB. That is as big as the original captured clips. I thought that I could save it in the movie clip with a much smaller size clip. Can I change the movie clip file size in the export. I looked but I can not see it if it is available.

What is name of the PE4 help guide book that I need to get? Or is there just the Photoshop & PE7 book?

[Chuck Engels]

Premiere Elements 7 and 4 are almost identical, the version 7 book will be just fine.

The Share tab has many options for exporting your video in various formats.
Try Windows Media, that will be a smaller file size but the quality will also not be as good.

There is a balance between file size and quality. The better the quality the larger the file size and the smaller the file size the lesser the quality. You can't have it all but you can have reasonable quality and a small size. WMV, FLV and MOV are all good options of exporting at a smaller file size.