Editing for Web Video

[Odat]

All the time I've been using PE for video editing, I've been using it for Web Video exclusively.

I've always used the DV presets, primarily because I started out with a JVC DV Camcorder and I assumed it was best to use presets that matched the input footage. However since then I've replaced the DV camcorder with an Everio, and I also use footage from my digital camera and a Flip.

Recently I've gotten into the notion that it may be best to edit based on the output that you want to achieve and not the input footage (I'm not interested in making DVD's, for example) and I want progressive output. From my experiments it seems that if you're using a DV preset there's nothing you can do to get progressive output, and even input footage that's progressive ends up interlaced in the end.

So now I'm thinking that the best presets to use are the Flip presets, since they offer progressive output at both standard and widescreen at the frame rates that I use. Also they use square pixel aspect ratio so it's easier to do some effects that require exporting frames and fiddling with them.

My question is, is this going to get me into any editing trouble at all? I haven't done anything substantial yet, but I don't want to get a lot of way through something epic, realize there's some issue, and then have to start from scratch.

As a side note, any advice on the best way to deinterlace in PE? I used to use the frame options, but I wasn't sure which was the best way and I kept forgetting to turn it on before splitting up my clips, so now I use a decomb filter in Handbrake while I'm doing my final encode as an emergency backup. This is really only a consideration for the Everio footage.

[Steve Grisetti]

I always recommend you select a project preset based on your SOURCE footage -- not what you want to output.

So, if you're using an Everio, you should use the Hard Drive Camcorder standard def project preset.

And, if you're editing from the Flip, you should use the appropriate Flip preset. (I don't recommend you mix the two formats in the same project. Better that you output from each project as, say, a DV-AVI and then mix and cut the two outputs in a DV project.)

Usually, when you select a Share option for the web, the program de-interlaces the video for you. But, if you'd like, you can always go into the Advanced settings on the Share option screen and ensure your output is set to Progressive Scan interlacing.

[Odat]

Interestingly, in PE9 if I make a project using the Hard Drive preset and then insert a mod file from the Everio, PE says it's incompatible, asks to change settings, and then switches to DV anyway. Confusing to me since GSpot seems to agree with the general consensus that it has a reversed field dominance. It seems like my everio should be in the other category, so I don't know if there's a bug in PE9 or what.

I gave up trying to export my video for the web directly from PE in version 8 mostly because no matter what I did it wouldn't de-interlace (PE4 did, but I had to upgrade to 8 when I got the Everio because mod files crashed out version 4 100% of the time). The same settings that I used to use in version 4 suddenly started looking like much poorer quality, even when loading and re-rendering older projects.

So now I export to AVI using a lossless codec and use Handbrake for the final encode, which has the added benefit of more controls over the codec than what PE provides on it's own (I'm a developer and thus a huge nerd). It was during this experimentation that I originally discovered that using a DV project type with progressive footage interlaces the output, and selecting progressive in the export options does nothing (though maybe a codec specific problem because I only tried a couple before I gave up).

It might be worth it to use something to transcode my footage prior to editing so that it's all progressive and the same aspect ratio/frame size to begin with, but it seems the only way to get a progressive AVI export is to do it from one of the project types that uses a progressive editing style (the flip settings, the DSLR, etc).

[Steve Grisetti]

Interesting observations, Odat!

Sorry about the problems with your Everio. JVC contacted me personally a few months ago and assured me that the compatibility problems with Everios had been worked out. Maybe yours is an older Everio? If so, you may want to try this method.
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/428054?tstart=0

[Odat]

I've had it for about a year and a half, so possibly. Certainly even at the time I bought it their website disavowed any knowledge of it's existence. It also has the problem where widescreen recordings don't have the proper aspect ratio flag set in the header. Hopefully another problem that they've solved in newer models!

Despite the weirdness of the situation it seems to work fine anyway. I've tried slowly going through footage with a lot of motion and it appears smooth, so good enough for me. I don't know if the dominance issue only matters when you're outputting to a tv or the video is flagged as TFF in the MOD header but that's incorrect (like the aspect ratio flag) and PE knows that and ignores it.