Loss in quality when editing .avi ??

[prem]

I am quite new to editing and am not sure as to the best workflow proceedure. I downloaded about two hours of video from my sony hard drive camcorder to my pc. I am editing in small segments and now have four 12 - 15 minutes semi edited segments on the timeline in four projects. I cannot preview fully as the frame rate drops drastically and the pc hangs! Preview is set at preview auto. I have rendered the segments as video for windows .avi files. More editing etc still needs to be done. What is the best proceedure please for further editing? Do I edit the. avi files in a new project or the events in the existing projects on the timeline? If I work on .avi files would there be degradation in video/audio quality when I finally save as/render as mpeg-2 and ac3. It would appear that the original files (.mpg) from the camcorder get converted first to avi and then to mpeg-2 for burning to DVD. Surely there would be loss in quality. I would be very thankful for advice.
Prem
PC: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.4GHz, 6 GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD3600, Windows 7 64-bit, Sony VMS 10.
Camcorder: Sony Hard Disk Drive Handycam DCR-SR52E.

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Prem, Welcome to Muvipix

One of the Vegas users will be around shortly to help you with your problem.
I am a Premiere Elements user but wanted to welcome you to the forum and let you know that an answer is on the way

[Steve Grisetti]

Welcome, Prem!

Much depends on the type of video you're getting from that camcorder and how you have your project set up. You'll get the best performance and best results if you ensure that your project properties match your video format and codecs.

What model of camcorder is your video coming from? Is this standard definition or AVC footage?

And which version of Vegas or Vegas Movie Studio are you using?

BTW, have you checked out our great free Basic Training tutorials for Vegas Movie Studio?
http://Muvipix.com/vms11.php

[Chuck Engels]

PC: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.4GHz, 6 GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD3600, Windows 7 64-bit, Sony VMS 10.
Camcorder: Sony Hard Disk Drive Handycam DCR-SR52E.

[Steve Grisetti]

Okay, that camcorder shoots standard definition MPEG.

The best thing to do is to create a new video project and, on the settings page, use the Match Settings option to sample one of the clips. This will automatically set your project up to work with that video format. And it should make a big difference in how the program performs.

However, you may need to adjust the frame rate and quality of your Preview also, depending how long and intensive your project is. Set it to Preview/Automatic quality to start and see if that too makes a difference.

[prem]

Thanks for a quick response Steve.
Your Guide to VMS 11 is absolutely superb and I am following every suggestion in the book. Your cross references are very useful. Can't miss any topic. Very thorough indeed.
I was wondering if there is any loss in video quality as the original video from the camera, MPEG, gets converted to AVI and then back to MPEG if I set up a new project with AVI clips.
Thanks for your help and advice.
Prem
PC: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.4GHz, 6 GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD3600, Windows 7 64-bit.
Editing: Sony VMS 10 platinum suite.
Camcorder: Sony Hard Disk Drive Handycam DCR-SR52E standard definition.

[Steve Grisetti]

If you've got your project properly set up using the Match Settings tool, prem, you should not see any significant loss in the move the MPEG camcorder video to DV to MPEG/DVD.