importing hd files into premiere

[Rui Resende]

hello, this is my first post here on the forum.

 

I'm a total amateur, and i'm trying to learn my ways into amateur filmmaking.

 

Right now i have a problem.

 

I recorded some footage, on HD, and i got m2t files. I read (can you confirm, please) that these files can't be edited in Adobe Premiere, so i converted them into mpeg. First question is, did i loose quality in the process? the original file had 135.055kb, the new one has 130.786kb, so there is little difference in size, but i suppose i lost some quality; is it true?

 

Now the big doubt. As i import my new mpeg file into adobe premiere, the program assumes a new framing for the footage. So, basically this is a frame of the footage i recorded:

 

 

as i imported the clip, and as i placed it in my project's timeline, Premiere chops the framing and now this piece of footage gets framed like the red rectangle indicates:

 

 

 

Do i have to reduce the frame size of my footage to correct this? or is it possible to define the size of the whole project according to the size more favourable to my footage? in any case, how can i do it, in A.Premiere?

 

thanks in advance, any help will be extremely useful.

[Phil Rhodes]

First question is, did i loose quality in the process?

 

Yes. Unless you output to a completely uncompressed file, you will always lose, even if the new file is much bigger than the old one. There are probably better formats you could have used.

 

Did these m2t files come from an HDV camera? Premiere can deal with HDV; have you actually tried importing them? You might have to rename the files to end in .m2v or .mpg.

 

The cropping is simply because the timeline isn't the same size as the footage. Depending on the resolution you're aiming for, you can use a different preset when opening your project, or you can scale the footage down if you don't need to finish it at high resolution. Personally, though, if you're going to finish the project to a lower resolution, I'd make low res copies of all your footage to begin with, and edit with the timeline the same size as the majority of the footage.

 

P

[David Ghast]

lol, ok, ill give you credit cause your new at this, ill explain what you did wrong:

 

mpeg is a final compression format, it uses interframe prediction (feel free to google that) to enable it to compress to 10% of the original file size (typically). This interframe is bad for editing, cause the program has to guess the source frame from the inter-predicted frames. Any sort of compression format shouldnt be used unless you A) know what your doing or B ) are done with post. The general rule when doing post is to A) keep it in its original compressed format, that is, if your original format is compressed (that requires your knowledge of the camera and its compression, but is the often the smallest filesize), B ) use an uncompressed format (the largest filesize), or C) use a lossless codec like lagarith which results in filesizes in between A & B.

 

As for your framing issue, you didnt create your project correct to reflect the dimensions of your source footage. Look at your footage in the footage window (or whatever its called), right click it, and select interpret, it should tell you most everything you need to know about it. Write that down and create a new project to reflect this. Be careful when you export that all these settings are in line with your video.

 

 

edit: you cant write "B )" next to eachother without invoking those god damn emoticons. Not everyone likes to express emotion through retarded graphics from the 90's.

 

edit2: forgot to mention that your working with HDV files, which are like a modified mpeg2, which is still bad for editing. Your best bet is to re-encode them to lagarith.

Edited March 23, 2009 by David Ghast

[Rui Resende]

thanks for both answers, they really helped me a lot... i'm a total rookie in any tecnhical aspects of video and cinema, so my doubts are basic. I'm doing what you recomended me to do, i'm making experiments. I will ask once again questions which i hope can be less laughable than these i posed now.

 

thanks again.

[Tom Hepburn]

I will ask once again questions which i hope can be less laughable than these i posed now.

 

ruiresende,

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Some people may have forgotten (or for other personal reasons) what it's like to be at the stage that you're at. We've all been there. Ask anything you want and I'm sure if you're respectful, as you were, you should get respectful responses 99.9% of the time.

 

FYI, you'll also need to use your real name on the forum.

 

Good luck,

Tom