Massive amount of hard drive space being taken up by project

[j_spencer]

I am recording rugby matches onto DVD and transferring them onto my laptop. The thing is it's taken up massive amounts of space on my computer. I have gone down from about 50GB to 10GB since my project began a few weeks ago. I am not saving matches to my hard drive though, just putting them onto Ulead. Further, I am deleting 99% of what I do put on Ulead. For example, say I upload one rugby match, about 100MB, I'll probably only use about 30 seconds of rugby and delete the rest. I'd say I have a maxium of 70MB on Ulead at the moment. What is the problem then? My comp is running so slow and I can't ditch this project. Any help greatly appreciated!

[Clevo]

Well this depends on what format you are saving them in...and how you are splicing the clips.

AVI video takes up the most space approx 65GB/hour.... MPEG2 I believ is approx 12GB/hour

Video files are HUGE

In VS when you trim the video the new thumbnail is a representative of the trim and it doesn;t mean the rest is deleted.

All you need to do is when you finish your project and burnt to DVD simply delete the original file when you are done.

I recently installed a 420GB hard drive just to keep my videos on.

If you can tell us...How you are capturing and to what format

also...how you are editing Trimming or clipping.

[heinz-oz]

I would forget about video editing with a "massive" HDD of 50GB only.

As clevo said, video files can be hughe. It's all in the compression used.

You also didn't yet understand some simple facts about non linear editing and Ulead VS in particular. You do "NOT" putting video into Ulead, you load a video clip into a project for editing. The source file is not altered by your editing but the VS project file tells VS where your source file resides and what you did with it. That's all. If you then delete the source file without rendering out a new video file of your edited clips, your project will not work because the source file is missing.

If your video files are too big, try lowering the bit rate. Anything above 6000 to 7000 kbps is a waste of space considering your source files. To preserve space you could go as low as 4000 kbps without noticing too much quality loss. Because you are editing mpeg2 files recorded by a DVD recorder, do not make the common mistake of converting that to DV-AVI for editing. It will not have the desired effect. Rather record at higher bit rates and stick with mpeg2 throughout your project. Once you have edited your video, use the "SHARE" step to create the new clip. Only after that can you delete your source files. The new file will play in a media player but will still need to be authored to DVD to play in a stand alone DVD player.

[Ken Berry]

And just to clarify a little further, if you are inserting a large clip in the VS timeline, then edit out most of it, then save the project file, the original video remains on your computer uncut (unless you remove it manually using Windows, at which point, as Heinz suggested, your project file might no longer work). This is because the cuts are only 'virtual' as far as as VS and the project file are concerned.

To make a real cut, you have to use Tools > Save Trimmed Video. That creates a new and real file of the bit you want from a particular match. You can then remove the bits you don't want from your computer (i.e. the original file(s).

[j_spencer]

Much appreciated guys, as always. Never cease to be amazed by the help I receive on this board. God knows where I'd be without it.

[heinz-oz]

God knows where many of us would be without it as well. Nothing helps you understanding something better than trying to explain it to a novice.

Don't forget, we are users like yourself, just a bit more experience, that's all.

[gillyv]

I was searching for some info on the above and came across your comment about not making the common mistake of editing in avi files being better than mpeg. You say there is not being much difference in final look. My bro recommended editing in avi format as it is the more detailed quality. This is not correct then?

[sjj1805]

Yes and no

The term avi relates to a large range of video formats and not one. The Video format that we recommend for editing is DV (Digital Video) and is regarded as an avi format. File sizes are very large and take 13GB per hour.

Another form of avi is DivX which is a popular format for sharing files over the internet. This format uses a mere 700 MB per hour. It is a highly compressed format and not considered suitable for editing.