In which formats can VideoStudio 12 projects be "saved

[ecbritz]

When you have compiled a long HD movie by combining various shorter HD movie clips -- using Video Studio 12 -- in which formats can this movie project be "saved as"? Can the long movie, the compilation, only be saved as a Video Studio project, to be played by Video Studio itself? Or can it be saved as a normal HD movie, playable with any HD movie player?

[BrianCee]

first of all let me say that the VideoStudio Project File (.vsp) is not a video file of any sort and will only play on your computer when it has access to all of your video/audio/image files etc. - you cannot give a .vsp file to a friend and expect it to play even if your friend has VideoStudio on their computer.

VideoStudio offers a very large range of output formats for distributing and viewing your video - when you have finished editing click on the 'Share' tab at the top of your screen and you will be offered options to create a number of different format 'standard' video files - including options for i-pod, mobile phones etc. as well as options for burning DVDs - including Blu-ray DVDs if you have a suitable burner.

So explore all the options available to you under the 'Share' tab.

[sjj1805]

Please view:
What is a project file?

[ecbritz]

Thanks very much for the advice given above. I have been away from my AVCHD Camera / VideoStudio 12 program for a month and would now like to get down to learning the editing program properly. From what I read above, and in the link, I can't make out how I will end up after putting together a long movie from different short movies using Video Studio 12. Will I finally end up with a long, single movie file, containing a sequence of short movie files "glued together"? This is what I am hoping to achieve. I don't necessarily want to "share" the long movie file. But I want to be able to play it on my computer independent of VideoStudio, copy it to another computer, copy it back to my camcorder, etc. The long movie file I hope to produce with VideoStudio should have an extension name like .mt2s, which would make it playable with a good HD video player program. Is that what I will end up with? Which formats (i.e. extension names) are available when the compiled movie is finally "saved as" by VideoStudio at the very end of the process? Please tell me, I will appreciate it very much.

[sjj1805]

..... after putting together a long movie from different short movies using Video Studio 12. Will I finally end up with a long, single movie file, containing a sequence of short movie files "glued together"? ....

Yes.

[ecbritz]

Thanks, this is reassuring, but I do not get it yet, sorry to be a nuisance. Scanning through the 200+ page VideoStudio 12 User Guide, I simply cannot not find any reference to saving the compiled movie -- the product of the completed project -- so that I have a single file with a typical movie file extension name. I looked under "Rendering" but that did not come up with the solution. Searching under the index item "Save" I saw that you can you save your work as a project file (vsp file). I also saw that the completed job can be burnt to a disc as an AVCHD movie -- which to my knowledge is not a single file but a little "file package" burnt to a disc. At this stage, I do not want to share my completed project or burn a movie to a disc as a file package. I want to create a single, computer-playable HD movie file -- a file called something like movie.mpg (with mpg referring to mpeg-2). Where, in the documentation, can I read how to turn the project into a single HD movie file? What I would like to achieve, is to start with a number of .m2ts files, edit and combine them, and end up with a new, longer .m2ts file, or perhaps a .mpg file (referring to mpeg-2). If the User Guide does not cover this, where will I find this function in the VideoStudio 12 program? Thanks for staying with me on this!

[sjj1805]

[Share] tab - create video.

[Ken Berry]

Your confusion is all really only a question of semantics: between the meanings of 'save' and 'share'. To you, 'save' means creating the type of single video file you describe, but to VS, 'save' means simply saving all the bits and pieces of video in a project, plus the editing done to them, in a single .vsp files which is not a video file.

'Share' you seem to think has the usual meaning of doing something which you then can share with others; while in reality you only for the moment want something you yourself can check out. But for VS, 'share' means what you do once you have finished editing. It might mean creating a disc or exporting back to a camera of phone, or sending something to YouTube to share with others; but it also means creating the type of single video file you are after, which can also be 'shared' in the sense of either enjoying it yourself, either alone or with family or friends at home on your computer or TV, or even by literally sharing it by sending it to friends...

Once you finish editing, you choose Share along the top of screen. A new screen will appear which will offer various choices. Create Disc is merely one of them. The one you are after is Share > Create Video File. When you choose that, a further screen will appear offering a fairly large range of formats that you can 'share' (in the VS sense, 'save' in your own sense) your project in. And believe me, AVCHD/.m2ts is one of them...

[BrianCee]

You also seem to be under a bit of mis-apprehension as to what 'burn a DVD' means - it means to create your movie as a complete playable masterpiece on DVD, just like a DVD you may buy in a shop which you can put in any standard DVD player and play to a TV - the little 'file package' as you call it is in fact your one single video which will play continuously from opening title to your closing credit , the 'file package' as you call it contains file which are labelled .vob but they are in fact mpeg2 files but in a standard format which any commercial DVD player will recognise.

But if what you really want is a single mpeg file only then 'Share > Create Video File' will do that for you - - - try it.

[ecbritz]

Thanks all for the patience and good advice. I bought VideoStudeo 12 and later bought the Sony video editing program (Vegas), giving up on the untried VideoStudio 12 purchase. Following this, I went away on holiday and gave both programs a rest for a month. Three reasons for this unusual behaviour: (1) I was warned on these pages that VS 12 produces a movie with "rather distracting blimps". (2) The VideoStudio 12 User Manual (provided as a 200+ page PDF file) seems to contain no instructions on how to produce a playable movie file other than a disc with a AVCHD "file package". What you have written in your kind letters, I did not find in the User Manual. Very puzzling and distressing to the novice. I have tons of Gigabytes on two computers and two extra external drives, coupled with strong resistance to the idea of building up boxes with CD's collections again, like in the 1990's. (3) To my dismay, the Sony Vegas editing program instructions were also rather vague on how to produce and finally save to my hard drive the kind of single movie file I had in mind when buying a new camcorder. So ... back to VideoStudio 12 which at least has an excellent user forum, seemingly much better than the Vegas forum. I'm going to "soldier on" with VS 12 now, after your greatly appreciated advice. Who knows, perhaps I will end up a happy man.