New User, Hello all!

[tseegert]

Hello everyone! I recently purchased the Video Editor Pro X3/Photo Shop combo pack and so far, I am loving it! I only have a couple questions that beg to be answered before I try a couple things (and the information doesnt seem to be readily available or I am not smart enough to find it... both are possible).
When you upload a finished video, (and any conversion that may have taken place) does a copy of the original library/video remain? I am afraid to "finalize" the video to be able to share it, because I am not completely finished and dont want to have to start over from scratch.
Also, editing HD MP4's was a bit too choppy for my system so I converted all of the files I have been using to AVI so I could at least see somewhat how the video would look upon completion. My questions are, if I leave the videos in MP4 HD format, and deal with the choppiness while editing, will it play as it should when I "finalize" it? Also, can AVI files be converted back to MP4's to regain the HD qualities?
Sorry for coming in as a newb and posing a barrage of questions, I am just way to excited about this program and would just like to make sure before I put too much time into a video I am working on to make the wrong decisions from the start. AVI doesnt look too bad, but since I have an HD recorder, if I can keep the finished product HD I would certainly prefer it.

Thanks in advace for any advice, and hopefully in the future I can repay it with some of my own knowledge.

Thanks!
Troy

[Ken Berry]

Hi Troy ... and welcome to the forums!!

Good news on your first question: yoiur original video remains untouched and ready for re-use or more editing... You are in effect creating a new video and the original only has 'virtual' changes made to it during the editing process.

Your second question is a bit more complicated. First, can we assume that your HD mp4s are in fact AVCHD video? What camera did they come from? Can you right click on one in the VS library window or the timeline and copy all its properties here please?

If it is in fact AVCHD, then I am afraid that your computer is not really up to the job of playing them smoothly. AVCHD is the most demanding video format currently on the market and you require at least a decent Core 2 Duo processor just to play them smoothly. Your Pentium 4, if it has hyperthreading, just might be able to edit them using SmartProxy, but still could not play them smoothly. (I know -- I used to use a Pentium 4 3.0 GHz with HT for editing, and had this experience...)

And we need to know the properties of the AVI files you have converted them to -- there are over 800 different types of video which use the .avi extension. I suspect, though, that you may have converted them from one difficult format to another -- DivX or XVid. That is another highly compressed mpeg-4 format, though it calls itself .avi, which is more meant for distribution than editing. Unfortunately, both formats are also highly lossy, so you lose quality with each conversion.

[tseegert]

Hi Ken, and thanks for the welcome! The camera I am using is the Flip Ultra HD. The properties as they come right from the camera are as follows:

MPEG-4 FileH.264 Main Profile Video
24 bits, 1280x720, 16:9
60 FPS
20000Kbps

After I convert them to AVI:
Microsoft AVI Files--Open DML
24 bits, 320x240

My Pentium does have hyperthreading. If I can retain the HD and deal with the choppy playback, (providing I can make it through the editing process at all) will the finalized video retain the HD quality? I also suppose it may be time for a new Mobo/processor at any rate.

Again, thanks for the reply and the welcome. I look forward to learning!

[Ken Berry]

I am afraid your AVI properties are absolutely hopeless -- incredibly low quality, and no point at all converting from your much higher quality originals!

But, now that you have confirmed you are producing AVCHD of the 720p variety, I am afraid I can only repeat that though you might be able to edit the video on X3 using SmartProxy, your computer simply will not be able to play it smoothly. Believe it or not, AVCHD requires more computer resources than editing does when it comes to AVCHD!! So time to think about a new MoBo etc, I'm afraid...