Merging projects

[n00b]

Situation: I have three interviews, edited in each their project file in X5.
Now I need to combine them in one project, from where I will add news stuff and edit existing stuff.

How do I merge the files into one project file which is still fully editable - for every element in the whole timeline?
Sure I can create a new project file and import the .VPS-files, but the three interviews will then show us as non-editable blocks.
Deadline: Today...

[BrianCee]

Sorry - not going to happen - you can only have one .vsp open in editable form at any time - as soon as you insert a second .vsp it becomes (as you have discovered) an uneditable block.

your only option to complete in a hurry is to edit each project individually - at the end of each one create a video file - with whatever properties your videos are - ie if the are .avi stick with .avi. then put all three in your timeline one after another and then create one DVD compliant video from that and burn your DVD from that.

Alternatively - stick with 3 videos and put each one into the timeline of the "Create Disc" module - this will create a menu with three distinct selectable titles on it (a bit like chapters) so you can select when playing to 'Play All' - by simply pressing play on the opening DVD screen - or to play each one individually by selecting it and pressing play.

[n00b]

Sorry - not going to happen - you can only have one .vsp open in editable form at any time - as soon as you insert a second .vsp it becomes (as you have discovered) an uneditable block.

Thank you for clearing that one for me so fast. Exactly what I feared.

Strange and very inflexible. And a time waster as well. In this way it is difficult to combine and reuse "fine tuned" parts you already made.
I could of course build a new project by drag/drop pieces to/from the "media" section (preserving markers on each clip), but it will still end up in a puzzle. No really a solution.
Not sure I understand the Corel design decision here, since it is technically possible to have my three interviews (and a lot of other stuff) in one timeline/project - if you do it from the beginning.

your only option to complete in a hurry is to edit each project individually - at the end of each one create a video file - with whatever properties your videos are - ie if the are .avi stick with .avi. then put all three in your timeline one after another and then create one DVD compliant video from that and burn your DVD from that.

Thanks. Sound like the way to to. I will do that.
Is is better to render 3 x videos (mp4 or whatever) and combine them in new timeline, rather than creating a "meta project" containing 3 x project-files (VSP), and then render that to one video file? And why?

Alternatively - stick with 3 videos and put each one into the timeline of the "Create Disc" module - this will create a menu with three distinct selectable titles on it (a bit like chapters) so you can select when playing to 'Play All' - by simply pressing play on the opening DVD screen - or to play each one individually by selecting it and pressing play.

Never played with that section of X5. Will try than one day.
For here and now: The product is a "talking head" kind of movie (with animation, graphics etc) for discussion on a seminar. Will be show via YouTube/Vimeo with a USB-stick for redundancy.

[BrianCee]

Thanks. Sound like the way to to. I will do that.
Is is better to render 3 x videos (mp4 or whatever) and combine them in new timeline, rather than creating a "meta project" containing 3 x project-files (VSP), and then render that to one video file? And why?

my personal preference is to render three individual files and use them in the final project - you can indeed also add the three project files one after another in the timeline and create one file - I suppose I render three files because I've always done it that way as earlier versions of VS would not allow you to put .vsp files in the timeline.

Thinking about it now perhaps the three project files in the timeline is better as there is one less render going on - in theory that should keep quality up - perhaps I'll try it that way next time.

[n00b]

my personal preference is to render three individual files and use them in the final project - you can indeed also add the three project files one after another in the timeline and create one file - I suppose I render three files because I've always done it that way as earlier versions of VS would not allow you to put .vsp files in the timeline. Thinking about it now perhaps the three project files in the timeline is better as there is one less render going on - in theory that should keep quality up - perhaps I'll try it that way next time.

I'd better stick to the well tested method of yours.
Which format should I render the three parts in - "MPEG-4 HD"?

[canuck]

Strange and very inflexible. And a time waster as well. In this way it is difficult to combine and reuse "fine tuned" parts you already made.
I could of course build a new project by drag/drop pieces to/from the "media" section (preserving markers on each clip), but it will still end up in a puzzle. No really a solution.
Not sure I understand the Corel design decision here, since it is technically possible to have my three interviews (and a lot of other stuff) in one timeline/project - if you do it from the beginning.

Actually I do not find it "Strange and very inflexible" at all nor do I think it is a time waster. I always do my project in smaller projects and output them to the to DVD quality mpeg file. When I am happy with the "parts" then I combine them into one video when doing the final output to DVD or video file. I often use another video editing program and it works the same in regards to video project and as far as I know most programs work that way.

[Ken Berry]

Which format should I render the three parts in - "MPEG-4 HD"?

Well, the answer to that depends totally on what you intend to do with the finished project. How will you present your video -- as a DVD, Blu-Ray or some other way? If it is to be a DVD, then you output to DVD-compatible mpeg-2 standard definition. If Blu-Ray, then it could be either Blu-Ray compatible AVCHD (mp4 using the h.264 codec) or else straight Blu-Ray high def mpeg-2.

[n00b]

Well, the answer to that depends totally on what you intend to do with the finished project.

Final video will be presented on a big screen or projector via YouTube/Vimeo or USB-stick on PC.
Before that I need to know which format is "most loseless" as a middleground; for the 3 parts which I will later edit in a new VS project file - and then render to the final video.

[pvreditor]

Final video will be presented on a big screen or projector via YouTube/Vimeo or USB-stick on PC.
Before that I need to know which format is "most loseless" as a middleground; for the 3 parts which I will later edit in a new VS project file - and then render to the final video.

You should render it to one of the 1080i or 1080p formats. If your primary source is a Nikon D90, you will probably get the least loss by rendering to MPEG-4. Uploading to YouTube and/or Vimeo will give you a quality hit, even though they both support 1080p. For the best possible quality, I recommend plugging a computer into the projector and running the MPEG-4 file directly from that computer.

You could also render to AVCHD and WMV formats, and they are both nice HD quality. The D90 camera probably creates MPEG-4 files, so there will probably be the least loss going to MPEG-4. (Yes... there's a couple of "probablies" in there.) The bottom line is that you will definitely get better quality playing the file directly from a computer than you will playing it from YouTube or Vimeo. One problem worth noting about WMV files is that they are not Mac friendly. I've given files to mac people and they could not display them.

Bob Kovacs
http://www.bobkovacs.com

[n00b]

You should render it to one of the 1080i or 1080p formats. If your primary source is a Nikon D90, you will probably get the least loss by rendering to MPEG-4.

Thanks. Done. Worked. Got one video rendered in MPEG4 late last night. File size around 1 GB.
Now, this morning I made a few adjustments, and suddenly VS crash while trying to render in MPEG4. MPEG2 works.
I will of course need HD. Any suggestion - how to fix MPEG4 rendering -- or rather use AVCHD?

[pvreditor]

Now, this morning I made a few adjustments, and suddenly VS crash while trying to render in MPEG4. MPEG2 works.
I will of course need HD. Any suggestion - how to fix MPEG4 rendering -- or rather use AVCHD?

If MPEG-4 crashes, then try WMV or AVCHD. Both play beautifully from a reasonably powerful PC, although Apple Macs may or may not play nice with WMV.

Bob Kovacs
http://www.bobkovacs.com

[n00b]

If MPEG-4 crashes, then try WMV or AVCHD. Both play beautifully from a reasonably powerful PC, although Apple Macs may or may not play nice with WMV.

Sure did. AVCHD turned out to be my friend. It also stopped/crashed, but after a few attempt it worked. Video done, great success.
Still: Strange with the crashes and the randomness in the rendering phase.
Is it general for VS?

[pvreditor]

If MPEG-4 crashes, then try WMV or AVCHD. Both play beautifully from a reasonably powerful PC, although Apple Macs may or may not play nice with WMV.

Sure did. AVCHD turned out to be my friend. It also stopped/crashed, but after a few attempt it worked. Video done, great success.
Still: Strange with the crashes and the randomness in the rendering phase.
Is it general for VS?

I have VSx2 running on one computer and VSx4 running on two computers (desktop and laptop). VSx2 crashed occasionally when I used it often. It particularly didn't like doing one render after another, so I learned to re-boot the computer between renders. VSx4 is more stable and almost never crashes. If I have the impression that it's getting a little wonky, I reboot the computer. That may happen once a month or so, and I use VS a lot.

If VS is crashing often, check to see what else is running on the computer. If you have other software open, consider closing it down. If you have lots of icons on your taskbar, that means you have lots of programs running. Close down whatever you don't need open on the computer, and that will probably increase the stability of VS.

Bob Kovacs
http://www.bobkovacs.com

[flatpick]

if you save the file as a custom template you can import it to the new timeline.

steve