Trying to make quality of edited HD video equal to original

[mlwood]

I am new to working with HD video. I'm using VS X7. I have edited two .m2ts files together and now want to create a new file without any compression (i.e. identical quality to the original video files from my camera.)

These are the settings for the original video.
File Format: HDMV
Video Type: H.264
Total Frames: 288,180
Attributes: 24 bits, 1920 x 1080, 16:9
Frame Rate: 59.940
Data Rate: Variable (Max 25999 kbps)
80 min video, 15.7GB file size

After editing the videos together, I created a new video file using the "same as first video clip" setting. The resulting video looked like this.
File Format: HDMV
Video Type: H.264
Total Frames: 261,931
Attributes: 24 bits, 1920 x 1080, 16:9
Frame Rate: 59.940
Data Rate: Variable (Max 27999 kbps)
80 min video, 4.97GB file size

I'm having a hard time believing I'm not loosing quality when the file size drops from 15.75GB to 4.97GB. When I compare data rates in windows explorer, the original video is 28,110kbps and the new file is 9,528kbps. Is my new video truly identical quality-wise to the original video or am I doing something wrong. Any help would be much appreciated.

[skier-hughes]

How does it look?

[canuck]

Something doesn't seem right in your properties.

The original video is 80 minutes long but you also show the final video as being 80 minutes long. How do you explain that?

[Ken Berry]

Yes, I noticed that too. Given the difference in frame numbers, that's roughly 7 or 8 minutes less for the edited video. But it still doesn't account for the major difference in file size. However, like skier-hughes I too would like to know what the second video looks like when played on a big screen.

[mlwood]

Thanks all for the posts. The original video and edited video are just about the same length because I am mixing two camera angles into one video. So not really editing anything out (except for a few minutes at the end). Just switching back and forth between camera angles.

I don't see any difference in video quality between the original videos and the new one. I guess I'm hesitant to rely on my own eyesight (as silly as that sounds.) These recordings are archival for a University drama department and I want to make sure the people who come after me have the best possible quality to work with. I guess I would rest a little easier knowing that the final bit rate and file size are in the ballpark for a normal 80 min HD video.

[skier-hughes]

The bitrate, when set to variable is hard to gauge when we don't know the subject matter.
If you have a talking head, static plain background and just swap from two angles then you could use a very low average bitrate and get a small file size.
On the other hand, if you were filming racing cars going round a circuit with varying backgrounds of spectators, sky, grass, trees, buildings light and shade, then I'd expect a much larger average bitrate figure and a much larger end file.

[lata]

Hi

Those properties don’t look that great, I would expect the file sizes to be very similar.

Can you create a template using Settings – Movie Profile Manager
Format Avch.264
Using the Add function, browse for one of your files.
Then Share – Avc/H.264
Locate your template from the Profile list.

Render a video clip to compare sizes?