Starting Out..advice welcome..starting it right !

[garjobo123]

Ok ladies need a little advice.

I am about to embark on a small project 'interviews for work' nothing exciting. I have videos in 4k and used a Rode mic no less...oooh!!! i know i know..cant say im too impressed to be honest. Any road I digress, I have just reinstalled VS2018.

I have uploaded my video files, see below, the first question VS asks me ...."Do you want to match the project settings to match the video setting so you can perform smartrender"

SO - do I?

The video properties are, MPEG-4 Files
24 bits, 3840 x 2160, 25 fps
Frame-based
H.264 High Profile Video: 69999 Kbps
48000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo
MPEG AAC Audio: 256 Kbps

( Are they any good by the way? just curious )

The Project properties VS is coming up with are,
MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Upper Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 16:9
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 384 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

SO - shall i just say 'yes' and start to edit my little videos..and then render as MP4 as per normal ( turning on / off smartrender on that screen - when I come to save/ share )

Will it make a difference..what if i said No......Means my PC will work harder then editing?

Just..crossroads right now...so yes or no - does it make any difference by saying Yes match project settings?

Advice more than welcome..like i say..starting out..starting afresh..would like it right from the outset.

thanking you for your knowledge in advance.

[garjobo123]

replying to my own post...just checking..

my video properties of my newish 4k camcorder 25frames!! wtf!! i dont understand at all..

Those video settings i mentioned..as they any good...im hoping to get a decent looking video project once rendered...im aware...4k tv etc...but was hoping to perhaps edit a shot..zoom in a little to make a cut...and the quality will stay good? No...no good then?

However, right now..more interested in Shall i let VS match it's properties as per my original post.

[garjobo123]

further more..

I checked past topics of the useful Corel forum.

One Mr Ken Berry once wrote - back in 2010 i think to a forum posting re someones post about mpeg 4 smartrender...

"In any case, I recommend that you don't use SmartRender with any high definition video... The quality is already extremely high, so one full render -- particularly if your output properties maintain the high quality settings -- should not produce any visible degradation in quality.

Firstly..2010!...although this post wasnt 4k related...have we not moved on with camcorder quality...Doesnt seem much different to my settings and they mentioned 30fps!

SO...going by this...shall i ignore smartrender?

Ken did go on about Settings > make movie template manager etc etc in responce to this 2010 posting.

I just want to know..simply..do i ignore smartrender and once edited i render mpeg4 ( with smartrender turned off on that page )

[Ken Berry]

Things have indeed moved on in the past decade! And yes, you should say OK when asked that first question about having the Project Properties match those of the first clip. That's if you want the final edited and rendered video to have those sorts of Properties. If the Project Properties then match those of the first clip, you can, when you go to the Render tab, then choose either Same As First Video Clip or Same As Project Settings. And you should get some excellent video with those settings.

Now SmartRender. You are using VS 2018 so it should be OK to leave SmartRender enabled. It will speed up the render considerably. However, should the output video prove to be garbled in whole or in part, you could try rendering with SmartRender disabled -- though this was a problem encountered more in VS 2019 and 2020, rather than 2018. But I'm just saying...

Oh, and if the video is garbled, you could also try turning off Hardware Acceleration if it is currently enabled. Another lesson learnt from VS 2019 and 2020...

If you say No to that original question, by the way, your Project Properties will remain set at those low 720 x 480 standard video settings. You can still edit despite that, but when you come to Share you would need to choose a 4K mp4 output with properties similar to those of the original... That's if you want high quality output...

[garjobo123]

Well thanks, that's great to read regarding use of the words' should get excellent results..'

Ok, clicking Yes as mentioned.

Thanks for the tips, see how things progresses.