Hi, what simple program will edit mpg video clips from Sony digital cameras (mpeg1)?
 

Here is what I want to do. I took some short video clips on my sony digital camera, about 2 minutes each. They should be in mpeg1 format. I just want to trim the beginning and end and change the levels a little and then save it again.

I downloaded the trial version of Premiere CS4 (I am using 6.5 still....as all my work is still in miniDV) did the changes and tried exporting to many different formats.

Not one of them looked good. The closest I could get to how sharp the original looked was to save it in WMV. Every other format just make the resulting file look like it was a codec throwup.

I don't believe I did anything wrong, this is pretty straightforward.

So, no version of Premiere will allow me to do what I want to do? I find that hard to believe.

Can anyone shed any light on this, or there is no solution? If that is the case, can someone recommend a great mpg editor?

thanks

Try Womble or TMPGenc. I don't have Premiere 6.5 still loaded and can't remember if 6.5 supported mpeg editing. Didn't your Sony come with Sony Motion Browser?

Ron Evans

If you have windows xp then you an do it with Movie maker

Windows XP: Movie Maker 2.1 Download

Stelios

Just the sheer quality of the recording device means this will happen. It's already pretty compressed, so when you recompress it, bad things will happen...

How does it look exported to an .avi?

I see....ugh...the best I can get if Windows Movie Maker 5.1 saving at the largest file size. But it doesn't have any color/gamma/levels correction on it, just some hokey brightness effects.

Sigh.

TMPGenc won't import it because it is a variable bit rate mpeg1.

Adobe spits out things that look terrible and the audio is out of synch with huge frame drops.


I can't believe that these Sony camera footage can't be edited. They are convenient, but you gotta get it right the first time.

That really sucks!

MPEG Streamclip
 

I have a Sony 828 and I occasionally shoot some video with it... my kids playing, this sort of thing, when the video camera is not around; I assume your camera is something similar. The solution for you is MPEG Streamclip. Google it and download it (read the instructions for the correct QT version), then open your clip with it - you don't even have to install it; you will have to install QTAlternative if you don't have QT Professional.

Mark your in point by pressing i, then press Ctrl+k to find the nearest keyframe. Press i again. Mark your out point by pressing o, then do the same as above to find the keyframe. You can do it without searching for keyframes but the video will be recompressed.

Now go to File > Convert to MPEG. Choose a location and file name and click Save. The operation will only take a blink of your eye, just another sign that there is absolutely no re-compression, just straight cut (if you export the whole file, it's new size is exactly the size of the original file).

I hope this helps,