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Will Premiere and After Effects Accept MPEG 2 format files
Hi Ive been planning to buy the sony widecreen handycam which records directly to mini DVD disc inside the camera. Can i edit these MPEG 2 files within Premiere Pro, and After Effects for compositing ?
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10 Replies
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In short, no.
The only way around this is to buy a software codec (Main Concept) that will convert to a format that the Adobe apps can work with. For the money the codec will cost you’d be better buying a DV based camera.
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I concur with R.Hewitt.
Get a Dv based camera and save yourself some grief.
Craig
Shooter Film Company
Auckland
New Zealand(Premiere Pro 1.5 / Matrox TRX100 XTreme Pro)
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But is the quality that you get on DV tape richer than dvd quality ?
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I have the Sony 403E DVD handycam and I m using Premier Pro and After FX to edit my footages. I record in video mode in my camera (not VR) and then copy the vob files on the hard drive. I had playback and render problems using the vob files just as they are so before importing them to Premier or After FX, I’m un-multiplexing them by using an other utility. After that the files are fully editable in Premier Pro or AfterFX with no render problems. Mini DV is still better quality than DVD but the ease of use and transfer with a DVD cam is something very convenient.
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Yes Jimmy. In fact im planning to buy the same camera. LOL. What a coincidence. One is because its native widescreen. Secondly because of the convenience of direct to dvd. And the steadyshake is damn good too. Poor mans steadycam !. Hey Jimmy. Why would you want to use a demultiplexer third party software. I think if you dont finalize the dvd. The files remain as mpeg2 which adobe after effects and premiere boast that they can edit. Correct me if im wrong please. Have you tried this. Taking the raw mpeg 2 from the dvd ?
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[plainman007] “The files remain as mpeg2 which adobe after effects and premiere boast that they can edit. Correct me if im wrong please”
Where did you read that? Premiere has a codec available to encode finished DV to Mpeg, but not edit.
Various Premiere versions can edit mpeg files, “IF” is a proper plugin available(mainconcept.com), or if there is third party hardware and the software associated with it present on the machine, some people have a fix of using a freecodec pack and switching to another codec but it can make a god awful mess. -
Plainman007
I think I agree with Blast1, I couldn’t edit mpeg files as I wanted in Premier Pro. The render file wasn’t what I wanted. It skipped frames, the motion wasn’t good and some parts where completely missing. So I had to demultipex them. I haven’t tried to use the raw mpeg file without finalizing as I can’t find anywhere in the market (at least my market) 8cm DVD+RW discs. I only use DVD-RW discs which don’t allow you to transfer files on the PC unless you have them finalized. I haven’t found a way to make the whole process work in VR mode (instead of the video “native DVD” format I usually use), in other words, transfer files to the PC. If someone knows something more about it … help would be much appreciated.
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In short yes.
The camera head in the DVD camcorders is near identical to a DV camera. However, whereas the video in a DV camera is compressed at a fixed 5:1 ratio and on a frame by frame basis the MPEG2 from the DVD camcorder is more highly compressed.
It is difficult to compare the datarates produced by these formats (DV: 25Mbits. DVD: upto 8Mbits) as it doesn’t tell the whole story. Both formats rely on lossing data to enable the compression. In DV that is on a frame by frame basis and cannot accurately take account of fast moving objects. MPEG2 works across many frames and applies least compression to moving objects and maximum to static ones.
Both have their benefits. DVD is convenient and can be played straight back in a DVD player. Editing requires decoding the video, which introduces more compression when it re-encoded to MPEG2 again. DVD cameras are for the consumer market but has the benefit of being transferable with a PC DVD-ROM drive. DV has the benefit of being able to buy tapes almost everywhere, is supported by almost all video editing applications without further loss of quality. DV and its derivative DVCAM, is being used as a professional format for a huge number of broadcasters around the world. DV requires injesting by the camera deck or an external DV deck and they aren’t cheap.
The choice is obviously yours but I would still go for DV everytime.
HTH,
Richard.
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Steadyshake is no substitute at all. It WILL worsen your image quality unless you use a camera that use the lens and NOT the camera electronics to help reduce shake.
All electronic versions reduce the resolution of your image by reducing the captured image size and then make use of the picture area outside of this reduced image to allow the frame to be re-positioned slightly and expanded out again.
The optical version (on higher-end cameras) moves an internal lens to compensate for motion detected by the camera. This doesn’t effect the image quality as greatly but can lead to some ‘lag’ in the viewfinder image.
The primary purpose of the current DVD cameras is to reduce the cost and open up a new budget market by eliminating most of the mechanics in the camera. The MPEG2 format used by these cameras was chosen not for editing but for the convenience of being able to play the DVD straight away in a normal DVD player at home.
If you really want to edit, go down the DV route. The cost isn’t any greater right now and Premier Pro will be able to edit the footage natively as will After Effects.
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MPEG 2 was designed for output/distribution while DV is designed to be edited. The Handycams that record to DVD/MPEG are really consumer oriented to shoot and pop into a DVD to watch with no editing like home movies.
Theoretically, the MPEG can (and does often times) look better than DV, but if you look at the wiki link I have below, you will see that MPEG2 doesn’t have an actual frame at each frame whereas DV does.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-2
Don
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