2 Replies Latest reply on Jul 15, 2010 7:14 AM by the_wine_snob

    Trimming to reduce size, yet exporting makes clip enormous. eg) import 11mb = export 500mb!? PE7

    MuffinPie
    MuffinPie Jul 15, 2010 1:43 AM

      I’m new to video editing with Elements 7. With Windows Movie Maker, I could trim a clip, and the new clip would be smaller than the original. I don’t understand how Elements works.

       

      I put in a 11mb MPEG4 clip from my camcorder, and when I export it as either mov + H.264, or DV-AVI, I get a clip that can be as big as 200mb – 500mb!!

       

      I want to maintain the quality of the original clip when I export, but this is nuts. Am I doing something wrong? I just want to trim unnecessary footage, store the clips, and edit them later. How do I decrease/trim the size of the original clip, maintain the quality, and not blow up the size?

       

      Thanks for any help!

       

       

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        • 1. Re: Trimming to reduce size, yet exporting makes clip enormous. eg) import 11mb = export 500mb!? PE7
          nealeh Level 5
          nealeh Jul 15, 2010 3:22 AM (in response to MuffinPie)

          You're not doing anything wrong. Your original MPEG file is already highly compressed. But PRE works with uncompressed footage (approximately  12GB per hour for standard DV-AVI. For media requiring compression (e.g. DVD) this takes place during the Share process. Note also that PRE re-renders the entire footage, whereas some products use 'smart encoding' that does not re-render unchanged footage.

           

          From the description of what you are trying to do you may be better off staying with Windows Movie Maker for that initial edit. Then bring that footage into a PRE project when needed. For best results in PRE use WMM to export it as DV-AVI, but note that is not possible in Windows Live Movie Maker - grab the WMM 2.6 version from Microsoft.

           

          Cheers,
          --
          Neale
          Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

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          • 2. Re: Trimming to reduce size, yet exporting makes clip enormous. eg) import 11mb = export 500mb!? PE7
            the_wine_snob Level 9
            the_wine_snob Jul 15, 2010 7:14 AM (in response to MuffinPie)

            As Neale points out, the file size increase is likely due to the exact Share/Export settings. Aspects, such as bit-rate, can make a major difference in the output file size. If one lowers the bit-rate, they can get quite close to the size of the original, but it the bit-rate is increased (quality goes up), then there is less compression taking place, so file sizes will increase. File size is dependent on Frame Size and on bit-rate.

             

            The great, free utility, G-SPOT, will tell you the bit-rate of your original, and then you can find one that is close, when you go to Share/Export.

             

            Good luck,

             

            Hunt

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