Convert HDV before editing in Premiere Pro?

[xoxidine]

I have been trying to find a better explination or reasoning for why my HDV footage is virtually unplayable in Premiere Pro (Intel Core2Quad Q6600, 4GB RAM, external 500GB HDD/internal 320GB (same results on either), Windows 7 x64 [some say x64 is part of the problem, but my experence has been pretty much the same on x86 and x64]).

It was another forum (forgot) where I read about someone running on a Core i7 (with at least 8GB RAM) stating that while his system could handle it, he found that converting all his HDV video to H.264 MPEG 4 and then editing that was a much more usable experience with virtually no quality loss.

Has anyone tried this or found this to be true? Even on my system, converting (current project) 40 minutes of HDV 29.97fps video to H.264 takes a few hours so if anyone else has tried this with results?

[Cr1msonTh1ng]

I have heard of proxy editing before which this sounds similar to. proxy edidting is creating a lower resolution or quality version of your video for editing to speed up work. then when you are finished you swap the proxy files with the originals and export at full res. you could do the same thing here with h.264 and then swap them back and you would truly have no loss in quality. search proxy editing here and you will find plenty of information.

[Lunchbox]

Your computer should be enough for HDV editing. Did you load the clip to the correct timeline? Have you change the preview mode to draft instead of automatic?

Converting to H.264 is always time consuming. My computer convert 1 hour video to H.264 in 28 hours.

[xoxidine]

I have heard of proxy editing before which this sounds similar to.

I have heard of proxy editing, but not for years. I'm really trying to find a way to do some full resolution editing.

Your computer should be enough for HDV editing. Did you load the clip to the correct timeline? Have you change the preview mode to draft instead of automatic?

Converting to H.264 is always time consuming. My computer convert 1 hour video to H.264 in 28 hours.

I think I'm just upset that my rig can't handle it. My computer is taking 7 hours to convert 40 minutes right now (testing it out to see what happens). I've heard of Cineform and Aspect HD and the whole bit but it just seems like a bunch of steps I shouldn't need to take (almost wish I never went HD [yet]).

I'll post how it goes though with this export. I'm doing the Premiere Pro CS4 H.264 1080P 29.976fps High Quality output. I'll post screenshots and file size comparasons for anyone else that might be interrested.

[Lunchbox]

It's normal that takes a long time to encode H.264. there's nothing wrong about it.

It's not necessary to edit in full HD. Editing in proxy is absolutely fine. I have a blog entry about Proxy editing

http://lacolorshop.com/blog/view.asp?id=9

[racer-x]

xoxidine wrote:

I have been trying to find a better explination or reasoning for why my HDV footage is virtually unplayable in Premiere Pro (Intel Core2Quad Q6600, 4GB RAM, external 500GB HDD/internal 320GB (same results on either), Windows 7 x64 [some say x64 is part of the problem, but my experence has been pretty much the same on x86 and x64]).

This makes no sense whatsoever. Are you sure you have HDV and not AVCHD?

HDV is a breeze to edit on any newer PC. I can even edit HDV on a 4-year old laptop running AMD 3200. Weather you are running windows 32-bit or 64-bit makes no diference.

AVCHD on the other hand is a handful to edit in an NLE.........