Useful Tips for:

Video Editing / Film Transfer

Transfer to DVD or to Hard Drive?

When your film is transferred, there are three possible routes you can take.

1. The first is to put all the film onto DVDs. This is the quickest and most inexpensive method available. We can even add background music. However, if the film is not marked as to the proper order (ie: #1, #2, #3, etc.) there is no way to ensure that it will be in proper chronological order on the DVD – which is why many people are now opting to edit their film…

2. The second option is to transfer the footage onto an external hard drive. This method allows you to edit your footage after it has been transferred. Most customers prefer to edit with one of our experienced editors at our office in Kearny Mesa. This is the quickest and most professional way to edit. While editing we can move the film into proper chronological order. We can also add music, titles, voice-overs, etc. Customers tend to enjoy this process and can learn a lot about video editing in the process.

3. Alternatively, we can transfer film onto your hard drive. Then you can take the film home and edit it yourself. You will have more success with this method if you have a powerful computer.

Notes for Home Video Editing:

• If you provide an external hard drive, please have a PC formatted hard drive in FAT32 or NTSF file format. NTSF file format is preferred. FAT32 drives cannot contain files over 4 gigabytes (~20 minutes).
• Some customers prefer to have a hard drive purchased for them. We are good at finding great deals and charge only $30 over invoice.
• Video editing software
• Mac Users: You can use iMovie or most any other software.
• PC Users: We do not recommend using Windows Movie Maker or any version of Pinnacle or a variety of reasons. For about $80 you can download Sony Vegas Studio from their website ( http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com). At the time this was written you can also download a 30-day trial version to test it out. This program is more stable than any other video editing software in its class.
• The files we provide will be in the AVI format. File size typically runs about 13 gigabytes per hour of video.

Types of Files

• AVI (Audio video interleave) – This is the file format your video will be in when it comes back to you on your external hard drive
• VOB (DVD-Video Object) – This is the container video format for DVD discs and is encoded very similar to MPEG-2. Since this format has been compressed, it is not recommended to use these files to edit.
• MOV (QuickTime video) – This is the preferred type of file for editing on the Macintosh platform. Mac users may want to convert the AVI files in to MOV files before starting to edit for better efficiency.
• WMV (Windows Media Video) – a generic name for the set of video formats developed by Microsoft. Windows Movie Maker will only export into this type of file, which is why we don’t recommend using that program to edit video.
• VEG (Sony Vegas file) - The files that Sony Vegas and Sony Vegas Studio use to save video projects. There is no actual video in these files (why their file size is so small).