Video Editing Mystery

[Chaosrider]

I'm a complete newb when it comes to video editing, and this question may reflect that. The video editor I'm using is Wondershare Filmora.

I combined 3 video files from the drone SD card, 3.80 GB each, and the resulting combined video is only 928 MB.

When I went to save the file after stringing them together, it asked me if I wanted to retain the video resolution of the source, which was 38?? X 2???, and I said yes.

What would cause that kind of compression? Is that normal?

MP4 from the drone, MP4 for the output.

Thx!

 

[Eagle Eye 62]

That is not normal. It sounds like it compressed the output heavily. Did you notice a quality difference when you played back the finished video? I am not familiar with that app you are using but make sure you set the output for the highest possible quality and don't just accept the defaults as they are usually not optimal.

 

[Chaosrider]

That is not normal. It sounds like it compressed the output heavily. Did you notice a quality difference when you played back the finished video? I am not familiar with that app you are using but make sure you set the output for the highest possible quality and don't just accept the defaults as they are usually not optimal.

It did. I poked around a bit, and contacted the SW support group. It turns out you have to go a couple of menu choices down to set the output quality, which defaults to what it calls "Good", the lowest level. I set it to "Best", the highest level, and got a nice juicy 8.61 GB file, as expected.

Then I went to save it to a thumb drive, and I ran into the dreaded FAT32 problem. I reformatted the thumb to exFAT, and all now seems to be well.

Is there any downside to using exFAT vs FAT32? I can see why the drone might be limited to a FAT32 output, but why would a thumb drive be formatted to FAT32, if there's no downside to using exFAT?

I wasn't really looking to get into to all this stuff, but it is sort of interesting.

Thx!

 

[Eagle Eye 62]

The fat 32 format is a "legacy" file format. It is compatible with Windows XP and older Versions. There is no downside to using NTFS (not familiar with exFAT) or whatever they call it now, it's more efficient and better. The only downside would be if your device does not support it.

 

[RH009]

It's hard not to get into the video editing with the FPV, isn't it. Never had any video editing experience either, until after flying the FPV, and now I actually enjoy doing the editing to post on YouTube. I'm using DaVinci Resolve to make my edits and to publish. Took a few YouTube videos to figure it out, but I'm getting the hang of it, for all the basic stuff.

 

[Chaosrider]

The fat 32 format is a "legacy" file format. It is compatible with Windows XP and older Versions. There is no downside to using NTFS (not familiar with exFAT) or whatever they call it now, it's more efficient and better. The only downside would be if your device does not support it.

I went with exFAT because that was the first suggestion that I saw, and it seems to work fine.

Why is NTFS better?

Thx!

 

[Chaosrider]

It's hard not to get into the video editing with the FPV, isn't it. Never had any video editing experience either, until after flying the FPV, and now I actually enjoy doing the editing to post on YouTube. I'm using DaVinci Resolve to make my edits and to publish. Took a few YouTube videos to figure it out, but I'm getting the hang of it, for all the basic stuff.

One of the main drivers of my selection of Wondershare Filmora for my editing SW was that it looked like it would be easy to learn to use the basics, and that has indeed been the case. That, and the fact that it was cheap!

I'm sure that a year from now I'll know a lot more about video editing than I do now.

The next thing I want to learn is transitions, so that the edges between two different video segments aren't as sharp, and blend together smoothly. It's probably easy, but I don't yet know how to do it.

Thx.

 

[Cymruflyer]

One of the main drivers of my selection of Wondershare Filmora for my editing SW was that it looked like it would be easy to learn to use the basics, and that has indeed been the case. That, and the fact that it was cheap!

I'm sure that a year from now I'll know a lot more about video editing than I do now.

The next thing I want to learn is transitions, so that the edges between two different video segments aren't as sharp, and blend together smoothly. It's probably easy, but I don't yet know how to do it.

Thx.

That is called a dissolve and most editing software should have those in their transitions file. Setting the duration of the dissolve determines how long between the two pieces of film, the transition will take.

Watch commercials or films or the work of others on here, to see how they do it and what cuts and transitions they use. Take note of what you like and why and take note of how they have moved from one scene to the next. To best notice how they have transitioned, turn the sound off and pay attention only to the cuts and durations taking place. There is a good rule to remember, always leave the audience wanting more. Never leave them satiated.

How long a segment is, how quickly they cut or dissolved to the next scene etc. all this is good learning points for you but, as I said, turn off the sound and watch it. You will be amazed in movies, how quickly the cuts take place without you even realizing it. The sound/music dulls your visual senses (on purpose) so that it all seems to blend into one, when done properly, of course. Watching things with no sound, makes you more aware of what is going on.

There is an art to good editing and music choice. It looks easy but is not, in reality. Though I'm sure, it is well within your ability to learn. Good luck.

 

[jimlips]

The fat 32 format is a "legacy" file format. It is compatible with Windows XP and older Versions. There is no downside to using NTFS (not familiar with exFAT) or whatever they call it now, it's more efficient and better. The only downside would be if your device does not support it.

There is a disadvantage to using NTFS. If you have the USB drive mounted in your PC (plugged in and the OS recognizes it), it opens the files on the drive. If you just pull it out, or have a power failure, it could leave some files open, and you could have data loss. This does not happen with FAT32 or EXFAT, as they always close all the files as soon as they are done readying/writing them. Makes them slower than NTFS, but your data is always safe.

The other disadvantage is that some OS's don't recognize EXFAT.

I'm a Filmora user. When you installed Filmora, it has a "default" project size that it will plan on making your exported videos. If that differs from the video size of the DJI files you are importing, Filmora has a pop-up box that asks you if you want to make the exported size the "default" size, or the size of the imported videos. You can avoid this by setting your "default" size to whatever you shoot your videos in (in FIlmora, click on File-->Project Settings and set the Aspect Ratio, Resolution, Frame Rate and Color Space).



Or just check the box that matches your DJI video size upon each import.

 

[db4476]

I went with exFAT because that was the first suggestion that I saw, and it seems to work fine.

Why is NTFS better?

Thx!

 

[db4476]

The SD card formats are based on card size but not speed of the card per the SD card association as follows.

FAT12/16 up to 2GB,
FAT32 more than 2GB and up to 32GB,
EXFAT more than 32GB and up to 2TB.

Fat32 is compatible with more machines while EXFat solves the issues of large file size and card partitions that the other formats have.

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

 

[Chaosrider]

That is called a dissolve and most editing software should have those in their transitions file. Setting the duration of the dissolve determines how long between the two pieces of film, the transition will take.

Watch commercials or films or the work of others on here, to see how they do it and what cuts and transitions they use. Take note of what you like and why and take note of how they have moved from one scene to the next. To best notice how they have transitioned, turn the sound off and pay attention only to the cuts and durations taking place. There is a good rule to remember, always leave the audience wanting more. Never leave them satiated.

How long a segment is, how quickly they cut or dissolved to the next scene etc. all this is good learning points for you but, as I said, turn off the sound and watch it. You will be amazed in movies, how quickly the cuts take place without you even realizing it. The sound/music dulls your visual senses (on purpose) so that it all seems to blend into one, when done properly, of course. Watching things with no sound, makes you more aware of what is going on.

There is an art to good editing and music choice. It looks easy but is not, in reality. Though I'm sure, it is well within your ability to learn. Good luck.

This is extremely helpful!

So, the first step in learning this is to watch a bunch of cool drone videos that I like. I think I can handle that...

;-)

Good tip on the sound thing. Before I had the instant "jump forward" feature for watching video recordings, I would frequently turn off the sound during commercials so that I at least didn't need to hear them. It was a completely different experience, and interesting for a while.

I just need to take the time to poke around on the vid SW, and see what the process is for doing this.

I'm sure I can get to be minimally competent at video editing. Good at it? That remains to be seen!

Thx!

 

[EpicFlight]

I went with exFAT because that was the first suggestion that I saw, and it seems to work fine.

Why is NTFS better?

Thx!

FAT, FAT32 are very old file systems that originated with DOS. The only reason to use FAT32 is compatability – it's readable by most devices.

NTFS originated with Windows, and is the least cross-compatible file system across devices. I would not use it for removable media.

exFAT is the newest kid on the block, coming from the Linux world. It was intended to replace the FAT variants, and has wider adoption and compatability across devices generally than NTFS.

If you need to read media on older devices, use FAT32. Otherwise use exFAT.

 

[Chaosrider]

There is a disadvantage to using NTFS. If you have the USB drive mounted in your PC (plugged in and the OS recognizes it), it opens the files on the drive. If you just pull it out, or have a power failure, it could leave some files open, and you could have data loss. This does not happen with FAT32 or EXFAT, as they always close all the files as soon as they are done readying/writing them. Makes them slower than NTFS, but your data is always safe.

The other disadvantage is that some OS's don't recognize EXFAT.

I'm a Filmora user. When you installed Filmora, it has a "default" project size that it will plan on making your exported videos. If that differs from the video size of the DJI files you are importing, Filmora has a pop-up box that asks you if you want to make the exported size the "default" size, or the size of the imported videos. You can avoid this by setting your "default" size to whatever you shoot your videos in (in FIlmora, click on File-->Project Settings and set the Aspect Ratio, Resolution, Frame Rate and Color Space).

View attachment 148910

Or just check the box that matches your DJI video size upon each import.

This is extremely helpful! Above some minimum level, I'm indifferent to more speed, but the odds of me pulling out a thumb drive without going through any elaborate close procedure are...high...

My Windows 10 PC seems perfectly happy with exFAT, so I'm going to stick with that unless some reason to do otherwise emerges.

That's how I thought Filmora worked too, but it doesn't seem to be the case for my installation. Its "default" is set, IIRC, to 1920 X zzzz. When I went to export the combined vid, it popped up that dual window, and asked if I wanted to use the 1920 default, or the 38XX from the source vid. I told it to use the 38XX from the source vid...but it didn't do that.

In order to get it to export in 4K, I had to hit the export button, then go to settings, and then from there change the output quality from "Good" (low) to "Best" (high). That worked.

Now I'm enough of a newb with this that it's entirely likely that there's something fundamental that I'm missing. But simply hitting the pop-up box telling it to use the source vid resolution, doesn't work, at least not in my installation.

Please let me now if you see something that I'm missing!

Thx!

 

[jimlips]

This is extremely helpful! Above some minimum level, I'm indifferent to more speed, but the odds of me pulling out a thumb drive without going through any elaborate close procedure are...high...

My Windows 10 PC seems perfectly happy with exFAT, so I'm going to stick with that unless some reason to do otherwise emerges.

That's how I thought Filmora worked too, but it doesn't seem to be the case for my installation. Its "default" is set, IIRC, to 1920 X zzzz. When I went to export the combined vid, it popped up that dual window, and asked if I wanted to use the 1920 default, or the 38XX from the source vid. I told it to use the 38XX from the source vid...but it didn't do that.

In order to get it to export in 4K, I had to hit the export button, then go to settings, and then from there change the output quality from "Good" (low) to "Best" (high). That worked.

Now I'm enough of a newb with this that it's entirely likely that there's something fundamental that I'm missing. But simply hitting the pop-up box telling it to use the source vid resolution, doesn't work, at least not in my installation.

Please let me now if you see something that I'm missing!

Thx!

Good to know, I will have to play with it some more.

I try to plan who my audience is going to be before exporting. Is the video you are exporting going to be viewed on YouTube? If so, probably best to export the highest 4K setting. If the planned audience is going to be cellphones, might as well export to 1920x1024. The file will be much smaller, and you don't have to worry about going over any monthly bandwidth limits on your internet.

 

[Chaosrider]

The SD card formats are based on card size but not speed of the card per the SD card association as follows.

FAT12/16 up to 2GB,
FAT32 more than 2GB and up to 32GB,
EXFAT more than 32GB and up to 2TB.

Fat32 is compatible with more machines while EXFat solves the issues of large file size and card partitions that the other formats have.

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

It does indeed!

I use SanDisk Extreme 256 GB cards. There are a couple of drones that I haven't updated to this yet, but that's my standard.

My PC is new as of late last year, and I had it configured specifically for video editing. It has a 1 TB SSD.

So exFAT it is!

Thx.

 

[Chaosrider]

Good to know, I will have to play with it some more.

I try to plan who my audience is going to be before exporting. Is the video you are exporting going to be viewed on YouTube? If so, probably best to export the highest 4K setting. If the planned audience is going to be cellphones, might as well export to 1920x1024. The file will be much smaller, and you don't have to worry about going over any monthly bandwidth limits on your internet.

Good point about the audience determining the proper output file size.

Until I started droning, I never used my phone much for communication. I use it more as a pocket computer. I've always hated telephones, and cell phones even more so. I don't plan to optimize for cell phone use of the videos, but who knows where that might go?

Since I got Starlink to replace the wretched internet service I had been getting from HughesNet, I don't have data caps anymore! I'm using Verizon with my phone, and I'm generally happy with their service, but their "unlimited" data plan, isn't. Beyond some amount of data, they throttle you down to a crawl.

Thx!

 

[EpicFlight]

Some random thoughts:

• Editors generally work with 3 resolutions: Original, editing proxy, and export. The proxy files are a lower resolution, low compression version to facilitate performance during editing, composition. It allows for real-time execution of transitions and other effects,, as well as scrubbing back and forth in the video.

Look through the help and see if your editor is using proxies, and if so take a few minutes to understand it and set it up.​

• I use UHS II SD cards, the ones with an extra row of contacts. The transfer speeds are 5-8 times faster than the common UHS I cards, and for me it's worth the modest extra bucks. 200MB/s vs 35MB/s makes a huge difference when moving large GB files around.

 

[EpicFlight]

OMG, just found these on Amazon for $69.99... I have a bunch of these Lexar UHS-II cards in 32GB, that I paid $30 each for. This is an extraordinary deal!!!

Lexar are among the best quality SD cards out there... I'm not made of money, but I found enough change in the couch to grab 2 of these.

 

[Chaosrider]

Some random thoughts:

• Editors generally work with 3 resolutions: Original, editing proxy, and export. The proxy files are a lower resolution, low compression version to facilitate performance during editing, composition. It allows for real-time execution of transitions and other effects,, as well as scrubbing back and forth in the video.

Look through the help and see if your editor is using proxies, and if so take a few minutes to understand it and set it up.​

• I use UHS II SD cards, the ones with an extra row of contacts. The transfer speeds are 5-8 times faster than the common UHS I cards, and for me it's worth the modest extra bucks. 200MB/s vs 35MB/s makes a huge difference when moving large GB files around.

Interesting, I've never seen a card that looks like that. I'm using SanDisk Extreme 256 GB cards, rated at 160 mbps, and they've never seemed to be a limiting factor on the speed.

My editor, Wondershare Filmora, has suggested using proxies for better eiting performance, but I haven't gotten around to figuring out how they work yet.

Thx!