editing .m4v

A friend of mine e-mailed a .m4v (or maybe mp4) video to me and I would like to go in and tweak it.

When I render it, it stays small, and I'm worried that when I revert it back to .m4v it will be doubly-small.

What's the best way to take an .m4v file, open it, edit it, and put it back into an e-mailable form while not schrunching the image (or hopefully losing too much resolution.)

[I could always grab the corners of the image, drag it to be big, and then compress it, but it seems like a formula for graininess/blockiness...]

Thanks all,

Mike

Hi Mike

I have not not tried it myself but have done similar with MPEG1 try this

Set the timeline to:

? Uncompressed 8 or 10-bit

? the actual pixel size of the m4v file

? the frame rate of the video

? square pixels

? no field dominance

? 48KHz Stereo audio (although you may want to export a separate aif or wav from the m4v in QTpro to import to FCP first)

Edit the file then

? export an uncompressed version

? convert back to m4v in QTpro or Compressor.


Hopefully this way you wont have too much generational loss

Better still would be to get the original master file as DV or another more common edit format.


Ben



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

At the risk of being the bearer of cold water. You'd be editing compression artifacts, not the actual show.

This is the same reason it's a poor idea to edit a DVD. DVD video is damaged in magic ways that are hard to see. Once you cut or edit DVD video, the magic goes away and you start to really see what's there, and what's there isn't always so nice.

You almost certainly will have to completely decompress the show, cut it and then completely recompress it again.

One of the tools to make video really small is temporal compression. Mess with time. Only every 16th frame or so in a compressed movie is real. All the frames in the middle are difference frames. They're not real video and can't be edited (these are the I, P, and B frames in the case of MPEG2). Only the I frames are real.

Compression tools were designed to work from uncompressed video. If you present pre-damaged video, the results are usually pretty awful.

But don't let me stop you from trying. Write back if you get one to work really well.

Koz

I thought this message posted earlier, but, it's not there...

This isn't anything professional, so generational loss isn't crushing, but I want it minimized anyway. So, nobody is the bearer of bad news.

I will do the above steps, and if the results are amazing or terrible, I'll let everyone know.

Mike

Having sat down to do this, I realized the only thing I knew how to do was this:

> Set the timeline to:
>
> ? Uncompressed 8 or 10-bit
> ? the frame rate of the video


How can I do these things? (You can always tell me to RTFM, but after a quick scan, I didn't see anything that jumped out.)

> ? the actual pixel size of the m4v file

this is 480x320, I believe. But I seem to be locked into NTSC/PAL standards and their interlaced versions.

> ? square pixels
> ? no field dominance

This I've never done, but the audio seems to be fine after it renders.
> ? 48KHz Stereo audio (although you may want to export a separate aif or wav from the m4v in QTpro to import to FCP first)

Thanks!

Hi Mike

RTFM LOL I almost told an editor that last week who said he'd had FCP training and knew what he was doing when I tried to give him advice...

...then kept calling me to ask questions! Grrrr *sound of editor being thrown out of top floor window*

Anyway don't worry that you are being completely daft and ever so slightly silly...

You need type into the Dimension boxes the 480 x 320 you require...

Use these settings below



I'm not sure of your frame rate but check in the FCP browser for the settings

Hope it works for you

Ben



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]