And make sure you click "Advanced" and set the "coding quality' to Best.

Ah yes I should have given more details, so here it is.

I have made a video of my speech which includes many photographs (jpeg) to match up with what I am talking about. The video project in MAGIX Edit Pro: Prem: ends with .MVP

I will be sending the file, when uploaded, to the people who will be doing video of the wedding. My video along with others will be slotted in during the event.

The output will be 'live streamed' using (I believe) You Tube.

So that is about it, does your very helpful advice change as a result of this input?

Many thanks for your very helpful guidance and advice.

@Dosco

Hi.

The MVP file is just an instruction set and contains no video or audio in itself. It is only of use within the editor telling the editor where to place your clips and which order etc ready to be rendered to a video file for use.

If the file video is to be used on YouTube it needs to be converted to a video file format. Preferably MPEG-4 H264 at the same resolution and frame rate of the original video files for YouTube use. If the project does not contain any video files but just say jpegs and your voice then the frame rate is not as important and can be set to either 24 frames per second or 25 frames per second or 50 frames per second. If you are in the States then it may be better to use 30 or 60 frames per second depending on the playback medium if it is a TV.

Ray.

CubeAce, thank you for this.

In the UK and the project does contain video.

I forgot to mention the 'intended audience' It will be streamed across the UK, US, Australia, Singapore, Japan but I assume those who are putting it all together can sort that, I certainly can't.

So many thanks for all the replies and the very prompt responses.

@Dosco

Hi.

To be clear.

When you start a project you should create a folder to put the project into.

There are two ways of creating a project.

One is where the project only contains the instruction set plus possibly another couple of files that the editor needs to do its housekeeping. This folder then does not take up that much disk space but has one disadvantage.

You do not use the copy method of importing files but just 'Import' each bit you need to make the whole project.

That importing just tells Movie Edit Pro where the file is, (It could be on an external disk for instance or a separate internal disk). The instruction sets tell MEP where to start and stop the files and where that happens along the timeline. (where you cut the files to length and then placed them). So when you finish editing it can grab each bit it needs as it reads the timeline and play it back to you. The project and the folder does not contain any of those clips but tells MEP where and when to find them ready for exporting to a video file type.

The down side is if you loose or delete the original clips or move them to other drives, you loose all that information. You effectively have no copies of the files to work from and if they exist MEP will not know where they are to reconstruct the project. The up side is the project folder remains small size wise and does not take up much disk space. That is your MPV file.

The second method is similar.

You still make a folder for your project, giving it a title etc. But this time, when importing you choose to copy each file into the project. Then all the clips and audio are duplicated into that folder with the instruction set. Now the folder takes up mush more disk space but all the information it needs to reconstruct the project as it is currently edited is now also in the project folder. The MPV file is still not a video file but should be able to reconstruct the project if the other files are deleted or moved. You would still need to export to a movie format such as the MPEG-4 H264 option I mentioned in my other reply.

That would be the file they are expecting unless they too have MEP and intend to do further editing. In which case you would need to use the second method to create your project and send them a copy of the whole project folder.

They could then use that to tidy up or re-edit the project and then export it themselves to YouTube.

Sending a whole project folder though may be difficult to do as projects can often get into very large amounts of data, getting into tens or even hundreds of Gigabytes of data.

Ray.

@Dosco

Hi

In addition to @CubeAce suggestions when you have finished the project back it up to disc for future use, either:

1. by using the Backup feature within MEP - this will only copy used media, extra images audio etc not used will not be copied
   
   OR
    
2. manually copy all media and project files MVP and MVD and ancillary files are put into one folder

Write to disc, eg DVD or Blu-Ray, using good quality discs, storing them in black cases in a cool dark location and they should last for 10+ years.

Do not rely on Memory sticks for backups, they are not reliable enough and are likely to be inadvertently wiped.

HTH

John EB

@johnebaker

@Dosco

While trying not to overwhelm you with too much information, John EB has brought up two good points depending on how important the files and projects are to you once completed.

The first point I'd like to expand on is that some of us here will never delete our original files we started with even if we then do a backup to a project and save it with the relevant portions of the files that are used in the folder.

That is because if you shorten the clip you use, the whole file will not be copied into the new folder. Only the section you used. So not a complete file transfer. Sometimes on a project I may only use the front or middle portion of a clip but still have usable footage somewhere else on the same take. So I still need to keep the original.

The second is media choice to store archived material on.

I personally have never used CD or DVD for long term storage. Not because it's not reliable over a reasonable time period as John explained but because often The files within one of my projects are much larger than can be stored on a single disc, meaning a single project may have to be stored over several discs. My second reason for not doing so is keeping track of the stored data and it's condition. It's much easier for me to use backup mechanical hard drives. They can be checked for faults periodically, automatically, in the background on my pc while I get on with other things.

I haven't gone into the cost vs space equations but one hard drive takes up much less space than however many DVDs are needed to provide the same amount of storage. I have one draw in my work desk that could hold half a century of my video recordings easily whereas just my CD album collection uses up one wall of my workroom.

Considering nothing in the digital realm is guaranteed safe over any given time period, backups are essential to the point of at least a doubling of files on different drives / discs, is required.

If on the other hand all you will ever need is the finished file, there is nothing stopping you from uploading videos to places like YouTube and just making them private view only. I would use more than one site though as even large companies can change their terms and conditions rapidly or go bust. They have even been know to loose material from time to time.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi

. . . . That is because if you shorten the clip you use, the whole file will not be copied into the new folder. Only the section you used. So not a complete file transfer. Sometimes on a project I may only use the front or middle portion of a clip but still have usable footage somewhere else on the same take. . . . . .

MEP is a none destructive editor and in the case of video the whole source clip is copied when backing up from within the program.

If you are using 'Takes' ie .TAK files, which are the equivalent of a single object MVD file, the whole source video is still copied.

In a situation where for example, 6 sections from a single long video clip are used in a project- the entire clip is only copied once.

John EB

@johnebaker

Hi John.

I have backup projects where the whole of an edited clip is either not fully there. (Seems to be backed up by the size of the file compared to the source file) or it can no longer be extended beyond the size it was originally set to,(In either direction) but can still be reduced in length. I am currently working with a file that is only 30 seconds long and it's from a file of over four minutes in length. This is an exported backup copy of the original project, not the original project itself.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

Something is wrong, because the original files are not touched.

John CB

@browj2

Hi John.

The original files still exist in their original locations. Full copies of the files exist in the original projects.

Exported projects from original projects can't have the embedded clips extended in the timeline. At least at my end. Unless I've selected something in the export project settings that has caused this.

An example of that would be the projects I sent out to everyone where the brass band clip was longer at the end than the file you received.

At present I am editing a section of a concert from a backup copy project where the same thing happens.

I will see if I have time to do a video showing this.

Ray.

I just did a test: the full media file is included in the backup, even though I have only used a small portion of it in the project.

Well this eighty year old Mk one computer is certainly being 'overclocked' with the info provided however I have followed all the input and will be taking on board what has been said.

I did open a new project and have ticked the box to "Copy media to project folder" The video was imported from the 'SanDisk' 'Extreme' card removed from the camera. I then proceeded to import the many photographs to include in the video, many of which I did not use, but they are still in the project.

I had some issues and problems with those photo's that were in 'Landscape' format - a long story so I won't bore you - at this point it is worth saying that I have a time limit of 5 minutes for the video.

I am now at the point of (reasonable) satisfaction with what has been done, hence my original question. So I will be following the advice given re Mpeg 4 and will 'export' the video, then back-up to my NAS.

One (last!) question please advice on where to save the exported file, or do I have to do something else to ensure I can send it when the producers are ready for it..

I have a Internal Hybrid Hard Drive that is used for all files, photographs, documents, music etc etc and a 250GB Solid State Drive where all the programs are stored. I would usually store such things on the Hybrid Drive as the program 'in use' does 'fetch' the required files.

@johnebaker @emmrecs @browj2 @Dosco

OK. I think my mistake on that one.

Somehow I've imported AVI files I didn't realise I'd created. I normally don't touch avi files so at present I can't remember why I created them in the first place. Obviously not the original files for the project though. It also seems that I've also taken the files not from a backup project but from a named file search. Ho hum. Senior moment I guess. Apologies.

As for where to store the exported file you need to send it. Just create a folder and name it. Know where the folder is on whatever hard drive you choose. I would put it on the Hybrid drive if it was me. You could also make a link to the folder onto your desktop to find it again. ( Right mouse click / Send to / Desktop (create shortcut) ).

The main problem may be the file size of the exported file. If it's over 2.5GBs then your options to send it become more limited. File transfer sites like wetransfer have a free transfer limit of around 2GB. Firefox's own web browser can send files up to 2.5GBs in size. If you have a Dropbox account that allows for larger file size storage you may be able to use that. If the file is over the limits you could try using the HEVC codec that has to be paid for in MEP. (About £3:00 or just over) that would still give you a file they could use but using up less data at the same quality level.

That at least would be cheaper than paying for a larger file transfer I think.

Ray.

@Dosco

I had some issues and problems with those photo's that were in 'Landscape' format - a long story so I won't bore you

Actually, I'd be very interested, certainly not "bored", to learn why Landscape format images should be a problem! I could very easily understand if you had said Portrait, but not Landscape. Since standard video playback is inherently "Landscape" images in that format would not be expected to cause problems, I think.

@CubeAce

Since @Dosco apparently has a time limit of 5 minutes I would be very surprised if his final video is more than 2.5 GB!

Jeff

@CubeAce @Dosco 5 minutes of MP4 at 3000KBPS should be 150mb max. That'll be OK for free Dropbox, Goooogle Drive and perhaps Onedrive (I don't use Onedrive).

@johnebaker @emmrecs @browj2 @Dosco @AAProds

I'm obviously not typical then 😉

.

Ray.

@CubeAce, @Dosco

Hi

. . . . you could try using the HEVC codec . . . .

You could, however do be aware this is a very highly compressed video format and is not really suitable for re-editing/re-encoding.

Why many cameras record using this format, apart from trying to save storage space at 4K video, I do not know, in my experience it does not re-edit well.

@AAProds

Hi Alwyn

. . .. . 5 minutes of MP4 at 3000KBPS should be 150mb max . . . .

Those pesky upper/lower case units, Bytes and bits ( 1Byte = 8bits ), are causing mathematical errors - an average setting of 3000KBPS equates to an export average setting in MEP of 24000 kBit/s would give a files size in the region of 1 - 1.2 GB for a 5 min 1920 x 1080 25fps export.

John EB

@CubeAce What a ripper! Never seen a media file that big before. 😲 Out of curiosity, what are the dimensions?

@johnebaker Gday John, I was referring to the number one puts into the Average Bitrate box during export, as @Dosco will be doing. 3000 will be a good value for quality verses size for his presentation in my view, unless he's doing one for @CubeAce Ray! 😉

Perhaps I should have written "3000kBit/s". 👍

I was having some cropping issues at the top of each 'Landscape' photo, overcame it by re-sizing in 'Photoshop'

I found out the hard way with respect to 'Portrait' even tried to insert them into the video using the 'Split' tool then insert the portrait photographs (8 in total) and whilst it overcame the 'photo on top of video' it increased the running time of the video and caused the video and audio to be out of sync with each other. I had to remove a few and the remaining I cropped in Photoshop making them usable in the same manner as 'Landscape'

One almighty learning curve for me given I have produced over 100 of my old 8mm cine films (after professional conversion) to a viewable condition using MEP I was quite disappointed that I could not carry out what seemingly should have been a simple task.

@AAProds

Hi Alwyn

. . . . 3000 will be a good value for quality verses size . . . .

You must be referring to a SD - 720 x 576 or 720 x 480 px video file.

For sending to another person to edit/incorporate/re-encode into another video SD is, IMHO, not good enough for incorporation into another video - a higher resolution eg 1920 x 1080 is more preferable to maintain quality when the video is to be edited/re-encoded in other software.

John EB