Combining small projects into one

I have finally taken the advice of the experts in this forum to create projects in small pieces, do all the editing, and then export the pieces to AVI and then combine those into the larger project for burning. In the small pieces, in addition to splitting clips and deleting some parts, I have been adding titles and transitions. Then I would add scene markers in the large project. Is this the recommended method?



Cliff
Combining small projects into one
Sounds good Cliff, I think you are on the right track :)

You can do some of the titles and minor editing in the Master project, just keep it to as little as you can.
Combining small projects into one
Here's our FAQ on the subject.

http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bbe608f

Steve,



Regarding the faq, if I have titles and transitions, should I still uncheck the recompress option?



Cliff

I would. It won't affect the file size of your output.



Recompressing simply runs the video through the DV codec. This isn't necessary if your original DV footage hasn't had any effects or transitions applied to it and, if you do it several times, it can hurt the quality of the original footage. But one single recompression probably won't do any noticeable damage.

Steve,



Um, I'm confused...



You say recompress (which isn't really ''compressing'' anything, just re-running it through the codec) is not necessary if you don't have effects or transitions. So far, so good.



But if you *do* have effects and transitions, is ''recompress'' necessary / suggested? Your response to Cliff (saying to uncheck to recompress) seems to indicate it isn't necessary then, either.



So... just to clarify... when WOULD you ever select (i.e. check) the recompress option?



(In my case, the source material is DV-AVI, if that matters).

Sorry if I was confusing:



1) If you're using DV-AVI video, captured over FireWire from a miniDV camcorder, that video will flow through your project and, if you output a DV-AVI, the video data will simply be copied by the program, virtually unchanged.



2) Any non-DV-AVI video (MPEG, VOB, photos) or any video that you've added titles, effects, transitions, etc., to will need to be rendered by the program, which will output it as a DV-AVI. This video is unaffected by whether or not the recompress option is selected.



However, if you recompress the first type of clip -- the DV-AVI -- you're compressing already compressed video. The effect will be minimal, and my not even be noticeable. But, if you do it several times, you will see a slight reduction in quality.



So my recommendation, especially if you're working with DV-AVIs as our source footage, is to NEVER check recompress.



Although, in practice, it really won't make all that much difference either way.

Got it. Thanks, Steve!