Trimming videos without loss?

Hey everyone I've got what may be a stupid question since I've been working with video for quite some time. I somewhat recently switched from Panasonic to Fujifilm. On my Panasonic, the playback menu in camera gave me the ability to trim video to just the part I wanted. My Fuji does not have this feature, which is stupid. The problem is I'm taking pretty long videos of my toddler waiting for her to do something cute (she doesn't do tricks on command yet!). So my workflow has been to bring my video into premiere pro for editing and cut it to my desired size. I put together monthly compilation videos for family members which they enjoy but what I don't enjoy is having a 6 gig video file on my computer to only use five seconds of it. I have to keep it on my computer because premier pro obviously doesn't save a copy of just my clip. Between photos and videos I've filled a couple 2tb external drive already in just ten months and this is becoming an expensive proposition.

Story of my life later, my question is: If I was to import the video file into a new PP project and cut the part of the video I wanted, is there a lossless export format or something close? I don't want to have to grade the video when I cut it but I also don't want my file to get compressed in any way that will make grading at a later time fall apart.

I can't be the only person that deals with this so I'm hoping someone can share with me your work flow or tips regarding cutting down video to later edit. Thanks?

Fuji Maine said:

Hey everyone I've got what may be a stupid question since I've been working with video for quite some time. I somewhat recently switched from Panasonic to Fujifilm. On my Panasonic, the playback menu in camera gave me the ability to trim video to just the part I wanted. My Fuji does not have this feature, which is stupid. The problem is I'm taking pretty long videos of my toddler waiting for her to do something cute (she doesn't do tricks on command yet!). So my workflow has been to bring my video into premiere pro for editing and cut it to my desired size. I put together monthly compilation videos for family members which they enjoy but what I don't enjoy is having a 6 gig video file on my computer to only use five seconds of it. I have to keep it on my computer because premier pro obviously doesn't save a copy of just my clip. Between photos and videos I've filled a couple 2tb external drive already in just ten months and this is becoming an expensive proposition.

Story of my life later, my question is: If I was to import the video file into a new PP project and cut the part of the video I wanted, is there a lossless export format or something close? I don't want to have to grade the video when I cut it but I also don't want my file to get compressed in any way that will make grading at a later time fall apart.

I can't be the only person that deals with this so I'm hoping someone can share with me your work flow or tips regarding cutting down video to later edit. Thanks?

Click to expand...

As a rule of thumb, I don't do any editing or deleting on camera while I am out there in the "heat of the moment" of shooting. In video, I got instant feedback on the screen as I shoot, so I don't even review my shoots.

I think sitting down in front of the computer and opening up the image/video on a monitor is a better time and place to trim it. The computer gives me a lot more control. Also, any trimming I do in software is loseless. The original footage always stay intact.

If storage is an issue, it is the cheapest part of your problems.

The only editor I know of that allows you to trim video files without having to render the output is TMPGEnc MPEG Smart Renderer 5 which works with MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.264, H.265 encoded video files.

I normally edit with MAGIX Vegas Pro 16, but occasionally I have to trim / insert small updates to lengthy rendered video files, and this TMPGEnc tool is extremely handy for this.

It's a Windows app and you can download a fully working trial version to test it out.

LingoDingo said:

The only editor I know of that allows you to trim video files without having to render the output is TMPGEnc MPEG Smart Renderer 5 which works with MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.264, H.265 encoded video files.

I normally edit with MAGIX Vegas Pro 16, but occasionally I have to trim / insert small updates to lengthy rendered video files, and this TMPGEnc tool is extremely handy for this.

It's a Windows app and you can download a fully working trial version to test it out.

Click to expand...

This is very helpful thank you. Using third party software isn't the end of the world to me so this should work just fine for me.

I would do that in an app as opposed to in camera. What operating system is your computer running? I use the "Trim" feature in QuickTime 10 on my Mac.

Fuji Maine said:

Hey everyone I've got what may be a stupid question since I've been working with video for quite some time. I somewhat recently switched from Panasonic to Fujifilm. On my Panasonic, the playback menu in camera gave me the ability to trim video to just the part I wanted. My Fuji does not have this feature, which is stupid. The problem is I'm taking pretty long videos of my toddler waiting for her to do something cute (she doesn't do tricks on command yet!). So my workflow has been to bring my video into premiere pro for editing and cut it to my desired size. I put together monthly compilation videos for family members which they enjoy but what I don't enjoy is having a 6 gig video file on my computer to only use five seconds of it. I have to keep it on my computer because premier pro obviously doesn't save a copy of just my clip. Between photos and videos I've filled a couple 2tb external drive already in just ten months and this is becoming an expensive proposition.

Story of my life later, my question is: If I was to import the video file into a new PP project and cut the part of the video I wanted, is there a lossless export format or something close? I don't want to have to grade the video when I cut it but I also don't want my file to get compressed in any way that will make grading at a later time fall apart.

I can't be the only person that deals with this so I'm hoping someone can share with me your work flow or tips regarding cutting down video to later edit. Thanks?

Click to expand...

I use the in camera trim on the Lumix cameras, saves huge time uploading and editing. But, you can always cut up any video and render the parts you want, and dump the original clip. Doing this before editing a video will save space and make your editing and rendering much faster.

ToxicTabasco said:

Fuji Maine said:

Hey everyone I've got what may be a stupid question since I've been working with video for quite some time. I somewhat recently switched from Panasonic to Fujifilm. On my Panasonic, the playback menu in camera gave me the ability to trim video to just the part I wanted. My Fuji does not have this feature, which is stupid. The problem is I'm taking pretty long videos of my toddler waiting for her to do something cute (she doesn't do tricks on command yet!). So my workflow has been to bring my video into premiere pro for editing and cut it to my desired size. I put together monthly compilation videos for family members which they enjoy but what I don't enjoy is having a 6 gig video file on my computer to only use five seconds of it. I have to keep it on my computer because premier pro obviously doesn't save a copy of just my clip. Between photos and videos I've filled a couple 2tb external drive already in just ten months and this is becoming an expensive proposition.

Story of my life later, my question is: If I was to import the video file into a new PP project and cut the part of the video I wanted, is there a lossless export format or something close? I don't want to have to grade the video when I cut it but I also don't want my file to get compressed in any way that will make grading at a later time fall apart.

I can't be the only person that deals with this so I'm hoping someone can share with me your work flow or tips regarding cutting down video to later edit. Thanks?

Click to expand...

I use the in camera trim on the Lumix cameras, saves huge time uploading and editing. But, you can always cut up any video and render the parts you want, and dump the original clip. Doing this before editing a video will save space and make your editing and rendering much faster.

Click to expand...

Interesting. When I render in premiere pro it still tries locates the file on my hard drive whenever I open my project. Even if I have the in and out points set to all the footage and render in to out it still tries to find the original file. Is there something different I need to do to get premier pro to save the section of the clip I wanted right in the project? Many thanks

Fuji Maine said:

LingoDingo said:

The only editor I know of that allows you to trim video files without having to render the output is TMPGEnc MPEG Smart Renderer 5 which works with MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.264, H.265 encoded video files.

I normally edit with MAGIX Vegas Pro 16, but occasionally I have to trim / insert small updates to lengthy rendered video files, and this TMPGEnc tool is extremely handy for this.

It's a Windows app and you can download a fully working trial version to test it out.

Click to expand...

This is very helpful thank you. Using third party software isn't the end of the world to me so this should work just fine for me.

Click to expand...

I use it also. It really works well.

Two options I use:

LosslessCut: https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut/releases - A small lightweight program which lets you view the video and chose start/stop point, it doesn't need to render (at least for most common formats)

DaVinvi Resolve: The normal version is free, more complicated than LosslessCut but I've started using ProRes HQ which LosslessCut can't handle. You put your clips in a timeline, cut/split/trim them however you want, then goto File -> Media Management, select Copy and Trim Used Media. This will copy the trimmed/split files without rendering.

Fuji Maine said:

My Fuji does not have this feature, which is stupid.

Click to expand...

Sony cameras have no in-camera trimming, either. Canon EOS R has, even 4K videos can be trimmed in camera. I fully understand your emotions.

Justin Cider said:

The problem is I'm taking pretty long videos of my toddler waiting for her to do something cute (she doesn't do tricks on command yet!). So my workflow has been to bring my video into premiere pro for editing and cut it to my desired size.

Click to expand...

Premiere PRO and Elements on MAC both can use your video files directly from your cards, which could be terribly useful: no need to copy the gigantic (4K) files first onto your computer. I have a 128G card, and when I am done with acquisition very often I have near 100G videos. This direct-from-SD-card trick doesn't work on Windows, however, only on MAC and only with Premiere PRO/Elements. See my comments about TMPGEnc below, too.

Justin Cider said:

I put together monthly compilation videos for family members which they enjoy but what I don't enjoy is having a 6 gig video file on my computer to only use five seconds of it.

Click to expand...

Exactly, that's why I use Premiere Elements on MAC. 6G is not the real problem, when you have 60G on a 128G card, that's getting more and more challenging.

Justin Cider said:

I have to keep it on my computer because premier pro obviously doesn't save a copy of just my clip. Between photos and videos I've filled a couple 2tb external drive already in just ten months and this is becoming an expensive proposition.

Click to expand...

Hmm, I don't keep my original files; after recording I trim the clips as soon as possible and copy them on my 2T double-disk NAS to make the final movie.

Justin Cider said:

If I was to import the video file into a new PP project and cut the part of the video I wanted, is there a lossless export format or something close?

Click to expand...

If you had a Sony camera, Play Memories Home has very fast video trimmer, cutter and merger functions. But it works only with video files made with a Sony cameras. Really nifty, I use it quite a lot. However, unlike TMPGEnc, it requires to copy the video files from the SD card to your computer disk both on Windows and MAC.

Justin Cider said:

I don't want to have to grade the video when I cut it but I also don't want my file to get compressed in any way that will make grading at a later time fall apart.

Click to expand...

With Premiere you can export trimmed files at a very high framerate, which are not supposed to degrade the quality of your videos; so, you can reuse them next time. This is exactly one of my working scenarios. Are you sure that Premiere PRO/Elements degrades your videos when exporting?

Justin Cider said:

I can't be the only person that deals with this so I'm hoping someone can share with me your work flow or tips regarding cutting down video to later edit.

Click to expand...

No, you are not the only one with these challenges. TMPGEnc is absolutely great tool, as suggested by others, too; it can even read video files directly from the SD card, no need to copy the source over to the computer's disk. You can then direct the trimmed video output destination directly to your 2T disk.

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Just bring the original clip into your NLE, edit the footage and export as ProResHQ.

awelch100 said:

Just bring the original clip into your NLE, edit the footage and export as ProResHQ.

Click to expand...

1 minute 4K UHD ProRes 4:2:2 HQ (884mb/s) = 6.6GB file

Yeah, but he said "...6 gig video file on my computer to only use five seconds of it". Five seconds of ProResHQ would only be around 552 MB, or about 1/10 the size of the original file.

dantastical said:

Two options I use:

LosslessCut: https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut/releases - A small lightweight program which lets you view the video and chose start/stop point, it doesn't need to render (at least for most common formats)

Click to expand...

Thanks a LOT for this suggestion! I've tried it - it does look barbaric (oldschool), but it does the job - trimming files fast and easy. This will now become my first step to cull down videos before launching Davinci Resolve.

I've tried TMPGEnc MPEG Smart Renderer 5, and to be honest, it is certainly much better looking app and does its job as intended. But come on, 70 bucks? Not worth it for my personal use. For that money I can just add another HDD and live without trimming.

morski119 said:

dantastical said:

LosslessCut: https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut/releases

Click to expand...

but it does the job - trimming files fast and easy

Click to expand...

This is another hit-or-miss UI on top of FFmpeg. Here is a command to trim a 15 seconds section starting at 00:10

ffmpeg -ss 10 -i d:\PRIVATE\M4ROOT\CLIP\C0001.MP4 -t 15
d:\PRIVATE\M4ROOT\CLIP\C0001-ffmpeg.MP4

All working fine directly on the SD card.

--
Thank you for taking the time reading. I use DPReview as my photography/videography blog. If you like it, click Like, or leave some comments.
Have fun on http://www.flickr.com/photos/99398503@N07/sets