Ok, so after some searching and reading and banging my head on the wall I figured out that i can create multiple clips from my original clip by using the razor tool in Premiere.

Here's my question, is it possible to preserve original file format? ex: i captured to mpeg-2 but when i cut and export, it exports to avi.
It's my understanding that Encore will transcode it back to mpeg-2 when it comes time to burn so that means two conversions (both of which could have been avoided since we ultimately end up with mpeg-2) and loss of quality over the original clip. Anyone know how to work strictly with mpeg-2 files?
Your help is greatly appreciated.

Sounds slightly odd - Premiere is not designed to edit mpeg though some have posted saying they can get a result.

So what app did you use to capture to mpeg - and why not use this same app to do the razoring?

This way, you'd retain the file format, and avoid any quality loss.

I used the native software that came with my All-In-Wonder card. It gives you the ability to capture to various formats. Now knowing full well that mpeg-2 gives you the best results as far as quality is concerned, I thought I would be smart and capture to that. Just asking but, am I the only person that feels it kinda weird that a one of the leading video editing softwares doesn't support mpeg-2? Are there any users that have achieved mpeg-2 editing and exporting in Premiere?

Adobe are aware that many are still asking about mpeg editing in Premiere.

You say that mpeg gives the best results - it gives the best quality-over-file size, and is best as an end product - not an intermediate one.

An avi sequence can be exported many times while adding extra clips and/or effects. Doing this with mpegs would result in serious quality loss, because it compresses, and some detail is lost each time.

The only app I know that edits mpeg is Pinnacle Studio. Don't try version 8 (it has serious flaws) but version 9 seems to work well. Never thought I'd recommend it, but v9 does edit well, and is fast to encode.

Think I've answered this fairly well, but others might have a better way of putting it. Mpegs' lossy properties are the main reason that Adobe don't support it in Premiere.

Thanx for the response and after some quick research on general file format, i have found your post to be very accurate and conclusive. Avi ends up being "raw" data. This being said, when i capture my signal, the software I am using only allows for mpeg-2 so now i am trying to convert to AVI but i'm getting synch issues. I'm using virtualdub-mpeg2 to convert but if you have any suggestions as to a better tool i'd love to get some advice. Seems like peeps here are mostly doing video from camcorders and no analog capture from VHS/Beta like myself.

AVI is just a generic term to describe video within a "wrapper" - an AVI file can be encoded with a plethora of codecs from lossless huffy to highly compressed MPEG4 based solutions such as DivX. Don't assume that "AVI" is better quality than "MPEG".

I suggest you transcode your MPEG to a lossless codec such as huffy, or space is more of an issue convert to DV AVI first. Note here that DV AVI is lossy despite numerous myths on the internet.

You can work in Premiere with MPEG files - it's just a pain. What I used to so was to render the area in which I wanted to make the edits to get frame accurate cuts. That way you minimise encoding cycles and achieve precise cuts. It's just a pain to work with.

Or you could invest in an MPEG plugin for premiere, or a native MPEG editor such as MPEG Video Wizard.

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The 1 caviat that I face is that my vid card will only capture i mpeg so i've been trying to convert that to AVI using virtualdub-mpeg . Do you know of any software that will convert mpeg-2 to lossless huffy?

Hello Marc,

I wasn’t aware that DV-AVI was that lossy. How lossy is it? I usually save all my home movies in DV-AVI so I can go back at a later date and work with them. Huffy sounds like a better solution for this. Will huffy work with Premiere Pro 1.5?

Thanks,

James