Hi,

I am confused about the purpose of project settings. There is not clear documentation about what this really is. I have tried to deduce and experiment to understand what this is.

My two theories are,

1) Project settings indicate the source video type.

2) Project settings indicate the target video type.

1) is not true because, I can use clips from HDV 1440x 1080 16:9 both MiniDV (720x480) and render output fine.

2) is not true because, I can render to multiple formats.

Project settings do seem to limit and dictate what out format choices are available. There is no clear definition of what it does.

We agree this is confusing and this might evolve in the future. We had this discussion on the developer mailing list a few months ago and I proposed to merge profile and export settings: http://www.kdenlive.org/mantis/view.php?id=323

To try to explain:

• Project settings is Kdenlive internal resolution.


• You should consider Kdenlive a production chain from source media (your camcorder files), processing (Kdenlive editing) to target rendering (the export).


• The best quality is achieved when you select a profile which is the same as source and target rendering.


• Now sometimes you have to mix different media together, so what are rules?

1. You should try to preserve the quality choosing the higher resolution of your media.


2. Make the export choosing a normal export settings. Default rendering options do not alter size and frame rates. Results are garanteed. This is your master export.


3. Then choose "Export using experimental formats". You may try to export to downgraded formats, using different resolutions. But check the result that all transitions, titles, etc ... apply the same way. If it is not the case, take the master export and use common tools to shrink/export/downgrade to other formats. You can use FFmpeg, avidemux or even Kdenlive.

Example:

Your media is HDV 1080 60i. Create an HDV 1080 60i project. Edit the files. Export to MPEG-2, MPEG-4 or H.264. This is your master export and it will probably only play on a computer. Now, if you would like to export to DVD NTSC, Bliptv, Dailymotion, then click on "experimental format" and export to predefined settings. But in this case, the result is not garanteed. There may be slight differences in transitions or title. If it is the case, then use your master and shrink it. Either using Kdenlive or avidemux or FFmpeg.

Please note that this kind or requirement will change in a near future. MLT was modified recently. So it will get fixed in Kdenlive next release i.e. 0.7.2

You are correct that it is neither. It is similar to the canvas in an image editor or the page setup in a word processor.