How do I do offline editing (I think Kdenlive refers to proxy clips) with Kdenlive?

Last night I did it in a way and it worked however now my project only crashes Kdenlive.

I transcoded two versions of the same footage files (using Handbrake) - one set in high quality (from .mts) and the other in low quality, each set in their own folders. I then created a third folder and copied the low quality files into that folder.

I edited, created some colour clips and text clips, etc etc etc.

Rendered the video to see how it all looks. All is good.

I then (without closing Kdenlive - did save periodically as I worked) replace the low quality files in the third folder with the high quality versions (both sets have the same names).

Found the high quality footage in Kdenlive due to the stuttered playback of clips.

Rendered the video in HD - wonderful! It works! Saved my work.

Replaced the high quality files with the low quality set again cause I wanted to do some additional editing and clip lengthning.

All good. Didn't want to render the high quality film just yet cause I needed to go to bed. Saved and closed.

Now when I open the project (either directly with the project file or via Kdenlive) it says clips are missing. I do the clip finding bit - it does but nothing seems to happen. Various ways but point is, it proceeds, creates a backup file and then crashes, everytime.

For all practical purposes I think my little two minute project is lost and I'l have to redo it. I don't mind that much, but this time I want to make sure I do the whole offline editing correctly.

So...what is the right way of doing it with Kdenlive and not have Kdenlive crash on you everytime?

I am using LinuxMint LXDE 11 and Kdenlive 8.2.

Thank you for the help.

If you have 8.2 then you could just enable proxies for the project, choose the proxy generating profile you want to use or create your own quite simple and away you go.

I never quite understood the faff with low res / high res folder swap stuff, other than as a work around for NLE's that don't offer a proxy workflow.

kdenlive does. :-)

There will be a bug release again soon I think for 8.2.x, you may prefer the bleeding edge by using sunabs Ubuntu PPA for latest git build of kdenlive / MLT which resolves some issues with proxies I believe.

Thanks for the reply yellow. I had a quick look for Proxy profiles last night but couldn't quite find it, and the Kdenlive manual (at least the one I found) didn't mention anything about it. I can tell you this, 8.2 is much better than 7.8 (unbeknowst at the time) which I had - that was buggy as hell.

Uhm....excuse my ignorance, but could you briefly explain what you said here in more laymans terms:

"you may prefer the bleeding edge by using sunabs Ubuntu PPA for latest git build of kdenlive / MLT which resolves some issues with proxies I believe."

What is the bleeding edge and sunabs? Apologies, I only know enough of Linux for it to work and be in the background, most of the time if it aint in the software manager, I search via google the installation of the newest version of "software" in the OS distro I'm running, which usually ends up with me copying a terminal line from some random website.

Proxy profile management in 8.2.x is in the Configure Kdenlive menu. Setting the profile to use for a project is in the Project Settings menu item.

Currently on the front page of kdenlive.org is this which explains bug fix release and sunabs PPA. Very simple to set up by adding the necessary line to your Repositories in Synaptic.

http://www.kdenlive.org/users/j-b-m/kdenlive-bugfix-release

Re 'not in software manager' and 'random website' this is the real benefit of sunabs PPA, it provides a structured way to include software considered 'less than stable' without compiling from source or command line 'magic'.

Still a balance to be done with regard to stable vs unstable, which is personal choice for me kdenlive / MLT development is so active that bugs get fixed quick and kdenlive/MLT are maturing very well.

Thanks again Yellow. Much appreciated. I'll check out the proxy thing a bit later tonight, want to add a few credits to my short-short.