Yet another enthusiastic newbie

[Funky Monk]

Hello peeps!
I've finally decided to give AMV's a go after thinking about it for a decade surely.
Now there seem to be about a hundred questions running around my head after these few days of researching and I hoped the people from a community like this could help me out so I can get started.
I only have some Photoshop knowledge from back in the day when I was a part of Planet Renders community so I'll probably handle the editing process with trial and error but for now I have some questions regarding formats, software and ripping.
I did read the sticky thread but even tho it's very nicely put together (thanks for that, must've taken quite a while) it opened a lot of questions so I'll just go ahead.

My biggest issue so far seems to be the format I'll be working in. Obviously .mkv is the king nowadays and my entire collection is the same format but if I see it right Adobe Premier Pro and other top editing programs don't support .mkv? I tried out Filmora Wondershare because it does support it but there are barely any options for actual editing so it also doesn't seem like the right choice.
Eventually, when I'd be posting my work online, I would rip my own videos but the problem of format still remains.
So I guess my question is do I have to convert all those hundreds of GBs to .avi or .mp4 or whichever one is optimal for editing?

Also if I rip a video myself I can get rid of all the hardsubs, watermarks? Will that make it ethically legit for me to use and post around the interwebs?

Now regarding cutting clips from larger videos... Do I first have to cut all those small pieces that I will use and then input them as I want along with the song in the background or can I do all of that in the same single project as I see fit?

These would be the burning questions I have before I can even start playing around with the editing programs (BTW I chose Adobe's Premier Pro, is that too arrogant of a choice for a newbie?) so I hope I'll get some help from all of you guys and dig into all this as soon as possible.
Thanks in advance people!

[Mol]

Format: Yep avi should be most optimal+ it's good to use lagarith or UTvideo to save some space, if you don't have a lot of it i guess ou can go with mp4 but generally it's not recommended as it can cause program instability issues.

When you are done you export to avi and compress it to more convievient format (mp4)

Also if I rip a video myself I can get rid of all the hardsubs, watermarks? Will that make it ethically legit for me to use and post around the interwebs?

Well if you rip it from a legit source it shouldn't have watermarks generally (dvd,blue ray). If you have mkv with watermarks well ... I recommend getting it without it unless it doesn't exist , then just use zoom . Anyway doing it from dvd /blue ray is more ethical, still don't expect no take-downs on yt

Now regarding cutting clips from larger videos... Do I first have to cut all those small pieces that I will use and then input them as I want along with the song in the background or can I do all of that in the same single project as I see fit?

You can do it both ways

As about editing program choice it's up to you whatever fits your preferences.

[Funky Monk]

Hey man, thanks for the quick response.
So its not possible to edit in .mkv at all? I guess it's expected they won't include an open source even if it's superior. If that is the case any ideas on how to efficiently convert a very large amount of .mkv. videos to .avi while losing minimal quality?
So everyone here has to convert then right? I mean, I'm not missing something basic here? Because every single video I download is in .mkv nowadays and it just seems so impractical.

[Mol]

It's possible , but i wouldn't recommend it to newcomer as it can cause troubles too xd. As about mass convert i wouldn't recommend it, Idk the way to do it but you probably can automate it wth *.bat. Or queue jobs in virtualdub. Your better having a vague idea of amv and concentrating lets say for beginning on one series and move on as you need more.

http://www.l33tmeatwad.com/avisynth101
https://pixelblended.com/amv101/en/

[Funky Monk]

That does sound reasonable but if I shouldn't convert where do I even find it in .avi? Or are you suggesting I just convert bit by bit?

[Mol]

Yeah bit by bit , but it's up to your preferences i guess and amount of free space xD. I left you tutorials you wil probably need in links too .

[Funky Monk]

I have a 5 TB external hard drive that should to the trick Thanks for the tip. One more unrelated question; because of your avatar I have to ask, have you ever played a card game called explosive kittens?

[Mol]

External hd's... suck (own exprience).
As about cards i think i only played classic ones. Soilitaire ftw xd.

[jt_x]

[...] have you ever played a card game called explosive kittens?

yes I have it's a great game I play it on android all the time. The android version is somewhat different but it's still a lot of fun to play some random strangers. It's fun how you can get some big comebacks sometimes, generally players with more cards usually have better chances at winning the game since they have more utilities to use but sometimes when you have more slap cards than your opponents you can pull of some great comebacks with only a few cards.

[Funky Monk]

I have the actual deck, i didn't know it's on phones too. So funny to play.