Convert ProRes to H.264 on a PC?

[madmartian]

I tried Handbrake and it tried, but the pans became quite jerky. Is there a tool that does a better job of converting Apple ProRes format to H.264 on a PC? Or is there some setting in Handbrake that might fix the jerky pans? I tried a quality setting of 12, which still created a large file at 43 Mbps, but still jerky pans.

[poisondeathray]

I tried Handbrake and it tried, but the pans became quite jerky. Is there a tool that does a better job of converting Apple ProRes format to H.264 on a PC? Or is there some setting in Handbrake that might fix the jerky pans? I tried a quality setting of 12, which still created a large file at 43 Mbps, but still jerky pans.

The quality setting and bitrate should have nothing to do with a jerky pan . If anything , a higher bitrate might cause stuttering

What was the ProRes file specs? was it interlaced , etc ? Resolution? Did you deinterlace in handbrake ?

Could it be a playback problem? What are your computer specs ? What software player are you using ? Can you try another player (e.g. mpchc, potplayer, splash, vlc etc...)

[madmartian]

I've had this problem with more than one ProRes file. These are 1080p files, no interlacing or de-interlace settings. They tend to start with a high bitrate of 100+ Mbps. I am cutting the bitrate down close to bluray of 35 Mbps.

Not a player or computer problem.

[poisondeathray]

Did you encode CFR in handbrake?

What does mediainfo (view=>text) say about the prores file and the output file ?

[madmartian]

Example:
Input: ProRes, 111 Mbps
Output: AVC, 43.6 Mbps

Framerate is VFR. I will try CFR. Didn't think of that. Thanks.

[madmartian]

No change with CFR.

I also tried setting Anamorphic to None.

I haven't touched anything on the "Advanced" tab.

[poisondeathray]

Neither, the advanced tab or anamorphic settings will affect playback for a jerky pan

In mediainfo, debug=>advanced mode, look at the frame count, does it match the prores file? Does everything else match in terms of frame rate ?

[madmartian]

Yes, both are at 23.976 and framerate was set to "same as source" in handbrake.

Now here's an odd thing - size is NOT the same! MOV is 1888 x 1062, MP4 is 1920 x 1080. Weird thing is that Handbrake claims the MOV source is 1920 x 1080... If I set Anamorphic to None I can edit the size, but if "keep aspect ratio" is selected, the size if off by 6 pixels in the height when I force the width to 1888. Trying it with the box unchecked now at 1888 x 1062, but why doesn't Handbrake properly recognize the size?

[madmartian]

And manually changing the size had no affect.

[Selur]

Got a small sample where this problem can be reproduced?

[glenpinn]

i know this is late, but i can import 183Mbps ProRes 422 files into handbrake and output to h264 inside an MP4 container and its perfect.

i can use a constant quality factor of RF-0 and the output h264 file will be about the same Bitrate as the ProRes source file is, or i can use an RF-1 or lower and the output h264 will be around 21Mbps, which looks awesome played back on a big hd tv.

inside handbrake i use the advanced tab option, as well as setting the resolution to strict (1920x1080) constant framerate, and audio passthru.

[jagabo]

It's likely you have a playback problem, not an encoding problem.

If this is for further editing, in Handbrake, try changing the GOP size to something in the 1 to 30 range (depending on the speed of your CPU), and disable B frames. Eg, in the Extra Options box enter "keyint=5:bframes=0". (Shorter GOPs with no bframes are easier to decode but you get less compression.) Set the Profile and Level to Auto. Encode with constant frame rate and output MKV (I find that to work better in many programs than MP4).

[Hoser Rob]

It's likely you have a playback problem, not an encoding problem....

I'm kind of thinking this too, though that may not be what you want to hear. Especially considering your profile says you run XP. What's your current hardware?

Have you had stuttering problems with other 1080p high bit rate files?

What's your player? Can you set up a decent size cache buffer for local file streams? That makes a huge difference with high bit rate source, and for some reason vlc as of 2.0 stopped supporting it. I use a 8192Kb file cache in SMplayer.

[glenpinn]

i was getting jerky playback during certain panning scenes when playing back files in WMP but it didnt hapen when playing in MPC Home Cinema player, so always try playing your source/output files with different media players.