Problem exporting xvid/divx with Premiere CS4

[moogleii]

Hi all,

I'm quite new to video editing so please bear with me. I'm using uncompressed source files, so no xvid import issues, but when I try to export to xvid/divx, I get a *lot* of artifacts. And I don't mean the kind where the bitrate is too low or whatever causes normal pixelation, but just a lot of distortion (very large artifacts, duplication of imagery).

I've tried using the Xvid MPEG4 encoder as well as ffdshow, but same thing. I tried doing some sleuthing, but I've got nothing. The only thing I noticed was that VLC wasn't able to detect the codec in the resulting file, hence no video would play. Media player classic on the other hand, could play back the file (with artifacts).

I've tried a few workarounds, but they are all a bit distasteful to me:

1. Exporting to uncompressed, then using virtualdub. I was doing this for awhile, but I noticed that lines were becoming very jaggy in the uncompressed export. If someone knows how to eliminate that, please enlighten me.

2. Exporting to h.264. This produced a perfect exported copy, but virtualdub wasn't able to open it for me to convert it to xvid, and only quicktime could play it.

3. Exporting to DV. I can't seem to specify a res size, so it shrinks my source, and adds black bars. There were 2-3 frames that had major artifacts, but other than that and the resolution issue, it was good.

About the source: Time lapse footage encoded into uncompressed avi with virtualdub at 10fps.

If there isn't a way to export directly to xvid, then I'm hoping to continue with option 2, at which point I'm hoping someone can tell me how I can get from h.264 to xvid.

Thanks for reading

[poisondeathray]

Option 4. Why not export a lossless format (beside big space requirements)? e.g. lagarith, huffyuv

Vdub will accept this no problems.

I can't reproduce your xvid direct export problems on some quick testing, but I don't have the same source material. I've found adobe media encoder buggy sometimes unless you leave the main premiere application open. Also there were some updates to premiere and the adobe encoder a few weeks ago, so if you haven't already, consider updating.

[moogleii]

Thanks for the help! Been battling ever since. Lagarith and huffy worked, with some caveats.

3 frames in lagarith had red bars at the top. No idea what would cause that.

Huffy produced very aliased lines again, but then I realized it was because I set the field type to progressive. I figured if the source was progressive and at 10fps, then that I could export progressive at 10, but I guess not. That'll teach me to touch settings that I don't understand.