Correct Presets in Premiere CS4 and AME?

[3DHDAnaglyph]

Hi, I am a bit stalled in my project because my output has been a bit pixelated.

First, the goals of my project are:

• To use my dual-stream footage to make a 3D HD Anaglyph Blu-ray disk
• To also make a DVD version
• To also make streaming editions for youtube and vimeo.

I've already posted trailer versions on youtube, and not been happy with the results.
But, youtube is going to compress the heck out of videos anyway...
Maybe not much I can do about that.

In the ship videos, you can see a bit of pixelation in the water and skies.

http://www.youtube.com/3DHDAnaglyph

I am not sure with which preset to open a new project.
Here's the specs on the cameras.




And here's the specs on the source video.



Should I be choosing AVCHD or HDV?
Or something else?

When I output to Blu-ray in AME, should I choose H.264 Blu-ray?
Is there going to be any strength of copy protection to that?
Maybe that's a topic for a new thread.

Should I stick with the bitrates in the presets, or change them?
Anything else need tweaked?

Thanks in Advance,

[3DHDAnaglyph]

Thought I would add a little more info, since this thread isn't generating much interest yet.
Here's the AME export settings I have been using for youtube.

[aedipuss]

your project should probably be avchd 720 30p, not hdv it's mpeg-2 not mpeg-4.

if you aren't happy with the quality increase the bitrate target and max. if you choose both as the same number you might as well use cbr 1 pass and cut the render time in half.

[edDV]

Explain again your source video format? GSpot says codec status undetermined.

First thing I would do is decompress the camera file to 1280x720p 29.97. If you can't handle uncompressed (2 disk RAID needed) then explain more what type of editing is required. An RGB JPG or PNG frame sequence may be needed. Idea is to keep it in progressive frames on the timeline without temporal compression.


PS: forgot you wanted to do 3D, that means you need two progressive timelines (4-5 disk RAID for uncompressed).

[3DHDAnaglyph]

your project should probably be avchd 720 30p, not hdv it's mpeg-2 not mpeg-4.

if you aren't happy with the quality increase the bitrate target and max. if you choose both as the same number you might as well use cbr 1 pass and cut the render time in half.

Thanks for answering.

As a test, I once chose an absurdly high bitrate.. about 40 I think.
My quad processor with 8gb RAM was about brought to it's knees trying to play it.
So, maybe I should ask what bitrate seems reasonable for good quality.

Do extra passes increase quality?

[3DHDAnaglyph]

Explain again your source video format? GSpot says codec status undetermined.

First thing I would do is decompress the camera file to 1280x720p 29.97. If you can't handle uncompressed (2 disk RAID needed) then explain more what type of editing is required. An RGB JPG or PNG frame sequence may be needed. Idea is to keep it in progressive frames on the timeline without temporal compression.


PS: forgot you wanted to do 3D, that means you need two progressive timelines (4-5 disk RAID for uncompressed).

Thanks for answering.
Yeah, I was also wondering why it says undetermined.

Guess I will have to check on how to decompress the files.
I have a LOT of source material for this project... gigabytes.

I do have 4 drives, but not in a RAID configuration.
Why would I need a RAID?

By the way, how I edit for anaglyph 3D is to just put the left and right videos in separate channels on the timeline and edit from there.
I have to do it this way because the clips sometimes vary in length slightly.
Then, I just take use Image Control/Color Correction filter to set the blues and greens to zero on the left, and the red to zero on the right.
Then, I set both channels to Screen or Additive.

Not my idea... learned it on the web.

I just spent quite some time checking on how to decompress quicktime, h.264, or AVC1.
FFDSHOW plugin in Virtual Dub still isn't opening any quicktime files, even if they are h.264 AVC1.
How do I do that?

[edDV]

What is the camera? Try Mediainfo to id the codec.

You are running a dual video timeline project. This doubles the CPU power needed for 1x playback or search/scrub. When you add filters you will need to render the workspace to get a preview.

You want to do this in 1280x720p. CS4 only accepts limited formats in 720p. Among them,

Uncompressed RGB
Uncompressed YCbCr
HDV/XDCAM MPeg2
DVCPro_HD (must be 960x720p)

Your computer can't handle uncompressed without a large RAID (5-6 disks) plus OS disk. So that leaves external conversion to HDV, DVCPro-HD or some kind of Motion JPeg.

MJPEG is a sequence of JPG stills. Advantage is you have intact frames for editing (e.g. no 15 frame GOP MPeg interframe motion compression). This reduces the decode load on the CPU when you are working on the timeline and previewing. You can easily edit and filter to the frame level. Ideally you would convert your two streams to MJPEG in Virtualdub. Then set a dual timeline Video for Windows project in CS4. CS4 will use a third party MJPEG codec.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_JPEG
http://www.accusoft.com/picvideomjpeg.htm
http://www.morgan-multimedia.com/

An alternate to MJPEG is a simple sequence of png, tif or tga stills. This is often done for animation.

[3DHDAnaglyph]

What is the camera? Try Mediainfo to id the codec.

You are running a dual video timeline project. This doubles the CPU power needed for 1x playback or search/scrub. When you add filters you will need to render the workspace to get a preview.

You want to do this in 1280x720p. CS4 only accepts limited formats in 720p. Among them,

Uncompressed RGB
Uncompressed YCbCr
HDV/XDCAM MPeg2
DVCPro_HD (must be 960x720p)

Your computer can't handle uncompressed without a large RAID (5-6 disks) plus OS disk. So that leaves external conversion to HDV, DVCPro-HD or some kind of Motion JPeg.

MJPEG is a sequence of JPG stills. Advantage is you have intact frames for editing (e.g. no 15 frame GOP MPeg interframe motion compression). This reduces the decode load on the CPU when you are working on the timeline and previewing. You can easily edit and filter to the frame level. Ideally you would convert your two streams to MJPEG in Virtualdub. Then set a dual timeline Video for Windows project in CS4. CS4 will use a third party MJPEG codec.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_JPEG
http://www.accusoft.com/picvideomjpeg.htm
http://www.morgan-multimedia.com/

An alternate to MJPEG is a simple sequence of png, tif or tga stills. This is often done for animation.

Thanks so much for answering.

I have two of these for my dual stream footage.

PenCam Trio HD



Here's the 720p presets I have available to open a project in Prem CS4.
I have a few more since I updated.






How might I make a lossless conversion to HDV ?
I don't want to shift from 1280 wide to 960 for DVCPro-HD.
I am wondering if a motion jpeg would leave my audio intact.

For the life of me, I can't get quicktime movies to open in Virtual Dub.
Do I need a plugin?
I searched the VD site for 'quicktime', and got no hits.

Here's what MediaInfo reported on one of my source videos.

Thanks again,

General
Complete name : F:\~~~ 1 Images~~~\~V~\~~Cameras\2010-09-03 Blue Lagoon - L\Blue Lagoon - L 004.MOV
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 4.74 MiB
Duration : 7s 7ms
Overall bit rate : 5 669 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2010-03-28 21:40:11
Tagged date : UTC 2010-09-10 19:14:39
Writing library : Apple QuickTime
AMBA :

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 7s 7ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 5 600 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 5 000 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.203
Stream size : 4.68 MiB (99%)
Title : Ambarella AVC
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2010-03-28 21:40:11
Tagged date : UTC 2010-03-28 21:40:11

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, PS : Yes
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 6s 762ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 32.6 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 26.9 KiB (1%)
Title : Ambarella AAC
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2010-03-28 21:40:11
Tagged date : UTC 2010-03-28 21:40:11

[aedipuss]

you can't losslessly convert to HDV, it's mpeg-2 and your source is avc mpeg-4. choose the acvhd 720 30p template you have highlighted to best match your source.

[3DHDAnaglyph]

you can't losslessly convert to HDV, it's mpeg-2 and your source is avc mpeg-4. choose the acvhd 720 30p template you have highlighted to best match your source.

Thanks for answering.

Yes, that's the preset I have been using lately.
Glad to have it verified as the right one.

And in AME, should I use the H.264 Blu-ray preset to output Blu-ray?

[edDV]

you can't losslessly convert to HDV, it's mpeg-2 and your source is avc mpeg-4. choose the acvhd 720 30p template you have highlighted to best match your source.

Thanks for answering.

Yes, that's the preset I have been using lately.
Glad to have it verified as the right one.

And in AME, should I use the H.264 Blu-ray preset to output Blu-ray?

Problem is AVC is very inefficient on the timeline. This gets worse with two AVC video timelines with color correction on both. Are you able to search/scrub or preview the timeline?

MJPeg or a digital intermediate (e.g. Cineform Neoscene) will remove the temporal compression making timeline operations much more efficient.

[3DHDAnaglyph]

you can't losslessly convert to HDV, it's mpeg-2 and your source is avc mpeg-4. choose the acvhd 720 30p template you have highlighted to best match your source.

Thanks for answering.

Yes, that's the preset I have been using lately.
Glad to have it verified as the right one.

And in AME, should I use the H.264 Blu-ray preset to output Blu-ray?

Problem is AVC is very inefficient on the timeline. This gets worse with two AVC video timelines with color correction on both. Are you able to search/scrub or preview the timeline?

MJPeg or a digital intermediate (e.g. Cineform Neoscene) will remove the temporal compression making timeline operations much more efficient.

I can preview without stutters if I have rendered the effects first.

Will check into MJEG more.
Thanks.

[edDV]

you can't losslessly convert to HDV, it's mpeg-2 and your source is avc mpeg-4. choose the acvhd 720 30p template you have highlighted to best match your source.

Thanks for answering.

Yes, that's the preset I have been using lately.
Glad to have it verified as the right one.

And in AME, should I use the H.264 Blu-ray preset to output Blu-ray?

Problem is AVC is very inefficient on the timeline. This gets worse with two AVC video timelines with color correction on both. Are you able to search/scrub or preview the timeline?

MJPeg or a digital intermediate (e.g. Cineform Neoscene) will remove the temporal compression making timeline operations much more efficient.

I can preview without stutters if I have rendered the effects first.

Will check into MJEG more.
Thanks.

You may find an MJPEG codec for free, or low cost. Cineform Neoscene would be better but costs $129. But Neoscene may not accept h.264 from Aiptech. It does support AVCHD and HDV.

[3DHDAnaglyph]

you can't losslessly convert to HDV, it's mpeg-2 and your source is avc mpeg-4. choose the acvhd 720 30p template you have highlighted to best match your source.

Thanks for answering.

Yes, that's the preset I have been using lately.
Glad to have it verified as the right one.

And in AME, should I use the H.264 Blu-ray preset to output Blu-ray?

Problem is AVC is very inefficient on the timeline. This gets worse with two AVC video timelines with color correction on both. Are you able to search/scrub or preview the timeline?

MJPeg or a digital intermediate (e.g. Cineform Neoscene) will remove the temporal compression making timeline operations much more efficient.

I can preview without stutters if I have rendered the effects first.

Will check into MJEG more.
Thanks.

You may find an MJPEG codec for free, or low cost. Cineform Neoscene would be better but costs $129. But Neoscene may not accept h.264 from Aiptech. It does support AVCHD and HDV.

Whahoo !
Now, that's more like it !

I got the Neoscene trial and can really tell the difference in quality.
Hope I can get all my source footage converted in the 7 day trial.

Here's the MediaInfo report on the converted file.
Will put the statistics on the original file below that.

But this is what impresses me most...

Original - Overall bit rate : 5 073 Kbps
Converted - Overall bit rate : 74.0 Mbps

Thanks again !

Converted file:

General
Complete name : F:\~~~ 1 Images~~~\~V~\~~Cameras\2010-08-26 bowsprit - L\bowsprit - L 004.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 575 MiB
Duration : 1mn 5s
Overall bit rate : 74.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 0
Format : CineForm
Codec ID : CFHD
Codec ID/Info : CineForm 10-bit Visually Perfect HD (Wavelet)
Duration : 1mn 5s
Bit rate : 72.2 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 2.613
Stream size : 561 MiB (98%)

Audio
ID : 1
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : 1
Codec ID/Hint : Microsoft
Duration : 1mn 5s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 11.9 MiB (2%)
Interleave, duration : 21 ms (0.64 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration : 3050 ms

Original File:

General
Complete name : F:\~~~ 1 Images~~~\~V~\~~Cameras\2010-08-26 bowsprit - L\bowsprit - L 004.MOV
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 39.5 MiB
Duration : 1mn 5s
Overall bit rate : 5 073 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2010-03-20 20:11:40
Tagged date : UTC 2010-09-19 12:37:30
Writing library : Apple QuickTime
AMBA :


Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1mn 5s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 5 019 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 5 000 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.182
Stream size : 39.0 MiB (99%)
Title : Ambarella AVC
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2010-03-20 20:11:40
Tagged date : UTC 2010-03-20 20:11:40

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 1mn 5s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 32.0 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 255 KiB (1%)
Title : Ambarella AAC
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2010-03-20 20:11:40
Tagged date : UTC 2010-03-20 20:11:40