x264 acting strange

[SameSelf]

This is really got me scratching my head. I am trying to frameserve FHD 29.97p video out of PPro via DMFS and YUY2 to x264 using the following code:

AVS script:

AVISource("D:\signpost.avi", audio=false).AssumeFPS(30000,1001)

x264 script:

x264.exe --preset slow --level 4.1 --ref 4 --tune grain --crf 17 --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 40000 -o "video.264" "signpost.avs"

When I re-import the video.264 back into PP, PP tells me the PAR is 0.75. When I try playing it back using MPC, it is a mess. Any ideas what is going on?

If it helps, this is the mediainfo of the source clip which I generated as a lossless AVI export from AE.

General
Complete name                            : D:\TestFHD.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
Format profile                           : OpenDML
File size                                : 1.31 GiB
Duration                                 : 15s 48ms
Overall bit rate                         : 746 Mbps
Writing application                      : Lavf56.1.100

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : YUV
Codec ID                                 : I420
Codec ID/Info                            : 8 bit Y plane followed by 8 bit 2x2 subsampled U and V planes.
Duration                                 : 15s 48ms
Bit rate                                 : 744 Mbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 29.970 fps
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 11.974
Stream size                              : 1.30 GiB (100%)

EDIT: I should add that this was working flawlessly for me before. But now it is like something has infected my system. So I have fallen back to using AME for now. This has really got me down

[poisondeathray]

add --sar 1:1 to the commandline

[SameSelf]

Thanks pdr, that seems to have fixed the PAR showing up as 0.75 in PPro. But now the video has ugly, blocky artifacts. Here is a quick crop of what I am seeing. Look at those ugly blocky artifacts! The dark pillar down the middle is supposed to look like the right edge of the crop with just a little more shadow. Not even close to that dark. I just don't get it, yesterday everything was fine, now all the sudden nothing works. Thanks so much for the help.

[poisondeathray]

Nothing jumps out at me as the culprit from the screenshot

Try putting the elementary stream into a container, then importing it. e.g. MP4 or TS . Importing .264 (or any elementary stream) can sometimes cause corruption (in the preview) in various editors . You typically import elementary streams for authoring programs, not editing programs

Once you put it into container, check with other programs to see if it's only premiere affected. E.g. play it in mpchc or vlc etc...

And post the mediainfo report for the encode

[poisondeathray]

This is really got me scratching my head. I am trying to frameserve FHD 29.97p video out of PPro via DMFS and YUY2 to x264 using the following code:

AVS script:
AVISource("D:\signpost.avi", audio=false).AssumeFPS(30000,1001)

Also, if you frameserved YUY2, did you forget to put ConvertToYV12() in the script ? Or --input-csp , --output-csp commands ?

(It is possible to use 4:2:2 AVC in premiere, but only specific variants like AVC-Intra)

[SameSelf]

It doesn't play well in MPC so it unfortunately isn't just PP that is messing up. Here is the mediainfo of the encoded file. As I have tried to think back through what may have changed, I recalled that I installed a multi-threaded version of AVIsynth, the one that is recommended for running QTGMC MT. I wonder if my version of AVIsynth could be the culprit?

General
Complete name                            : D:\video.264
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
File size                                : 24.6 MiB
Duration                                 : 2s 202ms
Overall bit rate                         : 93.8 Mbps

Video
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Duration                                 : 2s 202ms
Bit rate                                 : 93.8 Mbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 29.970 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 1.509
Stream size                              : 24.6 MiB (100%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 146 r2538 121396c
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-2:-2 /
analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.25 /
mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 /
cqm=0 / deadzone=6,6 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 /
threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 /
nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 /
bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 /
open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 /
intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=17.0 / qcomp=0.80 /
qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=40000 / vbv_bufsize=40000 /
crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.10 / aq=1:0.50

[SameSelf]

Also, if you frameserved YUY2, did you forget to put ConvertToYV12() in the script ? Or --input-csp , --output-csp commands ?

(It is possible to use 4:2:2 AVC in premiere, but only specific variants like AVC-Intra)

I tried adding ConvertToYV12() and sadly doesn't make any difference.

[poisondeathray]

Did you put video.264 into a container ? MPCHC can have problems playing elementary streams too...

As I have tried to think back through what may have changed, I recalled that I installed a multi-threaded version of AVIsynth, the one that is recommended for running QTGMC MT. I wonder if my version of AVIsynth could be the culprit?

If you preview the .avs for the signpost, in something like vdub or avspmod - can you see the artifacts ? If you can't - then it's unlikely anything is wrong with avisynth or anything upstream of that

[SameSelf]

Try putting the elementary stream into a container, then importing it. e.g. MP4 or TS . Importing .264 (or any elementary stream) can sometimes cause corruption (in the preview) in various editors . You typically import elementary streams for authoring programs, not editing programs

Once you put it into container, check with other programs to see if it's only premiere affected. E.g. play it in mpchc or vlc etc...

And post the mediainfo report for the encode

Wow, after fully following your advice and putting the audio and video into an MP4 container using MP4Box, none of the problems are there. So I guess I was panicking over nothing. Very strange cuz MPC seemed to play elementary streams fine before.