Premiere Pro h.264 encoding

[techmot]

Hi, does anyone know how to encode files in Premiere Pro using h.264 but keeping the bitrate low but without the output file looking blocky?. It seems that whenever I try and encode a video by setting the bitrate at a low-ish setting (about 5000kbps) I am getting a rather large file size around the 1.50gb mark. When I set the bitrate lower than this the encoded file is noticeably blocky but the file size is still pretty large or not much difference in size. When I encode files in Handbrake or Avidemux and set the bitrate to around 5000kbps, the outputted file is at the size I want it to be but the quality is good and no signs of artifacts or blocking. In Handbrake and Avidemux, I can encode a 10gb 30 min raw avi file by setting the bitrate to 5000 and the outputted file will be around 540mb, but doing this in Premiere Pro the file size is much bigger.

Why can't I do this in Premiere Pro? is it using a different codec?. I think I heard somewhere awhile back that Premiere Pro's h.264 codec isn't great and a plug-in would be better.

[poisondeathray]

The bundled h264 encoder with PP is not very good

You can use x264 (the same h264 encoder used by handbrake and avidemux) directly exporting from in PP using voukoder plugin

[techmot]

The bundled h264 encoder with PP is not very good

You can use x264 (the same h264 encoder used by handbrake and avidemux) directly exporting from in PP using voukoder plugin

Thanks for that. I tried installing the plug into the required drive on my c drive, but after installing Premiere just crashed. After I uninstalled Voukoder Premiere didn't crash. My processor a AMD Ryzen.

[poisondeathray]

Not sure why it would crash. You can try contacting voukoder forum support listing your hardware/software details, versions, drivers

Other ways to use x264 to encode in a PP workflow are to either:

1) frameserve out (e.g. advanced frameserver, or debugmode frameserver) then use handbrake, or any x264 GUI . There are many old guides on this workflow on various sites, but newer PP CC versions might have problems. There is a newer version of debugmode that is now shareware - it's called cumincode frameserver. Not sure how well it works, but I would export support with the fee

2) Or export a high quality (e.g. prores hq, cineform) or lossless intermediate then encode with handbrake, or any x264 GUI

voukoder is preferred these days because it's faster and omits the intermediate step; but many people still use the intermediate workflow , and used it long before voukoder

[techmot]

Not sure why it would crash. You can try contacting voukoder forum support listing your hardware/software details, versions, drivers

Other ways to use x264 to encode in a PP workflow are to either:

1) frameserve out (e.g. advanced frameserver, or debugmode frameserver) then use handbrake, or any x264 GUI . There are many old guides on this workflow on various sites, but newer PP CC versions might have problems. There is a newer version of debugmode that is now shareware - it's called cumincode frameserver. Not sure how well it works, but I would export support with the fee

2) Or export a high quality (e.g. prores hq, cineform) or lossless intermediate then encode with handbrake, or any x264 GUI

voukoder is preferred these days because it's faster and omits the intermediate step; but many people still use the intermediate workflow , and used it long before voukoder

Ok thanks for that

I decided to export the file using the prores encoder, but the outputted file was about 30GB. I encoded the file in Handbrake and setting the bitrate at 5000kbps, but outputted file was alot larger than it normally would be at that bitrate (about 950mb), which usually gives a file half that size. There is no Cineform encoder listed in the export settings. It doesn't explain how to install Voukoder very well on the Voukoder site nor which directly it should be installed in. Maybe I'm installing or copying the file to the wrong directory.