Question about editing software.

[ironpony]

I've been editing scenes and exporting them, but each time I've tried so far, the quality looks bad after it's over. It probably has something to do with how I am importing and exporting the footage, data and format wise. In order to get the best quality to make an impression with fellow newcomer filmmakers, what format settings should I use? Thanks. I use Premiere Pro, and have been exporting on MPEG blue ray, and importing on 24fps at 1080p and set to HDV, but maybe that's wrong? All I know is the files look a lot more fuzzier, coming out of Premiere Pro, than they do going in. On the plus side they are brighter looking, and not as dark.

[David Jimerson]

Are you using an HDV camera? You should choose the sequence which matches your footage.

Also, need to know more about exactly how you export.

[ironpony]

That's all I can think, and that I export on MPEG. I use the Canon T2i, but not sure what that would be. I don't know what sequence matches my footage.

[Ewan L]

That's all I can think, and that I export on MPEG. I use the Canon T2i, but not sure what that would be. I don't know what sequence matches my footage.

Maybe try using some .AVI renders, to keep it lossless? Though the file size can get pretty big quickly.

[David Jimerson]

That's all I can think, and that I export on MPEG. I use the Canon T2i, but not sure what that would be. I don't know what sequence matches my footage.

You should be using the DSLR 1080p24 sequence, assuming you shot 24p.

As for export, MPEG-2 can encompass many, many things. Need more specifics.

Your best export is entirely unrelated to your underlying footage, though. You export based on what you intend to do with it.

[blazer003]

As a fellow Premiere user, if you are exporting to the web, I suggest H.264. As stated by David, use the preset that he suggested. On export, choose H.264 and for the best quality use the 'HDTV 1080p 24 High Quality' preset. Assuming that you're using CS5 or better.

[RGBaker]

Maybe try using some .AVI renders, to keep it lossless? Though the file size can get pretty big quickly.

The problem with this statement is it implies that 'avi' files are lossless -- in fact avi like mov only tells us the 'wrapper' format; the codec that is wrapped is the important thing. avi files, like mov files, can be highly compressed codecs, or less compressed ones.

The source files from a T2i are h.264 codec, and you can wrap those as mov files without losing or changing anything. Your timeline can be the same as your source files, and your output the same too -- in this example nothing changes from the shot quality ... it is not 'lossless', but the loss was at the time of shooting and not something you are adding in post. Transcoding, which is what you are currently doing, should be avoided if you are transcoding to another compressed lossy format -- on the other hand, transcoding to a high quality intermediate format (for example ProResLT) will gain you some speed in editing without sacrificing image quality. My personal method is to use a ProResLT sequence setting, usually with material I have already transcoded to ProResLT but that step is just my preference, and output a 'master' version in ProResLT. This very large master output file can then be used as the source to produce a variety of more highly compressed distribution formats such as h.264 in an mp4 wrapper, or a Windows friendly wmv file, or a YouTube destined file, et cetera.

Cheers,
GB

[Victor Nhat Nguyen]

As a fellow Premiere user, if you are exporting to the web, I suggest H.264. As stated by David, use the preset that he suggested. On export, choose H.264 and for the best quality use the 'HDTV 1080p 24 High Quality' preset. Assuming that you're using CS5 or better.

agree, H.264 have the best file size to quality ratio.