Adobe Media Encoder "Level"

[Dan Clark]

Hi. Here's a question for Premiere wizards - What is the "Level:" setting in Adobe Media Encoder? What is its purpose? When uploading a 1280 X 720 clip shot in 30p (progressive) to Vimeo, what is the best or correct setting?

More specifically, from Premiere --> Export --> Adobe Media Encoder. Then select:
Format = "H.264"
Preset = "Custom"

Then click the "Video" tab. At the bottom of the "Basic Video Settings" frame is "Level:"
The attached screen shot shows the options.

Thank you for any feedback,

Dan.

p.s., I looked everywhere (help, books, Google) for a clear explanation and couldn't find anything. When you mouse over the field, it gives the crystal clear definition "Constrains the parameters of the encode." Uh huh... Right... Clear as mud.

 

[cbrougham]

If you're encoding something for the web, for the most part, you don't need to worry about profile and level. Profile and level are more important when you're encoding for a hardware device (like an iPod, PSP, Blu-ray player, and so on), because each of those devices is equipped with a hardware decoder for a given codec. The profile and level define the max bitrate, frame rate, and a whole host of special features for a given encoded file. If you exceed the profile@level of a certain piece of hardware, you're likely to encounter playback issues. With a software decoder, this is less of an issue, but setting too low of a profile@level will prevent you from encoding to the frame size, bit rate, and so on that you want to use.

Check out this Wikipedia article on H.264 for some more information on profiles and levels. Hope some of this helps...

PS: I find that using High 3.1 usually gets me what I want for the web... YMMV.

 

[Dan Clark]

cbrougham,

That took at least 9 minutes to respond. What took you so long!?! rogar-BigGrin(DBG)

Many thanks for the blindingly quick response!

Dan.