DVCPRO HD - Final Output

S

srfjm

Active member
This may be a silly question, but how can I render final output on my projects without recompressing DVCPRO HD footage, but without rendering way oversized uncompressed files? I mean... the P2 footage is of course compresssed out of the camera using DVCPRO HD compression, and the files are reasonably small and nice to work with in the NLE. It just doesn't make sense to me to output uncompressed, taking already compressed video and making the file huge... gaining nothing. but the way I understand it, if I encode the project using the DVCPRO HD codec, I'll end up recompressing all my footage.

Prior to Premiere CS3's 3.1 update offering full mxf support, I was using Raylight. The Raylight codec has an option to suppress recompression on the mxf files - really cool + the Raylight codec is high quality.

With the update, I'm analyzing my processes... What do you guys do?
 
I'm using PP CS3 3.1 aswell, and i wondered the exact same thing for a long time. I also tried Raylight but didn't like the (Raylight blue) output quality. I now export uncompressed then compess for final output with Quicktime Pro. The H.264 settings are absolutely amazing! and the files sizes are very small. I haven't come up with another way. To be able to work with a smaller intermediate codec would be great though.
 
H.264 is very compressed.

srfjm, what is your ultimate goal? You could export as uncompressed, but then what?

How you export is entirely dependent on what you plan to do.
 
David Jimerson said:
H.264 is very compressed.

srfjm, what is your ultimate goal? You could export as uncompressed, but then what?

How you export is entirely dependent on what you plan to do.
Click to expand...

absolutely... and I do encode a lot of Flash stuff for the web... as well as h264. As Benandaim does, I use QT Pro for all my QT encoding. I also use Procoder, which is great because it has a plugin for Premiere Pro.

Currently I encode uncompressed AVI's for use in QT Pro and for archiving. It's a chunky file to lug around and store... Unnecessarily it seems. If I was encoding a project to end up on tape for broadcast, I guess I'd used uncompressed there too... but again, what a waste of space and resources for DVCPRO HD... no?

 
Yeah it's a real ***** having to accomodate for he uncompressed stuff temporarily, but i'm starting wonder is that just the way it has to be done to get that awesome quality. "SRFJM" what's the prodcoder plug-in like? I might have to give it a go!

I'm really interested in how you do your Flash with H.264. Can you explain the process to me.

Thanks. Ben.
 
benandaim said:
Yeah it's a real ***** having to accomodate for he uncompressed stuff temporarily, but i'm starting wonder is that just the way it has to be done to get that awesome quality. "SRFJM" what's the prodcoder plug-in like? I might have to give it a go!

I'm really interested in how you do your Flash with H.264. Can you explain the process to me.

Thanks. Ben.
Click to expand...

Hey Ben,
Procoder's pretty cool. It comes with a plugin (actually for PP2, but works the same way in CS3), which allows you to render straight from your timeline inside Premiere. Procoder seems to be significantly faster than QT Pro. The encoder I really want to try is Sorenson Squeeze... but it's pricey.

I don't do flash with h264, rather I do a lot of work that I deliver in flv format, as well as h264 (qt). I'm having good luck with the latest flv codec, On2 VP6. One thing I've found encoding flash with the Adobe Media Encoder is that it works better to encode from an already rendered uncompressed or raylight avi... rendering flash straight from the timeline has occasionally given me odd results in complex projects (bad transitions, etc). To add to the odditiies, the raylight avi produced a better flash file than the uncompressed avi... I tested this several times and got consistent results.

JM
 
I've had Sorenson Squeeze for about a year now, and really like it. I work fully uncompressed until i get to Sorenson then Squeeze with the Mpeg2 settings for DVD delivery (SD of course) via Encore. I also do a lot of web video and send in my uncompressed work to be compressed with the FLV settings in Squeeze (On2 VP6) I don't think i got HD results like i do with QT Pro, that is amazing! Squeeze has a lot of control though, i think you'd like it.

Ben
 
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