Premiere Pro 3.0 - Is the encoding software any good?

P

Peter Reynolds

Well-known member
Hi there.

I'm considering upgrading to Premiere Pro 3.0 and I was wondering what the media encoding software was like.

I currently use Premiere Pro 1.5, and encode most of my clients projects to either Media Player or Real Media. Are the codex's in 3.0 vastly better?

With Avid, for example, I know they use Sorenson Squeeze. Is encoding from the timeline acceptable with 3.0 or would you recommend 3rd party software.

Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Peter
 
The built-in encoder--coincidentally named the Adobe Media Encoder--is decent for one-offs and approval copies to send to clients. I think this applies whether you're doing a web format like WMV, MOV, Real (shudder), or Flash or a disc-based format like MPEG-2. However, if web distribution is a major part of your business, then you'd be best served to explore software specifically designed for video compression and conversion.

Sorenson Squeeze is pretty much the de facto standard for whatever format you need. It also allows for two-pass VBR (variable bit rate) encoding, which is how great-looking, light-weight web videos are created. Grass Valley (formerly Canopus) ProCoder is another option.

If you decide to go with the web video format of the future--namely, Flash--you have a couple options there. Sorenson offers a Flash-only version of Squeeze that does a terrific job. You'll get the On2 VP6 codec which is where-it's-at for Flash video at the moment. You can also go with On2 Flix Pro, which is a piece of software created by the people who make the VP6 codec. It works too, but I don't think it's as intuitive as Squeeze. It is a little cheaper, though.

Ultimately, use the tool that was designed for the job. For editing, it's whatever non-linear editing suite you're comfortable with. For compression and output, you've got choices based on your favorite format flavor.
 
Thanks for the detailed response chrougham. It's very helpful.

I sort of figured that Sorenson was the way to go. The vast majority of my clients request Windows Media, though Flash is becoming increasingly popular.

I'm assuming that the workflow with Sorenson would be:

1. Edit with Premiere
2. Output as uncompressed .avi
3. Import .avi into Sorenson and encode

Is this correct?

Thanks again.

Peter
 
That's pretty much the long and short of it. Depending on your edited project, though--like if it's all DV with not many effects--you can probably skip the uncompressed AVI and just go with a DV AVI. If your video is short, however, uncompressed is fine. Just make sure you've got plenty of hard drive space.

Also, when it comes to the final compression itself, use 2-pass encoding and VBR whenever possible. It'll give you the best looking and smallest files.

If you do any amount of compression for the web, then a dedicated compression application, like Squeeze, is going to be a worthwhile investment.

Good luck!
 
to avoid big uncompressed avi files u can use frameserver to serv video to another encoder outside premiere,look for debugmode frameserver,i tryed out it with procoder and the result is quiet good

R
 
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