Premiere Pro CS5 Direct Export to x264

C

Chris Lawes

Active member
Is anyone successfully using Premiere CS5 or Media Encoder direct export to x264?

Hi all.
As a new AF100/GH2 user I've switched to Premiere CS5 on the Mac for native AVCHD editing. So far works pretty good (except I can't seem to get it to stop conforming the audio, even though the AF100 is uncompressed PCM) but now I am trying to figure out how to do a high quality H264 export.

Previously I used the x264 quicktime plugin and exported from FCP7 using Quicktime Conversion and got good results. Now when I export from Premiere I can choose Quicktime Video, and choose x264 encoder from the codec drop down menu. However I've played around with the settings and every time I export the file it comes out super pixelated/blurry, and I've tested the same settings on the same prores timeline with FCP/Compressor and it comes out OK (well except for some gamma shift but that's another story.)

I'll post some examples if I get a chance (I'm pretty much in the jungle now with limited 56k internet) but is anybody using Premiere and the open source awesome x264 codec? x264 is a MUCH better looking final result then the Mainconcept bundled encoder in Premiere.

If we can natively edit AVCCAM h.264 and natively export a high quality (aka x264) h.264 export then that's excellent. I hope we can figure out a way to do it as a forum.

Thanks!!

-Chris

Site where you can download the current x264 quicktime plugin (funny looking site but it's legit):
http://www003.upp.so-net.ne.jp/mycometg3/

Site where somebody explains how to install and use with FCP/Compressor/Quicktim and gives his recommended quicktime x264 settings (based on older version of x264 but still helps):
http://www.weynand.com/wt/h264-compressor/
 
Last edited:
I frame serve video from Premiere to MeGui with a program called DebugMode Frameserver so that I can tweak and pre-process footage with an AVIsynth script before sending it off to x264.

It also ensures that I'm using the latest version of x264 since MeGUI updates it every time you run it. If you need h.264 to look good in a low bitrate than x264 is the way to go.
 
I do not think you can still donate and get the beta just like that.
I have been testing the beta and it looks promising.
 
Thanks for the input. I'll look into that more. I am on a mac, however I'm interested to know what has worked on windows also. Plus this thread isn't just for me, windows users can also discuss how well it works as well, no point to having a seperate cs5+x264 windows/mac thread.

Still, any more ideas or experience with x264 + cs5 and mac?
 
So far I have it working with quicktime x264 encoder but there is some small gamma shift I think because of quicktime. Anybody have it working natively in Premiere Pro CS5 or 5.5 ?
 
Try this http://handbrake.fr/ - works like a charm. Best quality I ever seen and fast like greased lightning.

.... and yes, you have to render out your timeline first, but believe me, it´s worth the effort.

Frank
 
Thanks that's what I currently use. I export to an intermediate codec like 8bit YUV and then send it to handbrake. But I'd rather export directly and that's what the purpose of this thread is, it seems that using Frameserver to MeGUI works very well if your on windows but for us mac users I'm still hoping there is an option or an option will be found eventually and posted here :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top