• Compression Techniques

  H.264 compression appears ‘washed-out’

  Posted by Steve Chestney on March 25, 2013 at 1:13 am

  Hey everyone,
  I’ve been trying to find the optimal compression settings on Adobe Media Encoder to compress my After Effects files.
  So far the best I’ve come up with is an H.264 codec with a 2 pass CBR, with the bitrate set at 13. This produces good footage but the colours seem slightly washed out and the blacks appear a dark grey, and this can change the whole appearance and impact of the footage.
  Do you have any settings that would improve the quality of the footage?
  (I’ve probably missed some settings there as i dont have my laptop with me)

  Jeff Greenberg replied 13 years, 5 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Jeff Greenberg

  March 27, 2013 at 11:12 am

  [Steve Chestney] ” I’ve been trying to find the optimal compression settings on Adobe Media Encoder to compress my After Effects files.
  So far the best I’ve come up with is an H.264 codec with a 2 pass CBR, with the bitrate set at 13. This produces good footage but the colours seem slightly washed out and the blacks appear a dark grey, and this can change the whole appearance and impact of the footage.”

  Hmm. Are you doing h.264 in an MPEG4 or an h.264 in Quicktime? Yes, that can make a difference. Can you also try tossing your video into VLC and seeing if the blacks are different?

  What version of Media Encoder are you using? What platform (Mac or PC)? Are you using Media Encoder (did you know you can copy/paste your comp there?) or are you using AE to generate your video?

  Best,

  Jeff I. Greenberg
  Author/Master Instructor/Speaker/Consulting
  My contact info and more
  New! Come see me speak @ NAB/Post Production World!

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