Adobe Premiere (A DISSAPOINTMENT)

[Eric Addison]

Jason,

Okay, I ran some tests and yeah – that footage is tough to deal with. PPro doesn’t really like it. Part of the problem is that it’s no where near professional quality. The data rate on a normal DV AVI file is 3.6 MB/sec…the rate on your footage – 355 KB/sec. That’s pretty low.

PPro is setup for professional footage. Using consumer footage like this can yield less then desirable results. I’m not a big car guy (that’s my brother so forgive me if I get this analogy wrong), but it’s like you have a really high-end sports car and you’re putting low quality gas in it…

That being said, I was able to export out a WMV file that didn’t jump around. I did it by first opening the file in Windows Movie Maker and exporting out a new DV AVI file that was set up for PAL (to keep the 25fps) and 4:3.

Once that exported, I dropped the file into PPro, and exported out the WMV file.

Hope that helps!

If the video doesn’t play above, try this link…

https://shorts.creativecow.net/film/test-clips

—Eric

[Jason Harris]

Eric

yeah i know these are low quality cams, so let me ask you this

since we have like 40 HOURs of footage on these things that we need to edit for a documentary,

so lets say we BATCH all files into a “workable format ” INSERT what you would reccommend for settings for converted files here

then use those in Premiere

since i have no idea what settings you used im at a loss, iwe use a converter called BLAZE media pro that does some conversions

let me know what would be easiset (and that test link was awesome, except for crackling in the audio)

looking forward to a possible workaround sicne the premiere pro can make the best piece for us

FYI (they are giving us Canon XL2’s for our next project)

[Eric Addison]

What I did was use Windows Movie Maker and set the output settings as a 4:3 PAL file using the DV AVI codec. If you’re on a Mac, then use the PAL DV codec for your Quicktime files. That should yield you something better to use, and something Premiere Pro will play with better.

Then set up a project in Premiere Pro that is DV PAL, and you should be good. I’d run a test to make sure it all works before you encode all that footage. The only problem would be if you need something with NTSC standards because your footage is 25fps, not 29.97, you could run into problems there. But if you are putting this on the web, it shouldn’t matter.

As for using and XL2 next time, you should be good to go…you should have no problems with that footage.

Hope that helps!

—Eric

[Jason Harris]

ok eric

i picked up power video converter out of our software vault

i see MANY types of outputs and codecs, any suggestions

i see several but ONLY one that says DV on it
https://www.dropfiles.net//files/3036/dvconvert.JPG
hope that helps

looks like we are getting closer to a workable format
even if it takes one extra step

[Jon Barrie]

Hi Jason,

There is no need to get your hands on any other software other than what you already get with CS4.
1. Open the Adobe Media Encoder, as a stand alone app.
2. Click on the Add button, select the first mpg clip
3. Set the Format to Quicktime, Preset to PAL DV
4. Click on Add button again and select all the rest of the clips.
5. They should all have the same settings applied to them all.
6. Hit the Start Queue button,

Once the renders are done they can be imported to PPro and edited properly.
The footage you are starting with is in a poor format that is running a very small data rate. The progressive nature of the recording makes the footage stutter, the camera seems to not have a stabiliser on or at all again making it stutter and jumpy, the fact that it’s MPG means the GOP format is not suitable for editing. I think this camera is meant to be used for instant record/upload to web and not for editing.

Good Luck.

– Jon ‘;)

Jon Barrie
aJBprods
http://www.jonbarrie.net

[Jason Harris]

jon

im guessing your right by all that

so you think that CS4 is still the way to go (once all files are properly converted that is?

(truth be known we only wanted to edit this footage for web upload lol, didnt know it would ever become so involved, do you think its wise to use CS4 encoder, that is the reason i was really dissapointed with CS4 in the first place SLOW encoding (im talking like 30 minutes for some files)

can i use the power converter with quicktime pal settings?

ITS MUCH FASTER lol

ill try to do one file while i wait for a response

ill post back in a few

[Eric Addison]

Jason,

I ran a test using Media Encoder CS4, but the clip that it produced (very quickly by the way – less then a minute) was still playing jerky. I think Adobe Media Encoder has issues with the footage, but you should give it a shot.

I looked at the image you posted, and I would use the Quicktime selection out of those choices.

—Eric

[Jason Harris]

ok same issues with me

the outputted file took less then 30 seconds (very impressive or so i thought) and was 90+ mb

I did the quicktime setting in power coverter making sure it stayed at 4:3 and the frame rate was at 24

i put the project (new one in premiere) settings as pal DV and opened a new sequence, the video i got from encoder was all jumpy, but the one i got from power converter was almost perfect (but seemed jsut a BIT slow) who knows

oh one more thing, the converted file out of power pro was only like 3.0 mb, so maybe that setting is not what we are looking for, this outputted a 640X480 video file

[Jon Barrie]

Hi Jason,
You need to match the frame rates from the original. If you alter the frame rate you create jumpy stutter issues. this is rule of video.
Glad to see it’s all working to some effect.
I noticed that the original footage is not true 25fps. it holds a frame every 2nd or 3rd frame for one frame. How did you get the footage from the camera to the computer again?
– Jon 🙂

Jon Barrie
aJBprods
http://www.jonbarrie.net

[Jason Harris]

jon

all footage is taken via readers in teh servers inserting high capacity memory sticks that come from the camcorders (cameras) themselves, a file transfer is done to a folder where the source footage is backed up then the cards are erased

so i ned a 24 frame rate is what your saying, right?

well the sequence should be

640X480 resolution
24 fps

if i am following you lol

ok awaiting, and thanks everyone for getting to the mysterys

we still might ahve some gremlins (is the files supposed to be that small)