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Media Encoder Stange output!
Im getting some crazy artifacts when exporting ProRess 422 from media encoder. Any idea what these artifacts are even called? Look at the wall. The top is the Media Encoder and bottom is FCP :
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14 Replies
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I don’t work with ProRes but I have seen this with H.262, H.264, and VC-1. It looks like color blocking or banding, which occurs when two similar colors are remapped to the same color upon export. There are a few different causes:
- quality was set to less than 100
- bit depth was reduced
- a higher compression codec was used
- color changed from RGB to Y’CbCr
What were your export settings? Were any effects applied to the clip?
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Thanks Ivan, No effects were applied to the clips. These were 5d files. My comp settings were the Prores 422 output from Premiere. 100% quality. I’ve tried 24 bit and 48 bit. also render at maximum bit depth was checked. Its very strange looking. No problems if I export 444 but the color is a bit different.
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Thanks for the info. It sounds like we can rule out quality and bid-depth settings. A few other questions:
- What codec is the source footage?
- Did you export using the standard, HQ, LT, or Proxy version of ProRes 422? Try HQ if not attempted previously.
- In the export dialog box, what are the settings under Video Codec?
- In the export dialog box, what are the settings under Advanced Settings?
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I just reread your last post and saw the reference to 5D footage. So that’s H.264/MP4 source footage, yes?
Also, were the Premiere and FCP images shown above taken on the same computer/monitor? If not, the issue could be related to the graphics card, monitor, and/or look-up table.
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No thats not the source footage. Thats a prores export of the source footage. Both images were taken at the same time. Its a screen shot of 2 open quicktime files.
The 5d source footage was a bit noisy but it didn’t look anything like this. The preview file in premiere pro looks good too. Its way worse when the file is playing.
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Its also happening when I export h.264 footage with the vimeo 720p preset as well. These block dance all over the place. the only thing that looks clean is a proress 444. Does this make any sense? thanks for any help.
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The following chart shows image accuracy with different levels of compression for a grayscale gradient. 4:2:2 introduces some degradation, and compressed 4:2:0 is significantly worse (H.264, MPEG-2, VC-1).
Have you tried encoding with ProRes 422 (HQ)? Also, please describe your workflow and how you plan to use the ProRes file.
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My work flow was 5dmkii h.264 footage edited in Premiere Cs6. Then export to Prores 422 and bring that into Davinci Resolve. Send Prores 422 out from resolve back into premiere for sound mixing and touchups, then export the final h.264 for vimeo.
The 5d had some sensor heat noise going on becuase I had used it all day, but it dosent look like the problems in the pictures.
I swear its something to do with Adobe media encoder. I exported from premiere on 2 different computers and they both have the same problem on h.264, proress 422, and even HQ. I then exported the same file from FCP 7 to Pro Ress 422 and h.264 and neither had any problems. -
I just layered the screenshots from your original post and the two files are not scaled the same. The Premiere Pro frame is about 3.4% bigger than the FCP frame.
The other point of note from your comments is that the files are being compared in QuickTime. Have you tried to evaluate in an NLE? I suggest the following test:
- Export a short sample from Premiere Pro and FCP at the same scaling factor and encoder settings
- Import both files to Premiere
- Insert the files into a sequence on top of the source file
- Compare the three files frame-for-frame visually, with difference mattes, and with color scopes
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I’ll give that a try. Both files are 1920 but I just shrunk the windows down to fit.
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