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Preview comparisons “MPEG I Frame & P2”
I had some revisions on the motocross piece and decided to compare the preview options in the sequence setting. The length was now 1:45 and the timeline still had a lot of assorted effects and 2 5sec. AE DL clips. The sequence is Custom 1920 x 1080 1.0 PAR and 29.97.
1. MPEG I Frame – Rendering during the editorial process was brisk. I found in the images displayed in the small right Program window looked good. But when I expanded it using the grave key the image fell apart a little,That was not a surprise, but it made color correcting and dealing with image anomalies and nuances a little hard to judge. The final export was 7 min.
2. P2 (the only other choice I had) – Rendering in the editorial process was a little slower than above. The image looked great in the Program window and also when expanded with the grave key. It made critical judgements on imagery much easier. The final export (using previews) was about 7:30 minutes.
Since I mastered to Prores, I wonder how much faster export using previews would have been if Prores was another choice in the Preview menu? All in all an interesting experiment. I might opt for P2 preview in certain situations .
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digita / Areca 8tb. raid -
10 Replies
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Hi Tom,
If you have the HDD space have you tried the uncompressed Preview setup?
It’s slightly faster to render I think as there is no “compression” to calculate.
– JB
Jon Barrie
aJBprods
Jon’s YouTube Tutorial Page
follow Jon with twitter -
Hi Jon…
I’ve been following these discussions with great interest.
What is the rule on 3rd party codecs as available rendering options?
DNXHD or Cineform for example?
Uncompressed is an obvious choice quality wise, BUT by today’s specs doesn’t this still require an array as opposed to to an single media disk.
Also….a buddy of mine works here: https://www(dot)fusionio(dot)com
been dying to try one of these!
Alex
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I did some tests a few weeks ago. I found there was a significant difference in speed between the different preview codecs. I think Pro Res was the best as far as speed and quality. I have a faster raid now so maybe I’ll compare that to U/C now. Also the Avid codecs were by far the slowest. Also Cineform would crash PPro when using it as a preview codec.
Robert Brown
Editor/VFX/Colorist – FCP, Smoke, Quantel Pablo, After Effects, 3DS MAX, Premiere Prohttps://vimeo.com/user3987510/videos
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Thanks Robert. That’s good info.
I’m wondering if the Cineform folks are aware of this? Did you report it?
Alex
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Robert, how did you get the ability to choose Prores , DnxHD or Cineform as preview codecs? In the Sequence setting screen the Preview selector is at the bottom. I created a Custom 1920 x 180 29.97 sequence which I eventually exported to Prores. The only Preview selector options I had were MPEG I frame,P2 and something called Quicktime Desktop.
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digita / Areca 8tb. raid -
Here are the Preview options mentioned in the previous post.
NEVER MIND I FOUND ALL THE OPTIONS UNDER QUICKTIME CHOICE.
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digita / Areca 8tb. raid -
Hi Tom I’ll check it out later on.
Robert Brown
Editor/VFX/Colorist – FCP, Smoke, Quantel Pablo, After Effects, 3DS MAX, Premiere Prohttps://vimeo.com/user3987510/videos
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Robert, FYI I found all the codecs I was looking for under the Qucktime drop down in the Preview Setting. I conducted a little comparison…
1. Custom 1920 x 1080 1 PAR 29.97 2 min. sequence chock full of animated multiscreens, color corrections, speed triggers, scaling and 2 5 sec. AE dynamic linked flying camera motion graphics pieces.
2. Previewed with MPEG I frame. Export was 7:30. Didn’t get a total for the rendering of the work area during the building phase
3. Previewed with Prores 422. Export was 3 min. Rendering of the entire work area during the building phase was 7.5 minutes. Of course most of the stuff on the timeline didnt need rendering to play, except the AE DL clips, but I was curious to see how long it would take.I was able to catch little things like incorrect field order and other little anomalies since when blown up with the grave key the image was clean and crisp.
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digita / Areca 8tb. raid -
Yeah it’s good to be aware of that as the codec does make a big difference in Preview times. Probably doesn’t matter for final export but final codec might be different from one to another. I might do some tests between Pro Res and Uncompressed to see how that compares in pvw and final out.
Robert Brown
Editor/VFX/Colorist – FCP, Smoke, Quantel Pablo, After Effects, 3DS MAX, Premiere Prohttps://vimeo.com/user3987510/videos
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I’d be very curious to hear the results of your tests!
Just discovered this little trick in Premiere recently. I’m one of the many trying out Premiere and Avid in response to FCPX, and up until now I’ve been gnashing my teeth with Premiere because preview times, and preview performance, have been very disappointing compared to FCP. The same ProRes clip in FCP played flawlessly, in Premiere it couldn’t handle it. I was like, “this is supposed to be FASTER than FCP? What gives?!” When I figured how to change the preview codec to ProRes, though, it was a lot better.
For whatever reason, the first time I tried it, I dragged the footage to the “New Item” button in the Project pane. The preview defaulted to MPEG I-frame only… Now, I just tried it again and it changed to ProRes… Go figure.
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