Unable to render MPEG-2 at 720×486

[John Rofrano]

Yea Sorenson Video 3 is definitely not the “sharpest tool in the shed” anymore but I was just looking for what was most compatible with acceptable quality given that the customer is not being very specific / cooperative about what they need. I agree it’s a tough place to be.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[H.w. Kenty]

Howdy again, everyone-

Unfortunately, there are a number of annoyances that are somewhat out of my control. I’m really an audio guy, and do quite well with that. A client who I’ve worked on audio projects for a number of years with has started moving into some video, and having a bit of video editing experience, I’ve been able to keep up. It’s always been relatively uncomplicated stuff, typically just creating DVDs for backgrounds during live performances, run from his laptop. This project has ended up bigger than was initially planned, and the client’s manager has requested I get a trailer to iTunes. The distribution company the manager uses works with a different company who formats all of their released video material to deliver to iTunes. Thus far, I have not been able to communicate with the latter company directly, which it’s becoming very likely I will have to do Monday morning.

Anyhow, what follows is a bit long, but I think it clarifies any ambiguities about my situation. The above-mentioned video formatting company will accept video in ONLY the following formats, with extra surcharges for anything that doesn’t meet these exact requirements:

Tape:
Beta SP / Digi Beta / DVCAm

OR broadcast quality digital files –
NTSC: 720×486, 29.97 fps, PAL: 720×576, 25 fps

Option 1: MPEG-2
Program Stream (.mpg), MP@ML or 422P@ML
Video: Bitrate minimum 8Mb/sec, Up to 50 Mb/sec
Audio: Stereo 48Khz sample rate, MPEG Layer II sample rate 384Kb/sec preferred
-or- Uncompressed PCM, 16/20/24 bit

Option 2: QuickTime
Video: Bitjazz Sheer Y’CbCr 10bv (preferred) https://www.bitjazz.com
Blackmagic 10 bit (acceptable) https://www.blackmagic-design.net
Apple DV25 (acceptable)
Audio: Stereo 48Khz sample rate

Given that I have no tape machine nor access to one, a digital file is my only option. And with the general concensus on the forum that a 720×486 MPEG file is pretty much never heard of, Quicktime does seem the best option. Hence, my purchase of the Quicktime codec they specifically recommend, SheerVideo, which is available for a relatively low cost.

So, some more details about the current situation:
– Project is set to 720×486, 29.97 fps, etc – any applicable export settings duplicated in the project settings, basically. I’m able to export a working 720×486 AVI file just fine.
– SheerVideo codec is installed on my machine, but I’m unable to render at 720×486 with it. I encounter problems every time at that resolution. SheerVideo at 720×480 exports without a hitch, and other Quicktime encoders work at 720×486 without a hitch, across the board in all programs.
– I’ve attempted my SheerVideo 720×486 exports with, variously, the original Vegas project file, a Vegas-exported AVI brought back into a new Vegas project, a Vegas-exported AVI brought into SONAR, and a Vegas-exported AVI brought into some older versions of Premiere and After Effects. All of these generated either an error message, a crash, or just hang the computer. (Same behavior on two different computer systems in all programs, and same results when using a totally different Vegas project.)
– As I mentioned earlier, I also tried bringing my AVI into Quicktime Pro to export with SheerVideo, but have been seeing weird behavior with how Quicktime reads the audio portion of AVI files. It seems to be that at any file size greater than 2GB (my AVI is 13GB, and I tested with a number of other differently sized renders), Quicktime thinks the file doesn’t contain any audio. I’m quite sure this is a Quicktime problem, and updating to the latest version does not correct it. Not that Quicktime would even necessarily be able to successfully use an encoder that has failed in numerous other programs, but just another option tried and excluded.

So the upshot of all of this is that I need to hear back from SheerVideo’s technical support, since there does seem to be a legitimate SheerVideo problem, given that other Quicktime codecs are working fine at 720×486 in numerous programs. Douglas, as the only person here who has actually used SheerVideo, do you have any suggestions or ideas about what might be going wrong?

Whew! Thanks for sticking it out, fellows! If you think of anything, give a holler, and I’ll let you know if anything turns up on my end. Would that I could just give them my 720×486 AVI or Sorensen 3 Quicktime! For now, I’m going to stop banging my head against the wall and work on something else.

Thanks!
Howie

[John Rofrano]

It sound like you have done exactly what I was going suggest next which is contact SheerVideo’s technical support and explain to them that you purchased their codec explicitly because a client of yours is requesting video in SheerVideo’s codec with a resolution of 720×486 but the codec is throwing errors when you try to do that from Quicktime Pro. This sounds like your best course of action. Good luck.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[H.w. Kenty]

Wow. Bitjazz tech support replied back that they’ve replicated my problem, and are working on it.

Odd that no one’s come across it before with this plugin, but I’m glad they’re seeing exactly what I’m seeing. More likely they’ll make a fix, crossing the fingers!

Howie