What exactly does “Use Maximum Render Quality” do?

[Chris Borjis]

I’ve only heard that it improves quality when scaling HD to SD for example.

In my experience AME does a better job than compressor on its highest quality setting.

[Angelo Lorenzo]

I’ll agree with Chris. It’s a higher quality algorithm for rescaling and, possibly, frame blending if you’re adjusting framerates.

[Gabriel Sanchez]

The Maximum Render Quality mode will maximize the quality of motion in rendered clips and sequences. So when you select this option, the video will often render moving objects more sharply. Maximum Render Quality also maintains sharp detail when scaling from large formats to smaller formats, or from high-definition to standard-definition formats. For the highest quality exports you should always use the Maximum Render Quality mode.
https://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm

[Nick Haffie-emslie]

Thanks guys.

Chris – Good point. I should say Compressor scales better than Media Encoder on default settings; when Maximum Render Quality is on in Media Encoder, they seem pretty comparable.

Angelo – Based on my tests, I haven’t been able to detect any differences with in-betweening frames during speed/framerate changes (not yet anyway). It doesn’t, for example, appear to use the pixel flow algorithm that After Effects uses on its highest setting (where you’re not blending frames based on opacity, but actually trying to analyze and map where objects in the frame are moving).

Gabriel – I’m still a little confused by what a “moving object” is here. Are we talking about titles and/or other things in Premiere that the software knows is an object? You mentioned it renders them “more sharply” – how does this relate to motion blur? Does it only come into play when changing the frame rate?

Not trying to be nitpicky, just trying to get a sense of exactly what’s happening. I don’t want to waste the significant additional render time in situations where it doesn’t add anything (e.g. if I’m scaling but not time remapping; if I’m not scaling or time remapping but simply transcoding; etc.)

[Chris Borjis]

[Nick Haffie-Emslie] “Chris – Good point. I should say Compressor scales better than Media Encoder on default settings; when Maximum Render Quality is on in Media Encoder, they seem pretty comparable.”

It’s true compressor can do a good job. Where AME does better in particular is very challenging
HD to SD down res. In particular a 720P video with hard angles (roof lines or a pyramid) in
compressor you will see some sort of aliasing, with AME it’s smooth.

[Karl Soule]

For a good, technical read on the Max Render Quality setting, check out this article by Todd Kopriva and Steve Hoeg:

https://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2010/10/scaling-in-premiere-pro-cs5.html

Karl Soule’
blogs.adobe.com/VideoRoad
Twitter: Karlsoule
ksoule@adobe.com

[Nick Haffie-emslie]

Thanks Karl – that’s a great article!

[Chris Borjis]

thanks for the article Karl.

I was just thinking the other day how awesomely more fast media encoder
would be if it supported CUDA.

A video that takes 45 min to encode could be done in roughly 8 min if it was CUDA accelerated.

[Guilherme Maranhão]

Hi,

I have a mac Os 10.7.2 and exported my sequence without “Use Maximum Render Quality” and I liked the result.
My sequence setting is AVCHD 1960x1080p. The video exported format chosen was H.264 (mp4) with 30fps, which generated a 24.5 Gb file.
My video is divided between still images and videos and its duration is 1h45m.
The estimated time to export using “Maximum Render Quality” is 30 hours!!
For this format (H.264) and on mac 10.7.2, do you think I will have any real gain with the “Use Maximum Render Quality”?