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Why Can’t Export h264 PAL 1080p?
Hey everyone,
I’m trying to export a h264 1080p PAL file for a digital cinema screening, but fail to see a progessive option for PAL? Why is it that you can only do progressive for everything else besides 25fps?
Our source material is off a SI2K in a 2K PROGRESSIVE cineform RAW codec, and this is one of the exports we intend to be using, for both a screening and BR release…
Why oh Why can’t we export progressive? Does it make a quality difference exporting progressive material as interlaced?
Please help me!
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11 Replies
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Are you using Adobe Media Encoder? CS3 or CS4?
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions, -
I have run into this issue also. AME in CS4 has no PAL 1080p preset.
After checking around on H264 and various media players capable of outputting this format, this is my conclusion (which may not be 100% correct):it seems that many devices (both hard and software) that play H264 do not really “care” if the material is encoded as progressive or not: it will interpret the footage according to the capability of the hardware attached to it… e.g. if you encode h264 @ 1080i PAL and the device can display progressive frames, then the interlace flag will be “ignored” and full progressive frames will be displayed.
That was my conclusion when recently preparing a PAL H264 1080i file to be played at an art exhibition with a WDTV media player attached to a XGA beamer.
Now, what does this mean when progressive-encoded material is supposed to play on a CRT-monitor? Hmmm, not sure about the vice-versa, but I could imagine it works in that direction too. I guess you could consider this whole interlaced or non-interlaced with H264 as a “virtual” prog/interlaced material.
Or does someone know more exactly what is going on with H264 interlaced vs progressive?
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CS4 with the latest updates for both PP and AME.
The only presets for PAL are all 1080i, and when you go to change the interlaced or progressive when in 25fps, you can only choose between upper or lower field interlacing, not progressive! You can change to 24, 23.967 etc and get progressive that way but of course we shot 25p!
Is this a glitch in the h264 architecture or is it something much more complex?
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What are your settings exactly?
I’ve just had a look on mine (CS4 AME) and I get progressive no problem???
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Yeh, but are you selecting PAL? NTSC works fine for progressive but not PAL…
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Yep.
25 fps -
Can you post me a print screen of these settings? Because I have looked in Premiere, Media Encoder and After Effects and fail to see a progressive option for PAL?
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Not sure if this worked but here it is.
The field options are greyed out but it’s definitely progressive. -
Didn’t look like it worked. Trying again.
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Cheers mate,
I actually figured out what it was, it was the profile was set to 4.1 and won’t allow for progressive pal, has to be at least 4.2.
Thanks for your help
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