[Ht Davis]

First, define your target.

Youtube:
Remember who’s going to be looking at this–the average person has 10-20mbps downstream with a 1-10mbps upstream. Set your video to 15mbps max for 1080p (aim for around 8-10 as your target, min 4, max 12 with basic motion; target 12 and max 15 for sports action). I’ve had great results with those settings in h264.

For blu-ray:
It will take a great deal of time to encode; check your input. If you have Progressive input, it has to interlace the output, so it will take more time. I output to prores (smaller projects get proresLT) and then go to COMPRESSOR to output to AVCHD format (it allows progressive video to be burned to bluray; and it will work in encore).

For other methods:
Define your target clearly. If you are trying to compress for a set bit rate, your best bet is to first output a larger or lossless format, and then compress that with a single pass (these files work great with single pass and compress about the same whether single or multiple, which I attribute to more accurate frame information for the algorithm to use). IF you are using a high bit rate, find the profile setting that matches (there are several h.264 profiles, i.e. 4.1, 4.2 etc, and they have their own compatible bit-rates for their use, which will go a long way toward making sure players can actually play the video correctly and read a functional header). It would be good to match the resolution and bit rate to the h.264 profile level (high or main with the version 4.1, 4.2 etc) that is either just above or exactly matches your output needs.

[Ht Davis]

to be clear about my earlier post…
I work 4 projects a week. The longer ones I usually use a proxy\prores, this gives a slight boost in quality over most originals, but when I actually output, I use a prores rendered from a separate machine.

When I said to keep audio and video previews on the same drive, it doesn’t matter which drive, as long as it is big enough for the whole thing, and connected to a fast enough interface.

Finally, my own spec:
I work mostly on a 2008 Macbook pro with 256mb gfx card and intel core2duo 2.16 with 4gbram. I have a 5400rpm internal 1tb, and another 7200rpm spare drive internal (replaced cd\dvd drive). I use 2 esata raid 3 and 4 drives with 5400’s in them to hold my decompressed files (proxies and prores full) and my disk images for the projects ( i keep all my projects organized on sparse images limited to 50-100gb for archival, it keeps them all organized and I can burn the image at my leisure); I use 3 firewire raid attached to a hub, for backups and for initial renders (preview files). Using these interfaces, I edit 4 projects a week, and output at least 2 with more than 4 hours total footage, and at least 1 other with more than an hour. This is on average for the past 90 days.
I render out my rips for encore (cddvd) on other machines, but render my output from premiere to ProresLT or prores full 422, then pass it out to another computer for render (using one of the firewire drives to transport it between the two or by using compressor to render across a network for smaller project clips).

Use RAID drives to guarantee fuller drive speed, and use your fastest interface (plug). This will enable you to work faster.

Tips:
1. leave the cache internal on a drive that matches your OS for permissions capability (ntfs for windows, HFS+ for mac).
2. Put previews on their own drive but together.
3. Dedicate a Drive for output from premiere (output to a large format then drop down to a compress for best quality)
4. render your effects regularly throughout the work (every few effects), and render the work area when you leave the office (so it will be ready in the morning), then reboot when you come back and the render is done).
5. Find your own method for containing your main project files and smaller image\graphic files for your project, I use disk images because I can archive them quickly, or just RAR split and burn to dvd (I’ve had a near miss on that “Oh sh*T!” moment and it saved my butt). I also use an incremental image backup of my files to an external (only the work files, and any renders, including proxies, I ignore the full formats, as I can remake them on another machine while I work; I do borrow that machine though, it’s not mine).

[Ht Davis]

Please add the following to a message:

Did you reset\reboot at all? How many times? Did you try a disk check?
What were your final settings that worked? Try saving the export settings to a file, and see if you can upload it here. It would help to prevent any problem in the future.

[Ht Davis]

go to ame, and transcode, turn on “Use Frame Blending”. This will fix the missing frame with a blended one.

Note:
ame or AME are Adobe Media Encoder

you can use any transcoder really; handbrake, compressor, ffmpeg, mpegstreamclip; it really doesn’t matter. Just leave no setting on automatic. Set everything but the retiming. Any setting that says retiming should be avoided, left to 100%. The frame rate setting should be altered, and set to a definitive. Most will sense a frame drop and fix it, or have a setting for a Constant Frame Rate (do not confuse with CBR or constant bit rate, leave any of the Bit Rate settings on Variable Bit Rate).

Media encoder uses standard frame rate from the original video, but will conform it to a constant frame rate and fix any missing frames (1 or two over a few seconds), if you turn on frame blending and set your desired frame rate.

[Ht Davis]

If it was an HDD, a bad block may be the culprit (these have actual spinning magnetic plates and they do get some areas on the plate that begin to lose magnetic cohesion or the mag-signal deteriorates from moving the drive around near EM sources). IF a flash drive or SSD, you’re looking at some possible format corruption, or even a burnout transistor (the last one is similar to a bad block, but is a physical burnout of a transistor, making it useless, whereas some simple magnetic drop can be re-magged by some software tools that will repeatedly zap the section to rebuild the magnetic properties; the first is more a software type problem, referring to the files that define the drive for the operating system). If you haven’t guessed, I used to do some light IT work for a few offices, mostly freelance repair and recovery.

When They’re finished with the project, have them back it all up, and then attempt to run a check disk in windows, or a volume repair on mac. This will at least tell you something about the drive, and should fix most smaller problems. The larger ones will show up, and you should get an idea of what they are. If this occurs and the repair won’t work, try reformatting the drive and run the repair again. If the drive is still physically functional, it should just pass the testing phase and finish. IF the drive has hardware issues that are more a “time to get a new drive” kind of problem, it will fail the repair again or fail to format.

[Ht Davis]

[Ht Davis]

Pictures are usually limited to 32-48 bit true color in photoshop. AE allows the color display, but output into any movie container will be limited to the Container’s profile. The same goes for Premiere. It will “ALLOW” deeper color, but will only EDIT in 10bit. Dynamic link will use the XML file for the project to link to FILES and then apply EDITS from the original Program ENGINE through the use of the media cache and rendered previews. There is no drop in color until your output, and even this is done by Compression, not by the program itself. Most transitions work 16 or 32bit, but those that do not are 8 or 10 bit compatible for use with compressed video. Set your preview to i-frame only mpeg and you should get access to them after a full work area render.

If you want to be sure, make edits and basic grades in AE, but use speed-grade from premiere to grade color for output. It is designed for it, and will ensure accurate color representation in your output.

PS. Uncompressed or decompressed transcode formats for video show 24 and 48 bit color. 10 bits is usually a compression value. The color is converted and then a major value for luma\chroma is removed and only changes to it are marked in the stream. This leaves you with a 10 bit rep that is blown back up on playback. Decompressed transcodes don’t have that limitation. Premiere has a YUV 10bit previewer, but will work in 16 or 32 bits with some compatible effects. The others are 8 or 10 bit only, and work on compressed formats. This however, does not have any effect on or from dynamic link.

[Ht Davis]

Groove styled database would be a great add on wouldn’t it? Too bad it hasn’t been built yet.

One way to combat multiple edit problems is nesting. Obviously, each editor at least has a name you call them. Different editors will be editing different levels of the project. You take the last guy (the boss, the big cheese; master editor) and give him access to all the other edit levels, as well as his own, and let him edit the bottom of the nesting tower (the original sequence). You then give the next guy access to all down to his level the same way (he has the first nested sequence, and his is nested in the sequence above his own, so his edits will carry from there or he can alter the edits of another, but you mandate that they can only alter an edit effect by value, no deletes outside their own sequence). You continue this down through your editor levels, with each group having a lead editor Choose a hierarchy and the final output for his team’s level, and then that will be nested in the team below. That way, the changes should all update each other. You set an autosave and refresh for every 5-10 minutes. This will update the sequences with any new edits. You tell them to save often, roughly every major edit and for cutting (blade or rolling edit) every 3. This will maintain the flow of information, and will force a refresh of the file. At the very bottom nest should be the final output sequence that you bury in a bin. A sequence nobody should edit directly.

I know the idea needs some spit and polish. I leave that to you, should you decide to use something similar. If you do, please let us know.

Just a what if:
I’ve dragged folders into premiere, and had them update on the fly from the system. IF they retain some of the permissions… …You can use the nesting style from above, but drop folders for each major group access, and nest by priority. If permissions are retained in the lowest form, a person will be able to see edits to the sequence, but not actually SAVE edits to that sequence. In higher forms, it should deny access to the folder (seen as a BIN) completely.

Last alternative I can think of:
Grant all read access to a project (no writing), but force them to export XML docs of their edits, and have a lead editor make necessary changes. This is by far the simplest way. Any edits that overlap or that are in conflict can be handled in dupe sequences, previewed and then selected as necessary, and then noted to the editor whose change was denied. This allows them all to work on the primary, without bumping heads. The lead editor opens a new project, imports the Old project, then the XML sequence, compares. If the edits are to an area where they do not change or alter other edits, they can be copied and pasted in place, then the xml import deleted. If they alter or change another edit, they have to be RECONCILED; print out the XML and follow the adjustments of any overlapping edits to see if they should be applied, then save the result. Any non-overlap edits can be clipped (blade) and copied in place, rendered and saved.

Note: it is the lead or managing editor’s job to ensure the quality of edits and output. The last method ensures they have the last word without taking away too much from the editors themselves (nothing is stopping them from creating a temporary local copy for use in demonstration of an edit).

[Ht Davis]

In the original, go to sequence settings, and set audio to milliseconds. Then try and set the timecode by clicking on it in the sequence editor. I’m a little rusty on that one. If that doesn’t work, your sequence may have an issue or two… You can create another one, get the settings right, then copy\paste your entire set of clips from the original sequence to the new one.

Give me a day to recreate the problem and try to fix?

[Ht Davis]

Check your drives for errors. Bad blocks or formatting errors can play a part in video file problems. Then try another export, just as before. Set up your output to go to an internal location, that you have full access to. Then play it back. If the same problem occurs, your h264 codec is corrupt. Uninstall media encoder (or the whole suite) and reinstall.