[Ivan Myles]

Stretch the images through the duration of one full cycle and keyframe opacity back and forth between 0% and 100% for the top two layers.

[Ivan Myles]

Difficult to identify the root cause without more info: system specs, sequence settings, project complexity, codec, etc. One definite issue is that CS3 was designed for a 32-bit OS, so memory is quite likely one of constraints. Also, HDD/SSD might be slowing you down. How full are your drives?

[Ivan Myles]

Please post a screen capture of your export settings. A few frames of video would be helpful, also. The bit rate you are using is equivalent to Blu-ray at 29p, so that should not be an issue. However, if quality is a priority you can set the bit rate target to a very high number and the encoder will use as many bits as needed to produce the best quality.

The most likely issues: key frame distance is too long (try 12), maximum bit rate is too low (use 1.5-2 times target), and stream compatibility in the multiplexer tab should be set to Standard.

Other recommended settings are high profile, 2-pass VBR, and Max render quality enabled.

[Ivan Myles]

– Make copies of the clip.
– To each copy apply a luma curve at different levels from lightest to darkest or vice versa.
– Stack the clips above each other on different tracks.
– Adjust opacity to fade from one clip to another over the transition period.

[Ivan Myles]

I edited about 20 simultaneous camera angles using a process similar to what you mentioned: placed all the shots into one sequence, synchronized, then spliced out the undesired sections one clip at a time. Once the footage is reduced it is easier to compare shot-to-shot.

[Ivan Myles]

Set the sequence to 3840×1080 and scale the footage 200%, or
Set the sequence to 1920×540 and set the output dimensions to 3840×1080 when exporting.

The easiest way to create the 640×1080 black bar is using the Title function to insert a black rectangle on the uppermost track in your timeline. Alternatively, you could crop each clip, but this becomes troublesome if the video is moved.

[Ivan Myles]

I agree the issue is bitrate starving. Low bitrates on Vimeo/YouTube can’t keep up.

Anita, you can upload and embed high bitrate videos using the Internet Archive (archive.org).

[Ivan Myles]

Yes. Start and end times are included in the log:

Working with log files

[Ivan Myles]

The best choice should also consider bit rate of the final encode. For posting on the web a static repetitive pattern with solid colors or a random noise pattern are the best choices. A dynamic gradient needs much more bit rate, and a static marble pattern is somewhere in between.

[Ivan Myles]

You are confusing bits per channel with bits per pixel (or picture element). It’s 8-, 10-, 12-, or 16-bits per channel, which refers to the number of graduations from zero to full for each channel (e.g. 256, 1024, etc.). In practice, set the AE project to 16-bit and export using “Billions of Colors.”

Here is some reference information on the codec:
Apple ProRes White Paper