[Ivan Myles]

When keying it is often helpful to use a garbage matte to isolate the area to be keyed or maintained.

[Ivan Myles]

DNxHD/MOV is prone to luma clipping and shifts. I no longer recommend using it. DNxHD/MXF in Creative Cloud is OK, though.

[Ivan Myles]

ProRes bitrate is built into the codec. Here are your options:

– use ProRes 422 and submit a 1.48GB file
– use a lower bitrate codec to meet the file size requirement
– use ProRes 422 and cut the length of the video to reduce file size

The bitrate for ProRes 422 at 720×576-25p is listed as 41 Mbps, and it looks like your 1024×576-25p file was encoded at about 44 Mbps. If you use ProRes 422 LT with a bitrate around 28-30 Mbps the encoded file should be about 850-900MB. So then the client can decide whether they want ProRes 422 at 1.48GB or a ProRes 422 LT file that meets the size requirement.

Do a web search on “prores white paper” for more information regarding ProRes bitrates.

[Ivan Myles]

The issue might be with the DNxHD codec if you are using the QuickTime version as opposed to the MXF version in CC. I stopped using DNxHD/MOV because of luma clipping and shifting. Try V210, 10-bit YUV, DPX, or AVC-Intra instead.

From an overall workflow perspective, you might also consider applying the AE effects as pre-processing on the source files, and then bringing the adjusted clips into Premiere Pro using Dynamic Links. Alternatively, try to do the adjustments within Premiere Pro.

[Ivan Myles]

Two things to verify:
– 1024×576 square pixels; ProRes SD-PAL standard is 720×576 with rectangular pixels
– ProRes 422 codec vs LT vs Proxy

How long is the video?

[Ivan Myles]

Here are my preferences and lessons learned:

I start with Fast Color Corrector, Three-way Color Corrector (for saturation adjustments with the secondary color corrector) and Luma/LRGB Curves when appropriate. Zero IRE is fine for web, but if you plan to create broadcast or DVD content keep it between 7.5-92 IRE (e.g. 16-235). I prefer to keep the white point below 100 (typically 92 IRE) to leave some headroom for the individual RGB channels. Otherwise any high channels will be clipped and there could be a color cast in the highlights. Use the vertical bars on the side of the YC scope and RGB Parade as a guide. Check out the Cow tutorials for more info.

Try to keep the reference black and white points consistent. Within a clip use keyframes to counteract or smoothen any unwanted variations in the levels (for example, a camera’s auto brightness control will sometimes create problems). Also keep the luma levels appropriate across different clips; don’t set the brightest point to 100 IRE and the darkest point to zero on every clip if the levels really should be somewhere in between.

Finally, when working in 32-bpc or Y’CbCr color, it is better to only use effects marked 32-bit or YUV, respectively. Mixing in 8-bit or RGB effects might or might not affect your final results depending on the source footage, workflow, and export settings.

[Ivan Myles]

[jayson palmer] “Is there a way to render out an uncompressed/ high quality Quick Time YUV 8 Bit 4;2:2 file with a working Alpha Channel from Premiere Pro CS6?”

Note that the uncompressed QuickTime codecs with Alpha channel support are RGB color, not YUV (YCC). ProRes 4:4:4:4 might be a good alternative.

[Ivan Myles]

Set the codec to “None” for uncompressed 8-bpc RGB(A) with full chroma sub-sampling. Note that file size will be larger than Animation. The DPX codec supports higher bit depth, if available with your encoder. The only way to get smaller file sizes is with a compressed codec; PRORES 4:4:4:4 would likely be the best choice. JPEG2000 offers lossless compression with 8-bpc depth in RGB color.

[Ivan Myles]

H.264/MP4 will provide the best tradeoff between quality and file size. Encoder settings depend on several factors:

Level (set this first if using AME): L3.1 should meet most needs; use L4.1 for 1080p

Resolution (Width x Height): reduce as much as possible if bitrate is a concern; 480p to 720p should meet most needs

Frame Rate: typically 24-30fps; avoid 50/60fps when bandwidth is constrained

Target Bitrate: determine the best setting based on the following calculation and bpp guidelines:

Bitrate (Mbps) = Width * Height * FPS * bpp / 1024 / 1024

bpp = 0.07 for minimally acceptable quality
bpp = 0.125 for OK quality (Apple standard)
bpp = 0.15 – 0.20 for good quality web streaming
bpp = 0.35 – 0.40 for very good quality local playback
bpp = 0.65 – 0.80 for Blu-ray quality

Maximum Bitrate: typically 1.5x Target Bitrate; could also just set to max for the Level

Key Frame Distance: Auto should be OK; set it to half the frame rate for high action footage

Profile: Baseline will play easily on most devices; Main and High profiles provide better compression

Passes: 2-pass VBR provides better results; single-pass is easier to decode (a consideration for older devices)

Use AME instead of the AE render queue for 2-pass encoding. Go to the Multiplexer tab and set Stream Compatibility to Standard. Export a short test clip at a few different settings and compare results.

[Ivan Myles]

The bug can also be neutralized by sending the job to the AME queue instead of exporting directly from Premiere Pro. Kate, what were the export settings? Please post a screen capture of the export panel.