[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Jeremy,

When putting higher-resolution footage into a sequence with lower resolution, it should look great! For instance 4K into 1080p sequence, or 1080p into 720p sequence – I do it all the time, looks perfect.

Make sure Program monitor quality is set to full (at lower right of window).

Nothing comes to mind as to why it would look bad in this situation

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Bryce,

Just edit the native AVCHD, should not need to transcode. And I don’t think they even sell the “professional” version of Cineform any longer – that was before GoPro bought them a few years back.

Thanks

Jeff

[Jeff Pulera]

I don’t believe this to be a “camera original” video clip for a few reasons. First, it is reported as 59.94 frames, which would be 60p, yet it also says it is interlaced. Impossible. 1080i is 29.97 frames, period. Audio is 44k when cameras pretty much all record 48k. And then there is the data rate, cameras are usually 24mbps or better, not 16.

I think someone converted the camera file using the wrong settings – whether it is salvageable??? Could you make the file available for download so others can work with settings, like DropBox or something?

Thanks

Jeff

[Jeff Pulera]

Native GoPro files can tax many edit systems. Download Quik Desktop with GoPro Studio from GoPro website. This will allow you to trim clips, and then convert to .avi or .mov files which will edit far more easily. However, these files will be much larger than original, being less compressed.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

I use the Sony X70, a little brother to your camera, and it also records as .mxf format. When importing clips into Premiere, it wants to give me 4 Mono channels. What I do in the Project Bin (before clip gets to timeline) is to right-click the clip and select Modify > Audio Channels.

Change Channel Format to Stereo, and clips to 1 as in the picture.

This does not affect clips already in the timeline, must be done prior to editing. If you multi-select all your clips in the bin, you can apply this to all clips at once. Also, you can SAVE your custom audio preset to apply it more quickly.

Setting up as pictured, I get a single Stereo track (as recorded) rather than the 4 Mono tracks.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Just thought of something – where did you get the .mp4 file? Some smart phones, and some video game capture apps use Variable Frame Rate recording and that can affect audio sync. Is recommended to use the free HandBrake app to convert to Constant Frame Rate before editing.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Johnny,

Is this a video that you edited in Premiere? If so, skip .mp4 completely – DVD must be MPEG-2 and nothing else, so any other format you put into Encore will be transcoded (converted) to MPEG-2 anyway, adding another compression step.

From Premiere, Export as MPEG-2 DVD format, and pick an appropriate preset as well to match the source. This will create separate audio and video as .wav audio and .m2v video. In Encore, Import As Timeline and select both of the files at once. By default, Encore will convert .wav audio to Dolby .ac3 format, using less space.

Even if you did not edit in Premiere and simply have an existing .mp4 file, run that through Adobe Media Encoder, again using MPEG-2 DVD preset to create the proper assets for Encore. Media Encoder is said to do a better quality conversion than just letting Encore do it.

For any videos of 60 minutes or less, set data rate for MPEG-2 DVD export to 8.0, beyond that use a bit rate calculator or formula of 560/minutes = bit rate.

When choosing a Preset for the MPEG-2 DVD encoding, pay attention to match the source, meaning 4:3 or Widescreen, and Progressive or Interlaced.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

I’m not aware of anyplace to check render file sizes (other than going to hard drive and checking folder where files reside).

What is the Preview File Format, found under Sequence < Sequence Settings? 320GB is a LOT of space.

Please note that you do not have to render the timeline – unless you need to do so to preview some effect which has made the video playback too choppy to really check your results.

https://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/red-yellow-and-green-render-bars/

Even if timeline is red, which mine often is, it still plays back well for me most of the time. When you export to whatever delivery format, stuff will get rendered then (not to temp files, but to final output).

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

DVD Video is an official specification. The MPEG-2 file burned to a DVD must meet those narrow specifications. That is why Adobe has a specific MPEG-2 DVD encoder setting, and we don’t just use MPEG-2 in general. Go to Media Encoder and choose MPEG-2, and then look under the Video tab – you will find lots of advanced settings like Macroblock Quantization and Intra DC Precision for instance. Most people, myself included, have no idea exactly how everything needs to be set up to be DVD-compliant.

If the MPEG-2 file we supply to the DVD authoring software does not meet DVD specs – it WILL get transcoded to a format that does meet spec. Now look at MPEG-2 DVD preset and check video settings – much simpler – you can’t tweak much, since it is set up behind the scenes already for us to be DVD-compliant.

So that’s the difference. We can’t just use any old MPEG-2 file and expect it to be accepted by the DVD authoring software. It will get converted in that software if the specs are not correct.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Ali,

Of course your exports at a higher bit rate look better – however, you have not yet burned them to DVD, at which point the data rate WILL be lowered to fit within the DVD specification and you would lose any quality advantage.

What version of Premiere do you edit with? Adobe Encore is the typical choice for DVD authoring. If you have Premiere CC, you can download Premiere CS6, and Encore CS6 will come with it.

https://helpx.adobe.com/encore/kb/encore-cs6-installed-cc.html

The workflow would be to export from Premiere as MPEG-2 DVD format, which is different than just straight MPEG-2. You’ll need to use an appropriate bit rate that will allow your movie to fit the disc. A rule of thumb is 560/minutes= bit rate, but don’t exceed 8 for shorter movies. I usually round down the result a bit for safety margin. One can also employ a bit rate calculator, but you have to be careful about entering the correct values into every box, or the formula does not come out right.

https://dvd-hq.info/bitrate_calculator.php

Exporting as MPEG-2 DVD results in two individual files – .m2v video and .wav audio. In Encore use Import as Timeline and bring in both assets together. Encore will NOT transcode the video, however the audio will be transcoded to Dolby Digital AC3 audio by default.

If you do NOT want to use Encore for some reason, and wish to go with Windows DVD Maker, that does not accept the separate audio and video files. What I do in that case is simply export from Premiere as an .avi file, using the NTSC DV preset. The DV codec is only mildy compressed so it looks great, and DVD Maker will accept that file and it will transcode to MPEG-2 for you behind the scenes.

If your source video is HD, when you set up the Export Settings from Premiere to export as SD (either MPEG-2 DVD or DV widescreen), you may see narrow black bars on the left and right side of the output preview. Change output scaling to Scale to Fill to eliminate those bars. Also check the box for Max Render Quality – this will improve the downscale quality of HD to SD.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers