[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Brad,

Why RIP the DVDs at all? Copy the .vob files from disc to your hard drive, then Import them into Premiere, it will edit .vob files natively.

But back to MPEG Streamclip, haven’t used it in years, but you don’t have to purchase the special QuickTime version – I had installed something called “QuickTime Alternative” which was an option at the time. I don’t know if that is still the case, but check into it.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi James,

Have to ask, are you for sure in a 24p sequence?

And regarding workflow, you shouldn’t need to conform the footage, simply change the Speed. 60p in a 30p Sequence is 50%, and 60p in a 24p Sequence is 40% to get best slow motion results.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera

[Jeff Pulera]

Years ago, I used a free software called MPEG Streamclip for that exact purpose. As I recall, it ripped the DVD back to it’s component assets, the .m2v video and .wav audio file. I then put those assets into Encore and built my new menus, and then burned a new DVD and Encore did not transcode the video.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Sam,

Premiere does not need to transcode footage – you can immediately edit the native material from the camera card. Hopefully your Mac is new enough to handle 4k footage smoothly. The DVX-200 can record HD as well.

A nice benefit of shooting 4k is the ability crop/zoom/reframe in post. Meaning edit the 4k in a 1080 sequence in Premiere, then you have a lot of leeway to reframe, including simulated panning and zooming using keyframes with Adobe Motion effect. When editing 4k clips in a 1080 sequence, choose SET TO FRAME (right-click clip on PC, I don’t know Mac equivalent) then when you reframe you get the benefit of all the 4k pixel goodness. If you edit at 720p, you can zoom even further! I shot a choir concert at 4k using wide angle of entire stage, then in post was able to get clean close-ups of individual performers, zoom, pan, etc. as if moving the camera.

TIP: Copy entire contents of SD card to new folder on your media drive. Copy ALL folders from card completely, not just video clips. Then in Premiere, find the Media Browser tab, usually at lower left, and Import your clips from there. This method provides best results, as Premiere will use the metadata from the folders to best handle the footage. For instance joining spanned clips behind the scenes.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Brad,

For best results, copy entire contents of camera memory card to a new folder on hard drive. You want ALL the folders from the SD card, not just video clips. Premiere needs metadata to sort things out. Then in Premiere, don’t use File > Import, rather use Media Browser tab for the import. This method can make a big difference in many ways – playability, audio, seamless joining of spanned clips, etc.

Don’t try this on existing Project, as Premiere can get confused when importing same clips twice. Try workflow using a New Project

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Rather than manually scaling all of your clips, you can use the default Scale to Frame Size as Alex suggested, however if you should then want to use Adobe Motion scaling to perhaps reframe the image (zoom/crop) then you will lose quality, since Scale to Frame has already reduced the resolution of the 4K source, so it’s like zooming in on a 1080 clip (or whatever resolution you are working at).

So if you’d like to be able to get the benefits of the available 4K pixels for reframing, then use SET TO FRAME instead. This will make the 4K source fit the 1080 sequence, but then if you do any scaling, you have the benefit of all those extra 4K pixels to maintain quality.

As for the poor performance, do you have a GPU that supports Mercury Hardware Acceleration? This makes a big difference in any editing scenario with Premiere.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Could simply be Preview settings in Encore, please check my blog on the subject – https://blog.sharbor.com/blog/2013/03/adobe-encore-cs6-preview-quality-fix/

Encore Preview issues aside, I’ve never had good luck creating an interlaced DVD from 1080i footage. Have tried many variations of settings for Export from Premiere, but never good results. 1080i uses Upper Fields First, while DVD defaults to LFF. Have changed DVD to UFF, didn’t help. And many other things.

I would simply try encoding to DVD Wide Progressive and take interlacing out the equation, that’s what I’ve been doing. Also check the box for Max Render Quality as that improves downscale quality. Lastly, set Source to SCALE TO FILL so you don’t get the black bars on left and right of output (see preview monitor in Export Settings). This is all done from Premiere Export.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Depending on what effects are being applied in AE, some of them can be very render-intensive, so that coupled with the laptop performance could explain the render time. Doesn’t explain the distortion though.

I would try exporting an intermediate file from AE, meaning a single, finished video clip, then convert that to MPEG-2 DVD rather than trying to complete the entire chain of events at once.

I have no idea what the project settings are in AE or Premiere, meaning are you starting out with HD content? Are you on PC or Mac? On Mac, exporting to ProRes works nicely. On PC, you’d need to install a codec most likely. For example, download the free GoPro Studio software and that will get you the Cineform codec which outputs as an .avi file. Export to .avi from AE, then drop resulting file into a Premiere timeline and if it looks good, export to MPEG-2 DVD then.

Or, try exporting direct without using the Queue, I never use that.

About the MPEG-2 DVD settings, for videos under an hour in length, I just use CBR 8.0 settings – no need to allocate bits when you have room to spare, just use best quality encoding.

If source is HD video, then checking the box for “Max Render Quality” can improve scaling results, but will slow down the render even further. However, it could actually be faster to export from AE to Intermediate clip, then to MPEG-2 DVD in separate steps rather than asking the computer to do all of it at once. Lots of overhead in the pipeline when using Dynamic Link and such.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Kacie,

First off, it is highly unusual for an 18 minute project to take 7 hours to render, unless it has some really crazy After Effects content and your computer is really old.

Can you post a screen shot of the Export Settings window please for review? That is the first step

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

From what I see frequently on Adobe forum postings, the iPhone records using a Variable Frame Rate, and Premiere does not like VBR clips. Convert the raw clips to a standard 29.97 frame rate using the free HandBrake software, then use the new, converted clips in Premiere to edit with

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers