[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Nathan,

Best practice for using card-based media in Premiere is to copy ENTIRE contents of card to a folder on computer hard drive. All folders should be copied, not just video bits. Then in Premiere, Import using “Media Browser” rather than “File > Import”. This fixes lots of issues, from audio to spanned clip handling to performance.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Isaac,

The results of such tests are subjective – what’s important is which way do YOU think looks better? Would be very easy to run a few test exports and compare them, using the intended final codec settings.

Simple test. Put 1080 clip in 1080 sequence, zoom in, export as 1080. Put same 1080 clip in 720 sequence, zoom in, export as 1080. Import both clips into 1080 sequence. Put one clip above the other, so they are synced. Apply a CROP to upper clip, to create a split-screen effect. What can be telling is to adjust the crop slider back and forth while viewing the Program monitor as big as possible, provides a very direct comparison. Set Program to actual pixels so there is no scaling applied. Does the image get fuzzier, noisier switching between the two clips? Or go full screen and toggle the upper layer on and off repeatedly. Decide which version looks better.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Gary,

I can be reached at jeffp at sharbor dot com

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Hemma,

PAL DVD players have the capability to play NTSC discs, having built-in conversion to PAL output. Therefore, the general consensus every time this subject comes up in forums, is to simply author the DVDs as NTSC to play in both the US and PAL countries.

Regarding AVIsynth, that is just a front end – there are countless plug-ins for it to do different types of video conversions, is not limited to a certain conversion process.

Thank you

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Robert,

Not a Mac guy, so I need to ask – on the converted HDMI output, is that just the computer screen, or can you actually output video from Premiere and/or FCPX? I think that is the intent of the OP.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
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[Jeff Pulera]

Good advice from Walter, however the GoPro native files do not always play smoothly on some systems as a lot of CPU is needed to decode the clips on the fly.

Are you on PC or Mac? PC users can’t encode to ProRes anyway. But if you feel the need to convert, I would recommend simply using the GoPro Studio software which will batch-convert to their own Cineform codec, your choice or .avi or .mov formats.

Also, there is a checkbox to Remove Fisheye and I’ve found it easier to just pre-process in Studio and not have to deal with the correction in Premiere. The Cineform files are larger than the originals of course, but less compression equals better playback performance on many systems.

But like Walter said, if you can edit the native clips, why not try that first? Convert only if you encounter issues with that workflow.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

You can keep experimenting…or share requested info and likely get a quick solution here 😉

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Dan,

Sure sounds like the Sequence is not matching the video frame size (1280×720), no other reason video should not fit the frame, assuming “Fit” is chosen at bottom of Program Monitor window.

Providing frame grab of Sequence Settings would be a good start for getting help, along with more detailed video specs. What format, where did you get them? Grab of what the screen looks like when the video doesn’t fit?

As admitted earlier, I’ve never had to work with 24p footage or try to mix it with 30p, so I defer to Richard’s expertise and mature beard (I shave for good reason, to hide the truth). My guess would be to consider which frame rate makes up the majority of clips, AND how do you want to deliver? Do you want to conform it all to 24p or 30p, knowing they will each have a different “look” to the motion?

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Dan,

To be clear, transcoding material before editing is more of a personal preference and may have benefits for some people and some workflows, but keep in mind that Premiere allows you to mix and match in the timeline, so you don’t need to convert first, that is optional. Users of Apple FCP pretty much HAD to transcode everything years ago, so that might be ingrained into their workflow.

I’ll shoot an event with 3 different cameras and end up with 3 different kinds of footage:

1080i HDV which is 1440×1080 “Long-GOP MPEG-2” from tape

1080i AVHCD, full 1920×1080 from SD card

1080i ProRes 422, full 1920×1080 from hard drive (Atomos Ninja recorder)

I can put all 3 in the same timeline sequence (1920×1080) and cut away!

In my case, they all use a common 29.97 frame rate so that makes it easy. If you have some footage 29.97 and some 23.976, that complicates things and I’d defer to Richard as I have no experience with cutting 24p or converting to/from it – it will have a different look than 30p or 60i video.

But again, without knowing what exactly you are working with, no one can say specifically what steps to use, all depends on your unique situation.

EDIT: say you have 720p and 1080p footage. The 720p clips will be small in a 1080 sequence, and 1080 clips will be blown up in a 720 sequence. In Preferences, check the box for “default scale to frame”. This does not affect clips already imported, but moving forward it would force new clips imported to size to the frame. Or right-click clips already in the timeline to manually set Scale to Frame. But remember that you need to decide first which Sequence type you want so the scaling works in your favor. It matters.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Dan,

Please share, what types of footage are you currently working with? If you right-click on a clip in the Project Bin, it will tell you frame size and frame rate. This would be a good starting point.

There is no one-size fits all fix, such as “Apple Pro Res 422 1920×1080 (1.0) 23.976.”

If your footage is 720p30 or 720p60 or SD for example, it would not make sense to go to 1080p24 – that frame rate can look choppy and may not suit the content. Plus upscaling takes a quality hit.

Mac or PC? Resolution and frame rate of clips being used? And destination – web, DVD, Blu-ray? These are all factors in deciding what workflow to use.

As an example, let’s say you have 1080p30 and 720p30 clips, and want to deliver as DVD. Does not make sense then to bump the 720p to 1080 as that will degrade the quality a bit, when delivering as SD anyway. Edit all clips in a 720p sequence, then export to MPEG-2 DVD Widescreen Progressive. Just one example.

Say you have the same 1080p and 720p clips and want to go to Blu-ray, and MOST of the clips are 1080 and just a few are 720. In that case, edit as 1080 to keep the max quality all the way to Blu-ray, the 720p clips will upscale well enough. And so forth. Case by case basis.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers