[Jon Doughtie]

Tell us more about your computer. See my signature as one example. We need much more information to assist you.

What format/codec is the original footage? No FX?

It sounds simple. Your project may indeed be simple. What is your goal for file size and render time? Have you achieved those goals in the past? If so, on what system and software?

It is possible your goals may not be realistic. Without more information, it is hard to say. Even with the compression of MP4, 3-10 hour videos are going to be large file sizes, unless you crush the bandwidth.

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Jon Doughtie]

Do you have any Photoshop effects applied to any layers? I don’t believe those will translate in Premiere Pro.

Do you have any layers/elements/files that are not 8-bit RGB? If you have, for example, and elements with a CMYK colorspace, they won’t make the transition.

These are the first two things I would check.

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Jon Doughtie]

What version(s) of Adobe CC?

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Jon Doughtie]

Not enough information to guess, my friend.

We need more information about your machine (Mac/PC, version of Adobe, RAM, drive configuration, etc.), more information about the footage (wrapper/codec/resolution), any effects applied, (some effects are very processing intensive and slow renders down), your output settings (codec, wrapper, etc.)

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Jon Doughtie]

A couple of thoughts. . .

You mention some footage is “on the desktop” which usually means it is on the C drive with your OS and apps. This is a no-no.

We need more information about your footage and file format/codec. Otherwise, it’s a bit of guesswork from here on. Are you editing 4K directly in CS6? Or working with proxy files?

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Jon Doughtie]

Don’t use “Max Render Quality” unless you scaling some footage up or down.

What is you minimum/maximum bandwidth in your render settings?

You are taking your 4K footage down to 1920×1080. If you are scaling that footage to fit 1920×1080, it is a quarter the size of your original 4K footage, so you will certainly lose some fine detail.

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Jon Doughtie]

Let us know what tool you are using, otherwise it’s all guesswork.

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Jon Doughtie]

Just to be sure. . .

OS, Premiere Pro and other apps are on the C drive, right?

Second drive is also connected on the internal SATA bus?

You list it as a “scratch drive”. What precisely are you placing on the second drive?

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Jon Doughtie]

You’ll want no compression or lossless compression, of course. Some of the decision depends on the original material, of course.

I’m in the PC world, and my “go-to” is usually one of the DNxHD codecs. If you have a flavor preference like MOV, you could do animation (uncompressed) or PNG (lossless compression).

No matter what you choose, files will be much larger.

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Jon Doughtie]

What is the wrapper/codec/bitrate of your original footage?

I am curious, noting that although you have a variable bitrate selected for your output, you also have both the target and max bitrate at 8MBps. Why not simply do a fixed bitrate?

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.