[Ken Ramsauer]

Thank you for this information. I am having enough issues right now with Premiere CC 17 and 18 that I want to toss them out. Darn 2018 keeps losing audio tracks. CC17 doesn’t do a good job making a transferable project to the CC 2015. Work due tomorrow.

Interesting to know about the MTBF of the SSD.

Black Magic will not even open on Higj Sierra so I can’t test anything. Been a rough week with this job.

[Ken Ramsauer]

I have a similar decision to make. I just got a used late 2015 iMac with the 2tb Fusion Drive (128gb is SDD) and I just bought a 500gb Samsung T5 USB 3.0 (my iMac is USB 3.0 only). I will have a total of 40gb of RAM s soon as this Monday but for now it’s only 8gb.

I was thinking to use my external SSD as a Adobe Scratch Disk only and use the Fusion drive for the Media storage BUT because the SSDs are so cheap would it be faster to use two external SSDs one dedicated for Media storage and one dedicated for the Scratch Disk?
What about using the Scratch Disk for both Media and Scratch? Is this still faster than using the internal Fusion Drive? Thank you for any advice

[Ken Ramsauer]

Thank you Tod. I am currently making the edits in Premiere then opening Encoder to fetch the timeline form Premiere. When I get that I uncheck the video and concentrate on making the audio file smaller. It averages about 1.1gb of audio and after I render it to a .mpa (mpeg audio) I put it into the Encore timeline and then go back to see how much wiggle room I have with the video rendering. Since the audio is usually less than 200mb I focus on the quality of the image. I realize that a CBR of 9 is not the way to go (based on internet readings) so I do a DVD MPEG2 720x480P 29.97 Quality 100 and VBR of (first was 4/7/9) and now I am doing a 7/8/9 for S&G’s.

After that I will take the better M2V and put it in the Encoder timeline. As it stands the video I was told would be long ended up much less than a 4.7gb on the first go around and now I have it possibly up to 6.7gb with the higher VBR test.

My bigger worry is sharpness. I am now switching to Premiere CC 2018 and I still have Encore CS6 with the lost library files added for the final output. In the past I used to use Unsharp Mask at around 100/1.5/0 or so. I know there are many ways to fine tune the setting but I recently saw the Premiere CC 2018 had a Sharpen in the Color tab (it looked ok at about 30) Is it really a mistake to use that Sharpen? I don’t know yet.

I will say that even with 8gb RAM this newer iMac is rendering fairly fast with only 56% of the CPU being used. I also ordered two 16gb RAM sticks so I will have the iMac up to 40gb of RAM and I also ordered a 500gb SSD & SATA to USB 3.0 cable to use for the scratch disk. Maybe its even faster to have two of those so one holds the original data, one is the scratch / work disk and the stock 2tb fusion drive (which I thought had a 256gb SSD and somewhere I read it was only 128gb SSD and then 2tb slow spinning drive). I didn’t realize at the time the difference between USB 3.0 and 3.1 … to quote Leonard Nemoy … “fascinating”. AND I CANT BELIEVE there is no firewire on this… only two thunder drive video outputs.

Even though I only do SD work for the moment, the render speed for the video seems to be about a 1:1 ratio or maybe less.

[Ken Ramsauer]

So I made a MPEG2 1920×1080 and 8min long which ended up being 1.9gb and plays with Quicktime BUT … I try to put it into Encoder and it will not work. It says “Error while decompressing the source file”. Wow … really? What next? Apparently I am having no luck going from CS6 Export to the desktop and from the desktop file to Encoder. I guess I will try something else.

[Ken Ramsauer]

Great advice as usual. I was humored (for lack of a better not really happy expression) to see my “save to desktop” .png test ended up making over 5,000 individual files. That was fun to cleanup. I did turn anything iCloud related off.

I will let Premier keep the settings as it sees fit for the timeline. I am trying to export an 8 minute clip test but under Export Settings>Quicktime>there is no codec you mention. If I use the Export Settings>Match Sequence it says it will be a .mpeg 1920×1080, 29.97, Progressive, Quality 50, Render Max Depth and I have no adjustments over this in the video settings. It sounds like what your talking about but I am not positive.

Also, you mention Premiere to Encoder but no mention of Premiere, Encoder to Encore for the final DVD burning. Maybe I am not getting it but is Encoder strictly a final file format with better encoding and then go to Encore for the final DVD burn?

I wish I could post screenshots to make this easier with your advice. I don’t want to waste your time with endless information that is not relevant. Thank you for being persistent and quick with the responses. I will now try to open Premiere CC to see if it offers me an Apple Pro Res export.

[Ken Ramsauer]

I am trying to make a export test to a .png for sending to Encoder but 8 minutes says it will take 3 hrs 20 min … Really? Something is amiss. I only have 8gb RAM, 4.0 i7 with 2Tb fusion drive. The Activity Monitor says that 47% of the CPU is idle. This is a newly reformatted system with Adobe only on it. RAM use seems to be about 50% too. My problem is I can’t tell what is now on iCloud or on the physical hard drive. It seems even my desktop is cloud based. I hate this new tech. I probably didn’t understand when I set it up unless someone knows something that I don’t. I may have to revert to my older iMac 2013 i7.

[Ken Ramsauer]

Your correct on the amount of people it takes to do it correctly. I used to be a stills photographer and special actor for the movie studio here. I worked lighting in theater and I am still a full time photographer who dabbles in dance and graduation videos for DVD only. In my area, no one wants to pay for USB drives, BluRay is a stranger to most and how do you really market online video and keep it from being not too difficult and overly shared. I wish I could afford copyright protection. I just got off of the phone with a of all things … grand mother who said she would get the dvd and copy it for family … wow the new generation of grandmothers is getting more tech savvy … what can I say … I am a grandfather as well. One day someone is going to get my DVD and ask … “what do I do with this? and how does it work?” lol… I guess thats when its time to throw in the towel. Still haven’t got this workflow down. Working on it right now.

[Ken Ramsauer]

Thank you for the most important information. I am going over it currently and will restart my project. I believe I have the camera setup to 720P 30 as that was what I was trying to preserve to bring down to the SD level later and I do keep the video in 16:9 as shot with no cropping or enlarging of the frame.

I am not sure if the default ARRI clip sequence settings is a accurate description of what my simple camera capture is based on what Premiere thinks. I will try to use the first CODEC (Quicktime ProRes 422) you recommended to see what happens but so far I do not find it in the sequence settings choices. My sequence choices are (maybe I need to install Premiere CC for more options?):

Arri
AVC-Intra
AVCHD
Canon XF MPEG2
Digital SLR
DV-NTSC
DVCPROHD
HDV (HDV 720P30)
RED R3D
and XDCAM EX, HD and HD422

I noticed that when exporting from Premiere as a MPEG2-DVD format with the Preset at “Match Source” it would take the SOURCE: Sequence 1920×1080 (1.0), 29.97 fps, Progressive and OUTPUT: a .m2v NTSC, 720×480, 29.97, Quality 4, Progressive VBR (Max 7 but I would raise that and usually I check the Max Render Quality) but it seems that it is becoming too many transitions already and I haven’t even sent it to Encoder or Encore.

I did read on COW that exporting to a PNG, HD 1080p 29.97 would appear to be an ok close to lossless but I don’t know if I am wasting my time with Chapter Markers now as Encore seems to be “create a precise” Chapter marker friendly.

I didn’t install Encoder with this newer iMac and I realize now that your recommendation is to do that as part of the Premiere, Encoder, Encore work flow. Lately I had been going Premiere to Encore via the link option in Premiere and there I set the rendering, created the menus, did all of the linking and then burned the DL DVD master.

You mention you don’t use Encoder and I use to have Final Cut Pro but when the went to FCP X I just laughed and moved to Premiere. What were they thinking? I guess its better now and if you advise using DVD Studio Pro I can try to get it even though I do not know if it is still available?

Thank you for your support. Do you recommend using Premiere CC (latest version that does not dynamic link to Encore) and Encoder CC to output a file that could then be put into Encore CS6? My Premiere will not Dynamic Link to Encoder but it does see Encore CS6.

I will see if I can get the sequence you recommended and update as things good or bad happen.

[Ken Ramsauer]

So I decided to change the settings to match the incoming clips and this is what it picked:

ARRI Cinema
29.97
16:9
30fps Drop-Frame Timecode
Progressive Scan
Square Pixels (1.0)

Video Previews:
Preview File Format I-Frame Only MPEG
Codec MPEG I-Frame
1920×1080

I plan on checking Max Bit Depth and Max Render Quality now and then send it to Encore to convert it to SD 720P 30fps unless someone has a better idea. I have a feeling this is going to be larger than a DL DVD 8.5gb especially with menus and links to about 30 chapter markers.

[Ken Ramsauer]

So I am starting the first of many recital DL DVDs and here is what I normally do and any suggestions would be great!

If I click on a sequence to get the info is says this: AVCHD MPEG-2 Transport Stream and the name of this one is 00000.MTS. I shot “little Mary’s dance” or “John’s Kindergarten Graduation” this with a Panasonic AG-AC90PJ which is not that new or high tech or high quality but it works for my limited low end work. I am not a trained high end video guy and my clients just want to remember these moments in time at a low priced DVD.

My clients do not understand the tech side of what it takes to put anything decent on a single or dual layer DVD. I believe they expect the “Hollywood” sharpness and a 10 list of rolling credits of the people who made the video .. which is mostly me.

So I usually tell Premiere to start the video as a HD 720P 30fps with Maximum Render and Maximum something else when it first asks … then I noticed that when I imported the video clip and dropped a section into the timeline I always get presented with “Clip Mismatch Warning” where it says to “Change sequence settings” or “Keep existing settings” and now I say “change it” as it appears to look better than the old days of “keep existing settings”.

Maybe that is my first mistake but if you know video then you know you can waste a lot of time thinking you got it when you really don’t. My clients want these 3.5 -4 hour shows put on a single DVD. Usually I provide two DL DVDs and say that this is the best I can give for the amount of time. But as I mentioned in the first original post … I have a competitor that seems to be able to put a 3.5 hour video of the same type on a SINGLE LAYER DVD and it really doesn’t look that bad. I watched on of the videos and noticed that it seemed to be tied in with a Roxio Toast label under the information on the video and more than likely it is done on a PC over Mac but I only use Mac. So I kind of need Mac answers. I own Toast Titanium 12.1 but now they are on version 16.0. I do not have any other DVD authoring software except for the latest CS6 Encore. I have access to all of the CS6 and CC stuff with the Adobe Subscription I have.

Now from this point only … should I keep the original clip settings or should I use the 720P 30fps settings? I realize that this is one jump from 1080p to 720p and then it would be sent to Encore and dumbed down some more. Or should I just edit in 1080p and send it to Encore to o the 720p 30fps Dual Layer DVD with chapter markers.

I have no idea what to do with Toast if it makes good DVD authoring. I guess I can send a MPEG2 from Premiere but thats a rendering step right there and then again with Toast? Just a little lost here. I just want a miracle DVD with 4 hours of high quality ultra sharp video on a single layer DVD (actually Dual layer is fine as I ordered 600 of them).

Thank you for any advice