[Matthew Ross]

Yep, my mistake. You already said you’re trying to avoid HQX because of the chroma subsampling.

If I were you I’d just go with Cineform in a .mov wrapper instead of DNx. It will do what you want.

[Matthew Ross]

Try this (as seen in a response from user Lotec on the Adobe forums):

Ran into similar issue and figured out from some forum searching that the Alpha channel needs to be set to “Uncompressed” in the settings dialog.

Within Output Module Settings make sure the following is set:
Format: Quicktime
Video Output: RGB+Alpha
Depth: Trillions of Colors+
Next, click on the button “Format Options”
Video Codec: DNxHR/DNxHD
Resolution: DNxHR HQX 10-bit
Alpha: Uncompressed

Click OK. Render the comp and import the result into AE. The resulting file should show an alpha channel

[Matthew Ross]

When I want footage to import into a specific bin, I make sure to have that bin selected in the Project Window, then hit ctrl-i (on Windows). When I do it that way, anything I import will land in that specific bin.

[Matthew Ross]

With the last few versions (can’t remember exactly which version received the fix), once you have the SRT imported, you can right-click on it in your Project Window, choose Modify… then Captions, and there you can change frame size, frame rate, and pixel aspect.

The issue I’m still seeing with the Open Captions module is that with some fonts, as soon as I change the Edge feature to anything other than zero, the subtitles disappear completely. Change the edge back to zero and they come back. It’s only with some fonts, but unfortunately for me, they’re the fonts the clients are asking for.

[Matthew Ross]

I’d recommend renting each of them for a week and trying them out. Nothing beats some good ol’ hands on, in-the-field testing. I’ve done that before, and it’s pretty reasonable from places like lensrentals.com or borrowlenses.com (I’ve used both and have had good experiences).

[Matthew Ross]

I also recommend using Media Encoder for your issues as John does (just choose Export, then Queue instead of Export again), but I’d also add to make sure that you check on “Use Previews.” That will make sure that you aren’t double-rendering the previews of your dynamic links. If you’ve already rendered your dynamic links in a format that is appropriate for final render, and you have “Use Previews” checked, then Media Encoder will use those preview files instead of re-rendering the dynamic links.

Edit: to clarify, the “Use Previews” tick box is in the lower right of the Export Settings window, and it works whether you’re doing a direct export from Premiere OR moving the render off to Media Encoder.

[Matthew Ross]

[Gabriel Spaulding] ” I wonder why so many Avid and Premiere users are so obsessed with the development of FCP X if it does not affect them? “

I also wonder about that when the replies go beyond what would seem just a general interest; for me it’s just about keeping up with what’s going on in the edit world.

FCPX didn’t meet our needs when it first came out (and still doesn’t in some ways), so when it came time to decide where to go from FCP 7, we chose Premiere. And then we eventually moved on to PC. So FCPX isn’t an option (without a lot of change) for us right now, but I still read these threads because I like to keep an eye on what the industry is doing—you never know what the future has in store.

I won’t say I don’t also find the occasional drama entertaining too.

[Matthew Ross]

I used to use an x264 implementation out of Compressor to achieve this (way better than Apple’s H.264), but that was so long ago I do not recall how we got that particular x264 version into Compressor.

The last time I had to do this, I rendered an intermediate file out of After Effects (or Premiere or whatever), something like ProRes or like others listed in this thread, then rendered to x264 using Handbrake, then re-wrapped the file to .MOV using Quicktime Pro 7 by simply using Save As, and it would do so without re-compressing. (I do not know if Quicktime 10 lets you do this).

Yeah, it was three steps so wouldn’t be good if you had to do a lot of files, but I got good looking H.264 in .MOV containers in the end.

[Matthew Ross]

Thanks for your reply.

We can actually capture with no dropped frames reliably if we capture to an internal SSD, so we’re pretty sure the issue is not with the source (and it’s not actually a deck; the signal is coming via HDMI from a different PC. I realize the “burned in timecode” comment might have suggested a deck, but it’s actually a rendered-out After Effects comp).

We’re running down the issue as to why we’re dropping frames, but what my original question was really about is trying to figure out why Premiere isn’t giving me any kind of report about dropping frames when I know that I am, and I have “report dropped frames” checked on.

[Matthew Ross]

Thanks for your reply; that’s good to know.

It is, however, disappointing to hear. I’m doing some 4K capture tests to a particular destination, and when I have “abort on dropped frames,” my capture will abort 100% of the time after a few seconds. OK, so my data throughput is not high enough to keep up.

Then I un-check “abort on dropped frames” and instead just leave “report dropped frames” checked. Now, 0% of my capture tests report anything once I stop the capture. This is why I was confused as to where dropped frames are reported, because I am absolutely sure I am dropping frames, but yet I am getting no report of it.

Just to make sure I wasn’t witnessing some colossal coincidence and every time I only had “report dropped frames” checked I actually didn’t get any dropped frames, I played back a looping video with burned-in timecode from my source. Once again, no report of dropped frames. However, when I go through the resulting capture frame-by-frame, there are dropped frames galore.

So for me at least, “abort on dropped frames” seems to work correctly, but “report dropped frames” never does.