[Øivind Jensen]

Hi Ted!

Thanks a lot (!) for leading me on the right path. At first glance there seems to be a lot of interesting and relevant information in your links.

I will read it thoroughly asap.

My original 3D renders are 1080p and rich in detail. It would be a pity losing it to some unnecessary conflict following the conversion process.

Øivind

[Øivind Jensen]

Hello Kevin,

I am very grateful for your feedback. I am sure you know how small problems like these can eat away at your general schedule or deadline. Finding an answer has been really difficult so I appreciate your time.

1. I agree in regard to After Effects versus Premiere, and will improve my workflow avoiding encoding in AE.

2. Yes, it is very strange that the video is lagging on my most powerful system, but plays back effortlessly on an older laptop with standard drivers. I do not have a dual screen configuration, and have been meticulous updating to the latest drivers, checking WHQL and dxdiag status. They’re all good, by the way. Let me just also quickly add that the video plays back perfectly locally. The problem only occurs when playing back from my website.

3. I will try your encoding advice tomorrow morning. Thank you. Your help is really appreciated. Did you have the opportunity to check my video? It might be that it plays back normally from your computer as well.

[Øivind Jensen]

Hello Jeff,

Thank you very much for your reply. The video was encoded using Adobe After Effects 5.5 , On2 VP6, constant bitrate of 4147 Kbps, 30 fps with a resolution of 960 x 540. The bitrate value was calculated using the flash video bitrate calculator by Robert Reinhardt.

Usually I am using Adobe Premiere without any problems in terms of smooth playback peformance! This time the encoding had to be done in After Effects as I needed some text animation not available in Premiere. Another difference from my regular projects is that I had to crank up the fps to 30 as there was significant movement close to the object.

I would like to add that I am suspecting this issue to relate to the ATI HD 4250 display adapter on my main system, as my older system as well as another low performance laptop in the house can play the video without significant lagging or stuttering. Still, I obviously want to ensure optimal encoding of the video.

Do you have the opportunity to watch the video on your system?

https://www.serpent3d.net/Showroom3.html

[Øivind Jensen]

Hello again Steve,

I found the reason: The problem is not related to Adobe Premiere Pro, but to the .flv-player which can be automatically added from within Adobe Dreamweaver. Using the default player will simply not play back content appropriately. Using other open source .flv players works. Problem solved!

Thank you very much for your kind help.

[Øivind Jensen]

Hello Steve,

Thank you very much for your swift reply – it is truly appreciated!

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. I used the following export settings in Adobe Premiere Pro:

Format: FLV
Preset: Various settings, but aiming for 720p, half size
Frame rate: Same as source
Render at Maximum Depth
Bitrate encoding: VBR
Encoding Passes: Two
Bitrate Level: Tried various settings here. Lower values did not help.
Set Key Frame Distance: Off
Simple Profile: Off
Undershot: 90%
Quality: Various
Use Maximum Render Quality: On
Use Frame Blending: On/Off

2. I only tested playback of the file locally on my computer. That is,
I used the «Preview in browser» feature in Adobe Dreamweaver. In other words,
I did not upload the file to the server yet.

3. I used the standard .flv feature of Adobe Dreamweaver to embed a flash player: The first line of code look like this:

object classid=”clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000″ width=”960″ height=”540″ id=”FLVPlayer”

In the above code, I tested with the desired size, however I also tested with smaller sizes: Same results: Choppy, choppy, choppy.

Please note that I don’t have problems embedding any player, including uploading it to website. It is the .flv video which is failing to play back correctly in the web browser.

4. I am using commercial hosting for my website, however this should not matter as all testing of the .flv issue has been done locally.

I have already uploaded a 40 MB + embedded WMV version of the movie to the website itself. No problems with that movie other than the size (!) and that no user will wait the 10-15 minutes it takes to download…

Once again, thank you.