Adobe Premiere Pro Help - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

IckUber · 03-01-2004, 04:18 PM

Hi, i'm currently trying to learn the most I can about film editing and such. But the one hang up im having trouble with, i dont know much about so, i thought i would ask you tfpers.

When you export to .avi after a video capture, the .avi's are HUGE 3 min = 460 mb....thats too much, naturaly i would like to compress these files from adobe so i dont have to use any 3rd party programs, and possibly loose quality. What i have been doing is exporting the avi from adobe (some video quality is lost) i belive it uses the sandard windows media compressions. After exporting, I use virtual dub, a compression tool, to compress it to Divix, using the Xvid Codec. and it turns 460 to 29mb and looks pretty good. Does anyone know if you can download codecs for Adobe? or some preferece i can mess with in the program to help my video compression probelm? thanks.

Gotenks · 03-01-2004, 05:09 PM

For Premier itself, you can use a variety of codec's to export to. Most notibly divx 5.xx is the only one i'll use straight from Premier.

Now, to tell you the truth, if you want the best compression you can possibly get, along with nearly flawless quality... there's only two paths you can take. Divx311a and Xvid. I use D311a myself, but you mentioned that 460mb is huge, and that you didnt want to use an external program.

I'll go on a limb and try to give you some information on how to config the 5.xx codec to the best of my abilities.
(PS: I mostly do my work in a 640x480 workspace)

Install the divx codec (note: If you get the free version, it does install adware onto your computer), restart your computer and open up premier.

New Project --> Custom.

General Tab:
Editing Mode - Video for Windows
Timebase - 29.97 (or lower depending on what YOU want)
Time Display - 30 fps Drop-Frame Timecode.

Video Tab:
Compressor - Divx 5.X.X Codec
Depth - Millions
Frame Size - 640x480
Frame Rate - 29.97
P.A.R - Square 1.0

Configure Compressor Tab --> Bitrate Control

Variable Bitrate Mode - 1-pass
Encoding Bitrate - 3200 (this will depend quality/size, play around with this number a bit)

Configure Compressor Tab --> General Parameters

Performance/quality - Slowest
Max Keyframe Interval - 150/300 (A keyframe is the first frame in a sequence which the whole picture is refreshed and shown in the best quality possible. Each frame after a keyframe is slowly depleted in quality until the next keyframe comes around. Alot of people keep their keyframes every 10 seconds (300 for 30fps), but sometimes if the bitrate is low, every 5 seconds (150 for 30fps) is a better alternative.

The rest of the tabs you don't really have to worry about. If size becomes a problem, drop your frame size to 320x240, try dropping your frame rate to 24 (24 is the closest number to what cable/dish company's use). But by far the thing that's going to make or break quality is going to be your bitrate.

If by chance, I didnt answer your question, reply in saying so and i'll do my best to answer it correctly the next time.

IckUber · 03-01-2004, 06:38 PM

thanks, ill see what i can do.

punx1325 · 03-03-2004, 07:22 PM

I've done a grip of editing, and the format Premiere uses is industry standard. It will give you best picture quality possible from that format. I recommend sticking with .avi because that is what adobe was made to work best with. Basically you just need a really big hard drive.

Cocktopus · 03-04-2004, 12:09 AM

Doesn't premiere 7 come with an mpeg2 (dvd) codec? I know I had to use an after market mpeg2 codec with premiere 6.5, but I think they included one with 7. That should shrink the filesize quite a bit and make it more versatile....burn it to dvd with an authoring program (dvd-lab) or compress with divx/xvid.

03-01-2004, 04:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
IckUber Funran Location: Norman, OK	Adobe Premiere Pro Help Hi, i'm currently trying to learn the most I can about film editing and such. But the one hang up im having trouble with, i dont know much about so, i thought i would ask you tfpers. When you export to .avi after a video capture, the .avi's are HUGE 3 min = 460 mb....thats too much, naturaly i would like to compress these files from adobe so i dont have to use any 3rd party programs, and possibly loose quality. What i have been doing is exporting the avi from adobe (some video quality is lost) i belive it uses the sandard windows media compressions. After exporting, I use virtual dub, a compression tool, to compress it to Divix, using the Xvid Codec. and it turns 460 to 29mb and looks pretty good. Does anyone know if you can download codecs for Adobe? or some preferece i can mess with in the program to help my video compression probelm? thanks. __________________ How much is y'all Piolkles?

03-01-2004, 06:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
IckUber Funran Location: Norman, OK	thanks, ill see what i can do. __________________ How much is y'all Piolkles?

03-03-2004, 07:22 PM	#4 (permalink)
punx1325 Junkie Location: San Diego	I've done a grip of editing, and the format Premiere uses is industry standard. It will give you best picture quality possible from that format. I recommend sticking with .avi because that is what adobe was made to work best with. Basically you just need a really big hard drive. __________________ If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is....

03-01-2004, 05:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
Gotenks Crazy Location: In a house	For Premier itself, you can use a variety of codec's to export to. Most notibly divx 5.xx is the only one i'll use straight from Premier. Now, to tell you the truth, if you want the best compression you can possibly get, along with nearly flawless quality... there's only two paths you can take. Divx311a and Xvid. I use D311a myself, but you mentioned that 460mb is huge, and that you didnt want to use an external program. I'll go on a limb and try to give you some information on how to config the 5.xx codec to the best of my abilities. (PS: I mostly do my work in a 640x480 workspace) Install the divx codec (note: If you get the free version, it does install adware onto your computer), restart your computer and open up premier. New Project --> Custom. General Tab: Editing Mode - Video for Windows Timebase - 29.97 (or lower depending on what YOU want) Time Display - 30 fps Drop-Frame Timecode. Video Tab: Compressor - Divx 5.X.X Codec Depth - Millions Frame Size - 640x480 Frame Rate - 29.97 P.A.R - Square 1.0 Configure Compressor Tab --> Bitrate Control Variable Bitrate Mode - 1-pass Encoding Bitrate - 3200 (this will depend quality/size, play around with this number a bit) Configure Compressor Tab --> General Parameters Performance/quality - Slowest Max Keyframe Interval - 150/300 (A keyframe is the first frame in a sequence which the whole picture is refreshed and shown in the best quality possible. Each frame after a keyframe is slowly depleted in quality until the next keyframe comes around. Alot of people keep their keyframes every 10 seconds (300 for 30fps), but sometimes if the bitrate is low, every 5 seconds (150 for 30fps) is a better alternative. The rest of the tabs you don't really have to worry about. If size becomes a problem, drop your frame size to 320x240, try dropping your frame rate to 24 (24 is the closest number to what cable/dish company's use). But by far the thing that's going to make or break quality is going to be your bitrate. If by chance, I didnt answer your question, reply in saying so and i'll do my best to answer it correctly the next time.

03-04-2004, 12:09 AM	#5 (permalink)
Cocktopus Insane	Doesn't premiere 7 come with an mpeg2 (dvd) codec? I know I had to use an after market mpeg2 codec with premiere 6.5, but I think they included one with 7. That should shrink the filesize quite a bit and make it more versatile....burn it to dvd with an authoring program (dvd-lab) or compress with divx/xvid.