bert_man 0 #1 December 24, 2005 I just finished editing my first attempt at a video in premiere. I just don't quite understand the whole rendering process. Why does that little window in the corner of my screen play flawless-looking, edited video in real-time when it takes me 6 hours to export the exact same thing to a wmv, avi, etc? I've figured out how to use Adobe Media Encoder to make wmv's, but I don't know which quality settings would work the best. I just spent 7 hours encoding a video at 640x480 at 512kbps (2 passes) and it looks like absolute, unsanitized shit. What dimensions and bitrate do you suggest I use to make a good, high-quality video (i dont want it to look like ass) that won't take forever to render and won't end up being 400 gigs? For your info, the source clips are DV-AVI, and the movie is about 26.5 minutes long, if that really matters. Any input is appreciated. Thx! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #2 December 24, 2005 Whats your intended audience? Web, DVD, or payback on your PC? It takes time to render since it has to assemble each frame in an outside file. If you try to export to anything other then raw DV you are needing to run each frame though the compression algarthm to create the new, smaller frame in the new file. Your raw DV file for a 25 minute file will end up being about 5 gig's in size. For a reasonable web file you are looking to have it be about 50-65 megs. I find using the Windows Media Encoder is the easiest way to create quick webfiles. You will be giving up some quality to make the files transportable. Its a free download form Microsofts site. 640*512 is almost full screen quality. Thats WAY too large for web downloads. 340*240 is about the right size. I like to use a Video bit rate of 314 Kbps and an audio bit rate of 64 kbps, stereo using 2-pass VBR to create my files. You have to give up some quality but the file size is very reasonable for general download. Here is a link to my most recent file so you can see the file size vs quality. http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3117Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alw 0 #3 December 25, 2005 Let's start with the easy way to get your movie rendered so that won't be hanging over your head. In Premiere do a FILE-EXPORT-MOVIE and export the timeline to the the hard disk as a Microsoft DV.AVI file. Open Microsoft Movie Maker - it comes with XP. Import your movie and then under 3. Finish Movie choose save to my computer and accept the defaults. It will take a while to render it but when you're done it will likely look ok. Now, let's tackle the Premiere questions. First, Premiere is working in DV format in the time line if you captured with all the default settings. It doesn't have to render anything but certain transitions and effects to play in the preview window because it is already "Rendered". Anything but that format and you're computer has to compute each frame. Eric made some good points, so here are some things to think about before going on. To get the best performance from your computer, 1 gig of RAM is optimum, 2 gig is ok but is more than 1.2gig is seldom used by Premiere so save the money. You should have 2 hard drives (minimum) though one will work. SATA drives are optimum, EIDE will work. These should be different physical drives haveing two drive letters (partitions) on one physical device doesn't count, because it's all about the read write head. The head has to move from file to file to get instructions, pick up data, and write data. The most efficient set up is - one drive for programs, one for your source files, one for destination files, and the luxury slot- one for your project files. Finally, On the drives that contain video files, make the sectors large - like 32K or 64K. It isn't as efficient in terms of disk usage for smaller files, but ten you aren't making small files when you capture video. The reason you want large sectors is to minimize the sector header writing and fragmentation on the disk - it will also help defrag the disk faster. Fast processors are good, but the above suggestions will speed up the process significantly more than a 3.2 GHz processor would over a 2.8 GHz processor. Keep the computer videos looking good. Do this by de-interlacing your video when you create the export movie. you can also deinterlace frames on the timeline. Use the Adobe Help feature to find out how - they do a better job of explaining than I can. NTSC in Premiere terms is 720x480. That is not the typical 4x3 aspect ration of your computer screen. If you export to 4x3 aspect (640x480, 320x240) it will take longer, but will be 100% viewable and will not suffer noticeably in the picture quality. For posting or sending as WMV, Eric is right on the money 320x240 is the way to go. The view can play it at 200% and still see a very nice movie. What is more important is to maintain the 30 frames per second. Older files were done at 15 fps to save space and time, but fast processors and large hard drives make that unnecessary. Things to think about in the future. CBR vs. VBR and 1 pass vs. 2 pass. The questions just keep coming and by now you might be wondering "what the hell is he talking about? I just want to make a movie." CBR - constant bit rate is faster to render and more expensive to play (in terms of processor power). VBR is slower to render and less expensive in processor power. 1 pass renders faster and sacrifices quality, 2 pass is slower and looks better. RON is the best method for VBR and 2 Pass. RON=Render over night. Welcome to the wonderful world of Digital Nonlinear editing using the industry standard Windows application - Adobe Premiere. Suggestion - play with 2 minute movies to learn, save every time you see the "auto-save" window, more often if you remember. Defrag often. remember that even with todays mega pc's, digital video takes alot of computer resources and is still a few revs short of a killer ap (even on an Apple) --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bert_man 0 #4 December 27, 2005 Sweet... thanks for the help guys, that cleared alot up! One more thing.... before I post it on skydivingmovies.com, do people usually obtain permission from anybody else who happens to be in it before posting it? Or do people ever really care? There are about 10-15 other jumpers in this video at random times and I don't want to piss any of them off... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #5 December 28, 2005 Ask first. For Year end stuff I don't bother but other stuff I do.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
docjohn 0 #6 December 29, 2005 About uploading videos and asking permission..... This topic probably belongs in a separate thread but... depends on the video. For one skysurfer (or one boob flasher) you should probably ask permission but I don't ask every diver on an 8 way for permission. I'm sure a lawyer will say otherwise. Good luck with your videos. Looking forward to seeing them. Be safe. . Doc http://www.manifestmaster.com/video Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
