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Taverino
Taverino
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Best Transcode Format for Partial Ingesting Using Prelude

May 12, 2012 5:18 AM

I'm trying to see if Prelude makes sense for my workflow into Premiere Pro CS6. So far it seems too good to be true, especially the ability to partially injest files into Prelude using IN/OUT points. If I understand correctly, to use this feature I must transcode during injestion even though my native format (HDV/1080p .M2T) works fine in PPro.

 

So my question, among the many format options that AME offers for Prelude injestion transcoding, is there one I should consider for best Premiere Pro editing performance?

2354 Views   16 Replies   Latest reply: csgaraglino, Aug 6, 2012 10:51 AM
 
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  • Jim Simon
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    1. Jim Simon,
    May 12, 2012 10:13 AM   in reply to Taverino
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    I prefer lossless transcoding for Intermediate files.  The only lossless option included with PP is Uncompressed.  That can make the files quite large and unwieldy, so I use the free UT codec.  It's compressed, so it's smaller (especially in YUV420 mode, which is appropriate for your media).  But it's a lossless compression, so there is no degradation at all.

     

    And it works fine with Adobe programs.

     

    http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Ut-Video-Codec-Suite

     
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  • hpmoon
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    2. hpmoon,
    May 12, 2012 6:52 PM   in reply to Jim Simon
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    Why not YUV422 mode?

     
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  • caseyinhd
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    3. caseyinhd,
    May 12, 2012 8:23 PM   in reply to Taverino
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    Best transcode settings IMO:

    MAC:

    For stuff shot on consumer cameras, and things that need to be turned around really fast: prores 422 (LT)

    For nicer consumer cams / dslrs: ProRes 422

    For nice 422 cameras: ProRes 422 (HQ)

    For Red / Arri / uncompressed high end cams: ProRes4444

     

    PC or MAC: (less experience, so not sure about details like I am prores)

    Avid Codecs: DNxHD and variants.

    I've heard good things about Cineform (might just be PC, not sure)

     

    Hope that helps!

     

    Casey

     
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  • hpmoon
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    4. hpmoon,
    May 12, 2012 9:23 PM   in reply to caseyinhd
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    caseyinhd wrote:

     

    Best transcode settings IMO:

    MAC:

    For stuff shot on consumer cameras, and things that need to be turned around really fast: prores 422 (LT)

    For nicer consumer cams / dslrs: ProRes 422

    For nice 422 cameras: ProRes 422 (HQ)

    For Red / Arri / uncompressed high end cams: ProRes4444

     

    PC or MAC: (less experience, so not sure about details like I am prores)

    Avid Codecs: DNxHD and variants.

    I've heard good things about Cineform (might just be PC, not sure)

     

    Hope that helps!

     

    Casey

    The value of this advice is limited as we watch ProRes slowly die as a format to correspond with the decline of Final Cut.  Note that at NAB, outboard recorders are shifting focus away from ProRes.  So far, it's looking like the lossless codecs proposed here are the UT codec, and DNxHD, though you don't seem to have any experience with them.

     
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  • caseyinhd
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    5. caseyinhd,
    May 12, 2012 9:40 PM   in reply to hpmoon
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    I agree that ProRes is a declining format.  However, it is still a very valid solution for transcoding.  The Adobe suite supports ProRes, (although that's probably to help people switch from FCP.)  It may be going down hill, but it is widely accepted and trusted as both an editing format and a delivery format.

     
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  • maltaannon
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    6. maltaannon,
    May 12, 2012 10:51 PM   in reply to Taverino
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    And what about RED files? Prelude, SpeedGrade and Premiere are all great tools. They work with RED files natively. However when it comes to doing more with them than just opening and playing them back things get a bit complicated. As far as Prelude is concerned - RED files do not support metadata, so in order to use Prelude i have to transcode. I could do that, but I don't want to sacrifice the realtime editing (due to some 3rd party lossless codec or rendering to a DPX sequence) nor the native color specs of the file.

     
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  • Taverino
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    7. Taverino,
    May 13, 2012 8:06 AM   in reply to Jim Simon
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    Jim,

     

    Thanks for the recommendation for the UT Codec. I donwloaded and installed it on my Windows7 system. I rebooted after the install. I guess I'm doing something wrong, because I don't see this codec as an option in AME when I try to create a new preset. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong.

     

    I tried to search AME help for installing 3rd party codecs. Is it just me or is Adobe Help becoming harder and harder to use? I think I need a help file for learning how to use Help.

     

    Thank you.

     
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  • hpmoon
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    8. hpmoon,
    May 13, 2012 10:37 AM   in reply to Taverino
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    Taverino wrote:

     

    Jim,

     

    Thanks for the recommendation for the UT Codec. I donwloaded and installed it on my Windows7 system. I rebooted after the install. I guess I'm doing something wrong, because I don't see this codec as an option in AME when I try to create a new preset. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong.

     

    I tried to search AME help for installing 3rd party codecs. Is it just me or is Adobe Help becoming harder and harder to use? I think I need a help file for learning how to use Help.

     

    Thank you.

    Jim wasn't specific enough.  Rather than intuitively choosing "AVI (uncompressed)," choose just AVI as the codec category, and then in the customization settings, you'll find a pop-up menu in the Video Codec section that includes four UT codecs.  When you installed UT, it explained via a Read Me file what the relative characteristics of each codec are.

     
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  • Taverino
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    9. Taverino,
    May 13, 2012 12:19 PM   in reply to hpmoon
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    Thanks so much, hpmoon. That was easy!

     
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  • Jim Simon
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    10. Jim Simon,
    May 14, 2012 10:30 AM   in reply to hpmoon
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    Why not YUV422 mode?

     

    Because HDV is 4:2:0, so why pad the file with useless data?

     
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  • csgaraglino
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    11. csgaraglino,
    Aug 3, 2012 6:34 PM   in reply to Jim Simon
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    Ok, thank you for the posted suggestion.

    I have downloaded the UT Codec form the link you provided (windows) and I have rebooted my machine, but I am not seeing anything remotely close to UT or YUV on the lost of Codedc's in Prelude, What am I missing?

     

    Untitled-1.png

     
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  • hpmoon
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    12. hpmoon,
    Aug 3, 2012 10:14 PM   in reply to csgaraglino
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    Sheesh.  Read up.  Like, literally three posts up.

     
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  • csgaraglino
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    13. csgaraglino,
    Aug 4, 2012 9:36 AM   in reply to hpmoon
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    Yup, tried that and I still am not seeing that is posted.

     

    "choose just AVI as the codec category, and then in the customization settings, you'll find a pop-up menu in the Video Codec section that includes four UT codecs"

     

    I have AVI selected - there are no choices for UT in the list and there is no "customization settings"?

     

    See below.

     

    Untitled-1.jpg

     
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  • hpmoon
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    14. hpmoon,
    Aug 5, 2012 11:52 AM   in reply to csgaraglino
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    I see "Ingest."

     
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  • Wes Plate
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    15. Wes Plate,
    Aug 6, 2012 8:59 AM   in reply to csgaraglino
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    csgaraglino,

     

    Go into Adobe Media Encoder and create a new preset and follow the advice above for setting the UT codec. After you create your preset in AME it will appear in the list in Prelude.

     
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  • csgaraglino
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    16. csgaraglino,
    Aug 6, 2012 10:51 AM   in reply to Wes Plate
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    Ok,

     

    Wes' reply did provide the missing info and worked in adding the options to Prelude.

    I was able to run a test transcoded file and it did work, HOWEVER - my test GoPro file was 34mb and when this transcoding finished I have a 754mb file! Ridiculous...

     

    Now - not 2 minutes before Wes replied - I got a replay form OLAXVX on another thread (http://forums.adobe.com/message/4601720) who seems to have relatively the same feelings about this whole mess as I do, but has come up with what seems to be a MUCH better solution.

     

    I have tested it a couple of time and at first glans - all seems to work awesome with no transcoding.

     
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