DVD quality codec for exporting from Premiere 6

[Chris Obonsawin]

Hi,

I've just started editing using Premiere 6 and I am looking for a codec that I can use when exporting to .avi file that will give me DVD quality.

I am using TMPGEnc to convert from .avi to MPEG2 and I found that the quality of the final product was low. When I checked into Premiere's export I found I had used a codec that gave me CD quality not DVD quality. Any suggestions on what to use to get the highest quality export out of Premiere?

Thanks

Chris

[Rob Lohman]

Just export in DV, TMPGEnc should be able to read it. If you have
the space uncompressed might be an option as well.

[Glenn Chan]

huffyuv and animation are both lossless codecs, which are better than uncompressed (takes less space, same quality).

[Rob Lohman]

Are you sure animation (QuickTime codec, right?) is lossless? If
I'm not mistaken the huffyuv codec is not installed by default
so you will need to look for it on the web (or buy it).

[Chris Obonsawin]

Actually, I did export in DV but the codec I used was Cinepak and it would only do CD quality. There is a list of other codecs I can use but I am having trouble finding finding out what their resolution qulaity is.

On the DVD I am getting colour bleeds and artifacting which does not exist on orignal, nor does ti exist when I go from computer to camera to VCR, so I know the problem is with the codec I m using. I niavely thought there might be some universal codec that everyone is using.

Oh well.

[Rob Lohman]

No you didn't export in the DV codec. You exported in the Cinepak
codec. You should not choose AVI in Premiere but DV AVI or AVI
DV (forgot what it's called).

[Chris Obonsawin]

Tried DV AVI first but TMPGEnc didn't recognize the format when I asked it to convert to MPEG2.

I actually contacted TMPGEnc people to ask about a plugin to recognize this format but never heard back and found nothing when I searched their message boards.

[Rob Lohman]

What version of TMPGEnc are you using and do you have any
special DV capture boards installed?

[Chris Obonsawin]

I'm using the latest version (I downloaded it yesterday. 2.521 I think).

I'm not using any DV capture boards (if I understand you correctly). Video goes from my camcorder via Firewire to the computer, gets edited in Premiere, and then exported by Premiere, after which I encode it with TMPGEnc and author it with the TMPGEnc authoring program. Then I burn it using the authoring program.

I'm not using Premiere's MPEG2 encoder because it is VCD quality.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it (newbies can be such a pain sometimes.)

[Stuart Kupinsky]

Ok Chris, you're mixing concepts here. I do exactly what you are trying to do, with the same software you're using, with outstanding results. We just need to get you on the right settings and understanding what's going on.

First, TMPGEnc will indeed recognize the DV output from Premiere 6. You can also adjust the DVD encoding of Premiere itself, but lets forget about that for now. You need to make sure you are capturing video in, editing, and exporting in the basic DV codec that Premiere should be using on your system. Could be the Microsoft DV codec, could be Pinnicle DV, etc. Then TMPGEnc should be taking that DV footage and, with the right settings, compressing it for authoring, etc. Give us a step by step of what you're doing.

[Chris Obonsawin]

I'm importing as Mocrosoft DV (NTSC), 720 X 480.

I'm exporting as Microsoft DV AVI.

In TMPGEnc when I ask it to take that file and encode it I get an error message telling me that the file is not recognized and that TMPGEnc does not support DV-1 type files.

(I'm sure I'm missing something here, so any help is appreciated).

[Jon Yurek]

That's quite odd, since TMPGEnc works quite well over here, and that's all I use (Type 1 files). (BTW, Stuart, he probably isn't using the MS codec since TMPGEnc can definitely work with that).

Well, you have two options. One is to to install a different DV codec (like the Matrox one. After you've installed that codec, you should be able to open the files with TMPGEnc (as well as anything else) without any other work.

The second is to install a Frame Server plugin for Premiere. This doesn't actually render the file to disk, but it still looks like a complete AVI to whatever program opens the small (like 150k) file that it creates. Basically when TMPGEnc would try to read from the file on disk, the frameserver plugin intercepts it and hands it data straight out of Premiere instead -- nice, uncompressed video and full audio -- without the need to store that information anywhere. It may run a little slower since you're giving Premiere processor time that could be used to encode the MPEG, but it's shouldn't be noticeable. And considering that it's straight uncompressed video, nothing will be unable to read it.

[Don Donatello]

"Are you sure animation (QuickTime codec, right?) is lossless?"

it is only when you set quality at 100%

[Chris Obonsawin]

Thanks Yon, I'll try that.

[Rob Lohman]

Microsoft DV should be type 2, not type 1. Check your Premiere
settings to see if you can chance that somewhere perhaps.