My Unofficial CS5 Premiere vs CS4 Premiere Export #s

[Brant Gajda]

I'll start off by saying that this is unofficial #s between CS4 and CS5 Premiere on Exporting to h264.

My Machine:
i7 Proc OC'd to 3.2GHz
12GB RAM
Non-RAID hard drives
nVidia 260 video card (no-mercury functionality...software only).

Source Files:
2 Clips of Canon 5D Mark II (1080p) converted via Cineform and color edited via FirstLight.
Total time of 2 clips = 55.2sec

Effects:
Added Fast Color Correction to both clips
At 1/2 Quality in CS5, time line turns red but still plays very smoothly.
At Draft Quality in CS4, time line turns red...some choppy playback.

Export:
Sequence exported to h264 using min bitrate of 8Mbps and Max 10Mbps for both versions.
Converted from 1080p to 720p

Times:
CS4 - Export time of 1min 44sec
CS5 - Export time of 1min 14sec

CS5 Rendered the same clip 29% faster.

Initial Conclusions:
Still very early, but if the export times are consistent, I'm going to be very pleased. Hopefully the nvidia 480 cards are added for Mercury playback. When they are, I'll be picking one up.

[Marty Baggen]

Brant... when you say After Effects added, do you mean you have an AE comp in your timeline via Dynamic Link?

Thanks for posting your results.

[Brant Gajda]

Sorry Marty, it was bad choice of section titles since it's confusing. I combined that into the effects section. After Effects was not used, but more of a result of adding effects inside of Premiere.

Having some issues when opening up AE with Premiere. Probably some initial bugs, but still overall pleased.

[Brant Gajda]

Updated test now with testing done with a GTX 480 card. I should preface that the Cineforms files were actually color corrected in FirstLight and really didn't need to do the color correction, but wanted to keep it consistent.

Cineform Files - Software
Total Time- 3min 30sec
No Filter CPU Playback Quality - Yellow/Smooth
Export Time No Filters - 4min 17sec
Filter CPU Playback Quality - Red/Few Stutters
Filter List - Gaussian Blur(47), Sharpen(43), Fast Color Corrector, Tint(100), Noise(16)
Export Time Filters - 7min 17sec

Cineform Files - MPE
Total Time- 3min 30sec
No Filter CPU Playback Quality - Yellow/Smooth
Export Time No Filters - 4min 22sec
Filter CPU Playback Quality - Yellow/Smooth
Filter List - Gaussian Blur(47), Sharpen(43), Fast Color Corrector, Tint(100), Noise(16)
Export Time Filters - 4min 49sec

5D Mark II Files - Software
Total Time- 3min 30sec
No Filter CPU Playback Quality - Yellow/Smooth
Export Time No Filters - 3min 42sec
Filter CPU Playback Quality - Red/Few Stutters
Filter List - Gaussian Blur(47), Sharpen(43), Fast Color Corrector, Tint(100), Noise(16)
Export Time Filters - 6min 40sec

5D Mark II Files - MPE
Total Time- 3min 30sec
No Filter CPU Playback Quality - Yellow/Smooth
Export Time No Filters - 3min 40sec
Filter CPU Playback Quality - Yellow/Smooth
Filter List - Gaussian Blur(47), Sharpen(43), Fast Color Corrector, Tint(100), Noise(16)
Export Time Filters - 4min 17sec


Cineform Conclusions
No Filters - No Difference
Filters 34% less time using MPE (437sec vs 289sec)

5D Mark II Conclusions
No Filters - No Difference
Filters 36% less time using MPE (400sec vs 257sec)

[Brant Gajda]

Just for the fun of it, I ran the same thing through CS4. Prepare for the horrors!!!!

Cineform Files – CS4
Total Time- 3min 30sec
Filter CPU Playback Quality – RedStutters
Filter List – Gaussian Blur(47), Sharpen(43), Fast Color Corrector, Tint(100), Noise(16)
Export Time Filters – 15min 32sec

Cineform Conclusions

69% less time using CS5 MPE vs CS4 (289sec vs 932sec)

[David Dwyer]

Wow cheers Brant - Well the CS4 results we all were expecting that!

I really want the plugins for CS5 and then I'd buy a GTX 480 and use MPE. Theres no real point for me at the moment and I just want to cry knowing CS5 is that much faster but I can't use it.

[Brant Gajda]

You don't realize how horrible the export times are until you see the side by side comparison. I mean 69% faster!!!

As to Cineform, with these results, I'd do the upgrade on Premiere now!!!! It will only get better once we get the Cineform plugins.

[David Dwyer]

Me and CineForm arent getting on at the moment.

The plugins I meant are Magic Bullet/Borris FX

[Brant Gajda]

Ahhhh Gotcha. I have Magic Bullet Looks that I need to upgrade, but FirstLight pretty much has taken it's place.

[Brant Gajda]

Few more observations if anyone is interested:

1.) I put 6 layers of 5D Mark II video into the timeline with 0 filters. The bar was still yellow and played back smoothly.
2.) I then removed the top 3 layers and started with the bottom 3. I added 3 filters to each (Sharpen, Gaussian Blur, and Brightness/Contrast). Yellow Bar and Smooth Playback.
3.) I then added a clips 4-6 back in with no filters. Still yellow time line and smooth playback
4.) I then removed clips 5-6. Added on the Brightness/Contrast filter to the 4th video layer. Clip turns red/pretty much smooth playback with a few little blips. Nothing major. Interesting that the bar does not cover the entire 4th video layer length. This has to do with the bottom 3 layers all being at various lengths with the 3rd layer being the shortest. So the red bar on layer 4 only extends to the length of layer 3. Probably since the remaining length of layer 4 is now the 3rd layer of video allowed to have filters.
5.) I then added 2 more filters to layer 4 (3 effects total) and the playback is about as smooth as in #4. Pretty usable imo.
6.) If I add a 5th layer of video with 0 effects, the timeline actually goes back to yellow for the length of the 5th layer. Even with a 50% opacity on layer 5, it still plays back rather smooth.
7.) If I add a single effect to layer 5, timeline turns red again. Playback is a bit more choppy at this point.


Seems like 3 layers of video with effects will keep the timeline yellow. Adding a 4th video layer with effects turns the timeline red, but still useable. Odd part was adding a 5th layer with 0 effects on top turned the timeline back to yellow again.

So my guess is that Adobe is limiting the GTX series to 3 layers of video with effects. Probably has to do with not ticking off those that purchased the Quadro series cards.

[Craig Coston]

Brant,

You mention Cineform files. Are you running a new beta version on CS5? Did Cineform release their new software already?

[Brant Gajda]

Craig,

Sadly I'm still running Prospect 4HD. Supposedly with the new 5 series products, we are going to see really good improvement. Hopefully I can run the tests again with the new plug when available.

[Mitch Hunt]

Brant, do you notice any difference in quality between the CS4 and CS5 encodes? I did some quick tests a few days ago and noticed that the CS5 downscaling (HD to SD) quality is actually lower than CS4. I tried it with Maximum Render Quality both on and off.

I found that a good way to do these side by side comparisons is to create a new sequence that matches the rendered video, insert the videos on top of each other on the timeline, and use the track eye icon to toggle visibility of track two.

I would be interested to see if others are getting the same results I am.

[David Dwyer]

Brant is the MPE used if you export a CineForm fine to say Windows Media Video File?

3 min CFHD to WMV will take 4 hours in CS4 Full res/bitrate.

CFHD is 1440*1080 1.33
WMV is 1920*1080 1 with target rate of 10MB

[Brant Gajda]

Originally Posted by Mitch Hunt

Brant, do you notice any difference in quality between the CS4 and CS5 encodes? I did some quick tests a few days ago and noticed that the CS5 downscaling (HD to SD) quality is actually lower than CS4. I tried it with Maximum Render Quality both on and off.

I found that a good way to do these side by side comparisons is to create a new sequence that matches the rendered video, insert the videos on top of each other on the timeline, and use the track eye icon to toggle visibility of track two.

I would be interested to see if others are getting the same results I am.

Mitch, I haven't tried it. I normally export to 720p, but certainly could try doing some SD. Any particular codec used on the SD material?

Originally Posted by David Dwyer

Brant is the MPE used if you export a CineForm fine to say Windows Media Video File?

3 min CFHD to WMV will take 4 hours in CS4 Full res/bitrate.

CFHD is 1440*1080 1.33
WMV is 1920*1080 1 with target rate of 10MB

Normally I do h264, but I can try the WMV out for you.