Where to encode...Premiere, AME, or Encore? at DVinfo.net

Patrick Janka · July 6th, 2011, 08:59 PM

I have been struggling with this issue for a long time. I have great HD footage from HDV and AVCHD...then I try to make a DVD, and the quality is atrocious. I've tried all sorts of settings. I try to get the disc to just about 4.7GB of data so I maximize quality. I use "Maximum Render Quality". Anyhow, does anyone have the definitive guide on how to get the best quality DVD's from HD footage? How is it commercial films I have on DVD look excellent, but mine look like handicam footage? Also, is it best to do my encoding in Premiere, AME, or Encore for best results? Does it matter? Thanks!!

Peter Manojlovic · July 7th, 2011, 12:10 AM

Patrick....

The downconverting issues are usually related to people who are filming in interlaced HD..
This is a problem for Adobe...
There is a definitive guide, but it requires third party programs, and is quite combersome.

Issues of proper deinterlacing, and PAR changes are something that Adobe doesn't seem to realize, or concern itself with...

Bart Walczak · July 7th, 2011, 01:12 AM

Interesting, our experience is opposite, but we're using XDCAM EX, 1080i. The downconversion is really good except from a few places where there are thin diagonal, high contrast lines in the picture. Then we need to apply blur to these clips to get a decent anti-aliasing.

Patrick Janka · July 7th, 2011, 11:24 AM

Do I HAVE to encode to mpeg-2 for dvd? Can I encode to mpeg-4/mp4 instead for better results?

Randall Leong · July 7th, 2011, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick Janka

Do I HAVE to encode to mpeg-2 for dvd? Can I encode to mpeg-4/mp4 instead for better results?

Yes, you have to encode to MPEG-2. MPEG-4/MP4 video burned directly to DVD will not be playable at all on most standalone DVD players. Besides, if you encode to MPEG-4/MP4, the DVD authoring software will transcode that to MPEG-2 before being burned onto DVD - and any additional transcodes from one lossy format to another will further degrade the image quality of the video.

Ann Bens · July 7th, 2011, 12:37 PM

Deleted.
Deleted.

Ken Hall · July 13th, 2011, 08:37 AM

Patrick,

I am still using CS4 but from what I can gather CS5 is not much better. I have spent many hours playing around with the Adobe programs and they all seem to be as bad as each other. I have tried to understand some of the highly technical postings on this subject on this forum and all over the internet. Failed to understand but ended up using Virtual Dub, avi synth etc. mainly following the Jeff Bellune tutorials. Good results but a lot of hassle. I recently followed some posts of Ron Evans concerning TMPGEnc mastering 5 and at last I am getting an excellent result without all of the work. I am exporting out of premiere pro as a Lagarith avi and then into TMPGenc 5. Out of TMPGenc 5 using its dvd preset and then burning with Encore.
TMPGenc 5 is available as a 2 week trial with some overprinting.
Thank you Ron Evans for your suggestions.

I hope this helps

Ken

Justin Molush · July 13th, 2011, 08:52 AM

Just to throw my 2 cents in the ring...

I have recently started shooting with an interlaced frame rate camcorder for misc things at work and I find that if I simply convert the 1080i to 1080p footage with Media Encoder prior to editing, it actually does a good job of eliminating all the interlaced artifacts, granted I change the settings to the right ones. Done this on two projects and haven't really had a problem.

And what kind of bad quality are you talking here? Chunky H264 style compression artifacts, flickering, what?

David Beisner · July 22nd, 2011, 10:03 AM

I've used all three and haven't really had any issues with any of them... It's obviously not HD, but it does look pretty good on my DVDs.

One trick in Encore is to go into the preferences menu and tell it to transcode using AME and then you'll get your transcodes done in 64-bit instead of Encore's 32-bit (may not be an issue in 5.5... I don't remember if Encore got upped to 64 bit yet). I've found that doing my final encodes in PrPro has actually be faster than using AME, but not by a whole lot.

If you're trying to get as close as possible to your 4.7GB, then you're best off sending it to Encore by Dynamic Link and letting Encore handle the transcode (but again, set it to use AME's engines for 64-bit performance) as it will get it as close as possible while, if you do it yourself, you have to employ a good deal of math (Premiere's export size "guesses" suck and are NEVER even close to right).

July 6th, 2011, 08:59 PM	#1
Patrick Janka Major Player Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 623	Where to encode...Premiere, AME, or Encore? I have been struggling with this issue for a long time. I have great HD footage from HDV and AVCHD...then I try to make a DVD, and the quality is atrocious. I've tried all sorts of settings. I try to get the disc to just about 4.7GB of data so I maximize quality. I use "Maximum Render Quality". Anyhow, does anyone have the definitive guide on how to get the best quality DVD's from HD footage? How is it commercial films I have on DVD look excellent, but mine look like handicam footage? Also, is it best to do my encoding in Premiere, AME, or Encore for best results? Does it matter? Thanks!!

July 7th, 2011, 12:10 AM	#2
Peter Manojlovic Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hamilton Ontario Posts: 769	Re: Where to encode...Premiere, AME, or Encore? Patrick.... The downconverting issues are usually related to people who are filming in interlaced HD.. This is a problem for Adobe... There is a definitive guide, but it requires third party programs, and is quite combersome. Issues of proper deinterlacing, and PAR changes are something that Adobe doesn't seem to realize, or concern itself with...

July 7th, 2011, 01:12 AM	#3
Bart Walczak Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Warsaw/Poland Posts: 716	Re: Where to encode...Premiere, AME, or Encore? Interesting, our experience is opposite, but we're using XDCAM EX, 1080i. The downconversion is really good except from a few places where there are thin diagonal, high contrast lines in the picture. Then we need to apply blur to these clips to get a decent anti-aliasing. __________________ Creative Impatience - The Solace of Simple Solutions. A few useful plugins for Adobe users, and my remarks on the tools and the craft in general.

July 7th, 2011, 11:24 AM	#4
Patrick Janka Major Player Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 623	Re: Where to encode...Premiere, AME, or Encore? Do I HAVE to encode to mpeg-2 for dvd? Can I encode to mpeg-4/mp4 instead for better results?

July 7th, 2011, 12:37 PM	#6
Ann Bens Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 710	Re: Where to encode...Premiere, AME, or Encore? Deleted. Deleted. Last edited by Ann Bens; July 7th, 2011 at 02:43 PM.

July 13th, 2011, 08:37 AM	#7
Ken Hall New Boot Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Chigwell UK Posts: 10	Re: Where to encode...Premiere, AME, or Encore? Patrick, I am still using CS4 but from what I can gather CS5 is not much better. I have spent many hours playing around with the Adobe programs and they all seem to be as bad as each other. I have tried to understand some of the highly technical postings on this subject on this forum and all over the internet. Failed to understand but ended up using Virtual Dub, avi synth etc. mainly following the Jeff Bellune tutorials. Good results but a lot of hassle. I recently followed some posts of Ron Evans concerning TMPGEnc mastering 5 and at last I am getting an excellent result without all of the work. I am exporting out of premiere pro as a Lagarith avi and then into TMPGenc 5. Out of TMPGenc 5 using its dvd preset and then burning with Encore. TMPGenc 5 is available as a 2 week trial with some overprinting. Thank you Ron Evans for your suggestions. I hope this helps Ken

July 13th, 2011, 08:52 AM	#8
Justin Molush Major Player Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Montreal Posts: 388	Re: Where to encode...Premiere, AME, or Encore? Just to throw my 2 cents in the ring... I have recently started shooting with an interlaced frame rate camcorder for misc things at work and I find that if I simply convert the 1080i to 1080p footage with Media Encoder prior to editing, it actually does a good job of eliminating all the interlaced artifacts, granted I change the settings to the right ones. Done this on two projects and haven't really had a problem. And what kind of bad quality are you talking here? Chunky H264 style compression artifacts, flickering, what?

July 22nd, 2011, 10:03 AM	#9
David Beisner Major Player Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Dayton, TN (USA) Posts: 219	Re: Where to encode...Premiere, AME, or Encore? I've used all three and haven't really had any issues with any of them... It's obviously not HD, but it does look pretty good on my DVDs. One trick in Encore is to go into the preferences menu and tell it to transcode using AME and then you'll get your transcodes done in 64-bit instead of Encore's 32-bit (may not be an issue in 5.5... I don't remember if Encore got upped to 64 bit yet). I've found that doing my final encodes in PrPro has actually be faster than using AME, but not by a whole lot. If you're trying to get as close as possible to your 4.7GB, then you're best off sending it to Encore by Dynamic Link and letting Encore handle the transcode (but again, set it to use AME's engines for 64-bit performance) as it will get it as close as possible while, if you do it yourself, you have to employ a good deal of math (Premiere's export size "guesses" suck and are NEVER even close to right). __________________ David Beisner Media Specialist, Bryan College, Dayton, TN -- www.bryan.edu