Step-by-step MPEG Streamclip

[Erwin Layaoen]

I have a PC and need to convert my 7D 24p (and 30p) files to an avi to avoid stuttering in Premiere Pro when editing. I'm not doing it right somehow on mpeg streamclip. Can someone post a step by step on how to do this? I would really appreciate it. Thanks

[Perrone Ford]

MPeg Streamclip is not an effective tool to create AVI files. And yes, I know it has options there for AVI.

[Erwin Layaoen]

or what do you recommend to what i should convert it to using mpeg streamclip for editing purposes on premiere pro and avoid stuttering?

[Perrone Ford]

I wish I had the answer for you. Others seem to find Cineform ideal, but it's not a free option. I am unaware of how Premiere handles quicktime (.mov) files. If it does handle them well, then there are some very good options to be had.

[Mauricio DelaOrta]

The answer to your question is here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eo...-workflow.html

and here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eo...ttering-4.html

Cheers!

Mauricio

[Derek Reich]

As Mauricio pointed out.... this is a topic of wide interest and has been generating a lot of comments.
I recently purchased my own 7D, and was dismayed by the stuttering seen when simply playing the quicktime files (either from the flash card or from a hard drive)
I have been waiting for the 'official' word from a Canon tech I have been in touch with, however this is what I believe to be the situation as I understand it now:

The .mov files which come out of the 7D and 5DMKII are not intended to be viewed or edited without conversion. Apparently, while the files carry the '.mov' designation, they are not 'regular' quicktime files and do not play well with quicktime or other playback apps or NLE apps. This is something I have heard repeatedly, so it does seem to be the case... however I have been somewhat surprised that even simple playback will result in stuttering.

I'm on a mac, so I cannot speak to what transcode choices work best for PCs, but for macs it seems ProRes in compressor is the way to go. When I hear back from my contact at Canon, I may have more to share here.

[Chuck Spaulding]

This really doesn't have anything to do with Canon.

the .mov on a Mac is simply a wrapper. In the case of the 7D files it wraps H.264 to make it a quicktime. But if your computer is fast enough and configured correctly you can play those files fine directly from the CF card.

The same is true for .avi on the PC, it is a wrapper that can also contain a myriad of codecs.

So chances are if you can't playback the files smoothly then your computer is either too slow, configured incorrectly or both.

I'm using a first generation Intel MacPro 266 MHz with a Radeon HD3870. H.264 is very "graphics" intensive, the faster your graphics card and the more VRAM the better.

[Derek Reich]

Hi, Chuck
I have heard this, too.... however on several mac platforms I have been unable to playback the files without transcoding them. (too much stutter) My personal computer is a MBP 2.6GHz, which I would have thought was plenty fast just to playback the quicktime files, but obviously something's not clicking. Also, a client's edit station reported the same issue, but I don't know what their configuration is there. They're editing daily for a major network and I assume it's plenty powerful and up to date.
When you mention 'configured incorrectly', what are you referring to?

[Brian Luce]

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

MPeg Streamclip is not an effective tool to create AVI files. And yes, I know it has options there for AVI.

Why so? Is it a speed or quality issue?

[Mauricio DelaOrta]

It's actually pretty fast. At least in a PC it does the work of transcoding fairly well. On a Mac on the other hand, AVI is not very well supported.

If for any reason you don't like mpegstreamclip and are not planning on buying Cineform (which has it's own high quality codec) there are a couple of other options like tmpgencode.

However after trying a couple of them, I would still pick the software in the following order: 1. Cineform, 2. Mpegstreamclip. 3. something else (maybe mpgencode).

Cheers!

Mauricio

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

Why so? Is it a speed or quality issue?

Because it cannot access all the myriad of codecs. Especially the high quality ones. They simply don't show up as options in Mpeg Streamclip. Rather distressing too, because I prefer to do my batch transcodes in that program.

So unless you want to transcode to uncompressed, there really isn't a good quality AVI option to be had.

[Erwin Layaoen]

So frustrating. Before I surrender and purchase cineform neoscene, I want to give Mpgeg streamclip another try with your help. I am using a PC. Here's the process I am doing. The purpose for the file would be for Vimeo/You tube/Web use.

In Mpeg streamclip
= open canon .mov HD 24p file from 7D
= File, Export to Quicktime, dialog box opens
Compression: AVID DNxHD Codec
Color levels: 709
Quality 100%
1920x1080 (16:9)
Interlaced Scaling checked
Field Dominance: Upper field First
Rotation: No
Zoom: 100
= Make Movie

After transcode process is done, I then grab file into CS3 Adobe Premiere Pro. Much better but still with very slight stutter which I can work with. I make my edits then proceed with render process:

In Premiere Pro
= File, Export, Movie
= Settings?
This is where I'm not sure what to select in General, Video, Keyframe and Rendering, and Audio settings as final movie file. Please help.

thanks

[Perrone Ford]

Oh dear goodness...

Ok, in Mpeg Streamclip,

Open 7D file

File, Export to Quicktime

Choose Avid DNxHD.

Click Options button

Color levels RGB

Click the tiny sliver of a box at the bottom of the window (this is a bug). It will allow you to select the bit rate for DNxHD. Select 1080/24p DNxHD 175 10-bit. Or select 1080/24p 115 8-bit. Experiment with both.

Hover over the Uncompressed selection and the OK button will appear. This is another bug. Click OK.

Set quality to 100%

Uncheck Interlaced Scaling

Select 1920x1080 unscaled

Click "Make Movie"


Once you are done in Premiere with your edits, you need to render. I am not familiar with your version of premiere but in general, when going to Youtube or Vimeo, you will want:

1280x1080 video. You shot 24p so upload 24p
Audio is 48KHz 16bit, and bit rate should be 192Kbps
Video Bitrate should be about 5Mbps.
Video Codec should be mpeg4/h.264

Originally Posted by Erwin Layaoen

So frustrating. Before I surrender and purchase cineform neoscene, I want to give Mpgeg streamclip another try with your help. I am using a PC. Here's the process I am doing. The purpose for the file would be for Vimeo/You tube/Web use.

In Mpeg streamclip
= open canon .mov HD 24p file from 7D
= File, Export to Quicktime, dialog box opens
Compression: AVID DNxHD Codec
Color levels: 709
Quality 100%
1920x1080 (16:9)
Interlaced Scaling checked
Field Dominance: Upper field First
Rotation: No
Zoom: 100
= Make Movie

After transcode process is done, I then grab file into CS3 Adobe Premiere Pro. Much better but still with very slight stutter which I can work with. I make my edits then proceed with render process:

In Premiere Pro
= File, Export, Movie
= Settings?
This is where I'm not sure what to select in General, Video, Keyframe and Rendering, and Audio settings as final movie file. Please help.

thanks

[Erwin Layaoen]

thanks perrone!
looks like the bug was a problem and was auto selecting the wrong settings. your instructions was very helpful. the stuttering significantly improved but still present and workable. not at 100% smooth, but around 90% which is way better than before.

the problem now is after rendering it's not widescreen (black space on sides). on rendering, i selected quicktime, mpeg4, D1/DV NTSC widescreen.

Update:
on render, selecting D1/DV NTSC (0.9) 8:5 makes it widescreen (black bands on top/bottom) and looks like the original. Square Pixels removes the black bands overall.

[Perrone Ford]

Curious...

Select 1080/24p DNxHD 36 and see if that stutters in Premiere... wondering if it's a quicktime issue, or a bitrate/cpu issue.