Export from Premiere with Neo Scene

[Brian Stewart]

Hi, I've just purchased Neo Scene, and the capture and editing of my project have worked flawlessly. However, now I'm trying to render out a sequence from Premiere Pro (CS2/2.0) to work with in After Effects, and I'm not sure how to go about it. I saw one post on these forums that said to not use the Media Encoder - but to use the File::Export Movie command, and to pick the Cineform setting for the File Type - however I do not seem to have that preset with Neo Scene. I'm assuming I have to use the Microsoft DV AVI setting, and then choose Cineform under the Video Settings tab (which I am able to do). However, my audio is all 48KHz, and MS DV does not support 48KHz for anything but uncompressed audio, so I'd like to make sure I'm doing this right. I tried exporting as Quicktime, but I could not see a Cineform codec listed for the Quicktime (nor did I expect to really, I'm pretty sure Neo Scene is AVI-only). Any suggestions as to how I can stay on the "happy path" would be appreciated!

[David Newman]

Use File -> Export -> Movie

Settings use "Microsoft AVI" (not DV)
Under Video use "CineForm HD Codec V4.5.x"
Audio should be 48000Hz uncompressed.

[Brian Stewart]

Thanks! I assume when I go to export from After Effects, I will choose Video for Windows, and then the Cineform Codec...

[David Newman]

That is correct.

[Brian Stewart]

I sure appreciate the help - this site is great.

[Robin Davies-Rollinson]

David, I just tried that export option myself and I get a warning message that I don't have the Cineform HD codec, even though I've bought Neo Scene and am happily converting my AVCHD files with it....

[David Newman]

What does the warning say? If you tried any of our other software, or install NEO Player over Neo Scene it is it possible to have a working conversion tool yet somehow no license for Video For Windows encoding (not common.) You may need contact support at cineform.com/support.

[Robin Davies-Rollinson]

David, I did install Neo Player over Neo Scene.
The message says: Not licensed for Cineform HD encoding. Please visit www. Cineform.com to purchase your upgrade.

[David Newman]

uninstall neo player, reinstall Neo Scene.

[Robin Davies-Rollinson]

David, many thanks once again. All done and dusted and now working properly!

[Brian Stewart]

I have been using Cineform-encoded files with no problems in both Adobe Premiere and After Effects. However, last night I, without thinking much about it, rendered out a final version of a clip using the Cineform codec, for consumption in Adobe Encore. When I loaded the clip into Encore - it just showed up as black. It wasn't a big deal for me, I just re-encoded it as DV, which is what Encore really needed anyway - but I was curious as to whether Encore is supposed to work with the Cineform codec or not.

[David Newman]

Encore also needs the CineForm importer also, then it should work fine. If you want quality DVD need use DV compression (particular for NTSC output.) NTSC DV uses 4:1:1 chroma, whereas DVD uses 4:2:0, when you mix the two you get half the color resolution in your DVD output (4:1:0 effective = yuk.)

For DVD creation of the best quality. Export to 1080p HD CineForm AVI first. Then resize that AVI to SD as a CineForm files, then encode that to MPEG2 for DVD. See related blog post here : CineForm Insider: Mastering 24p DVDs from HD using Premiere Pro.

[Brian Stewart]

Thanks for the very informative link David. I do have a couple of questions though:

1) Is the Cineform importer for Encore installed with Neo Scene? Is it something I need to do myself? Any other ideas as to why the video is black in Encore? I did render it out as 720x480, 30p, with the Cineform Codec in high-quality mode...or at least I thought that's what I was doing. :-)

2) My master is 720p (edited from 1080p original footage) because I don't really need the full 1080 resolution or the "film look" of 24p for my content. I would assume this process would also work for a 1280x720, 30p master, and everything you said about not using the AME export from the master (if spatial filters are involved) would also apply to me. Is this correct? Just export it at 1280x720 from Premiere, then import that and re-export it using the DV setting for the AME, correct?

3) I am using CS2. Was your comment about CS3+ due to a lack of support for 24p in CS2, or is there something else that won't work?

4) I am somewhat familiar with colorspaces, but I didn't quite follow your recommendations for not losing chroma resolution... You said to use DV compression (4:1:1), but I don't see how I can do anything about Encore changing it to 4:2:0 for the DVD. I'm sure it's a lack of understanding on my part - links or references to further reading will be cheerfully accepted!

Thanks!

[David Newman]

1) Not sure. You may need to inquire with support.

2) Down-res's in Premiere can cause issues if you are not careful, it applies to 720p from 1080p as it does for SD outputs from HD.

3) CS2 support 24p also.

4) 4:1:1 SD means you have 180x480 chroma, 4:2:0 means you have 360x240 chroma. If you convert from 4:1:1 SD sources to 4:2:0 MPEG for DVD, you get a maximum chroma resolution of 180x240 -- which is pretty poor (the worst of 4:1:1 and 4:2:0 combined.)