Thread: Retaining quality.

Hey guys, brand new here, jumped off a train that departed from Google.

I've asked this question before on another forums but got ignored (I'm guessing it was because no one knew).

Anyway,

I am filming with a Panasonic TM200 AVCHD Cam. I film in 1920 x 1080. I use Premiere Pro CS4 to edit on Windows 7 64Bit. My PC is running a Q6600 (Quad 2.4GHZ), 4GB DDR2 RAM and some other bits and bobs.

My issue is that I have yet to figure out how to retain the fluidity and smoothness in a raw .MTS file. When playing a raw .MTS file in Panasonic's packaged software (HD Writer) and in Media Player 12 it is really smooth. As soon as I bring it in to Premiere Pro CS4, it's as if the framerate suddenly drops (still within decent viewing quality, but just a significant drop from the raw file.) Here is what I have tried to retain the framerate smoothness:

Purchasing a mistake, AKA as CineForm Neo Scene, Voltaic HD, exporting to multiple different codecs and using a multitude of free HD converters - all seem to convert fine except none of them keep the original smooth framerate.

The raw .MTS files detail that they are 25FPS and throughout the converting/editing/exporting process I am told it stays at 25FPS, but I have a feeling I am being lied to.

Have I hit a brick wall here? Will I only be able to keep the soft, smooth framerate of the raw files if I keep them as raw files? I can upload an .MTS clip vs it's converted (so called lossless) .AVI version if that will help.

Thanks guys!

Well, I have figured out the problem here if anyone is interested.

I have ditched Premiere Pro CS4 for now and have picked up Sony Vegas 9 Pro (trial). Exporting in a Quicktime container with MPEG-4 codec using 60FPS and 100% quality get's me an identical output from the raw .MTS files.

Just trying different audio outputs and different quality settings to try and find the sweet spot between quality and size.

Drawback is that it takes quite a while to render/export.

Rii.

Your two posts seems to be at cross purposes. When you mentioned CS4 (in your first post), you were talking about how the video looks in the preview monitor. In your second, you talked about how the video looked on export from Vegas. The two are very different things. So, a few questions:

• In CS4, what colour (if any) is the bar above the timeline. If it is red or yellow, you have chosen an incorrect project setting and the video will not preview properly.
• Did you try and export video from CS4, and if so, what settings did you use?

Hi Marc,

Sorry to be confusing, but it was the finished, exported product that I was having issues with (even though the preview window showed the same issue).

I matched the project settings exactly with the settings of the raw footage, CS4 has a few pre-made AVCHD profiles made to prevent incorrect project settings.

I have tried exporting the footage in MANY formats from CS4 (h.264, h.264 Blu Ray, MPEG-4, etc).

I have now found a format that works, but I can't get the same results when using that format in CS4, so I am happy with using Vegas.

Cheers.

So, for you, CS4 did not give you the performance you wanted to edit AVCHD, but Vegas Pro did? It would help (for reference) to know:

What version of CS4 you were using (i.e. what updates you had applied). You can do this by going help > about.
WHat version of Vegas Pro you were using (including the letter after the version numbet - this is important).

Just to add to what Marc said, are you exporting the videos from both programs at identical bit rates, and field order, it just seems stange to me that you are having problems with CS4 as it has a very good encoder in the MainConcept codec that it uses for h264.

Bryan

Originally Posted by Rii

Hey guys, brand new here, jumped off a train that departed from Google.

I've asked this question before on another forums but got ignored (I'm guessing it was because no one knew).

Anyway,

I am filming with a Panasonic TM200 AVCHD Cam. I film in 1920 x 1080. I use Premiere Pro CS4 to edit on Windows 7 64Bit. My PC is running a Q6600 (Quad 2.4GHZ), 4GB DDR2 RAM and some other bits and bobs.

My issue is that I have yet to figure out how to retain the fluidity and smoothness in a raw .MTS file. When playing a raw .MTS file in Panasonic's packaged software (HD Writer) and in Media Player 12 it is really smooth. As soon as I bring it in to Premiere Pro CS4, it's as if the framerate suddenly drops (still within decent viewing quality, but just a significant drop from the raw file.) Here is what I have tried to retain the framerate smoothness:

Purchasing a mistake, AKA as CineForm Neo Scene, Voltaic HD, exporting to multiple different codecs and using a multitude of free HD converters - all seem to convert fine except none of them keep the original smooth framerate.

The raw .MTS files detail that they are 25FPS and throughout the converting/editing/exporting process I am told it stays at 25FPS, but I have a feeling I am being lied to.

Have I hit a brick wall here? Will I only be able to keep the soft, smooth framerate of the raw files if I keep them as raw files? I can upload an .MTS clip vs it's converted (so called lossless) .AVI version if that will help.

Thanks guys!

I am having the EXACT same problem with CS4 4.2.1. The raw footage is in FANTASTIC quality but once imported into premiere the source/program windows are both darker as well as the quality has gone to shit. Going to shit meaning I can see frame bits in the backgrounds and it looks like a VHS clip instead of high quality HD video. I set both windows to high quality and I imported the clips using the same format I shot in which is AVCHD 720 24fps. I have the same camera as the original poster. I am not switching programs... there has to be a solution to this. Can anyone explain?! AHHH!

Hi, My HF10 uses much the same bit-rate as yours so if I give you my settings for CS4 it might help, I use the "H264 Blue-ray" preset and select the "HDTV 1080i 25 High Quality" setting.
Set the audio to "Dolby Digital".

These settings are single pass VBR upper field first. "not progressive" as I view them on a TV using a WD TV HD Media Player.

Set the Target Bitrate (Mbps) to around 17Mbps.
Set the Maximum Bitrate (Mbps) to around 18Mbps.
and because I was getting misplace frames occasionally on video from our Kayak which has a lot of movement, I went into "Advanced Settings" and selected the "Macroblock Adaptive Frame-Field Coding" and "Set Key Frame Distance" (Frames)18, I was grabbing at straws but it did seem to help, but would not be necessary for most video.

On the computer I view my videos using Zoom Player which is free-ware and has a setting that allows me to deinterlace the video and get away from the combing effect you sometimes get on pans with interlace video.

These setting would not work for Frost271 as I think 720 24fps is Progressive but not sure on that.

My computer is an Intel Core 2 Duo 3Ghz 2GB ram. XP.

Bryan