MediaCoder for Premiere CS5.5

[meRobs]

[Updated 21 Nov 2012]

Adobe Premiere Pro is an NLE video editor and Adobe claims that Premiere CS5.5 will support the importation of many file formats, such as, DV-AVI, FLV, M2T, M2TS, MPEG4, MOV, MP4, MPEG2, VOB WMV, etc. Certainly, it readily captures DV-AVI material from capture cards, such as the Canopus ADVC-110 that I use for analogue sources (TV, etc). It is also reportedly good at accessing video cameras.

However, there are many other sources of audio/video material, many of which are not supported, and even some formats that Adobe claims to support may fail to import. For example, Premiere CS5.5 refused to import the FLV container with video as AVC and audio as AAC or with video as Sorenson Spark and, even though it is supposed to support FLV files with video as VP6, one file in the three I tried failed to have its audio stream accepted!

Hence, there will often be the need to first convert files in MediaCoder before accessing Premiere.

The situation as it applies to Adobe Premiere CS3 is discussed in the Guide: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9488. Here there are recommendations for DVDs and Blu-ray discs and for the former, MPEG4/AVI was the preferred choice. However, when I first tried files that I had previously converted to MPEG4/AVI for use in CS3, they failed in Premiere CS5.5 – the audio stream was not accepted (would not conform).
So, I decided to re-examine the question and come up with format combinations in MediaCoder that are reliably accepted in Premiere CS5.5.

Section 1. Tests

Initially, I fed the results of the eight suggestions from the Encoding Guide (viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9643) into Premiere CS5.5. The FLV and MKV files created in MediaCoder failed to import, the AVI based on MPEG4 imported but, in most cases, its audio failed to conform and Xvid in AVI imported but its audio (stereo at 44.1 kHz) was faulty: it was seen as mono at 11.05 kHz! This is so whether Xvid is encoded by FFmpeg or Xvidcore. However, see Note at the end of this guide.

I then discovered that some MPEG4/AVI files worked in Premiere CS5.5 when the audio was at 48 kHz, rather than 44.1 KHz (CS3 will accept either). Also, Premiere CS5.5 seems very tolerant to the parameters of H.264 video (also called AVC) in MP4. So, finally, I settled on the following settings for further investigation.

MPEG4/AVI
Video: ABR at 3000 kbps, MPEG4 via FFmpeg (B-frames= 0, GOP= 12) & Source= MEncoder.
Audio: MP2 via FFmpeg at 128 kbps and 48 kHz with Source = Auto
Container = AVI with Muxer disabled
Picture: 720x576 at 25 fps, Colour Space= I420, Aspect Ratio= Keep DAR, Crop= Expand to Fit and
De-interlace = Disabled for Progressive source files and Enabled as Cubic otherwise.

MPEG2/MPEG2
Video: ABR at 3000 kbps, MPEG2 via FFmpeg (B-frames= 0, GOP= 12) & Source= MEncoder.
Audio: AC3 via FFmpeg at 160 kbps and 48 kHz with Source = Auto
Container = MPEG2 with Muxer disabled
Picture: 720x576 at 25 fps, Colour Space= I420, Aspect Ratio= Keep DAR, Crop= Expand to Fit and
De-interlace = Disabled for Progressive source files and Enabled as Cubic otherwise.

AVC/MP4
Video: ABR at 3000 kbps, H.264 via x264 & Source= MEncoder.
Profile= Main, Level 3.0, Preset= Very Fast with 3 B-Frames and 2 Ref Frames
Audio: LC-AAC via Nero at 128 kbps and 48 kHz with Source = Auto
Container = MP4 with Muxer = Auto Select
Picture: 720x576 at 25 fps, Colour Space= I420, Aspect Ratio= Keep DAR, Crop= Expand to Fit and
De-interlace = Disabled for Progressive source files and Enabled as Cubic otherwise.

WMV8/ASF
Since WMV-9 and WMA9.2 are not reliably available in MediaCoder (see: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11103), I shall use WMV-8, etc.
Video: ABR at 3000 kbps, MWV 8 via FFmpeg (B-frames= 0, GOP= 12) & Source= MEncoder.
Audio: ADPCM via FFmpeg at 160 kbps and 48 kHz with Source = Auto
Container = ASF with Muxer disabled
Picture: 720x576 at 25 fps, Colour Space= I420, Aspect Ratio= Keep DAR, Crop= Expand to Fit and
De-interlace = Disabled for Progressive source files and Enabled as Cubic otherwise.

I applied the above 4 formats to a number of downloaded FLV and MP4 files, an 88-min NTSC MPEG2 file created using Add Track in MediaCoder from a PAL DVD and two VOB files in PAL. One VOB was in 4:3 and the other, 16:9.

Section 2. Results

All test files converted correctly in MediaCoder build 5230 for each of the above four format options.

The MPEG4/AVI files created from the test files gave mixed results in Premiere CS5.5. They all imported quickly but for some of the files, their audio streams were not accepted (did not conform), yet, there were fewer failures than with 44.1 kHz. Moreover, the results were strange. Success seemed dependent on the type of source file, as if the resultant MPEG4/AVI files had a ‘memory’ of the originals! The other difficulty, though relatively minor, is that the Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR) set in MediaCoder is not transferred to Premiere. Regardless of the display aspect ratio of the source files or whether MediaCoder has Set Display AR = 4:3 or 16:9, Premiere CS5.5 saw all files as having a PAR of 1.094 (4:3) and needs to have it changed using Modify > Interpret Footage.

On the other hand, the MPEG2/MPEG2 files had their PAR values correctly interpreted by Premiere. All converted test files imported successfully with conformed audio. The only (slight) drawback is that the files needed to be indexed by Premiere, creating an XMP index file, which caused a delay before the imported files could be accessed.

The AVC/MP4 files also imported successfully. They imported quickly with correct PAR values and their audio streams conformed and played. However, with the default GOP set on the x264 tab (25~250), scrubbing in the Premiere timeline was sluggish.On the other hand, when the conversions were done with GOP = 12~12, scrubbing was smooth and quick. This was the best-behaved option.

The WMV/ASF files represent the other extreme. They not only imported into CS5.5 with an incorrect PAR, equal to 1.0 in every case, but they took longer to import. The “Import File” popup for larger files, of more than ~20 min in duration, often displayed “Not Responding” and Premiere acted as if crashed. However, eventually importation did complete. Another limitation with WMV is that Adobe claims to support it only for the Windows OS.

3. Conclusion

The clear winner is the AVC/MP4 option.

This option worked for source files of FLV (video as Sorenson, VP6 or AVC), MP4, VOB and material extracted from a DVD into MPEG2, using Add Track in MediaCoder.
Moreover, as a check that it could have a wider range of use, I applied it to eight files created using the eight suggestions in the Encoding Guide (viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9643) and a direct conversion from DVD to AVC/MP4 via Add Track for two DVDs. All conversions worked in MediaCoder 5230 and were fully accepted by Premiere CS5.5.

The MPEG2 option would also work, but with a minor drawback (above). However, being an older, less efficient Codec, the video quality is likely to be lower than for the more recent H.264 (AVC). This was later found to be so, see Note below.

Thus, for resolutions comparable to DVDs, I recommend (see also the Note, below):
* Video tab: Average bitrate of 3000 kbps, the H.264 format via the x264 encoder and MEncoder as source. On the x264 tab: Profile= Main, Level 3.0, Preset= Very Fast with 2 B-Frames, 2 Ref Frames, GOP = 12~12 and all else at defaults. The video bitrate may be reduced if required.
* Audio tab: LC-AAC via Nero at 160 kbps and 48 kHz with Source = Auto Select
* Container = MP4 with Muxer = Auto Select
* Picture tab: 720x576 at 25 fps, or the equivalent for NTSC, Colour Space= I420, Aspect Ratio= Keep DAR and Crop= Expand to Fit. The choice for De-interlace depends on your needs. I suggest it be set at Auto, if you can trust MediaCoder to decide as you would. Otherwise, set it as ‘Disabled’ for Progressive source files or ‘Enabled’ as Linear Blend if the source is interlaced and you want progressive.

I did a quick check in builds 5235 and 5236 and the AVC/MP4 settings worked.

More recently, I checked in the x64 builds 5290 to 5298 and found that all worked as above. However, the Add Track function failed to write the correct Pixel Aspect Ratio to the file header, and in Premiere it had to be changed appropriately. See: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=12311.
Also, the above settings worked well in build 5392 (x64).

Note: a more recent study, looking at video quality (see: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11978) demonstrated that MPEG2 is not a good choice for Premiere CS5.5; and that both H.264/MP4, above, and Xvid/AVI are excellent choices. Note that Xvid was not considered above because of the audio – a problem that was overcome in the more recent study. The main difference is a practical one: H.264/MP4 is 5 times faster at the same bitrate yet Xvid/AVI may be done at a slightly lower bitrate for the same quality.

[meRobs]

Folks, I am sure that my Guides such as that above must have faults or need some improvements.

So please help others who use the guides by offering suggestions, point out any errors or simply complain about my approach.

Just add a new Topic.
Thanks