QT H264 export

[antonsvideo]

when exporting from Edius timeline using PC3 to QT H264 900kbps 512x288 for webserver, the result looks badly compressed
http://www.videoproductions.com.au/temp/PC3-H264.mov

when exporting Edius timeline to uncompressed or DV avi, then using Quicktime player to do the same conversion, the result is excellent
http://www.videoproductions.com.au/temp/QT71-H264.mov

anyone know the reason?

[STORMDAVE]

Did you do 2pass in PC3?

[THoff]

Try the settings outlined here:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=759673&postcount=7

[antonsvideo]

Try the settings outlined here:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=759673&postcount=7

I did exactly as outlined using PC Express and the result is even worse

must be something wrong with my PC

even standalone PC3 produces unusable QT with H264

[antonsvideo]

Did you do 2pass in PC3?

my PC3 does not have dual pass when exporting QT

[THoff]

If you use the settings from my link, it should do multi-pass encoding -- in my experience typically six or seven. At 640x360 @ 600Kbps, I get very nice results.

Before I started using a "QuickTime Export File" target and then the "QuickTime Movie" exporter, I too was getting poor quality results with alot of macroblocking.

[antonsvideo]

the settings from your link don't use ProCoder3, are you aware of that?

[antonsvideo]

I found the multipass setting in PC3 and it did 5 passes (it made up its own mind about the number of passes), I never found an option to select how many passes I wanted, this would be time consuming with a longer project?

the result looks better but not near as good the single pass done by QT7.1 player

try QT7.1 for yourself and you will see the difference

[STORMDAVE]

The Maximum QT7 has for passes is 2...I use QT7 all the time. I think PC3 has issues with H264. You NEED to use 2pass to yield good results, or else it's not even worth using H264.

[antonsvideo]

I just exported the same section of Edius timeline to uncompressed RGB

then I used QT player 7.1 to convert to H264

the result is great
www.videoproductions.com.au/temp/un.mov

PC3 would require 4 times higher bitrate to achieve the same, so from now on, I use the player as my converter, no big deal

[THoff]

the settings from your link don't use ProCoder3, are you aware of that?Yes, I wrote that up before the release of PC3 when people were wondering how to get decent H.264 out of Edius 4 with PCE. I still use the same settings with PC3, having created a preset for it (it's attached).

You do not get to choose "2-pass" or any other specific number of passes with this approach. By setting the Compressor Quality to "High" ("Best" is only available from inside the QT Player, blame Apple), you are telling QT to make as many passes as it deems necessary -- that's why I said earlier that I typically see six or seven passes, but this is something that QT decides, not your or me. It also means any progress estimates are useless because PC3 assumes that QT will make 100 passes.

Please try extracting the preset from the attached file and put it in your C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Grass Valley\ProCoder 3\User Presets directory, then encode your video using the preset (you'll find it under "User"). You'll have to adjust the dimensions and increase the bitrate a little to match what you used in the "un.mov" example, but you should get very similar results.

[shueardm]

PC3 would require 4 times higher bitrate to achieve the same, so from now on, I use the player as my converter, no big deal

Personally I think it is a big deal. Here's just another limitation and another instance where we are forced to use another tool.

[antonsvideo]

I tried your user preset, it does 4 passes upon clicking convert, but it fails to create a file

I changed the path from your Z drive to my S drive, when it says conversion finished, there is no file in my S drive

maybe PC3 does not like importing user presets from other users?

[antonsvideo]

I was able to recreate what you did from scratch in PC3 by modifying this preset
http://www.videoproductions.com.au/procoder3/QT1.gif
http://www.videoproductions.com.au/procoder3/QT2.gif

[THoff]

Yeah, sorry about that drive Z: thingy -- I guess it doesn't make sense for everyone!

The problem with not using a QuickTime container is that I don't think you can stream it, if that matters. I have also on occasion had a problem with the file not appearing in the output directory, for some reason it doesn't always get moved from the Procoder temp directory. When that happens, the file (with a temporary name) will reside in the directory specified in Options -> Transcoding Settings -> Conversion Options -> Temp, all you need to do is copy and rename it.

[antonsvideo]

I think this is a bug

it happens too often that after encoding, the files are not placed in the destination folder

thanks for the tip on the temp folder

note: I never select streaming, always webserver download, in my opinion this is 1000% better than streaming, because a user can watch the file a second time without stutter

when streaming, the file is not downloaded to temp folder and as a result, you can experience lots of stutter when internet traffic is congested

I think streaming should be killed off

[THoff]

I think this is a bug

it happens too often that after encoding, the files are not placed in the destination folderI have only experienced this with QuickTime targets and I'm not sure if this is in Procoder or QuickTime. Have you had this problem with any targets other than QuickTime?

[STORMDAVE]

The problem with not using a QuickTime container is that I don't think you can stream it, if that matters.

I have .mp4 files on my sites and share it with clients with no problem. The QuickTime player streams it correctly, so .mov is not really required.

[antonsvideo]

I have only experienced this with QuickTime targets and I'm not sure if this is in Procoder or QuickTime. Have you had this problem with any targets other than QuickTime?

I have only experienced this problem with QuickTime, it has to be a ProCoder problem if it fails to move files from temp folder to destination folder, also, the resulting filename in temp folder is incorrect