Codec confusion!

Given the recent discussions on codec I thought I would upload a couple of clips in H.264 as that is what the Canon 7D shoots.

Put the file into AE for grading and then set it to export in H.264 at 48mb/s as that is what the camera shoots at. I have checked and it is 48mb/s CBR (constant bit rate).

However the finished file is 21.4MB for a 20sec file so just over 1MB/s or 8Mb/s??????????????

Tried with Photojpeg and the same 20 sec clip comes out as 81.3MB so around 32Mb/s.

The orignal file is 25secs and is 140MB.

Must be doing something wrong - anyone got any bright ideas?

I do not have a canon 7D but my h.264 camera records at 24 mbs VBR. I do not know the original quality or compresion setting of the camera file. In CS4 or in streamclip I set it for . MOV h.264 100% quality and I get a file of 20 seconds of about 80 megabytes. If I switch to Pjpg at 88% quality I end up with a +/- 300 mb file. Your ending mov/h.264 file should be at least 1.5 times bigger than mine. You can see my file sizes in this bin: h.264 bin

Inspecting the h.264 file in Quictime-->window-->show movie inspector it reads an average data rate of about 40 mbits/sec If I inspect a pjpg file I get an average data rate of about 135 mbits/sec of the same clip.

Do not upload files to P5 with the MP4 extension. The system automatically flags an alert on these files. The system adds the letters mp4 to the end of the title. Just search MP4 and you will see what I mean. Upload as mov/h.264 and your files will not be flagged. I guess that P5 flags MP4 files because that is the file extension used by inexpensive cameras and smart phones, although expensive NIKONs record MP4 files.

I have seen similar, like I said in the other thread, h.264 looks like crap if not done absolutely right. I also do not know exactly what is right in Premier Pro CS5 of AE CS5. Problem is many other agency will still not accept the h.264.

I think uploading H.264 was meant as a codec when you upload direct from camera without any cc or adjustment in any software but I maybe wrong?

BTW - I use a Cinestyle picture profil from Technicolor when I shoot with the 7D to get a better dynamic range. Then cc and adjust before I upload as Pjpeg as Luxor explains. Never tried to upload as H.264

Don, every codec looks like crap if not done absolutely right.

I agree, most of us have learned by trial and error on MJPEG and PJPEG, maybe someone can save a lot of learning by posting the Premier Pro CS5 and AE CS5 settings. I only tried a couple a year ago and was very unhappy. I guess practice makes perfect.

Still PJPEG like many have said is a standard accepted everywhere and until h.264 becomes as widely accepted it just does not make sense to change yet. The must do is server processing to various codec and formats.

@phantomewo

As you stated, you only "tried a couple a year ago".... maybe you need to run a few more tests and do a little more "practicing" ..... as many individuals have over the years in their quest to 'find the right recipe' when it comes to encoding / transcoding.

Seems like it's in everyone's own interest to have their own workflow tweaked to the best they can.... which initially comes from endless hours of testing along with trial and error.

Don't know if it helps, but normally agencies who accept H.264 insist that the quality is set to 100 percent. It's the only codec as far as I know that works this way. PhotoJpeg etc. behave differently at 100 percent. Try it with the best of everything turned on and see what it comes out like.

Is it not the case that h264 is an "intelligent" codec?
(More exactly an efficient codec.)
If your clip contains small amounts of detail and little change between frames then there is no need for it to use an overhead of say 48mbits when 26mbits does the job (averaged over the clip).

H264 is not appropriate as an intermediate format. It is just widely used as native camera format because it holds enough color info + it's not heavy. Pond5 accepts native camera H264. However if you are using editing soft I recommend Pro res or dnxhd as the export codecs.
Let me know in case of any other questions