Premiere pro and workflow question

Hi guys,

I use premiere pro for editing and exporting my files...

Workflow...
1 - Capture from DV player into premiere
2 - Slice and dice my clips
3 - Export to ".mov"

Now... These are my export setting... curator mentioned that this might not be the best quality. I'd like some feedback on better settings from the curator or anyone else who might like to add something... I want to get good at this, and your feedback will help.

My current settings:
1 - extension = .mov
2 - File type = Quick Time
3 - Compression = Photo JPEG
4 - Color Depth = Millions of colors
5 - Frame Size = 720 h by 480 v 4:3
6 - Pixal Aspect Ratio = D1/DV NTSC (0.9)

now... if you give me a suggestion, please include the "why"... I like to understand what I'm doing.

Thanks a million for your feedback!

Regards
Nelson Cardoso

Everything looks good, except for the compression type (codec). Instead of photojpeg, you should be using the DV codec.

This is because the footage was recorded using the DV codec, so if you output in DV there should be no quality degradation between what was recorded on tape and the clip you are outputting. If you convert to a different codec, like PhotoJPEG, there will always be some quality loss.

To be sure, it's always a good idea to re-import your clips into your NLE and check them for quality (ideally using a broadcast monitor) before uploading.

Thanks a million... I thought that might be the one thing to change.

Ok... tried the suggestion but it doesn't seem to be better. Can I get some more help?

These are my options when click down on the compressor dropdown:

Planar RGB
Intel Indeo Video 4.4
Sorenson Video
Sorenson Video 3
BMP
Cinepak
DV/DVCPRO - NTSC
DV - PAL
DVCPRO - PAL
H.261
H.263
Photo - JPEG
Motion JPEG A
Motion JPEG B
MPEG-4 Video
PNG
None
Animation
Video
Graphics
TGA
TIFF
Component Video

I was using Photo - JPEG before... curator suggested outputting in DV... so the only option I see that looks like his suggestion is "DV/DVCPRO - NTSC"... I tried that and the quality is worse... I output the same clip with both options as a test... "Photo - JPEG" gave me a 153 MB file and "DV/DVCPRO - NTSC" gave me a 63 MB file... and noticably lower in quality.

Am I missing something? Perhaps a codec? Do I need to buy something? I'll hold off submitting clips until I get a response... I want them to be good quality.

Thanks a million!

Nelson Cardoso

Premiere (and a few others on PC) has a problem with the DV Codec in Quicktime. Quality is horrible. Here's the solution:

Export them as AVIs with DV codec. Then use MPEG Streamclip (Link was posted in numerous threads here) to batch convert them to Quicktime MOVs with Apple DV codec. It's quick and easy and both quality and file size stay the same.

Hmm. Yes, DV/DVCPRO - NTSC is correct (assuming your material is NTSC).

A couple things:
• make sure the quality setting is at 100%
• the "recompress" option should NOT be selected

Give that a try and let us know how it goes.

Or go for Varius' option, using the "save as" (not "export") function from Streamclip.

Which can be downloaded http://www.squared5.com/.

:)

Thanks for all the feedback...

I'd never heard of "Streamclip"... but I'll give it a shot.

Will it render better results then my current "Photo JPEG" settings?

Thanks
Nelson

If I use really good quality, my clip sizes are big, some are around the 900 mb, is this too large? And do I need to lower the quality then? But I think it's a pity when the quality is not on his best.
Thanks,
JiP

Hi Jip,

I would start a new topic with this one... it's a good question and some may miss it since my question was more or less answered already.

Thanks... take care.
Nelson