Bitrate settings ignored

[StefanG.]

Hello,

I am trying to encode lowres samples and set the bitrate to 0.4 mbit/s

AME ignores it and uses about 1.3 mbit/s instead.

Anyone know what's up with that?

Thx!

[StefanG.]

how? why? what kind of wizardry is that?

[Jeff Bugbee]

From my experience, it seems there is a minimum bitrate AME can render to and it is dependent on the source video. Some files may let you export at .4mpbs, but some may come out higher. Instead of errorring out, AME exports it as low as the file allows which may be higher than the bitrate you chose.

[StefanG.]

I used to (and still do) use Carbon Coder, I have no issue there to set the bitrate to 400kbit for the same source files.

So if AME "decides" my files should have a higher bitrate than I want, it is definitely a bug.

It's a pity, i wanted to use AME to replace Carbon Coder because that one is not being updated anymore (and Sorenson is no alternative either cause it can't work with file shortcuts) but I run into so many issues with AME...

Which should be embarassing for Adobe considering the size of the company and the money they make.

Not mentioning the fact that as a paying customer you get completely ignored here.

[Jeff Bugbee]

I just tried exporting several 30 sec clips using your settings and I was able to get them to ~500 kbps. Can you give any more details on the files you are exporting?

[StefanG.]

it's not just this file (and while all my files are HD, the formats and frame rates differ) - but here's the media info on one of them:

General

ID                             : 0 (0x0)

Format                         : BDAV

Format/Info                    : Blu-ray Video

File size                      : 1.33 GiB

Duration                       : 7 min 8 s

Overall bit rate mode          : Variable

Overall bit rate               : 26.5 Mb/s

Maximum Overall bit rate       : 28.0 Mb/s

Video

ID                             : 4113 (0x1011)

Menu ID                        : 1 (0x1)

Format                         : AVC

Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile                 : High@L4.2

Format settings, CABAC         : Yes

Format settings, RefFrames     : 2 frames

Format settings, GOP           : M=1, N=15

Codec ID                       : 27

Duration                       : 7 min 8 s

Bit rate mode                  : Variable

Bit rate                       : 25.2 Mb/s

Maximum bit rate               : 26.0 Mb/s

Width                          : 1 920 pixels

Height                         : 1 080 pixels

Display aspect ratio           : 16:9

Frame rate                     : 59.940 (60000/1001) FPS

Color space                    : YUV

Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0

Bit depth                      : 8 bits

Scan type                      : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 0.203

Stream size                    : 1.26 GiB (95%)

Audio

ID                             : 4352 (0x1100)

Menu ID                        : 1 (0x1)

Format                         : AC-3

Format/Info                    : Audio Coding 3

Format settings, Endianness    : Big

Codec ID                       : 129

Duration                       : 7 min 8 s

Bit rate mode                  : Constant

Bit rate                       : 256 kb/s

Channel(s)                     : 2 channels

Channel positions              : Front: L R

Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz

Frame rate                     : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)

Bit depth                      : 16 bits

Compression mode               : Lossy

Stream size                    : 13.1 MiB (1%)

Service kind                   : Complete Main

Text

ID                             : 4608 (0x1200)

Menu ID                        : 1 (0x1)

Format                         : PGS

Codec ID                       : 144

Duration                       : 7 min 8 s

[Jeff Bugbee · Accepted solution]

Can you try these encoding settings?

[StefanG.]

That did the trick - it's the hardware vs. software encoding that makes the difference.

when i switch back to hardware encoding (and leave the rest unchanged), i end up with 1.4 mbit again

so thank you - still means there is a bug, right?

[Jeff Bugbee]

Interesting. I'm not sure it would quality as a bug, per say, as hardware vs software encoding are two different methods of encoding. Depending on your processor, you may get even more different results. utilizing an Intel CPU with QuickSync is still fairly new.

At least we've resolved your issue for the moment!

[StefanG.]

well - ignoring my settings and me only noticing after doing a bunch of videos and wondering why the files are so large is a bug in my books.

but thanks again - at least I know now what to pay attention to in the future.

So if Adobe now please could add Fade In/Out to the effects...

[Sebastian5CCC]

Thank you for this threat! I came across this issue as well. Client needed a set of videos to fall between a very specific bitrate and when using Hardware encoding, which is what i have been using as default never changed it, it would yes render faster but would also not obey the bit rate setting i had set up. Weather it was constant or variable, the output video had a low bitrate chosen on its own. After switching to software encoding that did the trick but like you it took me a while to find out what the issue was 😕