Exporting/Encoding with CS4 for Modern Cellphones & Platforms

[D18S]

Hi,

I'm completeing a Video that was done on CS4 Premiere Pro and being encoded via Adobe Media Encoder (the corresponding version).

Long story short, I have to complete it on THAT Computer (with Windows 7, that has that specific Adobe software).  (All futurre Videos are going to be on newer software and computer).

My questions are (as I Really need the help Please):

1.  Does that system (CS4) allow the ratio to be 9:16 (for Cell phones of today)?

2.  If so, where/how?

3.  If not, I had been using a "Custom" Preset (at the top) for "NTSC DV High Quality" with H.264 using 4:3 (720 x 480) and now I need to convert it for YouTube, TikTok (and cellphones vertically).  How would I do this please?

4.  I saw that "square pixels" is an option.  Is this 1:1 (does it mean 1:1, for TikTok)?

5.  I also saw that (at the top, under Presets) there is "HDTV 1080p 24 High Quality" or "HDTV 1080p 25 High Quality" (presets) that I'm assuming may offer higher quality.  Do you recommend using that, quality wise, over the Cusotm Preset of "NTSC DV High Quality"?

Thank you very much!

[D18S]

Adding these Screenshots (in case it helps)

[Sven S]

Hello D18S, asking for a "Phone" in CS4 is really a special case. So it sounds more to me, that it is about the correct export settings, right? So the newer Smartphones should all be able to play a normal .mp4 file. For older (Smart)phones there was as special Muxing type: 3GPP to ensure the correct playback. In general you can take a normal Full HD preset (1920x1080 = 16/9). It depends on the filesize you want generate and the quality it should look like. From your Source it looks like you have NTSC as 720x480. If you set the aspect ratio to 16:9 it will just stretch the pixel and everything looks broad to fill the missing pixel space. (E.g. the feeling of watching old movies on a todays broad screen with no black bars). If you want to cut off some footage when you can the output size to 720x405 (720/16*9 = 405) and clip or set the stretch to fill option in the output preview. For modern devices they took nearly every mp4 format and try to display it on the device as best as possible. 
For the upload case, you can export it as is (NTSC) and the upload destination will normally translate it internally on the destination service. The general question is if you want to avoid black bars, then you have to do some stuff before. You need to decide if you want to stretch the content or clip it to fit into a 16:9 scene. If you really want to do 9:16, you need to clip or position this too in the different order. At the end I would strongly point to the current Release or Beta version of PPro/AME to do this. AME has rotation and a switch sizes, what makes it easier to set it up. Old projects should be able to be open in the current versions too, with possible conversion issue. Hope that helps.

[D18S]

Thank you Sven

Definitely a special case!  I understood much of what you wrote (as in what it means(, but some of it I'm not sure of.  I'm very good at editing/mixing/producing but when it comes to frame ratios and such matters, I'm still (VERY) "learning".  And I do get that widescreen and horizontal = 16:9; and Cellphone "regular upright view" and vertical = 9:16 (or 1080 x 1920).

My assumption is that Yes, it would be about the export settings.  One person also suggeted I may want to adjust the "Sequence settings" (and creating a new sequence setting), but I (agreeing with you) immediately thought of the export settings.  The current NTSC as 720x480 settings that I have are from a user (back in 2010) who suggested those settings for YouTube (back then).  And I have edited with it and viewed it as such ever since.

I cannot cut any footage as all of it is necessary.  I also don't care so much about having any (small) black borders (as horizontally, the 4:3 version that I did export using the screenshot settings above, is nearly filling the screen) both on a computer and on a cellphone turned sideways (where it "auto flips"), however vertically of course, it is only using (filling) about half of the screen on current mobile phones.  And I would like for it to fit more, if easily possible (for their enjoyment).  (So I will need it at 9:16 as well).

My main thing is that I have worked Very hard to get everything PERFECTLY where I want it (in the mix) and it is literally READY to be exported (the way I want it).  I simply have to accomodate for the current viewing habits and devices.  And I would like to do this in the easiest (yet Best, of course) way possible PLEASE!

So in your expert opinion, how would I do this BEST (and easily), hopefully without having to resize things manually and take even longer!?

(I believe when I did a test of changing the export setting in the current "custom preset" (displayed above), and changed it to 16:9, it DID appear to "cut off" some footage, on the sides).  And the system it is all on is an older PC using Windows 7 (Pentium D, I think.  I also have a 2019 MacBook Pro (32G RAM, with I9) but that is a different OS and I only have Premiere currently on the older PC.  And editing everything as I said Perfectly the way I want it on CS4.

You wrote, "It depends on the filesize you want generate and the quality it should look like".  As long as it looks Great and it an acceptable file size for the platform it is going on, I'm Good.

Thank you Very much for your help!

[Sven S]

Still I would suggest to use a newer version of AME, on the other hand I understand your current workflow to stick with CS4. A lot of stuff had changed since this version, especially a "Match video (source)" for some options that would definitive help you to get the best result. So here some general guidance I can give, hoping it helps you to get your best result.

• Try to match the source with the output settings in all essential parameters: width/height, fps, field order. E.g. if you start with a sequence that is in NTSC (w:720, h:480) try to match this to have a 1:1 pixel matching. Having a different output size results in an (up) scaling and you could loss some sharpens by this. Starting with a preset that matches your source size is a good start. When you modify any parameter you will have a "Custom" preset.
• H.264 quality: A general guidance is the "level" value, if you are not sure. Here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Video_Coding#Levels you have some example of video size/framerate and Max bitrate. For your output to NTSC Level 3/3.1 would be good, if you want to upscale your output to HD, Level 3.1/3.2 is good. For Full HD. Level 4++ is a good set.
• H.264 Max Bitrate: You can reduce this or set as you like. Lower value will reduce the filesize on the cost of qualtiy, higher values have better quality but can increase the file size. Depending on the footage and export size your 6 MBps is fine, if you have a very soft color gradient over the full screen and do not want to see some block artefacts us a higher one. As an example: Full HD Broadcast is around 16 MBps, Bluray Discs up to 50 MBps
• Uploading for YouTube: Normally YouTube or other services takes (nearly) everything and doing there magic behind to provide the best output on the connected device and resolution. So uploading your best quality for your source and let them do the automatically finetuning for their service. 
• For Mobile devices: The newer devices normally scale the footage depending on the user settings. 16:9 - 9:16 is a common size and no additional scaling happen, but you cannot guaranty this. So it is up to you if you will place it into this bigger export size or not. Everything what is not fitting, normally the device will do it.
• Scaling: If you want to change the output size, (I hope this options is already in CS4) in the output preview you can set Scale to Fit / Scale to Fill / Stretch to Fill. With this you can possible get ride of black borders or possible change the scaling to fit/fill it correctly
• Pixel Aspect Ratio: I would suggest to take what your source sequence has. Otherwise it is more like a stretch, so e.g. 16:9 stretch the original pixel to this. A 1:1 is a real pixel. In the past, the bandwidth and filesize should be really small so there are a lot of implementation in MPEG to have a good quality with a minimum of storage/file size. In todays time, with the high network bandwidth, a normal 1:1 pixel aspect with a progress field order (always a full frame) is common. But as said, best is to take your source sequence settings and let the service later decide how to optimise this for the correct device.

Hope that helps you to get your desired output.

[D18S]

And of course, I'm Hoping that it is easily done, simply in adjusting the export settings as you suggested (but we'll see what you think).  Thank you!