Problems with encoding to H264 MP4

[ryjq]

I have an issue encoding to H264 MP4 using ME version 15 (2021). It does not completely encode the full video, while the rest of the video is just a frozen frame. Happens with all methods - dynamic linking or encoding a high res media directly on ME. 

Installed version 14.9 and it works fine.

Hope Adobe can look into an update soon to fix this. Thanks. 

[AGM157F]

I have the same problem too.

When I use the 2020 version of premiere pro / media encoder it crashed again ....

How can I usee the 14.9 version with premiere pro 2021 ?

Thank you in advance.

Hope Adobe can look into an update soon to fix this. Thanks. 

[ryjq]

Currently I'm doing a workaround. I'll export a high quality media, like a ProRes422 from AE or Premiere. Then import into Media Encoder 2020 to encode to H264. I'm not sure if this problem is only with Big Sur. Our other macs on older versions of OS don't seem to have this issue. 

[Ambra5E71]

No, isn't rely only on Big Sur (Mac), but affects Windows too. 

I hope Adobe will fix this asap.

[HolyStrokes.com]

this will never be fixed. pre-4K days, the .h264 encoder could keep everything in memory. and it's not literally a memory getting capped-out issue, it's that .h264 encoding, both hardware and software, require large swaths of the stream be open, and then it re-scans the whole thing (which is why it gets progressively slower). It re-processes the whole video because it is a temporal-spatial aware codec. there's just simply no way around it. I don't work for Adobe, but my day job is software engineering, and, trust me, use an intermediary non-streaming codec for output at 4K and 8K. 

[HolyStrokes.com]

BTW I have 192GB ram, which in theory should be plenty for this task...

[mattf70153714]

You're not alone. I'm also having the same issue and it only seems to be when encoding H.264, weirdly. 

I've been exporting out MOVs and then converting them to H.246 using ME 2020, annoying but it's a workaround!

[Geyer Media]

Same problem here.  iMac Pro running Catalina 10.15.7 with ME 15.1

H264 any preset or custom settings my exported videos freeze on the last 5 seconds or so.  Preview looks fine in ME while it's rendering.  Went back to ME 14.9 and it's fixed.

[defaultfk55esb1l66p]

I thought I was crazy, but know I know why rendering in h.264 didn't work. Even with a workaround exporting in MOV and then converting to mp4 in ME 15 didn't work.
Finding this conversation gave me the solution to go back to the older version and that helped! So thanks a lot!
But I hope that Above will fix this soon! 

[AGM157F]

Hi, in V15.1 the problem is solved (at least I do not experience the problem anymore), in the playback and making a selection on the timeline I notice a small delay between selection and starting playback, but still acceptable I think. So, try it and the batch problems of V14.9 and h.264 problems of V15.0 are past for you too. I also tried scene detection with a rather long ( > 1 hour) video; that did not crash (thank you ADOBE) , takes some time, but that is understandable / acceptable.

[matthiaso13588982]

Did anyone find a fix to this? i have the same problen on 15.4.

[Geyer Media]

I've determined it only occurs when I render to our NAS.  I can render to internal or external drives just fine.  We have another iMac that does the same thing.  However, our Macbook Pro has never experienced this problem.

[matthiaso13588982]

thanks!

that seems to work. I will try it on different projects.

[matthiaso13588982]

I tried saving the same file with the same setting to my harddrive and to the server.

Harddrive works fine, Server does not.

The annoying thing is that it this only occurred after we updated all our computers to the newest CC Version. 

Now we can ether us some Workaround or downgrade all our software.

[mattaithiew]

Thank you Geyer Media. This problem has been a constant annoyance to me for several months. I even spent 3 hours on the phone with adobe once trying to track down the source of the problem. I honestly coudln't even find anyone else having the same problem because google has turned into a terrible search engine. I ony found this thread when i searched the same terms in Bing. 

Your solution worked for me. I never would have thought it had anything to do with where i was rendering.  Thanks.

[ryjq]

you are right! h264 won't work if encoding directly to NAS, even if the source file is from the NAS. still the same for ME2022. thanks!

[Warren Heaton]

What is the source footage?

Are you encoding to H264 from an editing CODEC (ProRes, DNxHD, Cineform, Uncompressed RGB 8-bit, AVC-Intra, XDCAM)?

Or are you encoding to H264 from something that's not an editng CODEC (H264/H264, MPEG1, MPEG2, etc.)?  And if so, is it low-bit rate?

[Geyer Media]

ProRes seems to work fine.  We shoot with a GH5 and the h264 files don't work.  XDCAM files don't work.  PSD, JPG, PNG have the same problem.

[Warren Heaton]

With a GH5, I'd use one of the MOV/MP4 4:2:2 10-bit record modes and transcode those camera originals to ProRes (HQ for broadcast/cable, LT for social media/web).

[AGM157F]

Hi Warren,

I use the recording (H.264 medium) from blackmagic hyperdeck mini in Adobe Premiere Pro.

This recording can be played without problem (also with FileLoupe).

However, when doing some minimal processing I queue the result to Media express, h.264 medium (3 Mbits/s) .

 

When finished (eg VHS tapes of 2, 3,4,6 hours) the sound is gone after some time when played back with FileLoupe or QuickTime. If I use VLC as video player, the sound is ok.

If you want more information / testing, pleasee let me know.

[Warren Heaton]

AGM175F:

 There HyperDeck user guide reads, "You may decide to experiment to see which format best suits your workflow."

It may seem great that the Mini offers H264, but you may have noticed that none of the Studio models do.

You could try the H264 High setting, but I would switch to ProRes422 Proxy.

I would only use the H264 for capture and playback only (no editing).  Or H264 High for capture and transcode to ProRes422 LT for editing.

[AGM157F]

Thank you for your advice, so I should record with ProRes Proxy, edit in Premiere Pro en encode in ME to H.264 medium for the end result (clients)?

Kind Regards,

Sander

[Warren Heaton]

Yes.

And in Premiere Pro, create a Sequence from your ProRes Proxy clip and double-check the Sequence settings to make sure that the Video Previews are also set to QuickTime ProRes Proxy.

Then you're good to go.

[AGM157F]

Thank you for this valuable contribution!

[TB1923]

And the time is december 2022, Adobe Media encoder is still problematic wwith h264 encoding. Fİrst I tought that warp stabilization and video effects cause problem. Tried to encode to mov format and it suceeded then I tried to ceonvert mov file to h264, but failed without any fault message. It says encoding is OK but file is 1kB and crap.