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landrvr1
Participating Frequently
June 8, 2018
Answered

Best workflow for editing mp4 footage

  • June 8, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 8228 views

I've read a lot of threads on this, but many of them are just way over my head.  I use PrPro and AE on a regular basis, but always with individual png frames created in Max/Vray.  Never had to worry about using footage from other sources.

I have a number of mp4 files that I need to edit and then re-export, but I'm clueless as to what the most efficient workflow would be?  Do you somehow 'unwrap' the mp4 clips, then edit?  Any assistance would be appreciated!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer SAFEHARBOR11

    It won't let me manually enter in a frame rate - only the drop down preset rates! 


    Okay, I see what you mean there! You could Interpret Footage as 24fps and edit/export as 24fps. Would change the speed a bit.

    May take some experimentation to find best workflow

    1 reply

    Jeff Bugbee
    Community Expert
    Jeff BugbeeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 8, 2018

    Premiere and AE should be able to handle any mp4 file natively. Just import them, add to your timeline, and edit! Your workflow will depend on what exactly you need to do but there's no need to unwrap anything.

    L
    landrvr1Author
    Participating Frequently
    June 8, 2018

    Ah, okay.  Tnx!  The quality goes down noticeably when I export with the same settings in order to keep the file size close to the original.  No way around that, I guess!

    Jeff Bugbee
    Community Expert
    Jeff BugbeeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 8, 2018

    Here's the info for the original clip - which is a conversion of raw Super8mm footage using the Wolverine MovieMaker Pro unit.  There are no other export options offered, so stuck with this:

    Format                                   : MPEG-4

    Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 2

    Codec ID                                 : mp42 (isom/avc1/mp42)

    File size                                : 202 MiB

    Duration                                 : 2 min 50 s

    Overall bit rate                         : 9 936 kb/s

    Movie_More                               : CarDV-TURNKEY

    Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-01-01 03:08:05

    Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-01-01 03:08:05

    Origin                                   : NVT-IM

    Video

    ID                                       : 1

    Format                                   : AVC

    Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec

    Format profile                           : High@L4.1

    Format settings                          : CABAC / 1 Ref Frames

    Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes

    Format settings, RefFrames               : 1 frame

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

    Codec ID                                 : avc1

    Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding

    Duration                                 : 2 min 50 s

    Bit rate                                 : 9 830 kb/s

    Width                                    : 1 440 pixels

    Height                                   : 1 080 pixels

    Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3

    Frame rate mode                          : Constant

    Frame rate                               : 20.000 FPS

    Color space                              : YUV

    Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0

    Bit depth                                : 8 bits

    Scan type                                : Progressive

    Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.316

    Stream size                              : 199 MiB (99%)

    Language                                 : English

    Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-01-01 03:08:05

    Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-01-01 03:08:05

    I'm exporting at h.264, using the match source-high bitrate Preset.  That gives me a VBR 1pass, with a target of 10Mbps and Max of 12.

    Here's the details on my exported clip - which has been trimmed in length:

    Complete name                            : D:\0088_2.mp4

    Format                                   : MPEG-4

    Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 2

    Codec ID                                 : mp42 (mp42/mp41)

    File size                                : 48.1 MiB

    Duration                                 : 40 s 165 ms

    Overall bit rate                         : 10.0 Mb/s

    Encoded date                             : UTC 2018-06-08 17:02:04

    Tagged date                              : UTC 2018-06-08 17:02:05

    TIM                                      : 00;00;00;00

    TSC                                      : 24000

    TSZ                                      : 1001

    Video

    ID                                       : 1

    Format                                   : AVC

    Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec

    Format profile                           : Main@L4.1

    Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames

    Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes

    Format settings, RefFrames               : 4 frames

    Codec ID                                 : avc1

    Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding

    Duration                                 : 40 s 165 ms

    Bit rate                                 : 10.0 Mb/s

    Width                                    : 1 440 pixels

    Height                                   : 1 080 pixels

    Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3

    Frame rate mode                          : Constant

    Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS

    Standard                                 : NTSC

    Color space                              : YUV

    Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0

    Bit depth                                : 8 bits

    Scan type                                : Progressive

    Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.269

    Stream size                              : 48.1 MiB (100%)

    Language                                 : English

    Encoded date                             : UTC 2018-06-08 17:02:04

    Tagged date                              : UTC 2018-06-08 17:02:04

    Color range                              : Limited

    Color primaries                          : BT.709

    Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709

    Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

    The quality of export is noticeably degraded.  I'm sure that I'm not doing something correct, lol.  I see I didn't match my fps, but it's close.


    Let me know if you need any other info.


    Can you upload a sample of one of the 20fps clips? That is an extraordinary non-standard frame rate.

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