What are the best render settings for 8-bit 4:2:0 100 Mbps 4K video?

[maryd56518346]

I'm shooting stock video on a Panasonic GH5 at 8-bit 4:2:0 4K. (Yes, I know I can shoot at 10-bit 4:2:2 at 150 Mbps, but I have reasons for using the lower-quality setting.) These 4K files are nominally recorded at 100 Mbps, but the typical data rate is 91 to 95 Mbps.

There are many times when I need to bring clips into Premiere, make adjustments (such as deleting sound, removing shake, straightening, etc.), then rendering it out for upload to a stock video site -- including Adobe Stock. I have been selecting 2-pass VBR, Render at Maximum Depth and Use Maximum Render Quality, then I set the Target Bitrate to 95 and the Maximum Bitrate to 98. Keep in mind that the purpose of these clips is to upload to stock video sites. I generally to not use these clips in my own productions, and if I did, I would use the originals.

What settings should I use to maintain the highest quality for these stock video clips? Does it really makes sense to go to ProRes?

Thanks!

Bob

[Kristian Gabriel]

What file format/codec have you been using? First off, Render at Maximum Depth most likely is not necessary in your case as you are only dealing with 8-Bit files. The argument of selecting this and exporting your files in a 10-Bit or higher format is another point that can be discussed, but selecting Max Render Depth isn't necessary and may increase encode time. Most of the companies I've worked with for stock used Quicktime (Photo-JPEG)  and maxed out the QUALITY SETTINGS or even an H.264 @ 100 Mbps or most of the time lower. Once again maintaining usually would require a codec that would achieve a minimum of 100 Mbps or higher. A codec like Prores LT could easily handle that or Prores 422 if you wanted to exceed that mark.  

TARGET DATA RATES

Apple ProRes 422 LT is approximately 102 Mbps at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps.

Apple ProRes 422 is approximately 147 Mbps at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps

Cineform is about 235 Mbps from what I understand and is closer to Prores 4444 (might be overkill)

DNxHD 100/115/145 @ 8-Bit+ (Keep it in the SQ class of codecs for 145 Mbps or lower)

[Averdahl]

Cineform is about 235 Mbps from what I understand and is closer to Prores 4444 (might be overkill)

Worth mention is that one have a Quality slider for all CineForm exports. I get  48.4 Mbps when set to 1 (Low) for 1920x1080 25 fps and 124.3 Mbps when set to 5 (Film Scan 2). I started with the GoPro CineForm YUV 10-bit-Preset. I get even larger files if i use any of the 12-bit Presets.

Point being, CineForm is not using only one fixed bitrate for every export. The end user have lot´s of control over the export and file sizes when using CineForm as a export codec. 🙂

[maryd56518346]

I use the codec that is in the Panasonic GH5, which is MP4 (H.264), and the stock companies have no problem accepting it. I try to shoot stock clips so that I can upload the file directly from the SD card, but I sometimes forget to block the audio -- stock sites generally don't want audio on the clips, especially if there are voices, music or anything otherwise recognizable. The only way I know of to strip audio from a MP4 file is to run it through editing software, and that's where I want to maintain maximum quality for the video.

Most of what I shoot is 4K/29.97, but I do a little HD (1920x1080 29.97 fps).

It would be nice if Premiere could strip out the bits associated with the audio and not touch the remaining (visual) bits. But I guess that is a little too much to ask for. 🙂

Thanks for the tips.

Bob

[Warren Heaton]

The native CODEC of the Panasonic GH5 is meant for a 1st generation file with high image quality.

It's not meant for the recompression that is inherent to video editing.  To be technical about it, MP4 lacks a deep peak signal noise ratio (PSNR).  ProRes, however, has deep PSNR (HQ) to shallow (Proxy).

So, it is highly recommended that you transcode your 1st generation cameras originals to ProRes or another mezanine CODEC that's good for editing.

[maryd56518346]

Thanks for that explanation... I appreciate the technical info.

I often upload videos to YouTube, and those have been H.264. I generally tell Premiere to limit the bitrate to 50 Mbps, but what settings to you recommend for YouTube uploads?

Bob

[R Neil Haugen]

Max depth is only useful when you don't have a GPU and need 10 bit or better output.

Max Render Quality is only useful for major resizing IF you're getting jaggies on your diagonals.

For everything else Kristian covers it beautifully.

Neil

[Warren Heaton]

Yes, go ProRes.

[R Neil Haugen]

Mary,

What you're looking for might be in a re-muxing app. They work with H.264 to cut at the nearest i-frames to avoid re-encodes. And I think some can strip audio also

Neil

[maryd56518346]

Thanks, Neil. I assume that a "re-muxing app" is not a function provided in Premiere. My Panasonic cameras came with software called PhotoFunStudio, which I think has the ability to trim clips without re-encoding, although that is not completely clear. However, PhotoFunStudio is awkward to use -- Premiere is easier/smoother.

Can you suggest any other software that will do re-muxing (or trimming to retain the existing GOP structure)?

Thanks!

Bob (Mary is my wife and she's the one with the Adobe account)

[R Neil Haugen]

Bob,

I've only used one once a few years back and it's not even loaded on my current machine.

Do a net search for muxing and remuxing apps. There's a number of free ones, mostvwith a community of users.

Neil