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JonesVid
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JonesVidCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 6, 2020
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How to Make the Best Quality Video Master from Premiere Timeline

  • May 6, 2020
  • 3 respuestas
  • 1391 visualizaciones

I've been looking through various threads on this subject about optimising Preview Files to speed up Exporting from a PP Timeline etc (eg the Larry Jordan article) but I need some direction on the best way forward for my situation.

I'm not using very high end servers, so processing needs to be taken into account etc.

The editing platform is i9 9900K based locked all cores at 5GHz. 64GB Memory DDR4 3200Mhz. RTX 1070 GPU with latest Intel QuickSync drivers working OK, so its no slouch.

NVMe 1TB project disc/Preview files for fast access.

I'm learning as I go along as have not really bothered with generating a video master before and just exported each H264 or H265 format off the pp timeline every time

Now want to use a Master file workflow.

Looking at the Codecs I can use with Custom settings (note timeline consists of a mix of H264/AVCHD material mostly 1920x1080p  at 50fps. The are some .mov formats from my GH5 for slo mo 120fps.

Today iFrame Mpeg is selected for Previews so I never use existing Previews at Export, always re-render the whole thing on export. That slows it up.

To speed things up what is really the best choice to go for - to have very high quality previews pre stored?.

Articles talk about Apple Pro Res 422/422HQ/422LT or DNxHR/DNxHD - but I have no experience of using these codecs.

I'm not too worried about Master file final size as I have lots of storage space available.

Also what do I select as the Export Media Codec - one to match the previews I assume.

I then intend to produce distribution versions using either AME or Handbrake. (I'll look at quality from both to see which performs best).

Could I get some advice on how to approach this and recommended Codec to use. I'm a serious hobbyist so not exchanging files with other Editing houses !.

I'm also about to start my first 4K big project from video shot in Vietnam/Cambodia and want to start off on the best foot with that. Source material either .mov 4K@25fps from GH5 or 4K mp4 50fps from DJI OsmoPocket.

 

Just a suggestion - it would be good to have a 'Complete Guide' on this topic pulling material together as searching different sites and this community,  info is a little 'spread' and you get guys with different opinions on what to do which just confuses the person trying to get their head around this topic.

Thanks

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Mejor respuesta de Phillip Harvey

Although the overall editing experience is going to be better if you're actually editing with an intermediate intraframe codec like ProRes (I'm throwing out technical terms here just so you can see them used in context and hopefully understand them better), you don't have to transcode all your footage ahead of time. Kevin points out some hybrid options near the end of his article, so you can still take advantage of some parts of the process. 

 

I know Kevin likes to transcode everything right up front and start the project with intermediate codecs. I tend to use a little bit more of the hybrid approach, partly that's because some of my footage may be in an intermediate codec already, but even if it's not, I tend to do more of the proxy workflow, but I can still pre-render my timeline to a good master file codec like ProRes 422 and take advantage of the 'Use Previews' method.

 

With the footage that you're about to be working with, I highly recommend you do either of those methods simply for your editing efficiency and playback experience. You'll be working with 4k interframe/Long-GOP media (I'm not positive about that GH5, but definitely the DJI) and that's going to be tough on your system. That's not really even related to your original question about a final master, but simply a workflow thing.

3 respuestas

JonesVid
Community Expert
JonesVidCommunity ExpertAutor
Community Expert
May 14, 2020

Thanks for info once more.

Read through some articles and from my understanding Proxy workflow does have its limitations as it seems to be OK to assemble and cut the clips (proxies) but where you might need to do Speed adjustment / Warp Stabiliser/Lumetri colouring etc you need to flick back to the actual footage (is this correct?).

So say I am syncing some music to a set of clips and often use clip Speed adjustment to get things spot on plus occasional use of SloMo, that starts to complicate things.

As a test I've put together a 4 min sequence using the actual H264 4K 25fps LongGOP footage on the Premiere Pro time line (using 14.1 latest version) and my i9 system seems to cope with it OK, scrolling down timeline etc.

So I will proceed that way and see how I get on for a short while - though I might have to revert back to Proxy workflow if it gets a bit sticky on longer projects.

I may however go for the technique of rendering Previews to a better codec (like ProRes 422) and create a ProRes 422 Master Output file to then generate the distributed output.

I did infact try this and rendered the whole 4 min sequence to ProRes422 generated a 25GB file (BIG).

Looking on the web at ProRes422 variant data rates this seems to tally correctly as I am working in a 50fps sequence. Reason for this is that I always use 50fps from my Osmo Pocket to make panning a lot smoother as I use this exclusively for footage 'on the go'

So the 25GB file has a data rate of nearly 1GB per sec. Wow. 907167KBs in this case.

For a 40 min sequence I would need to reserve an internal 250GB SDD minimum.

The Export settings did not seem to allow you to tweak Data Bit rate to adjust size? - just a slider that was greyed out for some reason that said 'Quality'. I think I need to play around a bit more, but any input welcome on what you would typically use.

Incidently the GH5 from V2.0 firmware onwards has option for  All-Intra 4K at 400MBs 25fps.

I would have needed some bigger 256GB fast SD cards (expensive!) to film the 22 days holiday, so I had to stick with 4K 25fps LogGOP on the GH5. Quality on my 4K TV seems very good to my eye though.

Thanks once again for your input on these sorts of topics as input from people such as yourself who have done this really helps.

Any more contributions to steer me in right direction is welcome as I think this is a topic many less experienced editors will want to know about making the best route to 4K editing and production.....on a limited budget !!!.

JonesVid
Community Expert
JonesVidCommunity ExpertAutor
Community Expert
May 7, 2020

Thanks Phillip for this prompt reply.

The links you have sent are very useful. The codec chart is excellent as it gives a comparison on what each codec is capable of and its limitations/use. Very often all these codecs are listed in an article without explanation what characteristics they have.

Anyway - the links provide some good background info.

Kevin's article is very useful, but I am wondering on the whole process to edit natively with say ProRes if I have to transcode all my H264 4K footage mountain I have from my last trip - before I start !.

I might try the intermediate step first and use smart previews and render the whole thing to a ProRes 422 file afterwards.

By the way any tips from anyone here are welcome.

I think a few nights reading and some test projects to check out quality is what is needed before I embark on my first 4K project !

P
Community Expert
Phillip HarveyCommunity ExpertRespuesta
Community Expert
May 7, 2020

Although the overall editing experience is going to be better if you're actually editing with an intermediate intraframe codec like ProRes (I'm throwing out technical terms here just so you can see them used in context and hopefully understand them better), you don't have to transcode all your footage ahead of time. Kevin points out some hybrid options near the end of his article, so you can still take advantage of some parts of the process. 

 

I know Kevin likes to transcode everything right up front and start the project with intermediate codecs. I tend to use a little bit more of the hybrid approach, partly that's because some of my footage may be in an intermediate codec already, but even if it's not, I tend to do more of the proxy workflow, but I can still pre-render my timeline to a good master file codec like ProRes 422 and take advantage of the 'Use Previews' method.

 

With the footage that you're about to be working with, I highly recommend you do either of those methods simply for your editing efficiency and playback experience. You'll be working with 4k interframe/Long-GOP media (I'm not positive about that GH5, but definitely the DJI) and that's going to be tough on your system. That's not really even related to your original question about a final master, but simply a workflow thing.

    P
    Community Expert
    Phillip HarveyCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 6, 2020

    Some of this is just going to be preference, especially considering that these are just for you. This is a helpful chart to compare various intermediate codecs so you can compare and contrast the most common ones: https://blog.frame.io/2017/02/13/50-intermediate-codecs-compared/

     

    I personally use Quicktime ProRes for most of my intermediate/master file needs. It's not uncommon, especially in agency situations or whenever you are going to have clients coming into the room to watch playback, to pre-render your timeline. Also, when you know you're going to be up against a deadline when it comes time to deliver, but you may have moments ahead of that where you can pre-render parts of your timeline... those are both good opportunities to take advantage of what Adobe calls "Smart Rendering" (https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/smart-rendering.html, and an article by Kevin Monahan: https://www.kevinmonahan.net/?p=88)

     

    I'll keep it brief because I think you can learn more from those articles, but basically I use ProRes 422 for my previews because I know that's going to be my master file when I export and use the 'Use Previews' option.

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