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ce98
Known Participant
December 18, 2017
Question

Problem exporting 720x480 SD DV to 720x486 SD mpeg-2

  • December 18, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 2947 views

I am using Adobe Premiere Pro CC 12.0.  I am trying to export a 720x480 4:3 (29.97fps) standard definition DV AVI video file from the timeline and create a 720x486 SD 4:3 mpeg-2 file.  I know this is an odd export, but my playout server will only play 720x486 files and my native footage is 720x480 4:3 DV AVI.  So, I have to make this upscale.

The footage was shot as NTSC DV AVI 720x480 4:3 format and edited on the timeline in that native format using the sequence/timeline settings as follows:

DV NTSC

29.97fps

D1/DV NTSC (0.9091)

Lower Field First

Ok, no problem so far. 

After editing the footage, I export it as a 720x486 SD 4:3 mpeg-2 file using the Adobe Media Encoder version 12.0.

My export settings are as follows:

Mpeg-2 NTSC

720x486 4:3 29.97fps

Lower Field First

Quality 100

CBR 8 Mbps

Now the problem.  The final exported 720x486 mpeg-2 file is blurred and soft looking and just doesn't look good at all.  It doesn't matter if I select Scale to Fit, Scale to Fill, or Stretch to Fill in the Output Tab in the media encoder window, all the resulting mpeg-2 files have a blur / softness to some degree and not close to the same quality as the original 720x480 DV footage.

Question:  What is the correct way to upscale a 720x480 DV video into a 720x486 mpeg-2 file without having blurry video using Adobe Premiere Pro CC 12.0 and Adobe Media Encoder 12.0?

Thanks for the help.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    R
    RjL190365
    Legend
    December 20, 2017

    What you've experienced is the serious degradation of the image quality that's sometimes caused by upscaling. And 720x486 video is NEVER lower field first; it's ALWAYS upper field first. When you simply export a 720x480 LFF original into a 720x486 frame with thin bars at the top and bottom, the 720x480 export to 720x486 should be set to UFF on the encoding to avoid the image-quality loss that's caused by field-dominance conversions. If you did what you did without scaling (left 720x486 exports as LFF), then what Premiere did was interpolate (recreate) all 480 lines of your original video, with devastating image quality loss, because you are actually transferring those lines that did not exist at all in the original 720x480 video.

    And remember, interlaced video "frames" are actually composed of two half-fields, each with a vertical resolution that's half the nominal frame size. In other words, interlacing is actually squeezing two 720x240 fields into a 720x480 frame, each alternating with the other. But transferring 720x480 interlaced video to 720x486 interlaced throws things off a bit because the smaller frame is almost always centered within that slightly larger frame and there are an odd number of lines both above and below the edges of the original frame. Therefore, exporting from 720x480 LFF to 720x486 LFF will throw things way out of whack, because Premiere will simply take those lines within the fields that are completely nonexistent in the original video and then recreate new data-containing lines from the ones that are in the original video. So, the best way to transfer 720x480 LFF interlaced video to 720x486 interlaced content would be to set the 720x486 export to UFF. And when you do this new export, leave the scaling set to the default Scale to Fit option.

    And I had to post this due to your lack of sufficient knowledge of how interlaced video works.

    C
    ce98Author
    Known Participant
    December 21, 2017

    RjL190365, thanks for all the great info.  However, I did exactly as you directed.  I changed the 720x486 mpeg-2 export settings to Upper Field First.  Also, I left the scaling set to the default Scale to Fit option.  Still, the resulting 720x486 mpeg-2 file is blurry/soft even more so than when it was set to Lower Field First.  As Jeff indicated above and I think he is correct, the answer may lie in the Source Crop settings within the Export window of Media Encoder.  When I change the crop settings to various pixel sizes, I can see differences, but I cannot get the video to clear up completely like it should.  It has a blurred look to it.  What is the correct source crop settings that would clear the video up completely?

    Also, I discovered something that may be important.  When I export the same exact 720x480 DV AVI file from the timeline as a 720x486 (Lower Field First) GoPro CineForm Uncompressed .mov file or a H.264 720x486 Uncompressed .mov file (Lower Field First), the video is just like the original and not blurred at all.  The problem appears to only be happening when exporting to mpeg-2.  Any thoughts on this?

    Thanks for the help.

    Ann Bens
    Community Expert
    Ann BensCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 18, 2017

    What does a regular export 720x480 mpeg2-dvd look like?

    C
    ce98Author
    Known Participant
    December 19, 2017

    There is no dvd involved in this at all.  I am trying to export a 720x480 DV file to a 720x486 mpeg-2 file.  NO DVD.

    M
    Meg The Dog
    Inspiring
    December 19, 2017

    If you import the exported 486i file back in to Premiere, does it still look incorrect within Premiere?

    MtD

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