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Question

x264 Plug-in For Premiere Pro

Forum|Forum|13 years ago
June 19, 2012
13 replies
96749 views

A new plug-in for Premiere Pro has been released that uses the x264 encoder to export to H.264 and H.264 Blu-ray. I've had a chance to use it a fair bit, and the quality is excellent compared to Premiere Pro's built-in MainConcept H.264 encoder. It's also fast -- as fast as the Premiere Pro plug-in architecture will allow.

Details here:

x264 PRO | Adobe Creative Suite H.264 Encoder

Disclaimer: As a beta tester for this plug-in, I received a license for x264 PRO as a gift. But I wouldn't announce the plug-in here if it didn't deliver it's promised quality.

Jeff

This topic has been closed for replies.

SPOTS

New Participant

As mentioned in previous posts, x264 never worked on my system during the trial period. Now the trial is over I get an error message every single time I launch either Premiere or AME, so I want to uninstall the plugin (x264 Pro and x264 Pro BD). Unfortunately I could not find any useful info how to properly uninstall this on MacOS (the user guide shows there is an uninstall app for Windows, but no info for MacOS).

If someone knows how I can uninstall this from my system, I would highly appreciate.

Thanks very much!

J

jahwar

New Participant

SPOTS, here's how to delete the trial if you haven't figured it out (or for anyone like me who was plagued by error messages with no obvious way to uninstall): You have to find the 3am digital studios folder (in the folder "application support" in your Library, but since the folder has now vanished from my computer I can't remember the exact name). Inside that folder are several files—find the script that is something-uninstall.sh. Drag that file into a Terminal window and press enter. It will ask for your password. Type in your password and press enter. That should do it (at least that worked for me).

davids83783912

New Participant

I had this same issue and Jahwar found the same solution I did. The script was in my /Applications/x264pro_Utilities/ folder and was named uninstall.sh. Instead of the drag option, I was able to do the following:

Right click on the "uninstall.sh" file and choose "Open With"
Click "Other"
In the open file dialog, select "All Applications" instead of "Recommended Applications"
Choose Terminal from the Applications/Utilities folder
Click "Open"

This opens the script in Terminal and as jahwar mentioned, enter your administrator password and hit enter. The password will only show a single curser character as you type, don't be thrown off as I was. The password will be accepted even though in Terminal doesn't look like you are typing.

It looks like I still have some clean up to remove some files including the uninstaller script, but at least the error messages have stopped.

A

andyt1518908

Known Participant

HI

I'm trying to use the x264pro encoder on a Mac with OSX 10.9.5 and CS6 but after installing it doesn't show up in the list of formats - either in Premiere or AMC. Apparently it's something to do with CS6 using the 32 bit version and not the 64 bit. 3am have been hopeless in providing support - anyone know how to fix this - deleting the 32 bit version? How?

Thanks

Jeff BelluneAuthor

Legend

On Windows, you delete this folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Media Encoder CS6

I don't know exactly where that is on a Mac, but I'd start in your Applicatons folder.

NB: On Windows, the proper 64-bit version is in the C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Media Encoder CS6 folder. Notice the missing (x86) designation in the proper folder path.

Cheers,

Jeff

Jeff BelluneAuthor

Legend

Some Googled links that may help:

Article - Checking whether an application is 32-bit or 64-bit - froglogic Knowledge Base

Mac OS X - Terminal Tips and Tricks

Cheers,

Jeff

SPOTS

New Participant

Finding out about x264 Pro here, I thought I would give it a try. It took a few days to get the link to download the trial. Unfortunately their codec just don't work on my system (MacOS 10.8.5, Adobe CC 2014). Whether I make an export within Premiere or in AME, it crashes straight away. Same happens whether I select x264 Pro or x264 Pro BD. This thing just don't work on my system!

As any customer would do, I sent a couple emails to the company for enquiries/tech support. Several days later… not a single word from them. I have no clue why their thing doesn't work and obviously they don't give it a s...

The only thing I did hear from them was that their codec is top notch and the very best thing on the market. But they don't seem to care that it's not working at all for some users!

Kiukaichi

New Participant

If you really need x264 for Premiere and Media Encoder, then TMPGEnc Movie Plug-In AVC for Premiere Pro is the way to go. I've just discovered it and I am pleased to find it doesn't have all the drawbacks of x264 PRO codec by 3am Digital Studios. It creates normal files that are well read from start to finish. It preserves colors well. And it has all the endless settings of x264 that you can finetune. Very good implementation.

It's not as fast, as Premiere's native codec, but I found it to be better at preserving overal detail. For example, it can preserve noise patterns in a better way then Adobe's H.264, but this will be at the expense of speed of encode and may be at expense of detail of important objects, such as, for example, lecturer's face on the noisy background. The background noise will be great, but the face will be a little more blurry and less detailed than if you would just use the Adobe's H.264 codec.

So, do you own tests and decide, in which situation which codec does a better job.

P

Prizm4

Known Participant

I can also vouch for giving TMPGEnc a go (TMPGEnc Movie Plug-in AVC for Premiere Pro). Adobe AME was giving me artefacts on a frickin 15mbps 1-pass video with just text and static background. TMPGEnc rendered the same video with no noticeable problems and at less than half the size.

Kiukaichi

New Participant

Guys, don't be giving your money away that easily. I've done my own tests and found out that x264 PRO for Premiere is a perfect example of overhyped product. I was really excited to find out someone turned x264 into a Premiere plugin, so I decided to give it a try. Sadly, after a few tests I realized this plugin is a total waste of time. First of all, it's much slower than MainConcept H.264 codec, found in Adobe CC package, and I honestly don't see, how it's better quality-wise. Secondly, it creates more artifacts than original x264 freeware codec. And thirdly, it shifts colors of the material you are encoding. I don't see why anyone would spend 299$ for this thing.

But, I won't waste your time babbling unsubstantiated statements. Alllow me to present you some actual figures. I've converted my recent 12 minutes 12 seconds long 1080p project (STARS Academy at the 18th WCOPA Event on Vimeo) using Adobe Media Encoder CC 2014 v8.0.1.48 (MainConcept and x264 PRO codecs) and MediaCoder v0.8.32.5660 (x264 original codec). The Vimeo version is reduced in quality and size, of course. My conversions were made from nearly lossless Full HD material. All codecs were set to 12 Mbps target bitrate, 24 Mbps maximum bitrate (except original x264, which didn't offer max bitrate setting), High profile, VBR 2-pass encoding, AAC 256 kbps audio. Both x264 codecs were set to Film picture tuning and Very Slow encoding quality, because I wanted to see the best possible result that I can squeeze out of each codec at a given bitrate. Timewise, the results are:

1) MainConcept = 0 hours, 32 minutes

2) x264 original = 1 hour, 34 minutes

3) x264 PRO = 2 hours, 5 minutes

Original x264 completed conversion 25% faster, then x264 PRO, while Adobe's MainConcept implementation did it almost 75% faster! Of course, if I would have set x264 encoding quality to Medium, the difference wouldn't be so substantial. But wait till you see, how these encodes differ quality-wise. Seriously, after comparing the 3 results side by side I became a fan of Adobe's native H.264 encoder. It's super-fast, and it does a great job of preserving fine lines and keeping artifacts to minimum. It does so at a cost of some details becoming washed off. If we are to compare original x264 vs MainConcept, there is room for discussion, which coded and under what circumstances is better. But if we are comparing any of these two against x264 PRO by 3am Digital Studios, the answer is obvious to me. There is nothing about x264 PRO that makes it a winner. It's slow, it shifts colors pretty bad, and it's an excellent artifacts generator.

Let me show you. The following are 100% magnified 720p crops from the 1080p material. In each comparisson I got 10 screenshots that I picked randomly. They're all compressed to nearly lossless JPEG (you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the original and Photoshop's Save for Web Quality 80). So, just move your mouse cursor over each screenshot to see, how codecs performed against each other.

MainConcept (32 min) vs x264 PRO (125 min)

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/94302

x264 original (94 min) vs x264 PRO (125 min)

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/94303

MainConcept (32 min) vs x264 original (94 min)

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/94304

Obviously, Adobe's MainConcept H264 codec is great. However, I do agree to the common opinion that x264 is a better choice. Even, when I switch it to Medium quality, it takes 34 minutes to encode, while the resulting picture still has more details then MainConcept's result. At the same time there are no ugly encoding artifacts, such as those from 3am Digital Studios implementation. 3am developer(s) should do a better job implementing x264. At the moment it's a waste of time and money.

MarkWeiss

Inspiring

On those screen shot comparisons, I prefer the Adobe encodes.

I've been using AME over CinemaCraft encoder about late 2007, when I discovered AME was sharper and more detailed and CinemaCraft was softer and just an overpriced CODEC. So I dropped it and haven't looked back since.

Well, recently, I started beta testing NVENC, and, after tweaking, I must say, I'm impressed with the quality, aside from it being 11X faster than software. Even at 20mb/s, it's really hard to see artifacts that aren't there with AME at 40mb/s. I've dones some 5mb/s encodes for Youtube uploads that look amazing for the low bitrate. The resulting files are variable bitrate and drop nice and low when scene detail is low, while surging high for fast motion or high frequency details. VLC Media Player now has a nice statistics screen with a realtime graph, that shows the bitrate and trend.

For rendering quick window dubs, NVENC is my tool of choice now.

xunderworldx

New Participant

I'm trying to install this with Adobe Premiere CC 2014 getting an error stating the following:

Installation Error: Didn't auto-detect any Adobe installations. Please email support@3amDigitalStudios.com for instructions to manually install the plug-ins.

I tried copying the plugins form the older Adobe CC but still it fails to work.

M

Mappi75

Participating Frequently

Thanks, its easier then my way

M

Mappi75

Participating Frequently

I found a way to solve the problem:

rename:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Media Encoder CS6

to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Media Encoder CS6_old

create a new (empty) folder Adobe Media Encoder CS6

Download this Symlink Tool:

symlinker - Symbolic Link Creator. GUI for mklink, Microsoft Windows symlink utility - Google Project Hosting

run as admin and enter the following in the picture (right side):

http://abload.de/img/2014-05-17_20-21-20xrkum.png

then press "create link" button -ready!

R

Rallymax-forum

Inspiring

Hi all,

To get the 64bit version of AME to run launched from PPro or AE I simply delete the 32bit version - it shouldn't be there anyway.

There is really no point uninstalling it "somehow" because it's a broken configuration, deleting it simply removes all the hassles.

M

Mappi75

Participating Frequently

Hi Edward,

thanks for the information and the trial link, i tested it and bought it instantly (you know) because i'am very happy with the way how easy too use the plugin and how fast it works,

it use a lots of RAM for encoding (uses 27GB of 64gb).

Now i have a little problem that i cant find the x264 plugin in my (german) Adobe Media Encoder CS6.

I wrote you an email concerning this.

Regards

Jeff BelluneAuthor

Legend

Were you trying to queue an export from Pr? At least one recent version of Premiere Pro (CC or CS6 or both) would call the 32-bit version of the Adobe Media Encoder instead of the 64-bit version of the AME. The solution is to move, rename or delete the 32-bit AME .exe file. When Pr can't find it, it switches to the 64-bit version.

EDIT: It was CS6 where I first encountered this bug. Further, the shortcut to the AME that is created in your Start Menu when you install Premiere Pro also points to the 32-bit version of the AME, so this issue may appear even if you're not queuing the export from Pr.

EDIT AGAIN: You may have to go as far as removing the entire Adobe Media Encoder CS6 folder from the Program Files (x86) folder.

Cheers,

Jeff

M

Mappi75

Participating Frequently

Hi! Thanks for your help! Using CS6

The problem was that the menu shortcut will start only the 32bit version.

and what i've done before:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Media Encoder CS6\Plug-ins\Common\3am Digital Studios

copy both files from the 3am Digital Studios directory into the common directory above (i wonder because all other plugins are in this common directory).

Now it seems to be working

(when is start AME alone)

BTW: strange idea that the shortcut is only for the 32-bit version.

Edit: ah now i see whats the problem too (as you said) - in AP 64bit starts only the Adobe Encoder with 32-Bit (how strange)

M

Mappi75

Participating Frequently

Is this plugin still alive?

I sent two different emails for asking the trial and sent other emails with questions.

But no response..

Or does this plugin makes absolutly no sense for a private home user?

Or does it make no sense because the x265 is coming?

DivX, MediaEncoder & Internet friendly media encoder supports NOW x265.

R

Rallymax-forum

Inspiring

Hi,

Yes x264pro is alive and well.

All requests for trial are evaluated for merit before being granted.

Replies to sales queries can also take a day or two.

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