50% slomo buggered by the Media Encoder
 

Actually, I'm not sure if it's AME or PP CS3, but when I export to anything (H.264, Windows Media, you name it) and (this is key) I select the "deinterlace" option the video doesn't frame blend using fields. It holds each frame for 2 frames giving me only 15 unique frames each second.

Now I'm guessing that that the deinterlacing happens before the encoding so there are no fields available for use.

Short of rendering out the slomo clips as files and replacing them with the rendered clips in the timeline, is there any way to get around this problem? I haven't tried bringing the clip into AE and applying time warp there but I think that's more work than my rendering out option.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I would think of right clicking the slow-mo clips in the timeline and selecting "Field Options -> always deinterlace" and also make sure the "Frame Blend" option is ticked.

Also I personally would skip the Media Encoder all together and render a master from PP and then encode/deinterlace a delivery video file with vdub/QT Pro/Sorenson ect.

Jon... Thanks. I'll check the "always deinterlace" option and make sure it's on. I didn't think to do that before.

I'd rather not render and then transcode the entire HD piece as that adds time to the workflow. Future pieces in this series could be as long as two hours which would chew up a ton of time that I couldn't spare on a quick turnaround. I'm looking for shortcut solutions as I'll need to use slomo for short segments of future pieces.

It certainly is a drag and time consuming rendering and then transcoding again in an external program.
As I said, I personally would go that route, since it's nice to have a master file. If you are suddenly asked for - let's say - an h.264 MOV file after you already exported a WMV, it's actually faster to make a new transcode of the master then to re-render the entire PP project.
I do know from personal experience that Premiere does an AWFUL job transcoding to Quicktime and divx/xvid compared to programs that specialize in transcoding. I never used windows media, but I remember hearing that Premiere actually does a decent job in that format. Hopefully someone with experience with that will comment.
You could always try to open the PP project in After Effects and render from there, or frameserve to vdub/avisynth if nothing else works.
Good luck :)

Well, Jon, I took your advice and rendered out that clip and replaced it in the timeline and it did the trick. I did the same with an entire timeline where I really wanted to catch the snowflakes dancing on the soft breeze. I like the results which you can see here:

http://www.vimeo.com/929641

I have long heard that AME isn't the greatest going to h.264 but I haven't tried anything else as they can cost big money. I'm like a guy who's had hamburg all his life and doesn't know how good prime rib can taste. My next step might be to try the AE route.

Hi Tripp,
Very nice video!
QT pro is dirt cheap, and does a good job in h.264.
Also check out mpegstreamclip, a very usefull and free utility.

I would like to stress that I am not an expert on AME. Since I value having a master file in any case, I always export lossless and do my transcoding outside PP.

If you need AME for your workflow, I would still ask around. Maybe someone knows how to solve your deinterlace/framerate problem within PP and AME.

cheers

Thanks Jon. I'll look into the products you mention. Free is my favorite price.