AME CS5, Quicktime & H.264 encoding
 

Hi all,

I seem to be stumped on an encoding issue - whenever I encode .mov files with the H.264 codec, they always come out looking like, well like a first generation web video - ie like S$*T.

My best guess is that the profile is preset to use 'baseline' - if so, is there a way to change this? I can't find any options to change to change the profile, or levels, or anything with regards to H.264 - there is a "codec settings" button, but that is grayed out.

Am I just a dummy and missing some key setting in the interface?

If I am a dummy, can anyone point me in the direction on how to get good looking .mov videos out of AME CS5?

Thanks,
~Mike

i seem to have issues with quicktime and mov also.
on a test edit i added a .mov video to my existing avchd edit and the rendering started to slow down during the .mov portion of the timelline. it played ok when not on the.mov portion. i then tried to use an sd wmv file with .mov and still got the same slowdown during the .mov portion.
i then tried another video editing/production software and there was still that rendering slowdown using .mov
it seems quicktime encodes/decodes poorly. i wonder if the pro version will give different results.

1. This assumes you want a quicktime .mov file as your output and you are going through the Quicktime output choice to get there.
Suggest you click on the "preset" slot, in Quicktime output choice; select "custom"; select H.264 codec, go to video tab, set your out put size, select "render at maximum depth", scroll down and set an appropriate bitrate for your output. In Quicktime player, go to player prefrences /general and select "always use high quality playback" option. QT will give a lower quality playback of a hi-res file otherwise, making it look worse than it is. Now, I'm on CS4, not CS5, but I doubt much has changed here. BTW, Quicktime Pro unlocks some additional features, it doesn't change the functions common to the free version.

2. This assumes you want to use the H.264 output choice -- normally, to make an MP4 files---- you should see a whole plethora of settings -- You can create and save your own custom setup...2 pass vbr and a good bit rate are two things that would make a difference. Click on the "save preset" icon next to the Preset window.... If you can't access any settings it may be that your H264 codec is absent or corrupt....a freeware program like Sherlock.exe (google it) will tell you the status of your codecs....

Hi Mike,
Same problem here, Quicktime does not look good. I'm now exporting to Windows Media Player and seem to have a better looking video.

I can see it even before running through CS5. If I have QT set as my default player and play the raw footage it does not look good at all. If I set the default to Window Media Player it looks great. The exported WMP looks almost as good as the original.

"always use high quality playback" option. QT will give a lower quality playback of a hi-res file otherwise, making it look worse than it is". Battle may have the answer here, thanks.

I'm shooting 1080P from a 7D and the original file is .mov.

regards,
Doug.
www.BaileyNatureGallery.com