Adobe Premiere & Premiere Pro discussions from 2004

[Patrick Falls]

i would like to thank the both of you. i have purchased a used xl1 with 98 dated on it. i'm now wondering if there is any updates to the built in compressor.

[Rob Lohman]

Not to my knowledge. But it might be a good thing to send the
camera in to Canon to have it checked, cleaned and worked on
where needed (cost depends on whether stuff needs replacing
etc.).

[Rob Lohman]

First of all the resolution will ALWAYS stay 720x480 underwater.
From the camera, through Premiere, through MPEG encoding
and what finally ends up on the DVD. The trick is in marking the
footage AS widescreen so your TV and/or DVD player know it
needs to be unsquashed.

So how do you do this? First you need to tell your MPEG2 encoder
that it is encoding widescreen 16:9 anamorphic material. If you
are using an authoring package that has builtin encoder then it
will probably do this for you if you follow my next paragraph.

You also need to tell your Authoring package that a particular
file is in widescreen 16:9 anamorphic so it can create the proper
flags for the DVD player lateron.

However, not a whole lot of DVD authoring applications actually
support this option!! Especially not the cheaper / simpler ones
you get a lot with the burners or bought yourself. Usually the
mid to highend market has option like that.

So the question from Jonathan is a very good one. Which
package are you using? If it doesn't support it you'll need to
look at other packages like Sony's DVD Architect.

I couldn't find whether Adobe Encore supports this, so it looks
like it doesn't.

[Pete Bauer]

Encore does support true 16:9, as does the no-frills "Export to DVD" function of Premiere Pro. Adobe Video Collection has been well worth the big chunk of change and the learning curve for me. Seems others have been equally happy with Vegas+DVD. Either way, you'll drop some bucks but have amazing capabilities...for me, the limits are my dull scientist's imagination, not my software!

Rob is quite right about the "Lite"/cheap/bundled versions of authoring software. Especially in retrospect, the "Lite" versions of myDVD and DVDit! that were bundled with my Sony burner and previous versions of Premiere were buggy toys/junk by comparison.

I haven't brought too much material to completion yet since getting Encore, but so far it has worked great for me without any of the bug problems that some folks have reported (for once, I'm just lucky on that score!) Encore does NTSC or PAL, 4:3 or 16:9, motion menus, subtitles, chapter points, data/photo files for computer use, etc. And for DLT output (for producing real pressed DVDs), it'll do copy protection and regional encoding.

[Amir Shehata]

hi,

Thanks for all the information. It greatly helps. I haven't baught any burning software yet. I have been browsing around the internet trying to find one that supports 16:9. So far from what you guys have said, Encore seems to do a good job. Are there any other burning software that you guys recommend. How about Nero?

thanks for all your help. Much appreciated.

[Rob Lohman]

I was under the understanding that copy protection (which uses
CSS encryption) must be licensed for each DVD. So how is Encore
handling this? The only other package I know of that can handle
that is Scenarist I think (and perhaps Maestro, the old DVDSP
for the Mac). Because you need to get your special CSS encryption
key from some company / forum.

[Michael Middleton]

Here's somewhat of a related question. I, too, have a PDX10 and shoot 16:9 aspect ratio. However, I have some older footage that I am considering using for a project that is 4:3. Other than letterboxing the 4:3 footage, if I were to include both 16:9 and 4:3 and encode it to DVD, is there a way to have each recognized and scaled appropriately on playback? I know I've seen some television programs that at least seem to incorporate both 16:9 and 4:3 footage intermittently.

What would you suggest for "mixing" the two aspects?

Michael

[Pete Bauer]

Rob, re: CSS

I'm just a hobbyist, so don't use CSS. But I do recall that the manual says that you can only do copy protection (CSS, Macrovision, and one other) when output is to DLT. I'm guessing that is by design so that the licensing can be handled through the company that presses the commercial-type discs.

I believe that Regional Encoding is also only available when outputting to DLT from Encore.

Amir:

Seems that "decent" DVD authoring software is not cheap. Just from what I see here on the board, seems like Encore and DVD Architect strike the best balance of price/performance (when bundled with their video editing cousins, eg Premiere, Vegas). But there are a number of authoring packages out there and I'm not familiar with them. I'm sure others will share their opinions on their favorite or most reviled software!

Michael:

Others may have more elegant ideas, but I think that "pan and scan" or straight letterboxing either to or from widescreen will allow you to combine footage without squeeze or stretch. Probably simplest (but not necessarily best) to letterbox the 16:9 into 4:3, then it can be viewed on older TVs, and zoomed up in newer widescreen HD monitors.

FWIW, I watch a lot of Nat Geo, Discovery, etc and it always annoys me when they do the "simplest" approach I mentioned above because I'll zoom in my widescreen so the 16:9 footage properly fills my screen, and then I'll realize the program has moved on to some 4:3 footage that's being severely overscanned at the zoom setting...but I guess that's a "downside" of having a widescreen HDTV. A regular TV viewer wouldn't have that trouble.

[Rob Lohman]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well, Pete. Seems to be
for professional use only eh.

Michael: normally the aspect ratio is not decided for the WHOLE
DVD but for each individual movie on the disc. So yes, you
should be able to have mixed footage, but not in one movie.

With MPEG2 encoding each file you should indicate that it is
either 16:9 or 4:3. In the authoring application you then should
be able to indicate for each title also if it is 4:3 or 16:9. Whether
or not your application supports this is the question. The DVD
format certainly does (most movies on a disc are in 16:9 and
most extra's in regular 4:3 for example).

[Ryan Krga]

I capture all of my footage at 29.97 FPS in Premiere Pro. When I edit the normal mode footage in a 29.97 FPS project everything is fine, very smooth playback, no problems at all.

When I edit frame mode footage in a 29.97 project the video is extremely choppy. When I edit the frame mode footage in a 30 FPS project the playback is a little smoother than 29.97, but it's still choppy enough to notice.

I'm not sure if I'm capturing my footage wrong, my project settings are wrong, or the video rendering codec I'm using is wrong. (When I edit the footage at normal 29.97 it uses the DV NSTC video rendering codec and when I edit at 30 FPS I don't use any kind of rendering codec, it's just set to "None.")

This is very frusturating and I can't seem to fix the frame mode editing problem.

Any solutions?

Thanks a lot guys/girls!

Ryan Krga

[James Duffy]

For me at least, it looked choppy as hell when I was importing clips, but when I viewed them on the timeline and after export it looked fine...

[Rob Lohman]

It is probably choosing none with 30 FPS because the DV
standard doesn't know that framerate. Stick with 29.97.
Something else must be wrong. I'm guessing you have the
project set to interlaced mode instead of none (progressive).
Either that or some other settings is wrong. Can you post
your exact project settings for a 29.97 project please?

[Mike Zorger]

how do you add 5.1 doby digital to your premier pro project? I heard somethig you have to register with doby digital before you use it or something.

[Pete Bauer]

I haven't produced anything using Dolby Digital myself yet, so you and I both will need to read a couple of paragraphs of "how-to" in the manual or help. But it basically involves producing your 5.1 in the timeline and choosing same in the export settings (dialog boxes probably vary a bit depending on file format and codec you choose).

I'm no lawyer (the opposite, actually...an MD!), but I think the following is true (lawyer types, jump in here if I veer off course). Obviously, if you produce something just for yourself, nobody is the wiser. But if you intend to distribute anything containing Dolby Digital to anybody, you do need to go through Dolby. Just recently, there was a discussion about this, so you can definitely find the internet link in a search of DVInfo.net. I believe it won't cost any additional money, but there is an online form to submit and Dolby actually has the right to review/approve -- or not -- use of their technology in your product.

Importantly, don't forget that Premiere Pro includes only 3 tries at exporting Dolby Digital. After that you have to pay a couple hundred dollars to purchase the 3rd party portion of the program that does the Dolby Digital.

[Rob Lohman]

I took a look at the Dolby website for you all to summerize it
here, this is what I found:

Dolby Licensing site

If you wish to use Dolby trademarks to indicate that your recorded audio content (such as games or DVD discs) is encoded with Dolby technologies, or you would like to use Dolby trailers at the beginning of broadcasts, games, and video programs, you will need to apply for a Trademark and Standardization Agreement.

The main points of the TSA are as follows:

1) An authorization to use the Dolby trademarks on prerecorded media produced with Dolby technologies.

2) Specifications for the correct use of the Dolby Trademarks and for acknowledging the ownership of the marks.

3) Quality control arrangements, which involve the licensee providing occasional samples for quality appraisal.

This would "suggest" that you can use it wherever you want
without an license as long as you are not mentioning Dolby,
Dolby Digital, their logo('s) and use any of their trailers. At least
I couldn't find anything to the contrary in my quick scan of the
license stuff. Ofcourse you want to be sure on this and contact
Dolby directly. Nor I or DVInfo.net can be hold responsible for
any of the information in this post.

You need to be able to supply samples as well it seems:

An authorization to use the Dolby trademarks on prerecorded media produced with Dolby technologies.
Specifications for the correct use of the Dolby Trademarks and for acknowledging the ownership of the marks.
Quality control arrangements, which involve the licensee providing occasional samples for quality appraisal.

Futhermore it looks like you need to use an approved encoder
if you want to use the logo and such:

Companies wishing to use Dolby trademarks must ensure that their recorded audio content has been encoded using a Dolby approved encoding process. Please check the following lists

Dolby Digital Professional Encoder Manufacturers

The engine Sonic Foundry/Sony is using with Vegas is on the
list, but I didn't saw and Adobe their. So either they aren't on
the list or they are using someone else's encoder (I don't have
Premiere Pro, so I don't know what they are using).