FIREWIRE SVCD - Premiere Related Issues:
My Home Page ------------ Premiere 6.5 pages.
28 April 2001: 16:9 Widescreen issues have been transferred to a separate page on the subject.
Why not benchmark your computer and P6 in editing mode by carrying out this simple NTSC test.
The alternative encoder for SVCD & DVD LSX Standalone & AVISYNTH.
The other alternative encoder for SVCD & DVD CCE Standalone & AVISYNTH.
Link to my discussion on Quality Issues.
Link to the MC DV Type 2 fix discussion that may or maynot be applicable since MS has upgraded its DV driver to provide better quality than was available 12 months ago.
1- Capturing Notes - DV Type 2:
Adobe's Premiere 6 has a built in capture program that provides DV capture support for firewire using MS DV Type 2 as default. I use the word capture as that is what the providers term their programs, in DV, it really is only a transfer of digitized data from the camera. You can also install the Main Concept DV Type 2 Codec and have access to DV Type 2 in a Video for Windows wrapper such as is produced by the capture program AVI_IO. Other old programs and some mpeg encoders will only work with the VfW wrapper source material.
The Main Concept DV codec is available from this page.
The capture program provided in Premiere 6 does not appear to go beyond the file size limits imposed by the W98SE computer system. There are no such limits with a correctly setup W2000 or with the XP platform. There are two capture programs discussed below which simply begin a new file when the limit is reached and for W98SE users are viable options.
2. After the capture?
As a prelude to editing I have used the scene splitter program since it first arrived (Nov 1999) to pre edit the footage by removing unwanted scenes. The program has the option to print thumbnails of each scene together with the file name. Thus each job can then have a printed clip list for later reference. The program provides better house keeping by virtue of the option to actually delete unwanted clips from the hard drive. This process gives the quickest setting up time for actual editing.
Scene Splitter program download - Scenalyser v3 - - - - home page.
Setting up Premiere 6: I would strongly suggest that you make your own project templates for dealing with the edit and then again for exporting your edited project from Premiere 6 particularly when the output uses a different process or format. Making new templates will also allow you to setup and save your camera control settings for capture so they will always be loaded when the project template is activated. You must also set the capture folder and where you want premiere to save the preview files used to view from the timeline. Be sure to set the length of still picture, the defaulted equivalent of 1 second should be increased to 5 or 6 seconds (180 frames NTSC and 150 frames PAL).
I have, for example, always re-written the supplied Premiere templates (P4 and for P5.1) and I have adopted the same with Premiere 6, to ensure the defaulted sound interlace setting is changed to a 1 frame baseline. This is absolutely necessary if you are going to use avisynth and the provided 16:9 scripts for resizing (see notes further down). I would further suggest if you are editing for viewing on a 4:3 aspect ratio TV or using the 16:9 aspect ratio then create project settings for both and save them for selective use. If you do that, then during capture and during editing, you will see your material in the correct aspect ratio. It makes editing easier.
Always set the templates NOT to deal with the "entire project" as this will prove to be more effective should you desire to run a test output file check of a small area of the timeline during the edit process or for progressive previewing of a developing project. Do not unless absolutely essential do a frame resize in premiere, you will most likely find the encoder does the job better.
If you experience the gamma shift problem then you will probably have no option but to add a video filter to the effected clips. I use the "Gamma Correction" filter but without doing any change, ie I leave it set to 1.0 OR use an overlaid blank title. This forces Premiere to re-render the clip and thereby this process makes for a stable results. It is likely to occur with some Sony cameras at the luminance scale used is from 0 to 255 instead of the specification of 16 to 235. You will not see this shift whilst editing on the PC unless your connected to a TV. You may then notice the effect of lower brilliance between red and yellow colors during transitions, title overlays or when using other special effects. Certainly not all systems exhibit the fault, but my Sony TRV 110 and TRV 15 cameras do.
Options for Exporting: there are a number of different options in the editing process that lend themselves to authoring a SVCD. Some comments based on experience are therefore appropriate at this point. I will assume you have arrived at the point of completing your edit and you have a choice of what you do with the project. ANY EDITED PROJECT can be used to produce a tape output, a VCD (generic) or a suitable DVD source file.
With a mpeg encode in mind you have the following choices:
(1) encode directly from the timeline using a suitable premiere mpeg plugin or by frame serving directly to the standalone encoder with the avisynth program that is provided as a plugin.
(2) You could also select to render your project to several avi files (P6 with the MC DV codec in a W98SE system is limited to 4G or about 18 minutes of video per file, other systems maybe restricted to 2G) and then use a new P6 project to join them using the process described (1).
Avisynth - the best plugin!
It is necessary to install the main Avisynth program version 0.3 first. Please note, that at this time version 1.0 does not appear to work correctly.
Details for installing and using the Avisynth premiere export plugin program are available from the web site.
Once the plugin v .25 is also installed in the premiere plugin folder it will then appear in the export options for Premiere.
The avisynth system also has the option to "patch" a standalone encoder for use with Premiere. I have successfully applied this patch to TMPGEnc (not really necessary as natively it will read avisynth files), LSX 3.5 Suite 2 and the CCE 2.5 (Cinema Craft) encoder. The process is to download the file avs_patch.exe from the avisynth web site, copy it to the folder containing the execute file for the standalone encoder. Drag the encoder execute file over avs_patch.exe file and that will produce (example for tmpgenc.exe) a new file called tmpgenc_avisynth.exe
For those having trouble finding the AVS_patch it is available from this page on the avisynth site. Just look for "avs patch executable" part way down the page.
The process modifies the target program to read only avs script files. Should you require to use the normal functions with other sources then simply use the original file which is unaffected by the patch.
You will be well advised to produce a specific export template for the "link to avisynth" process with all the usual parameters adjusted to suit your needs. When export is chosen and after you provide an output name (eg Prem.avi) Premiere 6 will go into frame serving mode. At this point the Premiere/avisynth window will indicate what must be contained in the avs script file.
You may write a simple script file with notepad, name it for example, "Prem.avs" (use the quotes to force Notepad to NOT put .txt after the avs) and if you always use the same export file name the script file will be reusable. In the simple case of using the export name Prem.avi, here is the required script text:
IPCSource("Prem.avi")
Nothing more, nothing less. However, you may download my master script files from here. The modified pack contains 2 short master files from which you can activate scripts for producing SVCD, XSVCD, XVCD and DVD projects. The file also contains not only scripts for Premiere timeline serving but also scripts for frame serving avi files from a folder on the hard drive, just correctly name then in accordance with the syntax notes and ..... The syntax is also indicated for joining multiple avi files with the process. Folder files can be DV Type 1 or 2 or those associated with a Video for Windows (VfW) wrapper. You must check that your chosen source material will be accepted by the encoder.
You must only run the encoder AFTER Premiere is actually in frame serving mode. It is wise to have access to the encoder program from your Start Menu. The script file as written becomes the SOURCE file for the encoder. Start the encoder and wait for the seamless SVCD compliant mpeg2 output to be generated in the selected folder. This process is illustrated in the header image to this page.
My advice, in relation to TMPGEnc and LSX is that you initially allow the encoder to do the resizing, but this aspect should be checked as it is possible to have avisynth do the resizing and or the adding of the mask to simulate the TV surround or to simply cover up the results of adding any motion effects during editing. If you test both methods one can arrive at which is best from the quality point of view and from the time taken to encode if that is a problem. Premiere is far too slow to do such things and simply chocks the encoder.
A word about batch encoding that you may be familiar with in TMPGEnc. You cannot batch encode different projects from Premier with avisynth, you can only batch encode, for example, a SVCD and a DVD from the same source material.
ALTERNATIVE CAPTURE PROGRAMS:
ScenalyserLIVE (seLive):
Built into the program is a choice of DV Type 1 or Type 2 captures, for Premiere you must use DV Type 2. Download the trial program and check it out.
Video for Windows Capture Program:
AVI_IO also has the option to stop and restart the capture in the same file. The process is a bit like using the vcr to cut the adverts out of a broadcast, you can program AVI_IO to do the same job as a vcr but directly to the hard drive.
The instructions include "make sure the camcorder is transmitting DV data". That means you may have to RUN the camera with tape rolling in vcr mode to set AV_IO up. You may also "pause" the camera after playing a few seconds. If the camera is stopped at any time the program may freeze.
AVI_IO, like seLIVE is an extremely useful tool since you can capture files to your hard drive in block sizes of up to 2 or 4G as appropriate for the editing in Premiere 6.
Good Luck, I hope these notes will help!
This page extracted from that first written 23 July 2000
This page last updated: 14 August 2002 changes marked in this color.
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INTRODUCTION:
Premiere 6.5 was shipped on 13 August 2002 and has a built in encoder powered by Main Concept which is up with the best of them for DVD encoding, it does need more tweaking to be competitive with LSX or TMPGEnc in SVCD mode. It is very much quicker in my tests but lacked in re-producing high levels of across the frame motion. Which shows particularly in fast pan when following a fast moving subject. The links therefore remain for the other encoders.
3. Editing Notes
Using Premiere 6 or 5.1c for that matter, in conjunction with the avisynth program to achieve frame serving directly from the timeline results in a more efficient system. Even in a W98SE system there are no real limitations other than no avi clip on the timeline can exceed a file size of 4G or 2G as appropriate. This avisynth process is no more difficult than using a purpose built plugin encoder but it opens access to the standalone encoders which are usually better with more options than the plugins currently provided for Premiere.
There are also other 3rd party programs that support the DV capture process, I have experience with two:
This program was released on the 1st February 2001 from the people who provide the scene splitting Scenalyser program also mentioned. ScenalyserLIVE has the ability at capture to split the capture into separate scenes, a process used by professional TV organizations during editing. It can also be set to capture continuously without splitting AND it can capture in MS DV Type 1 OR in MS/MC DV Type 2 vfw by choice (if the MC DV codec is not available the capture will default to MS DV Type 2).
The excellent analogue capture program AVI_IO uses the Video for Windows architecture and therefore outputs a DV Type 2 VfW file. Under test AVI_IO when using the Main Concept DV type 2 codec allowed (W98SE) captures to be made in blocks of up to 4G each (18 minutes) without dropping frames at the joint. Being a Type 2 file the data rate is higher than Type 1 and therefore more space is used during capture. However, some editing programs will only handle files of up to 2G in size.