5D Mark II Video - Compressing Problems

[BrantG]

Hey guys,

I have taken some videos with the 5D mark II and straight out of the camera, they plan just fine (smooth video playback).

However, I tried to have a co-worker use Adobe Premier CS4 to reduces the file size. He kept the H.264 encoding, but reduced the target and max bit rates. The video after re-encoding plays EXTREMELY choppy.

He then tried to keep the default settings for an mp4 and it played the exact same way.

Are we doing something wrong in the re-encoding process which is causing a smooth playback of the original to a choppy playback?

Would it help if I uploaded the video in question and someone give it a shot at re-enconding it?

Thanks.

[timescapes.org]

First thing I would check is that your timeline is 30p, not 24p. That could cause really bad chop.

[FlyingPhotog]

AFAIK, you can't compress the native codec or you end up losing information...

If you're going to compress, spit it out as an MPEG or WMV and see if it then plays smoothly at reduced circumstances.

[BrantG]

First thing I would check is that your timeline is 30p, not 24p. That could cause really bad chop.


It was set at 30 (29.9x).

[BrantG]

AFAIK, you can't compress the native codec or you end up losing information...

If you're going to compress, spit it out as an MPEG or WMV and see if it then plays smoothly at reduced circumstances.


I'll give that a shot.

[timescapes.org]

AFAIK, you can't compress the native codec or you end up losing information...

If you're going to compress, spit it out as an MPEG or WMV and see if it then plays smoothly at reduced circumstances.

No I compressed H264 MOVs directly off the 5D2 clips to H264 MOVs in Premiere. They play smoothly. Here is an example...

http://www.vimeo.com/2452171

[BrantG]

No I compressed H264 MOVs directly off the 5D2 clips to H264 MOVs in Premiere. They play smoothly. Here is an example...

http://www.vimeo.com/2452171


Could I upload one of my videos and could you try to compress it and see if you get the same (choppy) results as I am?

If you get it to work out properly, could you provide me with the exact steps and values you used?

Thanks

[osv]

AFAIK, you can't compress the native codec or you end up losing information...

^^^^
x2

brant, if your cpu is too slow to handle h.264 playback, simply transcode to a near-lossless intermediate codec... don't try to re-compress downwards on the file size in order to help the playback, because the picture quality will take a beating.

a near-lossless codec like canopus hq creates much bigger files, but they don't have near the cpu requirements for playback.

[timescapes.org]

Could I upload one of my videos and could you try to compress it and see if you get the same (choppy) results as I am?

If you get it to work out properly, could you provide me with the exact steps and values you used?

Thanks

sure, no problem. let's do it.

[BrantG]

^^^^
x2

brant, if your cpu is too slow to handle h.264 playback, simply transcode to a near-lossless intermediate codec... don't try to re-compress downwards on the file size in order to help the playback, because the picture quality will take a beating.

a near-lossless codec like canopus hq creates much bigger files, but they don't have near the cpu requirements for playback.

My Computer can handle the original videos just fine. However if I want them on my website and not kill my bandwidth, I don't want them to to be over 100MB each. I'm trying to get them down to 20MB or under.

So in short, the originals play back just fine. The "compressed" versions play back choppy therefore, I think I'm doing something wrong in Premier to compress them.

sure, no problem. let's do it.

Uploading the video now. It's 100MB. I'll send you a PM with the link to download it.

I appreciate your help.

[timescapes.org]

Brant, I just remembered. I did all of this on CS3 about a week ago. My CS4 has limited Quicktime export settings for some reason (maybe because it's from bit torrents? :)). Let me see what I can do. I might have to reinstall PP CS3.

[garyo]

Could I ask you guys what software you use for uploading video from the Mk11 onto your computer? I have the canon software provided but all it talks about is uploading 'stills'. I'm running a new iMac. Thanks

[BrantG]

Could I ask you guys what software you use for uploading video from the Mk11 onto your computer? I have the canon software provided but all it talks about is uploading 'stills'. I'm running a new iMac. Thanks

I bought an external USB card reader and it is much easier. You could get a Firewire one as well.

[garyo]

Yes I can get an external reader but like Apeture (Mac photos software - for stills) I'm gonna need some software to download movies to I guess or am I missing something. The canon software supplied doesnt seem to address the movie aspect of the camera downloads. I connected the camera and Apeture and the canon software detected i had stills not movie.

[BrantG]

Yes I can get an external reader but like Apeture (Mac photos software - for stills) I'm gonna need some software to download movies to I guess or am I missing something. The canon software supplied doesnt seem to address the movie aspect of the camera downloads. I connected the camera and Apeture and the canon software detected i had stills not movie.

Well I have a Windows PC and I just go to the folder from My Computer and copy them to a directory of my choosing. No need to use a software to copy files (imo of course).

[osv]

My Computer can handle the original videos just fine. However if I want them on my website and not kill my bandwidth, I don't want them to to be over 100MB each. I'm trying to get them down to 20MB or under.

oh, so it's web video you are encoding... uploading the source video out of the camera won't help solve this problem, all you need is some encoder tweaking.

to give you an idea of the encoder settings to target... i encode flash at 960x540x30fps, 600kbps variable bitrate video, 112kbps stereo audio, two-pass encoding with squeeze 5.

[osv]

Could I ask you guys what software you use for uploading video from the Mk11 onto your computer? I have the canon software provided but all it talks about is uploading 'stills'. I'm running a new iMac. Thanks

wrt to avchd, macs need to keep the entire folder structure intact when importing the files into an editing app... pcs just need the video files by themselves.

doesn't the camera have a usb plug on it? have you tried using imovie to import and edit the video?

[BrantG]

oh, so it's web video you are encoding... uploading the source video out of the camera won't help solve this problem, all you need is some encoder tweaking.

to give you an idea of the encoder settings to target... i encode flash at 960x540x30fps, 600kbps variable bitrate video, 112kbps stereo audio, two-pass encoding with squeeze 5.

I will get Premier tomorrow and try to get it installed as well. I'll try these settings and see how it goes.

[beznadan]

Could I ask you guys what software you use for uploading video from the Mk11 onto your computer? I have the canon software provided but all it talks about is uploading 'stills'. I'm running a new iMac. Thanks


I was able to get the videos off using DPP. They show up with a video camera icon in the same place that the stills say RAW on the frame of each pic. I was also able to open the card up and pull them off in the Finder when I used a card reader (I usually (or well, used to) pull pics directly off the camera using Lightroom, but these files are so giant that it might be time to reconsider...).

[BrantG]

Finally had a chance to try Premier. Uploaded the file to YouTube.

Lions in HD (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i1Twys_5VU&fmt=22)

[osv]

that lion footage is clean!! using youtube to serve up your video can be a really good idea.

consider uploading to youtube in the 720p format, because the quality of the resizing in premier should be better than the quality of the youtube resizing... just keep the bitrate really high when you resize the clip.

[BrantG]

that lion footage is clean!! using youtube to serve up your video can be a really good idea.

consider uploading to youtube in the 720p format, because the quality of the resizing in premier should be better than the quality of the youtube resizing... just keep the bitrate really high when you resize the clip.


I'll have to keep that in mind. Thanks!!!

[dslrvids]

Transcode all my clips in a batch using MPEG Stream Clip to XDCAM 30FPS VBR before importing into editor. Makes playback not choppy while on the timeline. Image quality loss is hardly noticeable and files seem to be 10 percent smaller than h264. Then export back to h264 after final render. The only other good option for transcoding if you have the hard drive space would be Apple ProRes 422? Dealing with h264 is a beast!

here is a sample clip going from h264 to XDCAM exported back to h264.

http://www.vimeo.com/2581629

[BrantG]

Transcode all my clips in a batch using MPEG Stream Clip to XDCAM 30FPS VBR before importing into editor. Makes playback not choppy while on the timeline. Image quality loss is hardly noticeable and files seem to be 10 percent smaller than h264. Then export back to h264 after final render. The only other good option for transcoding if you have the hard drive space would be Apple ProRes 422? Dealing with h264 is a beast!

here is a sample clip going from h264 to XDCAM exported back to h264.

http://www.vimeo.com/2581629

I downloaded MPEG STream Clip and do not see an option for exporting as XDCAM is that a Mac only option or am I missing it?

Thanks.

[osv]

there are multiple versions of xdcam, but afaik, it is all mpeg2, which means that you'll take a hit in picture quality, and every editing generation that you re-encode to will introduce conatenation errors.

imho, stick with prores, it's not as lossy, and it should play back on the timeline pretty well(?)