Adobe Premiere 6

This is the one of the best "affordable" video editor IMO.  If you are even remotely serious about video - get it.  It is expensive items, but you cannot edit video without it.  If you chance upon it on a warez channel, such as alt.binaries.multimedia.untilities  -  or on MIRC (dalnet, windozxp) for example - then that's up to your own conscience.  The point is, this is the main engine of your video processing, and there is no way to work with video without Premiere or some other quality NLE.

NLE (Non-Linear Editing)

Premiere is an NLE.  It uses imported video, and the edits are done prior to creating the final clip.  A linear editor (becoming very rare) works directly on the video source, typically a digital tape or hard drive - and every change made is instantly applied to the clip.

Non-Linear Editing, in the context of computer editing, is to film and video editing what the word processor was to the typewriter. Non-linear editing offers the best of both the film and video worlds..and more.  It allows you to make changes in your edit anywhere at any time. In short, non-linear-editors are an INCREDIBLE asset to an editor, whether for film and video.

Compression

Virtually all computer video is compressed, especially since video clips are notorious for filling up a drive.  You will, very quickly, find yourself having to juggle clips for space . . . moving, deleting, and trying to decide which ones you can do without.  This is where a DVD burner or external drive come in handy.

In order to put those decisions off for a while, compression will reduce the file sizes greatly.  Later in this page we discuss the various codecs and their compression capabilities.

The "Make Movie/Settings/Video" dialog box has a compression setting.  It sets a ceiling for the data rate - which is not supposed to be exceeded by the resulting video.  In practice, this is a best-effort only, and if the codec cannot compress to the level you selected - it won't.

Compression = None - if you select no compression, then the video or audio data is pulled out of whatever encoding format it is currently in, and saved as pure, uncompressed data with no codec usage.  Normally you would not want to do this, since the file size will be maximized.  However, if you plan to convert the file immediately after creating it - then this is the best choice!! For example, you can create an uncompressed AVI and then convert it to MPEG1 using Xing for the best possible quality.  

Whether or not you compress the AVI will have no effect on the mpeg file size, since Xing uses settings which, for a given AVI clip's duration, frame rate, and display size - will create an mpeg of the same file size, regardless of which codec is used.  So you may as well use the best quality possible, and feed uncompressed video into the converter..

Recompress Always - normally, only the frames that exceed your selected data rate will be compressed.  However, if you check the "recompress always" box - then every frame is compressed, regardless of their original data rate.  This dramatically slows the process, but it will result in a smaller AVI file, since it compresses the whole video.

Timeline

 Automatic “Best Fit” on the Timeline – hit the back-slash key (  \  )

Viewing the Audio Waveform – on the timeline, at the left of the audio track - click the drop-down arrow.  By default, you will not see the waveform unless at the bottom you set the “Timeline Zoom Level” to 2 seconds or less (otherwise you will only see a straight line). 

Also, it helps for fine adjustments with rubber-banding to use the largest track view.  To change to a larger track view, and to allow yourself to see the audio waveform no matter what Timeline Zoom level you are at – right-click anywhere in the timeline and select “timeline Window Options”, and set it up as follows :

NOTE1:  by setting the “draw audio when view is” to 8 minutes, you will always be able to see the waveform.  

NOTE2:  you only need to see the waveform when looking for specific areas for rubber-banding.  For example, if you want to amplify the volume of a cough, you can set the zoom to 1 second, and the cough waveform will appear clearly.  For most cases of audio rubber-banding, just uncheck the “Show/Hide Audio Waveform” tiny box to the left of the audio track, and use the Source windo to add Markers, and then do your rubber-banding.

Rubber-Banding Audio - on the timeline, at the left of the audio track - click the drop-down arrow.  You will see the horizontal line – click and drag up/down adjust the audio volume.  The range is 0 to 200%.  CAUTON – if you drag the audio too low, you will hear hissing in the background !!!

Rubber-Banding Video – THE PRIMARY VIDEO TRACKS – VIDEO 1A and 1B – CANNOT BE RUBBER-BANDED !!!.  However, you can use just one clip and drag it to Video 2.  Video rubber-bands can only be enabled with track “Video 2”, and up.  This allows you to fade the video to black or anywhere in between by dragging a point down.  This is useful for having the beginning of your video “creep in” – starting at black.  If the rubber bands seem locked in place - you may need to click the drop-down arrow and click the tiny box to enable rubber-banding.  Video rubber bands cannot be dragged above the mid-point, so the range is 0 to 100%.

Reverse a Clip (run backwards) - right-click on the video track, select speed and enter "-100%".  Note that the audio will also run backwards – so if you do not want this to occur – lock the audio track first.

MPEG Videos

Although there are numerous Premiere plugins for MPEG output (both MPEG1 and MPEG2) – for MPEG1 I simply create an AVI using the "Make Movie" (CTRL-M), and then use XING to convert it to MPG.

XING converts AVI’s to MPEG-1 format, which is still much more common than MPEG2 and MPEG4.  Unlike DV and broadcast quality AVI’s.

Interlacing - computer monitors use progressive scanning (non-interlaced) and TV screens use interlaced video.

• Mpeg1 video does not use fields, so it is not interlaced.  Of course if you output an MPEG1 to VHS, it will be interlaced since standard Television screens only supports interlaced video.  

• MPEG2 can be either interlaced or non-interlaced (for progressive scan displays).  The TmpgEnc (MPEG converter) settings allow you to create MPEG2's that are either interlaced or non-interlaced.  For creation of DVD's you should select interlaced.

MPEG display size – if your avi file exceeds the max MPEG-1 size of 352x288, Xing will scale it down.  It is recommended to create your AVI with the exact size that the output MPG file will be, so that Xing does not have to resize (i.e. let Premiere do the resizing).

Input AVI parameters:  In general, you can use Indeo 3.2 and 5.1 but uncompressed video is recommended.  Also, ADPCM compressed will not work – use uncompressed audio for the AVI !!!

Max display size = 352x288  (most common is 320x240)

Max Audio parameters = 44.1 kHz,  16-bit,  Stereo, uncompressed

Xing Presets – I made several presets - Avg, Good, Great, and Super that vary the quality and size of the resulting mpg file.  To retain stereo, use my Xing “Super” preset (Avg, Good, and Great are mono)

Real Media ( rm files)

Just as with MPEG, the Real Media plugin for Premiere does not work well, even though it uses the G2 encoder – the same as the standalone encoder.  So instead, make an AVI with Premiere and use the standalone converter.  The old one is “Real Producer G2” (does not work with WinXP) and the new one is “Helix Producer” and the basic version is free (although limited – it does convert AVI to rm files).  The full version is $200.  Play with the settings – for clear rm files use the Corporate LAN or ISDN setting.  For compressed but tolerable rm files you will need to experimnent – 128k seems to work well.

DV Video

Calculations, using the DV25 codec:

NTSC DV Video is 29.97 fps, 720x480 using 3 bytes for color info (3 bytes per pixel)

720x480x3  = 1,036,800 bytes/frame

29.97 frames/sec x 1,036,800 bytes/frame = 31,072,896 bytes/sec  (31 MBps)

• uncompressed full-screen video is 31 MB/sec

• uncompressed Audio and Control data – 0.5 MBps

• Camera Compression of video – 10:1,  stored on tape at 3.1 MBps

• Camera compression of audio and control info – None – stored on tape at at 0.5 MBps

• Camera Compression overall 8.6 to 1 . 

• DV Video Display Size = 720x480

• DV  Capture Rate = 3.6MB/sec = 216 MB/min = 2 GB for every 9.5 min of video.

So the standard DV25 compression ratio is actually about 8.6:1 (Adobe says it is 5:1).

Note about Data Rates - Calculating and knowing the effect of Data Rates on video playback is very important – and I included a section on this later.  You can find the data rate of any clip in Premiere by right-clicking and selecting Properties.  You will see the average data rate listed.  To see a sliding chart that show the data rate at any given moment during the clip – click the Data Rate button at the bottom.

Note about converting from DV to other Codecs – you will get mixed results when converting from CDVC (Canopus DV Codec) DV files to other codec AVI’s, such as IV5.1  -  the data rates of the saved AVI will often be unable to conform to your limit, and may have spikes and surges.  A workaround in to do  Make Movie with codec = None.  The file will be huge, but Premiere has a much easier time creating IV5.1 from uncompressed video, and the resulting data rate will be much more consistent.

NOTE:  sometime this  view will be wrong – the scale markings on the vertical axis are sometine completely off, and I have seen two marking both say 2 MB or both say 1 MB, even though one is obviously above the other.  But the “average data rate” shown in the Properties window is always correct.

Problems and Fixes

Since the software & hardware used with this extremely complex process always  has glitches – each glitch must be considered, to decide which operating system to use.  I had been using Win98 due to the sound problem – but the Win98 Premiere source window will not preview Canopus DV clips.  Although there is a workaround for the Win98 problem – I switched back to using XP.

1)  Sound Problem – clicking and popping :  when using the Canopus ADVC-100 to capture, with XP – when I play the video I hear clicking, scratching, etc.    This is my sound card generic drivers supplied by Microsoft - Creative Labs never released WinXP drivers for my AWE64 Gold card.  However, wehn I installed a new card – the Audigy 2 – the problem persisted. The fix is to set the Audio Interleave to ½ second instead of the default 1 second.

2)  Source window preview problem – with Win98, my source window does not show the video moving while playing the clip – I only see the first frame, although the audio is fine.  WinXP has the same problem !!

Workarounds:

a)  THE BEST FOR QUICK, SMALL PROJECTS !!! do a Make Movie to a standard MS AVI, uncompressed video and audio – then import that file and work with it – your source window should now preview OK

b)  for a quick trim job you can click the timeline ruler repeatedly until you get the right frame where you want to set your In/Out point.  Although you cannot play the video in the source window – when you click the timeline the corresponding frame will “usually” show in the source window.

c)  THE BEST FOR HUGE PROJECTS !!!since working with 720x480 video slows the system down to a crawl - do a Make Movie on your source DV capture file, to a smaller size video with a generic codec such as Microsoft Video 1.  Then import and work with this clip until the project is ready and creates the desired output video.  Then rename the files (switch the names) so that you can do a Make Movie with the original captured DV file. 

NOTE:  this is the only way to work with huge projects – it speeds the editing dramatically and your time spent will be about half – working with 720x480 DV files in Premiere is a Royal PAIN !!!  This workaround is perfect !!!

Capturing DV from Camcorder

DV comes in at 720x480 and appears on the screen as a large, extremely sharp video clip.  

MPEG-1 does not support that size, so if you want to retain the 720x480, you must leave the video in AVI format.  As far as the file size goes, the original captured file comes in encoded with CDVC (Canopus DV Codec), as an AVI file – the data rate is constant at 3.6 MBps. 

Creating AVI’s from the Captured DV

For Hard Drive

NOTE:  There is a CDVC codec for people who do not have the Canopus firewire card

For CD's

The CDVC codec AVI’s are very large since they use standard DV compression.  For smaller 720x480 universally playable yet not too huge AVI file that is also high quality – use Indeo 5.1 video and use Microsoft ADPCM audio compression for voice – no audio compression for music.  For the video use 29.97 fps, DV Pixels (aspect ratio = .9).  You can also try and compare file sizes using a Quality setting of 100% and then 90% (there is a big difference in file size between 100% and 90%, yet you will notice very little degradation). 

Step 1)  Since converting from CDVC to IV51 causes the data rate to fluctuate greatly – make your first IV51 video and then use that as your source clip. 

Look at the data rate.  Place markers to dente the beginning and end of each data rate surge, and then razor-blade those sections so that you can apply a filter to the surges.  Apply the Camera Blur filter and set the amount very low ( 0.3 ) – this will bring the data surge way down.  You may need to experiment with the value of blur.

Step 2)  create the CD video with data surges removed :

Step 3)  burn CD and create CD label

NOTE:  do not use Microsoft ADPCM if you will be converting the AVI to MPG – Xing cannot handle that format.  Instead use uncompressed with a 1-second Interleave.

The following shows the standard DV data rate of a captured clip:

It averages about 2.5 MBps. 

Here is the Indeo IV5.2 720x480 AVI using 90% quality:

Using Make Movie to create a full 720x480 “DV-size” video on your Hard Drive or a CD to share

Since MPEG wil not allow the large display size, for this you will have to use AVI.  If sharing with many people on CD, you need a generic codec and the data rate should not be too high.  For CD’s, in the Video settings use the “Limit” setting (do not check “Recompress” as it slows the process way down).

Everyone has the old standard Microsoft Video 1 codec.  But at 720x480 and 100% quality – this file size is huge and the data rate was a whopping 11 MBps !!!  However you can check the limit box (the default is 3600 kBps, or 3.6 MBps).   This is fine for a hard drive and the picture is very clear – but too fast for CD.  Using a limit of 500 kBps, Premiere complained that “the frame of this movie does not fit within the data rate” – you can click “continue anyway” but the quality is poor.

Indeo 5,1 with Limit of 500 k

(Note the initial high data rate – also what you don’t see to the right were other large data surges – which were also in the source Canopus DV video)

The workaround was to remake the video using compressor “None” to give it a constant data rate of 21 MBps, and remake it again using Indeo 5.1 – that got rid of the surges

Export your Project to DV Mini Tape

1)  set up your project, with the Yellow Work Area bar where you want it to be – you do not need to hit CTRL-M and select the settings.  The Export defaults to DV format.  However, your source AVI’s should DV format for best quality !!! 
NOTE:  you can use any AVI as a source, and Premiere will build a preview and then export it to Tape in DV format.  This source AVI file does not have to be  DV size of 720x480.  Premiere will adjust the size for you.

2)  With the camcorder on and in VTR mode, click File/Export Timeline/Export to Tape  .  .  .  wait until the first frame of the video shows, and click “Tape Out”  -  the video will run (it may stutter on your PC, but the taped version should be fine).  The video on your monitor may show only the first frame the entire time – but do not worry – the video is being exported properly !!!

3)  When completed, hit Esc.

Data Rates

Premiere settings allow you to select a “limit” in KBps for the resulting output video.  You can goto the Properties of any clip, ans then click the “Data Rate” button at the bottom to see a histogram chart, with a slider along the bottom.  It shows you the data rate for any specific time in the video.

Adobe recommends using the “average data rate” of the video (look in Properties) as the number to use for the limit.  This results in the best quality – but that data rate may still be too high, especially if the video is going to be burned onto a CD.

Video data rate limits for CD  -  350-500 K/sec for quad-speed [4x] CD-ROM drives, 1.8 MB/sec for 12x drives and 3-3.6 MB/sec for 24x drives.  Cinepak (Quicktime) is the best codec for CD’s because it has good quality at slow data rates – but not everyone has Quicktime loaded on their PC.

NOTE:  the codec is also called the “compressor”, and it does the limiting.  Some codecs do not support limits.

Max Compression -  your codec is limited by its maximum compression ratio, and may not achieve the data rate you specify. When a codec cannot remove enough information to meet the data rate limit, the data rate of the final movie is higher than the data rate limit. For example, when your codec can only compress frames as low as 150 k/sec, and the requested data rate limit is 90 k/sec, the data rate of your final movie is still 150 k/sec for those frames. If it is essential that your movies do not exceed a certain data rate (e.g., when making movies for CD-ROM distribution), but your codec cannot meet the requested data rate limit using its maximum compression ratio, you must either choose another codec or reduce the content and complexity of your movie (e.g., reduce the frame size, lower the frame rate, minimize special effects and transitions).

When you select a Data Rate Limit - the compressor will try to conform to that data rate,  but if the input video is either too large a display size or the content is too complex, then the output data rate will exceed your limit !!!

For example, I made a 720x480 IV5.1 encoded video and set the data rate limit to 3oo kB/sec.   Apparently, due to the large display size – Premiere was unable to honor that limit.  Most of the video ran at about 1000 kBps  (1 MBps) and in one section it jumped to 2 MBps !!

Quality Slider - when you use the Quality slider to adjust your movies data rate, a constant level of compression is applied to the entire movie, regardless of the movies content. For example, if the Quality slider is set to its highest point, each frame in the movie is compressed by the ratio corresponding to the position of the Quality slider (e.g., 16:1), whether the frame contains 100 k of raw data or 1000 k of raw data.

The drawback of applying a constant level of compression is that some frames are compressed unnecessarily, while the data in other frames exceeds the limits of the playback system. For example, if your playback system supports a data rate of 1500 k/sec, you need to compress the portions of your movie that are higher than 1500 k/sec, but you don't need to compress areas that are already less than 1500 k/sec. A constant level of compression would compress both the complex and simple portions of your movie by the same ratio, which often results in data spikes (i.e., sudden data increases) in some areas and compression artifacts (i.e., streaks or specks) in others. To compress only those portions of your movie that exceed a certain data rate, you should apply a data rate limit instead of adjusting the Quality slider.

Codecs and the results of their Data Rate Limits

*** using a Canopus DV input video (720x480, avg data rate approx 700 kBps, with one surge to 2 Mbps)

None – the output video data rate was constant at a whopping 21 MBps !!

Microsoft Video 1 – constant data rate.  With  DV input video, using data rate limits below the max compression (which was 1000 kBps)  it gives a warning that the frame exceeds the data rate limit, but you can click “Continue anyway”.  I set the limit to 300 kB with 100% quality - the resulting video data rate was constant at 1 MB, and the video was very blurry, as expected.  Same thing occurred at 600k limit.  I tried 3600 kBps and the video was clear and the data rate conformed to 3600 kBps constant.  When I unchecked the data rate limit – the video was fairly clear but the data rate skyrocketed to 11 MB !!

IV5.1 (Indeo Video 5.1) - varies all over the place and greatly exceeds the Data Rate Limit if the input video data rate is high

Codecs

Microsoft Video 1 (called “CRAM” in Premiere Properties – no idea why).

Canopus DV Codec (CDVC)

Cinepak –