Finding a suitable After Effects CS4 rendering setting

Question

Hi, I am currently trying to add some text to a video while keeping the video's settings. These are the source video's settings:
Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 4 frames
Codec ID                         : avc1
Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                         : 4mn 15s
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 2 022 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                 : 9 328 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Resolution                       : 8 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.073
Stream size                      : 61.5 MiB (89%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 112 r1834 a51816a
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-2:-2 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.60:0.20 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=1 / scenecut=60 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=crf / mbtree=0 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=30 / qpstep=8 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.50
Encoded date                     : UTC 2011-01-14 15:37:51
Tagged date                      : UTC 2011-01-14 15:48:32
Color primaries                  : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics         : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients              : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177
Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AAC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version                   : Version 4
Format profile                   : LC
Format settings, SBR             : No
Codec ID                         : 40
Duration                         : 4mn 15s
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 253 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                 : 257 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L R
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Stream size                      : 7.68 MiB (11%)
Encoded date                     : UTC 2011-01-14 15:48:32
Tagged date                      : UTC 2011-01-14 15:48:32
I would, in a perfect world, like to render the video with the text with these exact same settings (or without rendering the video but just adding the text). Is there any way I could do this?
Thanks

Answer 1

I would, in a perfect world, like to render the video with the text with these exact same settings (or without rendering the video but just adding the text). Is there any way I could do this?
No. For all intents and purposes, that is completely mutually exclusive. The footage must be decoded at any cost then the text integrated into the background pixels, resulting in a re-encode. It's simply not possible for technical reasons in any program on this planet. The only way to achieve some sort of pass-through would not to do anything to the footage but cut it, but obviously that is not happening here and also would require a program like Premiere or Vegas to handle it. Based on that, in these programs you could also selectively re-encode only the sections thatr have the text, but never ever any of that in Ae. As a compositing program, it always expands the pixel data fully and after that, everything is a full new encode. so ultimately, how you out put it from there doesn't matter. Naturally, to avoid further recompression once you go back to your edit program, you would use visualyl lossless formats like Quicktime animation or PNG, but that's very much it...
Mylenium