Format of file Exported by SDK Exporter plugin for premiere pro cs4

Question

Hi
I am trying to build a plugin which can use a custom codec to export an imported video to h264 format.
The codec which i have to use converts a YUV420 raw video to h264 format. As given in the Premiere SDK Guide
the SDK Exporter supports uncompressed 8-bit RGB with or without alpha, and packed
10-bit YUV (v410). The initial rendering is performed by the RenderVideoFrame() function call which is called in RenderAndWriteVideoFrame().
This is then converted using various calls like ConvertFrom8uTo32f(), ConvertFromBGRA32fToVUYA32f(), and ConvertFrom32fToV410().
The problem i m facing is that i m not able to verify if the RenderVideoFrame() is working correctly and the format in which it writes.
Is there any way to check using any media player that can play the exported video. Unless i know the exact(correct) exported format
i wont be able to convert it to the required YUV420 format that i need.
Also if i dont use the ConvertFrom functions and use only the video stream written by RenderVideoFrame, can u specify clearly the format
and any media player which can play it, so as to check the working.
Thanks
Agam

Answer 1

Zac do you have any charts on what the pixel formats each filter supports?
If you use quirky filters (Adobe or 3rd party) you know they implemented with the mandated pixel format (BGRA_4444_8u) but probably no others. The result is that no matter what the importer/workflow/compiler combo you think you're working in you are forced to use BGRA_4444_8u from that point on in the workflow. - so much for "native" DV, HDV, MPEG2, MPEG4, CineForm, RED, etc etc etc.
Can you provide a list of what PixelFormats the Adobe filters support?
It would great to see it for CS5|4|3 & Prem Pro 2.0*
Eg:     FILTER      PIXELFORMATS
     MOTION     BGRA_4444_8u   YUVA_4444_8u   V410   DV  etc etc
     BLUR          BGRA_4444_8u   YUVA_4444_8u   V410   DV  etc etc
     XXXXXX     BGRA_4444_8u   YUVA_4444_8u   V410   DV  etc etc
     YYYYYY     BGRA_4444_8u   YUVA_4444_8u   V410   DV  etc etc
That would be a fantastic table for the user to have. That way you know when you're forcing the workflow from the native import pixelformat type (and colorspace for that matter) back to 8bit RGBA. (and potentially loosing 10bit quality and screwing up the colorspace of rec601 and rec709).
I mention Premiere Pro 2.0 because it was the last version that processed the Timeline single threaded and thus the last version that single-threaded filters can be used on. 'fortunately plugins intended for later versions of Premiere will work with it because Prem Pro 2.0 understands the version 8 API of CS3 and CS4.
For this reason (legacy plugins) I'm in the process of pulling some plugins from CS3 into the Prem Pro directory to see it they work. I'm willing to do that even though the filter I want to use is BGRA_4444_8u only. - the filter is THAT important to me.
Sidenote: this is why I'm SO disappointed with CS5. Forcing plugins to be 64bit has killed the use of hundreds of 3rd party plug-ins created over the last 20 years - many of which are End Of Life and thus will only ever be 32bit. I would have been a lot happier to have CS5 implement proxy editing (ie OffLine editing) and then on Export click a button to use the Online (ie full res) material instead. That feature would have allowed v fast timeline rendering (with or without CUDA) and much lower requirements on cpu/gpu and storage. In the few instances that you need to edit in native 2k or 4k etc then sure do it but I bet 90% of the time you can work in 1080p or lower to get your movie produced.