H.264 encoding time saver

I don't know if this has been discussed elsewhere, and I don't know if everyone reading this will go, "well duh!" but I discovered something last week that made a big difference in how long it takes my system to encode H.264 files.
I have a lot of clients who want their videos on YouTube, which is why I create a lot of H.264 files. Usually, in my Media Encoder H.264 settings, I select the YouTube SD preset (all my video is SD), which works very well. But by making a simple tweak to the preset values, I cut the encoding time in better than half. The preset has a frame rate value of 30 FPS. Changing that value to match my video (29.97 FPS) made all the difference in the world.
I have a 3:12 project that consists of simple cuts. No transitions and no effects. With the standard YouTube H.264 preset, this took 5:12 to encode. By changing the frame rate to 29.97, the encoding only took 2:11!
J. D.

thanks for info ! Usually it is kinda normal that the workflow is just like you said...your project settings match the video "source" material. and the export matches the project settings ( as much as possible, as of course some things change ( size of frame ...maybe you have to go to interlaced or progressive etc) ..but generally frame rate is kept the same....
once you get your settings good ( adjusting the default preset values ) you can then "save" that as your own new preset...customized...and then you dont have to keep changing it...you could label it MYH264-YOUTUBE-SD...or something ...

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Media Encoder cc 2014.1 crashing with unknown error on h.264 every time

I am unable to render ANY timelines using h.264 for any format (presets or customized). The audio preparation procedure completes and the timeline seems to render fine for a while. The render never committees and variably crashes somewhere during the render with the very helpful "Unknown Error" every singe time.
Example from the log file:
- Encoding Time: 00:06:03
10/26/2014 02:59:12 PM : Encoding Failed
A low-level exception occurred in: H.264 (Exporter)
Export Error
Error compiling movie.
Unknown error.
Anyone have a suggestions? Any solutions, Adobe?

Hi KB8WFH,
KB8WFH wrote:
It is almost never in the same place. I have encountered both on a Mac and a Windows PC a problem where it will always crash when it encounters a Warp Stabilizer effect added to a clip. But even removing those, the render failed every time at seemingly random place soon the same sequence/timeline being rendered.
That's pretty frustrating but it doesn't sound familiar. I can look into it.
KB8WFH wrote:
I have noticed that this seems to now only happen on projects I upgraded from a previous version of Premiere.
OK. Sorry to hear that exports are affected as well.
KB8WFH wrote:
I understand Adobe's policy is that it is not a good idea to move a project from over version into an upgraded application, but this is really not practical.
Actually, it's not Adobe's policy, it's mine. It's also been a general editor's rule of thumb since the dawn of NLEs.
Project file handling is something I learned in trade school. I was taught to protect the project file from application updates. This was at Avid Bootcamp back in 1996 by some of the best NLE instructors in Hollywood. Eventually, I taught these concepts to my NLE students when I became a certified instructor a bit later.
I learned that not only do you avoid updating your project file, but you must have at least 3 back up copies at all times in 3 different places every single day. You should also avoid updating your OS, plug-ins or crucial hardware along the way. The more complex the project file is, the more susceptible it may be to corruption and you must be even more vigilant than normal projects, as you may be protecting weeks, months, or even years of work.
With the many updates of Premiere Pro CC it's certainly not that practical, but something to keep in mind as you work on a large project.
KB8WFH wrote:
New versions are used for their new features and big fixes. Microsoft does not tell their customers not to open documents made in previous versions of their MS Word in upgraded versions because of issues. That defeats the entire purpose of upgraded software.
I do understand your stance on upgrading software. It should not be harmful to do. You should also be able to update a Premiere Pro project file without too much trouble. Sometimes, it's crucial to see if you can take advantage of a bug fix with an update. I learned that you just need to be super careful with large, complex projects like features and docs. If you must update, do so with plenty of project file back ups and a wary eye. If the situation goes awry, you can always return to these project files.
KB8WFH wrote:
I am attempting to use the project Manager to export the timeline into a new project and see if I can render that and it it makes any difference. Will let you know as soon as I have any results.
That's a good idea. Let us know if it works for you.
Thanks,
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Hi there,
I'm experiencing very long render times when encoding footage captured with the BMD H.264 Pro Recorder. Watching it encode (either through Premiere CS6, or AME) it looks like the encoding stops for periods of time. With other footage I can encode a 50 minute project in about 15-20 minutes, encoding with footage from the Pro Recorder is almost 1:1 in terms of project length/encode time.
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H.264 Encoding - Faster in the future?

H.264 is great, high quality video, low bitrates. However, one of my main complaints (and one shared by many) is the lengthy encoding times. 35 minutes for 3 minutes of video on a 1.8ghz iMac G5?! It's too long. So, will this get quicker in time with improved software? Or do we just need to wait for the hardware we use to improve. Also, does anyone know any quicker way of encoding h.264. Thanks.
-Michael Carter

I encoded to H.264 from a 1.45GB YUV 4:2:0 file. The new .mov file was just 277MB. This is 500 frames and no sound! I have no problems with encoding times - just wish they were made shorter by using more available CPU!
Like another poster said, the load didnt hit 70%. To improve performance, have you changed your system setting to 'Highest' in the Energy Saver part of system preferences? On my machine it makes a great deal of difference - especially in playback of 1080p trailers from the web! Its enough to make the Quicktime playback constantly full FPS even when doing something else on the machine

Please clarify availability of H 264 encoding in AIR for iOS/Android

Hello,
I've written an app to send a live camera stream via RTMP in H 264/Nellymoser from mobile devices. The app works fine on AIR when tested on my Win7 desktop, but when I publish to AIR 3.2 for Android or AIR for iOS, it seems that the H264VideoStreamSettings are simply ignored and the video ends up in Sorenson. Is H264 supported for encoding/publishing on AIR for mobile devices? If not, is this planned for the future?
Thanks!

Unfortunately, the release notes say H.264 encoding from AIR is for the desktop version only:
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/multi/release-notes-flash-player-11.html
H.264/AVC Software Encoding for Cameras (desktop) — Stream high-quality video from your computer's camera with higher compression efficiency and industry stanard support, enabling both immersive real-time communications such as video chat/conferencing and live video broadcasts.

Very Slow H.264 Encoding in FCP 10.1.2 and Compressor 4.1 on nMP

I have a fully maxed out 12-core nMP and editing with this machine in FCP 10.1.1 has been a delight. I recently completed a 4K project from footage shot with the Sony AX-100 and then output the project from FCP X using File>Share>Master File to ProRes 422. This operation occurred in about the same length of time as the length of the project (18.5 min.). I then brought this 75 GB ProRes .mov file into Compressor 4.1, and set up Compressor to encode to an H.264 file at 70 Mb/sec. This encode to h.264 is only 1/4 complete at 48 min. and it appears that it will take Compressor about 4 hours to encode this 18 min. project to h.264. Furthermore, I noticed that with the share to a master prores file FCP X was using 50-60% of my total CPU resources while the encode to h.264 in Compressor is using barely 16% of the total CPU. Thus it appears to me that while FCP 10.1.1 is optimized for the nMP, certainly Compressor 4.1, at least for h.264 encoding, is not.
My question is basically what am I missing? Is there a better workflow than using Compressor 4.1 for high bit rate h. 264 encoding of 4K? If so, what is the best way to use my nMP to get a high bit rate h.264 4K file for sending to YouTube and other online streaming?
Thanks for sharing any thoughts on this you may have.
Tom

Russ,
Thanks for responding.
I am encoding only a single project from FCP X in Compressor 4.1 and using only a single instance of Compressor. I don't really see that using multiple instances of Compresor with a single job would be helpful, but perhaps I don't understand something.
The project has now been encoding for 2.5 hr and is slightly less than half complete. The CPU usage is still at 16-17%. Overall this seems like a ridiculously slow encode to h.264 from a ProRes 422 file in Compressor 4.1.
Here are some thoughts on alternatives that I may try. (1) Take the Pro Res 422 file into Adobe's Media Encoder CC and encode it to high bit rate 4K h.264. (2) Take the Pro Res 422 file into Handbrake and encode to high bitrate 4K h.264. Handbrake does seem to make far more use of the nMP's CPU's than Compressor 4.1. Don't know about Media Encoder since I have not tried any h.264 encoding in Media Encoder.
The irony is that my nMP will play then entire 18.5 minute 4K project from the timeline with virtually no dropped frames, but rendering it to h.264 at 4K and high bit rate seems to take forever.
If you have any other thoughts, I would love to hear them. Thanks so much for responding, and I would love to hear from any FCP X experts who are encoding 4K to h.264.
Tom

Man, H.264 encode to iPod is superslow in Compressor 2.1!

I was so happy that compressor finally encodes a iPod compatible H.264-file.
So I started to try it out.
I encoded a 3 minute DV-PAL clip from FCP into iPod compatible H.264 using the preset in compressor 2.1
the 3 minute clip took 15 minutes to encode on my Quad G5 with 4 GB RAM. (using around 170% CPU)
I then took the preset and increased the quality to best, then gave it another go.
The 3 minute clip took a whooping 5 hours to encode into a iPod compatible file on the Quad.
This app seriously need some optimization!
The encoding times reminds me of my sorenson encodes using cleaner on my brand new blue/white G3 back in the day!

It may do it realtime, but I don't think its doing multipass or frame controls or resizing properly. Looking at two clips, done from QT and Compressor, the resolution of the QT export was 320x213, audio sample rate was lower and the overall data rate was higher than what was done in Compressor. If you turn off frame controls and multipass in Compressor, the speeds are about the same.
By default, I think Compressor optimizes for the best quality. QT doesn't give you an option, but by looking at the attributes of the files the Compressor one seems better. Of course, whether the quality, resolution accuracy, and file size is worth 2x the encoding time is subjective. Setting the frame controls to best would increase encoding times exponentially.
It was an intersting observation tho. To be honest, I dont see a big difference between the two files, just the obvious resultion difference. Maybe the extra options aren't needed.

Do you need to use H.264 encoding?

Good morning.
I'm using VisualHub to convert/encode my movies for my AppleTV. Do you need to use the H.264 encoding option or is it just a personal preference?
Thanks.
Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.4) 20" Apple Cinema Display, iBook G4, MacBook Pro

Do you need to use the H.264 encoding option or is it just a personal preference?
I can't speak on VisualHub specifically (though I hear great things about it) but, yes, I'd would say that it's personal preference.
I'm sure you've read this elsewhere, but the benefit to h.264 is that it's a more efficient algorithm compared to MPEG-4. In non-tech speak, that means that it produces smaller files size at the (relatively) same quality. The major downside, of course, is that h.264 takes substantially longer to encode than MPEG-4.
Depending on the your needs – how demanding are you about quality? - and constraints - do you have a lot of stuff to encode, but not enough time? - MPEG-4 should be fine.

Speeding up H.264 encoding

Hello,
I'm looking for your current thoughts on speeding up H.264 encoding. I'm currently using FCE HD 3. Last night I made a 560x315, hour-and-twenty-minute web video for a client--it took over 14 hours to encode. Not the end of the world--usually I do 10-minute videos, but still...
I'm running a new G4 ibook (slow, I know) but am considering a MacBook Pro.
1) Any system settings or RAM issues that might speed things up?
2) Any thoughts on the open source x264 (just downloaded and will test this weekend)?
3) It is really possible to distrubte the work amongst multiple computers (I'm using an Airport network with two other (older) Macs. Worth it?
Also, I've read that H.264 encoding is slower on the MacBook Pro as compared to the G5, apparently due to non-optimized code in Quicktime. Any experiences with this or rumors of when/if the software will be made to run faster? Is there a real hardware solution out there?
Thanks!
--Darin

Thanks for the replies. I went to the Apple store and purchased one, since there's no restocking fee. But playing with it last night, it definitely won't do what I want it to do. So, it's going back.
But, your note on upping processor performance has noticeably helped when I'm scrubbing video on my MB. It's more responsive now. Also, the encoding time improved. I had a sample 720p clip I am have testing against. After upping the processor (choosing "performance" over the default "normal") improved the encoding time from 65 to 48 minutes. That's a nice little boost. Thanks.

AIR h.264 encoding support

Is h.264 encoding in AIR at the roadmap of Adobe? I know Adobe is working hard on delivering the requested features, and thanks for the Echo Cancellation. It works great. H264 is now in flash player, but can we expect classes H264VideoStreamSettings, H264Profile, H264Level be available on the AIR in the future as well? I can't think of any technical issues regarding this, but is there any legal issues? It would be very important for us to know, to make a business decisions now.
Thank you.

I'll ask around and see if I can find any info about this, in the mean time, if you haven't voted already I'd like to encourage you to cast your vote for this feature request over at ideas.adobe.com
H.264/AAC encoding from AIR/Flash player
Thanks,
Chris

H.264 Encoding Questions...???

I am now starting to convert different video files to my iTunes for my AppleTV and have some questions...
BTW, I am using VisualHub and using H.264 - high quality setting for encoding on a G5 iMac with 1GB RAM.
1. Approx. how long should it take to encode a 700MB .avi file to .mp4, using H.264?
I am transferring all these TV shows I have that are around 700MB .avi files and they are taking anywhere from 400-600 minutes per file!!! That seems very long to me.
2. Do .VOB files typically take even longer to encode using H.264?
The few .VOB files I have tried are taking 800 or so minutes for a 2-3GB .vob file.
Is there something else I should be doing? Are these times normal?
Any tips or suggestions for encoding?
Thanks in advance.

Don't use VisualHub myself, but do know that h.264 encoding is extremely processor intensive and time consuming. The actual source material probably won't matter too much unless it's high definition or uses a particularly computationally intensive algorithm to decode (and for most decoding is miles faster than encoding).
For example, on my iMac (2.16GHz Intel core 2 duo) converting a 2-3GB '.rec' TV recording from a Topfield PVR (which in essence produces MPEG2 transport streams), via MPEG Streamclip can take 3-4 hours for say a 90-120 minute program, and that's without using 2 pass encoding.
VisualHub is regarded as one of the faster converters, but High Quality setting will take longer than 'Standard' and the 'Go nuts' option will take even longer.
Hopefully (though it may not be what you want to hear) someone with a G5 and VisualHub will reply to confirm the sort of encoding times you're experiencing - I say hopefully as if their times are much faster it points to some other factor than VisualHub.
Elgato make a hardware USB h.264 encoder which is supposed to speed up encoding considerably but it only accelerates specific applicatiosn (eg iMovie) or their own conversion application (so far - the latest MPEG Streamclip release suggests they will add an option to harness it if possible/feasible - it may not be).
There are mixed reports on the Elgato device - biggest gripes being lack of customisable settings and an 800x600 resolution maximum. I've got one on order - for some older stuff recorded off a PVR it'll probably be more than adequate but for newer things software encoding is likely to be better. Time vs quality trade off really.
Best h.264 encoding results for most at the present time will almost certainly be achieved in customisable converter software - there are probably professional high quality h264 hardware converters available but these would be prohibitively costly for most of us.
AC

H.264 encoding hardware

We're cranking these things out now, and the render times are killing us.
Any suggestions for quality hardware for H.264 encoding?
Budgets aren't what they used to be around here, so I'd like to keep the cost somewhere between an arm or a leg - not both.

Typically I export a QT Movie, and uncheck SELF CONTAINED. This makes a reference movie, that is a clip that points to the existing media on the media drive, and not a self contained movie containing footage within. This export is way faster than exporting a self contained movie.
Then I take that into Compressor or into the Elgato software and let it encode. Then I can go back to work in FCP. You CAN, if you want, choose QUICKTIME CONVERSION, and I think the Elgato options pop up there, but then you are stuck while FCP is busy encoding. And I don't think it is any faster.
Shane

H.264 encoding with Episode Pro or Compressor ???

I will be doing some HDDVD soon and was wondering if anyone have used Episode Pro for H.264 encoding. I'm using CinemaCraft for SD encoding and find it much better than compressor but at the moment there's no affordable H.264 encoders other than Episode pro...Any suggestions ??? Thanks

Currently, I have Episode Pro 4.2.2, which is the latest version of Episode Pro. The limitations with it are that there are several small things like with H.264, where it will only do 2 pass encoding, instead of multipass, which if you're a stickler for detail like I am, you will see the difference.
Episode doesn't base it's encoding on QT, though it does make use of the codecs contained in QT. As one of the people at telestream said, they use there own proprietary engine and as a result, for the most part, does very fairly nice job.
If you were to really put to the test Episode Pro against compressor's multipass encoder, you find that all things being setup the same, that compressor would yield a technically superior image, (due to multipass encoding.)
If you are in a hurry and the quality of image is not as important as time, Episode Pro is you're choice. Now in defense of Telestream, they are a company that listens to there end users, unlike some I know, (Auto Desks Cleaner 6.5 comes to mind.) I have emailed there technical team and made suggestion on improvements to Episode Pro and believe it or not, they will be implementing my suggestions within the next 6 to 8 months. My moneys always on the company that listens to there customers.
When I have very critical work, dealing with H.264, compressor when setup correctly gives outstanding results, but now that when I have corresponded with Telestream over the last month, I'm betting that the limitations that Episode currently has, will rapidly disappear in a very short time, they just listen the there customers.
I also have 3 copies of Cleaner 6.5 and it also, (when it works) also uses multipass encoding for H.264 and resulting files look fabulous. The only problem is that I can never keep a batch running for more than a day.
Long story short, for day to day output, were perfection is not a concern, Episode Pro is a very good choice, (I own 3 copies.) For mission critical work, where high quality is a must, I unfortunately have to still use Cleaner 6.5, even though it hasn't seen an update in over a year, (not even bug fixes.) The reason for using Cleaner 6.5 is that, I guess I'm just use to the software and know were all the gotchs are, so I just work around them. Compressor again is a very good choice, but the setup is still not on par with the other encoders, this is why I use Cleaner 6.5, (for critical work) and Episode Pro, (for day to day use) there easier to setup.
Sorry for rambling on so much, I have been dealing with finding the best solution for a long time now, and still there isn't just one app that has it all, YET! I even own a copy of Sorenson 4.5, but don't use it at all.

Premiere Elements 11 H.264 encoder ignores max bitrate and only obeys target bitrate

H.264 encoding target bitrate is followed but max bitrate is ignored. I have source file that is 24mbps CBR and have chosen to encode at a target of 15 mbps and a max of 24mbps. When i monitor the resulting encoded bitrate, has no peaks. It's basically CBR at 15 mbps. Then if I set the target at 1 mbps and keep the max at 24 mbps, i get a highly compressed video that has no peaks but a constant 1mbps datastream. Why does it not obey the max bitrate setting and encode some significant peaks into the file?

Steve,
I do agree that asking adobe would be best. However, at the time of posting, Adobe was unavailable and unwilling to open a chat window. Regardless of the type of camcorder I have, the question is still valid. My goal is to figure out the right balance of quality and bitrate. I see VBR as a very useful feature that I've used before with much success. As mentioned before, the current implementation seems a little lacking. As it sits right now, I'll just set everything to CBR and pick the minimum bitrate that properly balances quality and storage space. Whether the actual progam is classified as consumer or pro, I still expect a feature to work. Being a consumer program does not remove the requirement for a feature to work.
In regards to your camcorder question. Yes, there are "consumer camcorders" that create AVCHD video files using the H.264 codec. I happen to be using a Canon Vixia HFM400.
Ken

FLV supporting but .mp4 (H.264 encoded) video not supporting in mobile browser?

Hi
I want to know one things, is there any other settings required to publish the swf file for playing mp4 file in mobile browser also. I am able to play ".FLV" in mobile browser but not able to play ".MP4" (H.264 encoded) in my mobile browser.
MP4 file required Flash Player 10 to play video I know this,I can watch video from youtube.com in mobile bowser also.
Please look at the following url which is not opening in Mobile browser but can open in computer broswer.
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I want the above url to be play in both computer and mobile browser also as it calling .mp4 file from Flash Media Server.
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Are you using Flash Lite Plug-in or Flash Player Plug-in on your mobile browser. I have a feeling that you are using Flash Lite Plug-in and flash lite plug-in (latest is 4.0 i suppose) does not support H264 encoded files.
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H.264 encoding time saver

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