Improve video quality (Premiere Pro CS4)

Hi everyone,
I've been given an mpeg file that's really low quality, ie. it has a lot of compression artifacts. I wondered if there was a way to somehow improve the quality using premiere pro. I've never use this program before so would probably need basic instructions if there is a solution.
Appreciate any advice.

As John T. points out, once heavy compression has been done, there is no undoing it. The bits of data are just no longer there.
Now, one can improve some aspects, but this is just making something bad, a bit less bad. Depending on the footage, a bit of Levels (not Auto-Levels), a bit of Highlight & Shadow (turn OFF Auto and then change the setting down quite a bit), Fast Color Corrector, perhaps Neat Video (optional plug-in from Neat Video), and then a touch of Unsharp Mask as the final. That might improve things a bit, but do not expect magic, as it is not going to happen.
Good luck, and if there is ANY way to get back to before that MPEG compression, get that. You will be so much farther ahead.
Hunt

Similar Messages

Problem Playing Video in Premiere Pro CS4

I am having a problem playing video in premiere pro. When I input any movie clip and try to play it in both the timeline and in the preview mode, the audio works fine but the video only plays a few seconds worth of footage at a really slow pace so that it takes up the entire time. For instance if I load a 3 minute video, the sound is normal but over the coarse of that 3 minutes I will only see a small number of the frames and they are cycled through in ultra slow motion.
All the clips play normally outside of premiere. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the program. I have premiere installed on my laptop and it works fine. I have tried rendering the video first and it still doesn't work. I have tried holding shift before the program is loading and it did nothing. I have downloaded all the updates too. Videos seem to play fine in After Effects.
Also, I am having trouble when importing HD video into premiere and after effects. For some reason the programs freeze when I try to import footage from my Creative Vado HD pocket video camera.
Here are my computer specs
Windows Vista Ultimate 32 Bit
Intel Core2 Quad q8200
ATI Radeon 4670 Graphics Card
Gigabyte Motherboard
4GB of 800 Mhz RAM
This is really frustrating. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Keith,
The file extension .AVI indicate a "wrapper." All sorts of stuff can be in that wrapper *. Some of that stuff will play/edit fine. Much will not and create issues, as you have seen. Your camera uses a CODEC to create those .AVI files. That CODEC is the issue. I recommend G-Spot to find out what the CODEC is. Some times it's just a matter of having the proper CODEC installed on the computer. Most of the time, it takes much more than that - hence Eddie's links on "conversion." At least G-Spot will get us all on the same playing field, and explicit help can follow - probably to study Eddie's links. My guess is that your camera uses some form of DivX CODEC, hence the problem that you see.
Good luck,
Hunt
* Think of .AVI like the foil wrapper on a stick of gum, when you remove the outer lable. You know it's gum, but not what flavor. Could be Juicyfruit, or Spearmint, or Double-mint. G-Spot will tell you the flavor. PrPro likes some flavors, but hates others.

Why when after I preview render my videos in Premiere Pro CS4, everything is off-screened???

Before I preview my videos, they all looked fine in on the preview box.
But after when I preview rendered them, everything looks off... the positions and the scalings of the videos are all totally squashed and sideways, like as if it's a corrupted file or something..
And another issue - when I want to final render out the videos, nothing seems to be moving at all... I have more than enough hard disk spaces, but they just won't move at all... why is this??
I'm using Premiere Pro version 4.0.1. (the latest version if I remember)
Please help / advice, thanks

Welcome to the forum.
What are the full specs. of your Source Files, and also your Sequence Preset?
It sounds like you have a mis-match in there somewhere.
Good luck,
Hunt

Exported HD video from Premiere Pro CS4 via Media encoder Freezes mid way through video

Hi,
I couldnt find this raised by anyone else so thought id start a new thread. Ive tried a couple of times to export an edited project only to find the video is all good up until roughly half way through the video at which point the video freeezes, the time keeps moving along as if its playing but no video. It looks like the encode failed at this point. I have no problems if I split up the video and export it in smaller pieces but obviously this isnt good enough
Any ideas as to the cause?
Additional info:
Im patched upto CS4.1
Source footage is AVCHD
Project goes for just over an hour
Cheers

That suggests some failure somewhere in the encoding process. It could be something in your timeline around 43 minutes, maybe a blank space (even for a single frame), a disk hiccup causing some part to go missing, other hardware problems. It could be a myriad of things going wrong. What background processes are running, what is your hardware setup, what are the temperatures during encoding, etc. Check the second part of this link: If you need help quickly...Guideline for posting an effective question

Swap fields in Premiere Pro CS4

How can I do "Swap fields" to a progressive video in Premiere Pro CS4 (4.2.1)? There is Project tab / right click video file / Interpret Footage / Field Order, but that only either does nothing to the progressive scan video or apparently converts interlaced to progressive, in which case my video goes very blurred and bad quality since it's not correctly processed.
So, my video is .avi MJPEG, incorrectly defined as "interlaced" in the headers and incorrectly having the field order swapped even though there are no real fields since it's progressive. It's saved by Blackmagic Intensity Pro capture card, no processing done yet.
I'm just looking for a simple swap fields function for Premiere, but can't find it anywhere. At export stage is same or similar to that Interpret Footage place, I can't swap fields but just basically destroy my video.

HDV is MPEG2 and capturing is only a tranfer of data, nothing more.

Is microsoft avi the highest quality format to export an avi file in premiere pro cs4?

Hello,
I exported an avi file in premiere pro cs4 in media encoder using Microsoft avi format but the quality turned out poor on dvd, what's the highest quality format I can use?
Please help
Thanks
Elio

Elio,
As has been stated, DV-AVI is not the format FOR a DVD-Video. However, it can be used (and often is) as a transport medium into a DVD authoring program, like Encore.
Can you please outline your workflow from PrPro to the final DVD, and is it a DVD-Video (will contain MPEG-2 material in VOB "containers"), or a DVD-Data, that is then played on a computer with something like Windows Media Player, VLC, MediaPlayer Classic HC, etc.?
Good luck, and please let us know exactly what you are doing, and the programs used.
Hunt

How to use Premiere Pro CS4 and AE together to stabilize a shaky video.

Hello,
I know where to find and apply the stabilization tool in AE CS4, problem is I don't really understand compositions. I have a very very basic understanding of AE in general, more so the workflow and what some of the buttons here and there do.
Maybe this will be easier to answer.
I have my raw footage in Premiere Pro Cs4 right now, before I edit it I want to stabilize it. How to a connect PP and AE?
Will AE change the quality of my video? I need to keep it HD. I'm in a professional setting.
I do I take the stabilized video from AE and put it back into PP for further editing?
And finally, maybe this is redundant, but do I have to export out of AE or can I put the edited work back into PP for the rendering (exporting) process?
I can clarify on anything you need if I'm not making sense.
Thanks in advance for you the help!
-Mark

The "Working with After Effects and Premiere Pro" page gives an overview of the ways to move data back and forth between Premiere Pro and After Effects, and it also includes links to a few basic video tutorials on the subject.
It sounds like you need to learn the basics of After Effects first. I suggest starting on this page.

Premiere Pro CS4 - editing video from GoPro video camera

I am having a problem trying to edit video from the GoPro camera in Premiere Pro CS4 (PP). Have not been able to get much help from GoPro - they just tell me to speak with Adobe. I think the video codec used by the camera is MJPEG (?). It won't play at all on the timeline. Interestingly it will in After Effects (AE) CS4 and if I export it out of AE as a Microsoft AVI file I can then play it in PP. However if I go straight to Media Encoder and import the clip and then try export the clip via ME as a Microsoft AVI the exported clip from ME won't play in Premiere Pro. I am confused. Does anyone know this camera, it's codec and why it just won't work when directly imported into Premiere Pro but it will when imported directly into After Effects. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Please see a post I made this morning under my screen name BruceERoberts .... details below
I just purchase Adobe Premiere Pro a few days ago - and subsequently updated it to Ver 4.2.1. A started a new project - I tried to import some video footage I just shot with a GOPro Hemet Cam while skiing at our local mountain. I can easlily see the clip using Real Media Player - or the Quick Time player. It is a 10.9 MB ... 7 second MPEG-4 movie clip. File name is "gopro0030.mp4"
I created a "bin" called video .... then right clicked to import the file. You can see the file name in the media browser. But the file would not import. I received this error message: "109C ImporterProcessServer.exe Application Error. The instruction at "0x05efcac" referenced memory at "0x00000014". The memory could not be read. CLick OK to terminate."
This is very frustrating - I just purchased the software - and it won't import a 7 second video clip! It did import still fotos with no problem. What can I do?
thank you for your attention to this.
Bruce Roberts, Vernon B.C.
March 14th 2010
System Info
MS Windows XP
Version 2002 SP3
Dell Dimension XPS
Pentium 4 CPU 3.4 Ghs
3.39 Ghz 3.00 GB of RAM

How do I import mp4 video files into Premiere Pro Cs4

For sometime now, I've been finding it practically impossible to import video files into premiere Pro cs4 especially mp4 files which happens to be the commonest to me now, as I currently shoot with a Nokia Lumia 920 phone with Windows phone 8 OS. I have tried severally to convert the videos into various other formats using Xilisoft video converter version 7.7.2 and each time I do this, they would either not play fine in cs4 or not import at all.
Please what can I do to be able to import these mp4 files into Cs4 or what format or how do I convert them into a format that would play seamlessly for better editing?
Funny enough, I had once imported video files that were shot with the same phone and they worked well, just wondering why they aren't now.
Please any assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks
NKC

I'm happy to announce to you all that my "mp4 importing" issues has been sorted out. Now I import mp4 shot with the same Windows Phone 8 Device into Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Only that for the moment, it doesn't play as fast as with ordinary player.
But how did I get it to work, you may wonder;
I simply installed Itunes on the system, I also installed an app called media monkey. I can't say which of the apps did the magic but the next time I tried to import mp4 files into Premiere Pro after these installations, it imported seamlessly.
Obviously there's a link between the required codecs and the itunes itself.
You may want to try it and hope it works for you.
Kindly inform us if it works.
Thank you all.
Cheers.

Kodak videos lag in Premiere Pro CS4 timeline

Hey all,
Apperently there's a bug in Adobe Premiere Pro which makes it difficult to edit videos that were captured in a Kodak camera.
This issue was discussed here before, but even after reading all threads in the subject I could not solve the problem.
I've been trying to convert these files (.mov) to many other formats and codecs with no success.
After a while I got to find this crappy software that claims to specialize in converting Kodak's video files (iOrgSoft Video Converter). Between many tries of various softwares that was the only one that did it right. But the software isn't free. The trail version leaves a watermark on the each video.
Here are the details of the input file (stright from kodak Z950 camera):
General
Complete name                    : D:\100_0314.MOV
Format                           : QuickTime
Format/Info                      : Original Apple specifications
File size                        : 12.5 MiB
Duration                         : 7s 376ms
Overall bit rate                 : 14.2 Mbps
Movie name/More                  : EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK EASYSHARE Z950 DIGITAL CAMERA
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-07-22 22:37:14
Tagged date                      : UTC 2010-09-05 15:01:09
Origin                           : Digital Camera
Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                   : AdvancedSimple@L3
Format settings, BVOP            : Yes
Format settings, QPel            : No
Format settings, GMC             : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix          : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                         : 20
Duration                         : 7s 375ms
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 14.1 Mbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Variable
Frame rate                       : 30.102 fps
Minimum frame rate               : 30.000 fps
Maximum frame rate               : 31.579 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.508
Stream size                      : 12.4 MiB (99%)
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-07-22 22:37:14
Tagged date                      : UTC 2010-07-22 22:37:14
Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : ADPCM
Format profile                   : U-Law
Codec ID                         : ulaw
Duration                         : 7s 376ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
Sampling rate                    : 16.0 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 115 KiB (1%)
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-07-22 22:37:14
Tagged date                      : UTC 2010-07-22 22:37:14
Here are the details of the only output file that managed to work well in Premiere Pro CS4 (but it has a watermark):
General
Complete name                    : D:\100_0314.mp4
Format                           : MPEG-4
Format profile                   : Base Media
Codec ID                         : isom
File size                        : 8.47 MiB
Duration                         : 7s 374ms
Overall bit rate                 : 9 635 Kbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Tagged date                      : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Writing application              : Lavf52.61.0
Comment                          : EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK EASYSHARE Z950 DIGITAL CAMERA
Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC           : No
Format settings, ReFrames        : 1 frame
Codec ID                         : avc1
Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                         : 7s 374ms
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 9 558 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.346
Stream size                      : 8.40 MiB (99%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 93
Encoding settings                : cabac=0 / ref=1 / deblock=0:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0 / me=dia / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=4 / chroma_me=0 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=0 / wpredp=0 / keyint=12 / keyint_min=7 / scenecut=0 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=cqp / mbtree=0 / qp=30 / ip_ratio=1.25 / aq=0
Language                         : English
Encoded date                     : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Tagged date                      : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
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                         : 7s 314ms
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 66.15 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Channel positions                : L R
Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 60.1 KiB (1%)
Language                         : English
Encoded date                     : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Tagged date                      : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
I'm looking for another way to convert this file correctly so it will work well in Premiere.
Does anyone have any idea about this?
Thanks in advance,
-Moshe.

Hi,
If CS5 handles this right than I guess that's about it.
Thanks again for both of you.
This is CS3...with the mainconcept plug in trial ....as mentioned earlier...your original source loaded GREAT into the project...and plays great...etc....
The plug in trial gives that logo thing and has a limit of 5min video I think....although I've exported stuff with this and the logo was NOT on the final export...or was much smaller .....dont know if that would influence you on trying the plug in...
But what I mean to say is with cs3 it works great with the original file you supplied as a sample...
( I used this in another thread here where someone was trying to get timecode to run backwards...which is why you see that timecode thing...)
good luck with everything !

Exported videos not in high quality (Premiere Pro 2.0)

Hi, I'd like to ask for help. When i go to export a video in Premiere Pro 2.0 I get 2 options. Export with File>Export>Movie or File>Export>Adobe Media Encoder.
I have tested out a bunch of export settings and none of the settings (that I've tried) do make my video export in high quality.
Some settings make the video export in blurred low quality, some settings export the video in a way which my media players (VLC & Windows media player) have diffuculty playing back (slow/lagging, kind of like when a video editor has laggy preview) and some settings make the output video have weird lines on them & low quality.
So I want to ask:
1. Wich Project settings to I use for example a 720p video? (when i click "new project" I get a list of choiced and i think that the settings under "Adobe HDV" are the best (just like a friend of mine recommended) (http://s1162.photobucket.com/user/Doctorwhofan2012/media/NewProjectChoiceofSettings.png.ht ml)).
2. Wich method do I use when I want to export my video?
File>Export>Movie or File>Export>Adobe Media Encoder? (http://s1162.photobucket.com/user/Doctorwhofan2012/media/SeveralwaysofexportingtheVideo.pn g.html)
If i choose "Export>Movie" wich settings do I have to apply? (http://s1162.photobucket.com/user/Doctorwhofan2012/media/Export-Movie.png.html)
If I choose "Export>Adobe Media Encoder" wich settings do I have to apply? (http://s1162.photobucket.com/user/Doctorwhofan2012/media/Export-AdobeMediaEncoder.png.html)
Message was edited by: A. Oliver

What kind of file are you editing?
Read Bill Hunt on a file type as WRAPPER http://forums.adobe.com/thread/440037
What is a CODEC... a Primer http://forums.adobe.com/thread/546811
What CODEC is INSIDE that file? http://forums.adobe.com/thread/440037
Report back with the codec details of your file, use the programs below... A screen shot works well to SHOW people what you are doing
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/592070?tstart=30
For PC http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en or http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

Render quality drops when importing sequences from Premiere Pro CS4

Hello,
I have both AE and Premiere Pro CS4, and, because my Media Encoder doesn't work (a common problem, apparently), I import my sequences into AE to render. However, I've noticed a marked drop in quality in the sequence when imported into AE as opposed to when it's in Premiere Pro. It's comparable to a "Full" dropping to a "Half" when changing preview render quality in AE. What am I doing wrong? Is there some simple way to match the quality of the AE Comp (that has the PP sequence in it) to what the original Premiere Pro project has? Should I not be putting the PP project into a new comp in AE before I render it out? Is there another way that can retain the quality of the original Premiere Pro project?
This is urgent, as I need this rendered by Monday. Any help would be appreciated! Obviously, this is the first major project I've done this "workaround" with. I wish AME worked, but it doesn't for me.
Thanks!

By default, the Ram preiew resolution is adaptative and not full quality, as it's just to "preview". You can switch this behavior to full quality, and by default, when you render, it will always be "Full quality" before being compressed by your output module.
You can check the Ram preview doc and the rendering doc from the AE help.
Hope that helps,
Seb

Video Transitions for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4

Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 contains/includes very few useful video transitions for my work. There were many very useful, sophicticated and great third party plugins for video transitions for earlier versions of Premiere (i.e. Premiere 6.5), but most of these no longer work with Premiere Pro CS4. Adobe kept changing the plugin architecture so that third party plugins for earlier versions of Premiere would stop working with newer versions of Premiere.
What third party plugins are available for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 that will provide sophisticated, fancy and useful video transitions? What third party plugins are available for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 that will provide sophisticated, fancy and useful video effects filters? Most third party plugins that I am aware of only work with Adobe After Effects CS4, but I would like to find those that will work with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
Unless there are some very good third party plugins available for Adobe Premier Pro CS4, I am about ready to uninstall CS4 and reinstall Premiere 6.5 and the third party plugins I had for it and work with those.
Thank you for any information you can provide!

Richard,
Welcome to the forum.
The term "useful" can mean different things to different people.
Here are some of the 3rd party Transition plug-ins, that will work (in their current versions) in CS4:
Pixelan SpiceMaster
ProDAD Adorage
NewblueFX
HollywoodFX used to work, with a bit of file renaming, but I think that Pinnacle has dropped that line of Transitions
Good luck,
Hunt

Quality loss when importing/exporting in premiere pro cs4

Hi, I am fairly new to premiere pro cs4, but have some experience in final cut and after effects cs4, and I have a problem thats been bugging me for awhile.
I decided to try out premiere pro again [only used two or three times] I made a new project and sequence then imported a screen capture of a game I had on my desktop. when I dragged it into the timeline and looked over the footage it was blurry and not very clear at all, so i just did a quick edit and exported it, thinking the final product would have better quality. turns out the quality of the final product was even worse than it was when i was editing it.
     I used DV-NTSC widescreen 48khz preset and didn't change any of the general settings.
     the screen capture is a .mov file, 114mb, its dimensions are 762 x 502, animation codec, and 4,970 bit rate.
     i used the program ishowu you record my screen, i set it to have a 25 frame rate, max quality, and animation compression.
     I used the youtube widescreen HD preset H.264 format [I had planed to upload it as a quality test.]
Another question is can i set my own dimensions for the sequence instead of having to choose a preset? I hope I didn't leave anything out, and thanks in advance.
here's what it looks like before i edited it.
and heres after:

I use a lot of 3D animations from Mac-artists, and request the same files, MOV with the Animation CODEC. I have never had any issue with those, in my SD DVD Projects. Not sure what is going on in your case. My guess would be that it's the Scaling to the DV Preset, that is causing you an issue. In my case, the animations match my source footage, 720 x 480 w/ appropriate PAR @ 29.97 FPS, so there is no scaling taking place.
As for the Frame Size, you want to explore the Desktop Preset. Unlike all the rest, it allows you to do exactly what you want - adjust the parameters to match your source footage.
Good luck,
Hunt

Cannot import .mov video files into Premiere Pro CS4

Hi Everyone,
I have Premiere Pro CS4 and cannot import .mov files into my project. When I try Premiere freezes up and has to be closed. I'm running Windows 7 and have a Gateway DX4300-11 with a Quad-Core AMD processor with 8 Gigs of ram although the Adobe CS4 programs only seem to recognize 4 Gigs at startup. How do I get Premiere to import .mov files?
TR

What is the CODEC in your MOV file(s)? MOV is but a "wrapper," like AVI. This ARTICLE will give you some background. It could be that you just need the proper CODEC, or it could be that it is a Mac-only CODEC, and then you will need for the producer to Export in another CODEC, that is PC-compatible.
This ARTICLE will give you some background on CODEC's, in general.
Good luck,
Hunt

Improve video quality (Premiere Pro CS4)

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