Media Encoder 5.5 - h.264 output sync off by 1 frame

Hello,
I'm having a problem with AME 5.5.0.212 - when trying to ouput an h.264 mp4 file, the audio is out of sync by 1 frame.
Seems to manifest with various source materials.
Frequency is the same, source and target: 48khz, stereo.
I'm on a Mac Pro, OS 10.6.8.
Strangely, it doesn't manifest when I import the videos to Premiere... but when I bring them into Final Cut, the first frame of the h.264 file is aquamarine and the video duration shows 1 frame less than the source file.
So it sounds like Quicktime isn't processing the output file correctly.
But this is a problem, since most of my clients use Quicktime Player for playback, and I have no idea how sites like Vimeo and Youtube will process the file.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Taylor

I agree, I use VLC often, and quite dislike Quicktime Player.
But while I can control which program I use, I can't choose what my clients use, so that's not really a solution.
Maybe this is a Quicktime Player issue more than an AME issue, but it would sure be nice to know that the files coming out of AME are going to play well on any player. Otherwise, for h.264, AME is kinda useless to me.
Anybody else have this issue?
Any settings or workarounds?
t

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Using Adobe Media Encoder to create H.264, MPEG-2, and WMV videos from After Effects - 6/23/14

Very disappointed with this choice. I will definitely be seeking to uninstall this version and go back a version or two. Two many extra steps to export an mp4 now. And now we also have to wait longer for a mp4 to render and can't take advantage of the machine's hardware? You guys fighting mp4 as a standard, forcing us to an additional product, or what? I'll be sharing my extreme disappoint with this 'upgrade' with the rest of the developers at work and who just had it installed. I'm not seeing this being too popular opn social media either. Seems like you only did what was best for you.Thanks for showing us who's boss.

Frank VA wrote:
And now we also have to wait longer for a mp4 to render and can't take advantage of the machine's hardware?
Not necessarily. You can render an intermediate codec with AE's render queue (thus using all of AE's power to render) and then drop that file into the Adobe Media Encoder.
This was the workflow I've always used - even when AE could encode with MP4. Why? Well, because AE sucked at MP4 encoding. You couldn't even do multipass endoding with it!
This is a useful workflow in a few ways:
1. You have an archive-quality file to come back to in the future.
2. You can use AE's full power to render.
3. You can use AME's superior encoding capabilities.
4. You can tweak your compression settings and try various encoding parameters to improve the quality while decreasing the bitrate of your product WITHOUT having to re-render the AE comp every time you try since you're working off of the intermediate file. I mean, imagine a comp with several 3d layers, depth of field, shadows from multiple lights, and 250,000 particles from Particular. What if you made an MP4 and then the client needed a smaller file size or the MP4 you made was too heavily compressed and you needed higher quality? I don't know about you, but I'd much rather only render that 18-hour monster once.
This workflow actually saves time for many people.
And, in any workflow, this produces a better product.
Again, this is what I did even when AE could encode MP4's.
Frank VA wrote:
You guys fighting mp4 as a standard, forcing us to an additional product, or what?
They aren't fighting MP4 as a standard, in fact, when Adobe folks pop in here and answer questions, that's often their recommendation for delivery codec.
Frank VA wrote:
Seems like you only did what was best for you. Thanks for showing us who's boss.
Listen, I understand your frustration. Knocking out a quick compressed file from AE for client review is handy.
However, maintaining the h.264 encoding in AE took up development time. There are only so many person-hours per week for the (relatively tiny) AE team to spend on building each version of AE.
I never liked AE's h.264 encoding - AME has always done a superior job. Since we have AME to do our encoding, I would rather the AE team focus their effort on improving AE as a compositing and motion graphics tool rather than as an encoding tool.
Again, I get the frustration. I can see where it feels like they are doing what's good for them and not us, but I think, in the long run, this way is better for us. Right now, the majority of the AE team is working on making AE faster to work with and faster to render. The sooner we get a relatively bug-free version of that, the better! (Especially for folks on Mac OSX Yosemite who can't RAM preview smoothly in any version of AE).
And at least the After Effects team has been very transparent about things - for example, this blog post talks about their reasoning: using Adobe Media Encoder to create H.264, MPEG-2, and WMV videos from After Effects

Media Encoder will export H.264 720 but not 1080

I'm on Windows 7, using Premiere and After Effects.
I've installed updates for the OS, Quicktime, and Adobe applications. I've, opened Premiere under a different user, tried holding shift and alt on opening Premiere and uninstalled Premiere and After Effects. I even tried taking the Media Encoder directory out of the applications directory, then reloading Premiere and After Effects (no joy). The Media Encoder directory didn't rebuild itself.
The problem is specific to exporting H.264 in 1920x1080. It doesn't matter if it progressive or interlace, or any of the other variables, up or down. 1080 fails and 720 will export.
Does anyone have another suggestion for me to try?
Thanks in advance.

I was able to uninstall Media Encoder by uninstalling a long list of CC applications; Prelude, InDesign, Flash, After Effects, Premiere, Speed Grade, and Photoshop. In addition to uninstalling the applications, I did a search on my drive for any file with "media encoder" in the name or directory and deleted them. That search, by the way, was the only way I was able to confirm how many applications were connected to Media Encoder. There was suprisingly little on the subject in the Adobe library.
When I reinstalled Premiere, Media Encoder came along with it. Media Encoder is now working again.

Media Encoder Export to h.264 Keeps Erroring

I am using the YouTube 1080p 30fps preset and twice now I have had an export of the same project fail. The error log states:
"File importer detected an inconsistency in the file structure of Accident Reenactment.mp4. Reading and writing this file's metadata (XMP) has been disabled.
Adobe Media Encoder
Could not write XMP data in output file."
The result is a small file of 24 bytes, so the video doesn't even get created. I have exported this same project to DVD and ProRes with no issue, so I have no idea what the problem is.
Here is the whole section from this export:
05/12/2014 12:44:25 PM : Queue Resumed
- Source File: Accident Reenactment
- Output File: /Volumes/Macintosh HD 2/Output Files/Accident Reenactment.m2v
- Preset Used: DVD
- Video: NTSC, 720x480, 29.97 fps, Upper, Quality 75
- Audio: PCM Audio, 48 kHz, Stereo, 16 bit
- Bitrate: VBR, 1 Pass, Min 2.80, Target 5.00, Max 7.00 Mbps
- Encoding Time: 01:19:24
05/12/2014 02:03:50 PM : File Successfully Encoded
- Source File: Accident Reenactment
- Output File: /Volumes/Macintosh HD 2/Output Files/Accident Reenactment.mov
- Preset Used: Quicktime Archive
- Video: 1920x1080 (1.0), 29.97 fps, Upper, Quality 90, Apple ProRes 422
- Audio: Uncompressed, 48000 Hz, Stereo, 16 bit
- Bitrate:
- Encoding Time: 02:32:23
05/12/2014 04:36:24 PM : File Successfully Encoded
- Source File: Accident Reenactment
- Output File: /Volumes/Macintosh HD 2/Output Files/Accident Reenactment.mp4
- Preset Used: YouTube HD 1080p 29.97
- Video: 1920x1080 (1.0), 29.97 fps, Progressive
- Audio: AAC, 320 kbps, 48 kHz, Stereo
- Bitrate: VBR, 2 pass, Target 8.00 Mbps, Max 8.00 Mbps
- The source was deinterlaced
- Encoding Time: 04:12:14
05/12/2014 06:16:14 PM : File Encoded with warning
File importer detected an inconsistency in the file structure of Accident Reenactment.mp4. Reading and writing this file's metadata (XMP) has been disabled.
Adobe Media Encoder
Could not write XMP data in output file.
Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CC on an iMac running OSX 10.9.2.
Core i7 2.93 GHz
8GB RAM
Built in YouTube HD 1080p 29.97 preset in Media Encoder.
Any help would be great. Please let me know if you need any addition info.

Ryan,
Please submit a bug report here:
http://adobe.ly/ReportBug
I agree with you that the error message should be more helpful, and I consider the fact that the existing error message is misleading to be a bug.

Adobe Media Encoder for Premiere Pro CS4 stops working on the same frame every time...

I currently have Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and have never had these issues exporting before. My timeline is less than 3 minutes long, but it does deal with multiple big files. It rendered perfectly and it plays perfectly in the timeline. When I try to export it using Media Encoder, however, it freezes at the same frame every time (which is actually only a few seconds in!) and then crashes, so that I have to force quit. I have tried exporting it as many different codecs and the problem persists... same frame. I tried creating a new project entirely and whipping together a few titles and exporting that to see if it just won't export anything at all. The new project exported just fine, however, which I suppose is good news. But yeah, my work on that other project is very important to me and I reallllly want to export it. Please help!

Hi Jim! Thank you for your reply. I think you are right -- and that it lies in the audio somehow!
It turns out that if I choose to only export the video, and uncheck audio, it will export very well and smoothly. That's great news for me!
However, now I am trying to work out how to get the audio exported without issues. I actually had the idea of just playing the audio in the timeline and recording it via Stereo Mix, but my Windows 7 driver has Stereo Mix disabled, so it's back to square one. Any ideas of what I can do about the corrupted audio not exporting, which works fine when played in the timeline?

Adobe media encoder cc will not save output file destination

Hello all,
Hopefully a simple issue here. I'm running windows 7 and just downloaded AME CC. I've tried over and over to save my output file destination in Preferences and have saved my media cache files to the same location and the saves will not take. I was able to get it to go to the drive and folder I specified ONLY when I clicked the "Match Sequence Settings" tab in the AME pop up window. My settings need to be different, so I leave the box unchecked. Anyone else having this issue? Can anyone help me out getting this simple function to work? I saw a short thread on Creative Cow dated February 2013 with the same concern from a user and I did not see a resolution at the end. I have not been able to find anything on this anywhere. Sure, I can continue to manually save each file I render in AME, but it's a big PITA. I finally was in between projects so I downloaded the CC upgrade and replaced my CS6 version and now I have this simple problem from an alleged upgrade? Help please.
Thank you.
Todd

Premiere sequences queued to AME from the Export Settings dialog won't honor AME's output path preference. Instead, they default to the last path used from Exp. Settings via Premiere. However, you should be able to get the result you want by queue-ing to AME's default path once from Premiere, which will make it Premiere's default as well.
Or, you could drag and drop your sequence from the Project panel directly into AME's queue; that will use AME's preference instead of Premiere's default path.

AE CS4 render engine / Adobe Media Encoder won't create a container for h.264 blu-ray

here's the problem.
First, I tried to render a comp using the render engine inside AE using h.264 blu-ray preset.
It was supposed to create 1 file, but I ended up with 3 : audio track, video and a file with .xmpses extension.
I then decided to render it in lossless .mov, which works fine, but 3:40 minutes is taking up over 8gb, which is of course, unacceptable.
After that, I've put the .mov file into Media Encoder to try h.264 blu-ray there.
Absolutely the same ********.
I'm using the Mac version of AE CS4.
Here is the screenshot of original .mov file and the result. As you see, it refuses to make a container. This is absolutely unacceptable

It raises another question: what settings do I need to encode the comp in 720p resolution without taking up lots of space?
Well, it depends on whether you need a production master (something for broadcast, for example, or to use as a source for other encoding tasks) or if you want a version for distribution. If it's the former, there's nothing wrong with "lots of space" - A Quicktime file with PNG or Animation codec is a good idea, but it will take a lot of space. If it's the latter, H264 is perfect but there's no built-in preset to take 720 material to the web.
You could do this:
* Pick the generic H264 template. You'll see that it will give an error if you attempt to render, because the default setting uses an H264 profile/level which doesn't let you use HD resolutions.
* In the H264 video options, set the "Profile" menu to "Main" and "Level" to 4.0. That will keep it compatible to Quicktime and Flash player, while allowing larger frame sizes and higher bit rates.
* Set Target Bitrate to 5-8 Mbps and Maximum Bitrate to 9-10 Mbps if you're targetting web delivery. That's a bit over what Apple uses for 720p content on the Apple TV, for example.
The H264 original preset will instruct you in the comment field to stretch to 640x480 in Output Module. There's no need, since you are using a profile/level combination which allows higher frame sizes.

How to render out JUST Alpha in Media Encoder

So apparently Adobe has changed their settings in CC 2014 and Adobe After Effects no longer has the H.264 container, and is only offered as a codec for Qucktime. I've been told I have to go into Adobe Media Encoder for the H.264 codec. That's fine, problem is that Adobe Media Encoder does not really have any options for Alpha. From my understanding you have to set it to 32bpc for it to do alpha in a file, which did not seem to work, but that's irrelevant now because that's not what I need. I need to render out two files for a batch list, one with just RGB files and one with just alpha. I talked to someone from Adobe and they suggested I post here. Let me know if you need details.
Thank you very much.

Just to be clear, and reiterate what Kevin state: H.264 (.mp4) files do not have the capability of storing an alpha channel. They are RGB only.
But that doesn't sound like a blocking issue for your workflow; you're already preparing to use an RGB file and a separate file with a black/white alpha matte for compositing at playback time.
Another point to make clear: the controls in the Composition viewer panel in After Effects have no affect on the rendered output. AME will read the comp as if these controls don't exist. Even the After Effects render queue by default will ignore these settings, though you can change some of the controls in the Render Settings dialog to respect the Comp viewer settings (ie., Current Settings). AME doesn't have this capability for After Effects comps, currently.
Third point: AME doesn't have the capability to produce an alpha-channel-only video, like After Effects does. This is regardless of what type of source you're using, After Effects comp, Premiere Pro sequence, or other.
Fourth point: please submit a feature request for any functionality you'd like to see added to AME, or After Effects: http://adobe.ly/feature_request
For your workflow the best thing will probably be to do what Jeff recommends: have After Effects render your comp to two Output Modules, one with RGB and one with Alpha, in a lossless format and then have AME encode the files to your final delivery format. This can be automated with watch folders.

Unable to export sequence and transcode in Media Encoder

Adobe CS4 Premiere Pro. I think I have done this sucessfully before and cannot remember what is different.
I have a one hour tape that I successfuly captured in its entirety and burned to DVD. I take the original footage and in the source monitor carve up the original footage into 3 to 5 minutes smaller movies (new in and out points) that correspond to the various performances. I drag the movie windows over to the assets and rename each new movie. I drag the movie to the timeline. Export media. Put in the settings h264 and ntsc dv high quality preset. Put in the output name, click ok. Adobe ME opens up but does not give me the "start queue" button. The "add" button is there but not start and when I check explorer, the output file is not created.
Would appreciate any ideas. Not a newbie but intermediate at best. Thanks. Joe. Have hardly ever been in the forum. Sorry if have not followed protocol. I am rushing to prepare a collage for my daughters wedding in 3 weeks.

Hi Jim,
I just opened up Encore and on my wedding that I encoded from Premiere Pro in Media Encoder then brought into Encore by going to Import ------- as Timeline ---- It says "UnTranscoded" in the Project panel where all of my other assets are.
Should that file be "Transcoded" already?
When I exported it from Premierer into Media Encoder I used H.264 Blu-Ray, PCM Audio and all I did was change the Target and Max Bit Rate settings.
Why is it not already "Transcoded" when I imported it into Encore.
Thanks

CS4 Media Encoder doesn't render Quicktime at all

The CS4 Media Encoder will render H.264 and FLV, but doesn't render any form of Quicktime at all.
The Queue loads the project, pretends to render, but does not show progress frames. Seconds later (way too early!) there is a green checkmark that the render completed successfully. The log file looks successful with essentially the same content as for H.264 and FLV.
For example this log file shows a 1-minute sequence "rendered" in 30 seconds -- normally takes 3 minutes -- and no .mov was created.
10/29/2008 7:09:16 AM : Queue Started
- Source File: C:\DOCUME~1\MARATH~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\happyValleyBeijingMoreHighlights_5.prproj
- Output File: C:\Documents and Settings\Marathon Runner\Desktop\china\finished\happy valley beijing\more highlights\Sequence 01.mov
- Preset Used: NTSC DV
- Video: 720x480, 29.97 [fps], Lower, Quality 100
- Audio: 48000 Hz, Stereo, 16 bit
- Bitrate: DV/DVCPRO - NTSC
- Encoding Time: 00:00:00
10/29/2008 7:09:45 AM : File Successfully Encoded
10/29/2008 7:09:46 AM : Queue Stopped

>always save the project before you export
Very good advice.
I would also say, save your project after any edit that you feel you can't afford to lose.
Cheers
Eddie
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Abobe Media Encoder is Now Broke After Update!

Hi,
To my dismay, I discovered that Media Encoder no longer exports mp4 files. Each time I try it now, it exports a file with the extension m4v instead of mp4, and it will not play. This is CS6 on a MacBook Pro running mountain lion. It was working previously before the latest update from Adobe. Anyone else experiencing this?
When I try and play back the m4v file, I am seeing this error.
thx

"AME should output m4v files only when the multiplexer is set to None, in which case you get separate audio and video files. Please check which preset was used and what the muxer is set to. Please let us know if it's set to anything other than None, in which case you may have found a bug".
I've now experienced this issue and, while it appears that this is the intended behavior, there are two observations to be made.
1) Import an AE project into ME. If export audio is unchecked, the muxer remains set to mp4 and the file extensions are shown as mp4 in Media Encoder; however, ME does indeed output a .m4v file.
2) Rendering same project in AE without audio however produces .mp4 file.
As a result...
"Soundless" AE files are more readily "playable" since "soundless" .m4v files are, well, virtually impossible to play. Prime example: under Win 8 desktop, click the AE .mp4 file and the Win 8 "Metro" player handles it just fine whereas the ME .m4v shows as unplayable. Unfortunately, the SAME unplayability resuls occur using Media Player, Qucktime Player and the vaunted VLC Media Player. AE really appears to do it right and it's interesting that, as of CS6, there is this encoding difference and, of course, furthur interesting that ME changed it's ways with an update at some point.
Three presets were used in Media Encoder yielding identical, i.e. .m4v files, results. H.264, Youtube HD 720p 23.976, HD 1080p 23.976 and NTSC DV 24p. P.S. renaming .m4v to .mp4 doesn't make it playable either.
AE selections were selecting H.264 from the drop down menu and leaving audio unchecked. BTW, examining the Format Options, Multiplexer tab under these selections shows mp4 as the muxer.
And, to be sure the value of AE's method is fully appreciated, please again note that AE renders generate a very friendly playable "soundless" .mp4 whereas ME's "soundless" .m4v is virtually unplayable.

Media Encoder CC won't render Magic Bullet Denoiser II

Hello there,
i've got the following Problem: I am having Premiere CC and used the Red Giant Plug-In Denoiser II on my last project, when i import this project to the Media Encoder and select Quicktime for output, the Media Encoder won't render the clip with this Plug-In. i always get the original files out, without the denoiser. Original footage from in premiere is 2,5k CinemaDNG RAW from the Black Magic Cinema Camera.
thx

I feel like there was a recent update to the RG plugins (inside of the last 30 or so days.) Are they up to date?

Media Encoder CC // Red Giant Denoiser II

Hello there,
i've got the following Problem: I am having Premiere CC and used the Red Giant Plug-In Denoiser II on my last project, when i import this project to the Media Encoder and select Quicktime for output, the Media Encoder won't render the clip with this Plug-In. i always get the original files out, without the denoiser.
thx

no windows, footage is cinemaDNG 2,5k RAW from Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

Premiere CC and/or Media Encoder audio bad renders

Occasionally, but not always, when I export a timeline to Media Encoder queue, the video renders out with no audio.
I have not found a repeatable way to replicate this, but when it happens, it really blows up my workflow.
Typically I:
Import a ProRes 1080 clip into a fresh timeline, and only trim down the ends. Audio and Video playback great in premiere. I then, without changing anything, export to media encoder queue in h.264 1080p OR 720p (vimeo preset).
The queue runs and bang, video file with no audio.
My extended workflow is as such - once the h.264 file has arrived in the folder (it is a watchfolder), there are presets set to create OTHER Files - wav for CD, mp3 for podcast, DVD for distro, mp4 for podcast. So, as you can see, it snowballs into a trainwreck. I would also automate/schedule the podcast postings, but obviously I can't rely on media encoder/premiere to do it's job.
Has anyone experienced any lack of audio render issues? Is it tied to hardware at all, or is it just freak randomness? I even got to point to where I reboot the machine right before each original capture begins, but the error is always in the first render out of premiere.
I have checked for any muted tracks and such, and there are none. As I said, it is VERY random. For instance, this week, I dropped the capture into a timeline, exported as usual, and got a bad render. Did it again, this time moving the audio down a track. Still a bad render. Rebooted the Mac, tried it all again, and finally got a working render. This is the first time it has happened TWICE in a row, and I'm getting tired of it, as these renders are fairly long.
Any help would be much appreciated.
- Ben

Ben, I'm having the same issue. Never had it before yesterday.
I'm editing on CC with R3D's. I have 8 tracks of audio. When I'm exporting (either through Encoder or through Premier) I'm getting a final product that has no audio, and in its place a loud clicking sound. I performed a number of reboots and got it to export once. But I've tried dozen's of times now and can't get audio to export through this sequence.
When I go to render the project I'm getting an "Error Compiling Movie. Unknown Error" message. I suspect that's related. Not sure what's happening. I'm going to keep testing. I'll let you know if I discover anything. But it is VERY FRUSTRATING:( Deadlines are looming.
-Brian

Media Encoder CS6 Timecode

Having terrible issues bringing in a simple sequence into Media Encoder for a client preview output.
Issues: Sequence starts at 01:00:00:00 - Comprised of RED files back to back. About 43 minutes worth. I lay a Timecode generator on the video and all is working fine in Premiere.
When I open Media Encoder and bring in the session, the timecode is always off and defaults to 29.97 from 23.98 generating the wrong code in the new file and making the output worthless. Timecode generator doesn't match the embedded code nor does the start time. It's always off by about 3 seconds.
Don't know what to do. I never had problems in 5.5.
Hardware: MacPro 8 Core - 16 gig - 3 Quadro4000 cards, 1 RedRocket.
Any ideas or should I resinstall anything?
Thanks in advance!

I know I'm a bit late to this discussion, but I'm brand new to Adobe Media Encoder CS6. I'm having the exact problem you described above -- a timecode starting at 1:00:03:18 instead of 1:00:00:00. I've been looking all over for this description of "dropness" you mentioned but have found nothing. I am trying to convert an APR 422 LT file to H294. I learned the rest of the application through Lynda.com, but have found nothing to fix this issue. Thx.

Media Encoder 5.5 - h.264 output sync off by 1 frame

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