VFW clips always render in Desktop Mode

Question

Hi,
Sometimes I use the following workflow: import the files compressed with VFW (Video for Windows) codec into Premiere, then preview and export them using the same VFW codec. During this procedure Premiere should not recompress the clips to which the effects are not applied. This works fine for me in Premiere 1.5, but in Premiere 2.0 and 3.0 these clips are always recompressed.
I tried several VFW codecs (Huffyuv, Morgan M-JPEG, Cinepak, Indeo) and the same happens for all of them. The only case, when it works for me as it should in a Desktop mode, are Uncompressed 8-bit/10-bit File Format use cases.
What I actually do:
Make a custom preset with Editing mode set to Desktop and the compressor set to some VFW codec.
Import the material which is compressed with this VFW codec (all the video parameters match the project settings).
When the clip is placed on the timeline the red line appears above the clip (this seems to be not correct). After performing a preview the clip gets rendered and the line above it changes to green.
To ensure that the clip settings match the project settings I get the rendered preview file from the Adobe Premiere Preview Files folder and place it on the timeline. The red line above the already rendered clip appears again and the clip is rendered once more time (the problem persists).
So, I would like to ask is it possible to use the VFW codec in a Desktop mode without a full recompression during preview/export, or may be its a problem of my own single configuration?

Answer 1

Thank you, Jim. Your suggestion is based on the idea, that there is no need to recompress the original source files during the project workflow before the final project deployment, right? I just want to remind, that I think, this discussion does not lead to resolve the point of my original question, but here are my comments:
> Either stabilize your clips in VirtualDub during their first pass (when you make then DV clips),
I need to stabilize just the selective parts of the material which actually will be used in the project (not the whole source since it is unneeded, lossy and time consuming procedure), and sometimes different presets are used for different parts. Which these parts are, I will know only after editing with Premiere. In Vdub during material preparation I only tune fields, luma/levels, etc. issues without thoroughly watching the source material.
> use After Effects to stabilize them (which will probably do a better job anyway).
I like and often use the Track motion in AE, but not the Stabilize motion function, the Vdubs one suit me better.
> use Dynamic Link, so no rendering needs to be done.
I think its a cool feature, obviously, by using the DL you have the ability to quickly change some parameters in both Premiere and AE at any time and this is the plus. I was not able to test it (my version is not Production Premium), but any such a feature has its drawbacks. Just a one of them from the Premiere help files:
> After Effects renders the linked composition on a frame by frame basis during playback in the target application If youre working with complex source compositions and experiencing playback delays, you can take the composition offline or disable a linked clip to temporarily stop referencing a dynamically linked composition, or render the composition and replace the dynamically linked composition with the rendered file.
Many of the work I do in AE are time consuming operations. When I work with a huge number of effects, layers and nested compositions in AE I like to pre-render compositions to optimize the work inside AE and when I finish the composition in AE for me is better to render it. When AE compositions are complex (actually they are) and may render several hours, my computer and me may not survive with this.
There are other cross-application workflows available between AE and Premiere, like a copy/paste and project import, but they have limitations about which I do not want to care of mostly, while editing. Nevertheless, I use these workflows in simple cases (mainly when getting the materials from Premiere to AE).
I agree, that it is possible to avoid several generations by using current cross-application workflow. But with this workflow I will:
1) Loose a lot of time on time consuming operations.
2) Need to take care about limitations of Premiere/AE interaction.
3) Be limited to use the Premiere & AE without my preferable types of external processing, which do not support the DL (including, but not limited to, a Vdub stabilization function).
To summarize, I prefer using Premiere for real-time editing without this workflow.
By the way (just back to my original question): could you, please, make the following few steps in your Premiere CS3, this may help:
1) In Premiere, create a new preset based on one of the DV presets. On the Custom settings set General -> Editing Mode to Desktop, on Video Rendering set the file format to Video for Windows and the Compressor to Uncompressed UYVY 422 8bit.
2) Import some small DV clip and place it on the timeline. You should see a
i red line
above it.
3) Now, Render work area. The line above the clip changes to
i green.
4) Now, in the filesystem, locate the generated preview file Adobe Premiere Pro Preview files/project_name.PRV/Rendered -, make a copy of it and place this copy on the timeline. You will see a
i red line
above it.
5) Now, go to Project/Project Settings/VideoRendering and change the File format from Video for Windows to Uncompressed 8-bit(4:2:2 YUV) and confirm. Now you should not see
i any line
above the file copied from the Preview folder.
Does the line behavior changes exactly the same way in your application?
Thank's for your help.