H264 Codec

[zoing123]

H264TC CODEC seems to cause PT to stutter and loose track. It tuns out that PT must have a keyframe set to every frame or it must hunt. Also the data rate really has has to open up to 15 K to. Its a larger file but runs well with PT. Any thought sout there?

[The golfer]

Zoing123,

Most people don't use the H.264 format because of this. When receiving H.264 movies, Just open them in Quicktime 7 Pro and export them again to H.264 with keyframe set to "all" then it will work like a charm. Sessions with maximum tracks count (192) and H.264 (1080x720) work flawlessly on fast computers.

[Ray JB]

Yep, keyframes set to all and everything is much better.

[zoing123]

With HD @1920 the Video guys open H264 to 15K which looks better. However it seems direct to QT 264 output from Avid makes PT unhappy. If they make the 264 inside QT it works fine. Is there a reason anyone? Or do we audio guys have to cross train on FCP and Avid?....

[Mischdepp]

@ The golfer

Thanks a lot!!!!

Your tip seems to have ended a nightmare of 6101 cpu overload and 9128 running out of cpu power errors I had for weeks with a project I am currently working on.
The errors used to pop up with every second play command...
The only other work around I found in the DUC so far was to select "ignore errors during playback/record" in the playback engine preferences but apart from some errors still popping up this was not my preferred work-around because it reduces audio quality/reliability.

I just checked the session - no errors

You really made my day - week - month....

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by zoing123

With HD @1920 the Video guys open H264 to 15K which looks better. However it seems direct to QT 264 output from Avid makes PT unhappy. If they make the 264 inside QT it works fine. Is there a reason anyone? Or do we audio guys have to cross train on FCP and Avid?....

Maybe I am being dense, but none of this makes sense to me. Could you please be more specific?

[zoing123]

That was my point, It made no sense to me either, but the guys at Def 6 figured it out.
Cheers...

[mike connelly]

I'm having issues with different movies ending up with slightly different framerates (mostly 30 but some with 30.010 according to PT, although QT shows them as 30).

I've tried coverting with handbrake and QT pro with the framerate set to 30 and it seems to not be exact enough for PT. Any recommendations for a simple conversion app that is consistently exact when it comes to frame rate? Thanks.

[paranerd]

Originally Posted by mike connelly

I'm having issues with different movies ending up with slightly different framerates (mostly 30 but some with 30.010 according to PT, although QT shows them as 30).

I've tried coverting with handbrake and QT pro with the framerate set to 30 and it seems to not be exact enough for PT. Any recommendations for a simple conversion app that is consistently exact when it comes to frame rate? Thanks.

What are you exporting or converting from?

In theory Handbrake should be a time saver, but I don't get trustworthy results from it. Mpeg Streamclip (http://www.squared5.com/) works well for conversion.

DNxHD 36 and DNxHD 75 exported directly out of the Avid timeline work well with PT. H264 with key frames on all frames works as well.

[lexaudio]

Second on mpeg streamclip.

Still don't understand why people are stuck on using QuickTime.

Forget h264. It's a CPU hog. Get a DNx from the avid, convert to photo jpeg with mpeg and it looks great and isn't intense on the CPU.