Distributing Media

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General Concepts

The end goal of video editing is to produce some final product. That final product should have been held fast in mind during all the stages of production. The end goal should drive how a film is made. If the film is to be turned into a media stream for the Internet, then it should be filmed with that in mind (motion should be kept down if possible, small detail should be avoided, etc).

Objectives

  • Output to DV tape
  • Output to VHS tape
  • Output to file

Premiere can produce many forms of data. The main output options that people are interested in are:

  • Out to DV tape (loss-less storage for DV files)
  • Out to VHS tape
  • Some local media (CD, DVD, streaming, etc)

In addition to being able to output the media in the Timeline, Premiere can save the project file you are working on (or have finished). This file contains all of your editing decisions, and information about where the media came from that was used in the project. The file is very small, and can be used to recreate the entire project if the media has been captured and labeled correctly when the project was set up. It is usually a good idea to save a completed project file, and store it along with the original media, in case changes are needed later.

DV Output

DV is a loss-less transfer method. As data is moved from the original tape to Premiere and back, there is no degradation of the data. This makes outputting files to DV from Premiere a great way to store a project, even if it is not complete yet. The DV standard is also a very high resolution format, and so the image quality will be significantly better on DV rather than VHS. Most DV cameras can play tapes directly to a TV, so a dedicated deck is not needed for miniDV tapes.

To print a video project to miniDV in the labs using the decks provided:

  1. Select the DV button on the VCR
  2. Set the channel on the VCR to F-1
  3. Select the LEFT arrow on the Dub circle (pointing to the right)
  4. Select File > Export > Export to Tape
  5. Select the option "activate recording deck only"
  6. Click OK
  7. Follow any onscreen instructions
  8. Premiere will then be able to control the DV tape deck and start and stop the recording action without any outside help

VHS Output

Although Premiere was designed to work with modern digital video, there are still many people who wish to output their project to VHS tape. VHS tape is very inexpensive, the quality is OK for most productions, and players are everywhere.

The VCRs in the labs are connected to the computers via Firewire. The VHS side of the VCR cannot respond to device control, so you sort of have to trick the system into printing to the VHS deck. You do that by following these steps:

  1. Select the DV (not the SVHS) button on the VCR
  2. Set the channel on the VCR to F-1
  3. Select the LEFT arrow on the Dub circle (pointing to the right)
  4. Set the channel on the VCR to F-1
  5. Select the SVHS tape button on the VCR
  6. Once the VCR is ready to go, select File > Export > Export to Tape
  7. Follow any onscreen instructions
  8. You will most likely be required to press the Record button on the VCR yourself

Other Output

The most complicated option is output to file. There are dozens of codecs out there and all have their place. To make matters worse, there are several different ways to encode files on these systems. We will discuss only two, encoding via Cleaner, and encoding for DVD.

To encode via Cleaner, click File > Export > Encode with Cleaner (don't bother with Cleaner EZ). This will export the Timeline to Cleaner. Cleaner has a list of the most popular file formats like QuickTime, Real, Windows AVI, MP3, MPEG, and more. This process can be as simple or as complicated as you wish it to be. Cleaner comes with a large number of presets for each of these file types. In addition, it has a wizard function that will interview you on your delivery method and needs and will select the best codec for you. Experimenting will give you the best results.

To output to DVD-ready files, select File > Export > Movie. Doing so will open the Export Movie Settings dialog box. The image shown below assumes that you have already reviewed your project settings in the previous window's Settings tab, as well as set the previous window's file type field to "Matrox RT." In the upper left of the screen shown below, select Video from the menu. The Compressor should be set to "Matrox MPEG-2 IBP (Export only)." Click on the Configure button to open the MPEG IBP Options menu.

Click thumbnail to view full image.

This is the tricky part. If you are outputting to DVD, you are limited to a 4.7GB total project size (that's including menus, graphics and other media files you plan on including on your final disc). You must select a data rate between 2Mb/s and 8Mb/s, and either constant bit rate or variable bit rate. Constant bit rate forces the entire project to comply to the rate regardless of whether or not the image needs it, e.g., if you set your project to 5Mb/s and sections of your image are relatively low on motion, it may need less data than 5Mb/s and that extra data would be wasted. The same applies, conversely, to high motion sections, which may need more than 5Mb/s; in these cases, image quality will suffer with only 5Mb/s. By selecting variable bit rate, your project will be on average, 5Mb/s, giving more or less to each frame as they need it. So here are some quick rules of thumb:

  • 1. 5Mb/s variable bit rate gets you roughly 80min of DVD video with a relatively modest menu
  • 2. 6Mb/s variable bit rate gets you roughly 60min of DVD video with a relatively modest menu

Once you have selected your bit rate, click on OK in the IBP Options menu. Click OK again for the Export Movie Settings dialog. Click OK again for the Export Movie Settings dialog. Select a destination drive and file name. Depending on your settings, render time is about an hour for a full DVD disc (4.7GB). After your files have completed rendering, they are ready for DVDit!