Prem Epic + titles = no go?

[Shawn Nelson]

Longtime FCP user, trying to get into PremPro. I have PremPro CS5.5.2 on 10.7.4.

I have a simple 6min sequence, Epic 5k 2:1, straight cuts with some overlay titles (very simple, created using Title->New Title->Default Title) trying to render a 720p Apple TV out.

I've now rendered 5 times and it claims to have successfully rendered, but then, as you're watching the mp4, everything goes great until the sections it's trying to render a title ontop of my footage. I get: stuck frames, green blobs, deformed text. You name it! It's a smorgasbord of f'd up rendering. Then it goes back to normal video so long as there's no text.

I'm going insane. I've rebooted repeatedly, installed the latest cs5.5 Epic Importer (the March 2012 one) and rendered using Media Encoder, to no avail.

Someone please help. I dont think super simple title overlays should cause PremPro to kill my render repeatedly without cause or error msg...

[Shawn Nelson]

Even merely rendering shows this problem. Attached are two images...what it looks like when viewing unrendered preview, and what it looks like after reder. Wtf?

[Wes Howell]

Hey Shawn,

What kind of graphics card are you using? I'm guessing this is related to the issue.
Something to try - If you're using CUDA, can you disable it in the Project settings in Premiere to see if you have better luck? (before sending it to AME)

Wes Howell
Adobe Systems

[Stefan Scherperel]

Never seen that problem before either, but a couple things you could try.
I have notice in the past the most issues that I will have from a render come from .mp4 or other highly compressed files. In these instances I render first to an intermediate codec in the native resolution and then take that file and make my .mp4 or other highly compressed files from the master.
Pro res should work pretty good for you in that situation.

The other solution you may try, is taking your entire 5K sequence, and copy and pasting it in a RED 720P sequence. Use scale to fit sequence on the clips and try rendering from there. you could also try doing your titles as 720P titles instead of down scaling them as well.

Hope all goes well.

[Antony M]

I have a simple 6min sequence, Epic 5k 2:1, straight cuts with some overlay titles (very simple, created using Title->New Title->Default Title) trying to render a 720p Apple TV out.

Hi Shawn,

I have never had these problems with Epic footage in Premiere.

When you say "Epic 5k 2:1", is that your footage or the sequence you are using in Premiere?

If your final output will be 720p Apple, then choose the Red 720p sequence.


I have to disagree with Stefan, in that I never use "scale to fit sequence" on the clips. I was told that this permanently throws away resolution. Instead I just scale the clips using the Scale parameter.

Antony

[Rob Ruffo]

I've seen this problem with a timeline that had one Epic layer over another - try cleaning up you timeline so that the cuts meet exactly and there is no overlap.

I'v had less problems, also, by having timelines at native res, and then scaling at render time (or having Davinci do it from XML export) . Much smoother playback too.

As a last resort, export the whole thing to AE and render there.

[Shawn Nelson]

Hey Shawn,

What kind of graphics card are you using? I'm guessing this is related to the issue.
Something to try - If you're using CUDA, can you disable it in the Project settings in Premiere to see if you have better luck? (before sending it to AME)

Wes Howell
Adobe Systems

Bingo! That was it. Thank you!!! switched to software render and it worked. That was weird. So I have a GTX285 thats only like a year old (was a replacement). So just tonight I update the driver and still same problem in PremPro. Finally just suffered under the long software only render. This is a huge disappointment, since I specifically bought the 285 because it would accelerate Adobe products.

[Wes Howell]

Sorry to hear that your graphics card is causing you issues.

Some have great luck with Geforce cards - others not so much and it's my feeling that this can vary depending on who actually makes the card. (Geforce cards are made by a lot of different companies)

The Quadro cards are a noticeable step up in quality and stability. I highly recommend the Quadro 4000 to anyone working with 4k and 5k RED. (I also use the 5000 with great success)

We all invest a good chunk of money into our RED workflows and IMO, for mission critical RED workflows a Quadro 4000 is where it's at - and is totally worth the $600 or $700

[Shawn Nelson]

I'm not sure anything is wrong with my graphics card, perhaps PP isn't controlling it right. Regardless, it'd be nice for PP to at least know that something went wrong and give proper error msg.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'm keep the Quadro 4000 in mind