Importing HDV mpeg files into AE7
by Lon Lawson
on
Apr 23, 2008 at 3:40:07 pm
Okay please don't castrate me if this has been brought up, I searched as well as read through the FAQ and provided codec information.
I can't capture HDV footage so I used my friend's system. He captured from Premiere CS3 as an mpeg. I've never seen a program capture and edit in mpeg format, but whatever.
So I have an 8gig mpeg file. I took it home. After Effects 7 won't open it. Figures. I tried converting it with WinAVI 9 to an AVI, but the program craps out after processing 11%. This has happened three times.
I split the files on output from WinAVI so I could see if I could import them into After Effects, and they work. I just can't seem to convert the whole file.
Out of desperation, I tried installing Premiere CS3, but it won't install because I don't have an SSE2 expanded processor. And After Effects CS3 says the same thing.
Any advice?
Anyone have Adobe Premiere CS3 that might be able to identify the HDV mpeg codec and send it my way?
Anyone have a better file conversion program? Or trick to make AE7 like the mpeg file??
It's frustrating when my computer can play the video, but AE7 doesn't want to import it.
Re: Importing HDV mpeg files into AE7 by Dave LaRonde on Apr 23, 2008 at 8:01:05 pm
[Lon Lawson]"It's frustrating when my computer can play the video, but AE7 doesn't want to import it."
Well, there's a reason for that:
Dave's Stock Answer #1 For Current Footage Woes:
If the footage you imported into AE is any kind of the following -- Native HDV, MPEG1, MPEG2, mp4, m2t, H.261 or H.264 -- you need to convert it to a different codec.
These kinds of footage use temporal, or interframe compression. They have keyframes at regular intervals, containing complete frame information. However, the frames in between do NOT have complete information. Interframe codecs toss out duplicated information.
In order to maintain peak rendering efficiency, AE needs complete information for each and every frame. But because these kinds of footage contain only partial information, AE freaks out, resulting in a wide variety of problems.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: Importing HDV mpeg files into AE7 by Lon Lawson on Apr 23, 2008 at 8:13:12 pm
I understand that now, despite reading another post where a user claimed to have figured out a way to do it.
I've tried transcoding the file with WinAVI, but WinAVI for one reason or another refuses to complete the operation. More importantly, what would be the best codec to edit HD footage on a PC? Is there an industry standard that I can install? I've browsed numerous sites, and feel like I should've answered this by now, but haven't found anything that works.
Re: Importing HDV mpeg files into AE7 by Dave LaRonde on Apr 23, 2008 at 8:44:45 pm
[Lon Lawson]"....what would be the best codec to edit HD footage on a PC? Is there an industry standard that I can install?"
You have two options for HDV:
• Capture video using a different codec than HDV. Depending on your system, you almost always need a capture card to do this. I'm a Mac guy, so I don't know beans about Windows boxes, nor the codecs used by them.
• Export HDV video from Premiere in a different codec. When I work on Windows boxes, I make darned sure they have Quicktime Pro for Windows on 'em, and I use the Animation codec set to best quality -- it's lossless.
The files will be HUGE in comparison to HDV. My best advice: get used to it. When you work in AE, the terms "high quality" and "small file size" are pretty much mutually exclusive. Moreover, the Ancient Computer Wisdom from Days of Yore, when computers occupied entire rooms, still applies: Garbage In, Garbage Out.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: Importing HDV mpeg files into AE7 by Lon Lawson on Apr 24, 2008 at 12:19:49 am
I'm using the Apex Video Converter to Quicktime Animation right now. It's been going for three hours, the file is 47% done, and the size is 65gb already.
Re: Importing HDV mpeg files into AE7 by Lon Lawson on Apr 28, 2008 at 1:27:33 am
Wow, this has been complicated. Whatever could go wrong, has.
The final file is 130gb.
For some reason, it's only 29fps and there's no audio. The more I think about how that's even possible, the more it feels like my brain is melting.
Since I can't edit in HD, I converted the file again to Microsoft DV and did an offline edit, then imported the Premiere project into AE and switched the footage to the HD stuff.
The footage looks great, but there's some artifacts in the shadows of two shots. The original mpeg does not have these artifacts, so a re-transcoding of the whole thing might be necessary.
Going from FCP to AE7 on PC by Lon Lawson on Jun 7, 2008 at 8:58:18 pm
Okay folks, I'm back on this project (moved homes in interim).
I tried re-transcoding the mpeg file to an Animation Quicktime using Apex, and it's no better. The compression is just too severe in some places, artifacts are present.
So I captured the footage again using Final Cut Pro. In fact, I have a FCP system at my disposal now, however I cannot edit on it or run AE on it. I must run AE on my PC.
So anyway, FCP and compressor has been completely useless for me. I have tried exporting the file through Quicktime, Compressor, or Quicktime conversion, getting various error messages the entire time. Compressor seems unable to export any file over 300mb. I get a lot of "file too big" errors, despite the hard drive being 930gb.
I don't have a specific question, other than how. the. hell. do. you. get. this. to. work.
I've been going this kind of stuff for years now, never ran into anything so complicated for such a simple f'n task. I think God doesn't want me to finish this or something.
Re: Importing HDV mpeg files into AE7 by Alex Borisov on Apr 24, 2008 at 7:25:24 am
I have the same SSE2 problem with Adobe applications. I have Premiere Pro 1,5 which dosnt support HDV capture, but you can capture usind Mainconcept pro HD mpg2 plug in for Premiere; this way you can capture hd in Your system, but premire will be very slow. As you already know AE7 wonnt recognize mpeg2 hdv file; this can be solved by exporting the mpeg2 hdv from premiere as TIFF sequence. after that AE wont have any problems with the tiff sequance. very quick way of working with hdv files in amd processors than dont support SSE2...
