Problem Exporting H.264 from HDV

[flogonojo]

Hey all,

I was led to this forum from the Videomaker forum. I'm trying to export to Vimeo in 720p in H.264 format from Adobe Premiere CS3. Whenever I export the video, it always plays out choppy and never smoothly. It's like it skips frames. I've tried a bunch of different settings for it to work and haven't gotten anything. I'm recording the video onto miniDV from a Sony HVR-A1U in HDV 1080i at 29.97 fps. I used this setting called cineframe 30, I believe, which might be causing my problems? Captured with firewire, edited as a .mpeg file. Now trying to export 1280x720 in H.264.

Another thought that came across was my computer might be too slow to play it, but that can't be true. My computer specs are Intel Core 2 Quad 2.5 Ghz, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, NVidia Quadro FX 3450/4000 all playing out on an Intel DX38BT board on XP. So, any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[flogonojo]

By the way, the video is only 2 minutes long.

[Chuck Engels]

Hi flogonojo, Welcome to Muvipix

Have you tried exporting any other formats?
What project setting are you using?

I'm sure you will get lots of help sorting this out

[Steve Grisetti]

Hi, flogonjo! Welcome to Muvipix!

I'm sure you're on the right track in your assumption that your computer specs aren't up to playing that file. Though I wouldn't blame your computer.

H.264 files are a bear to play anyway -- at least when they're in hi-def resolution with a full 30 fps. That's practically AVCHD!

For online display (like Vimeo), you can certainly do with a lot less resolution and probably a lot lower frame rate. The most common use for Mp4s, in fact, is for display on iPhones and iPods, where you don't need the same resolution you'd need for, say, a 32" hi-def TV.

For Vimeo, you're certainly not going to need something that displays at 720p. In fact, Vimeo would probably shut you down if you tried to load a file like that! And, if you think it's slow to play on your computer -- imagine how challenging it will be to stream it over the internet!

A frame size of 640x480 would still give you excellent quality and smoother playback. But I'd check with Vimeo to find out what they recommend for specs. A four-minute MP4 video would still be a whopping 30 meg in size!

Our forum regular, Ed, works with Vimeo regularly. Maybe he has some recommendations.

[Bobby]

I posted a whole list of specifications and how to do it. Look here...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4489&start=0&hilit=vimeo+bobby