The new Premiere Pro CS4 4.2 and Adobe Media Encoder CS4 4.2 offer new improvements and enhancements to CS4 video workflows. With the 4.2 update, Premiere Pro now offers users of Panasonic’s AVC-Intra line of P2 cameras the chance to edit in native AVC-Intra format. This has been a longtime coming for AVC-Intra users and they can now enjoy the advantages of Adobe CS4 tapeless workflows and native editing. Several other enhancements to Premiere Pro 4.2 were also updated, like the support for FinalCut 7 import. I have outlined several of the updates and fixes below. I have also listed the "known issues" in 4.2 as well.

Click Continue Reading to see more info on Notable fixes and Known issues.

Windows 7 is here ........ finally

For the most part Windows7 ( I suggest the 64 bit version) is working excellent with our CS4 apps. We will continue to monitor the various forums and see if any issues arise due to Win7.

At this point,  Encore CS4 has 3 known issues.

The key issue involves the Roxio pxhelp driver that Windows 7 replaces (this may get fixed in a future Win7 update). The other 2 issues involve building and burning projects and having the computer go to sleep in the process.

The fixes are easy. See below.

#1. Transcoding pauses when the system goes into Sleep mode in Encore CS4 (Windows 7)


ISSUE

When you attempt to transcode a project in Encore CS4 in Windows 7, and the system goes into Sleep mode, transcoding pauses.

SOLUTION

 Disable the Sleep function when you have a project that requires unattended transcoding.

To disable Sleep mode, do the following:

Go to Control Panel
Click on System and Security
Click on Power option
Click on "Change plan settings" in the "Power saver" option
Set the "Turn off the display" value to "Never"
Set the "Put the computer to sleep" value to "Never"


#2 Encore CS4 crashes if the system goes into Sleep mode while you are building a project (Windows 7)

ISSUE

 When you attempt to build a project in Encore CS4 in Windows 7, and the system enters Sleep mode, the application crashes or becomes unresponsive.


SOLUTION

Disable Sleep mode if you need to Build a project while the system is unattended. (see steps to turn off sleep above)



#3 System crashes when Blu-ray is selected as the format in the Build panel in Encore CS4 (Windows 7)


ISSUE

 When you select Blu-ray as the format in the Build panel in Adobe Encore CS4 in Windows 7, the operating system becomes unresponsive and crashes.

REASON

 Windows 7 installs an outdated version of the Roxio pxhelp driver, which causes a crash when Blu-ray format is selected in Encore CS4.

SOLUTION

Install an updated version of the pxhelp driver from Roxio. The updated driver is available here:

http://docs.roxio.com/patches/pxengine4_18_16a.zip

Installing and using Windows 7 with Adobe apps

Link:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/508/cpsid_50853.html

WHAT'S COVERED

• Versions of Adobe products tested with Windows 7
• Upgrading from previous versions of Windows to Windows 7
• Windows 7 clean install/upgrade matrix
• Installing Adobe applications after installing Windows 7
• Trial Versions of Adobe applications

Technical issues with Adobe applications and Windows 7

Today we took a major leap forward in our future development of Premiere Pro and AfterEffects. We announced that we would no longer support 32 bit OSes in future releases of Premiere Pro and After Effects. As many of you know, we are not new to the 64 bit arena, Photoshop CS4 is already native 64 bit on Windows and we have been running the last 3 versions of Premiere Pro and After Effects on 64 bit OSes.

Both Premiere Pro CS4 and AfterEffects CS4 already give you one of the best parts of 64 bit and that's better memory addressing. Both Premiere Pro and After Effects CS4 have been optimized and architected for 64 bit and perform much better today than running XP32 or Vista32 or even the new Win7 32. You can look forward to seeing at least 50% better performance when running a 64 bit OS.Some people are even quoting 200% better performance!

For PremierePro"Next", we are moving to new GPU + CPU model which allows us to scale and divide the workload more efficiently between multiple CPU Cores and GPU Cores. It uses the new nVidia CUDA technology and is designed to work with nVidia cards such as the Geforce 285 and FX4800/5800 series.

Why mention this now ?

We want to give our users plenty of time to upgrade their systems to 64 bit and to get ready for the changes that are quickly coming. Both Apple and Microsoft have released 2 excellent 64 bit OSes in 2009. Mac users already know how great the Mac OS is and Windows users can look forward to seeing Windows7 64 in action.They can also finally look forward to using all of that RAM they purchased.

Anyone looking to buy new hardware might want to know what the requirements will be to run CS"Next" and how make great use of their CS4 investment today. I am recommending Multiple Cores, 8GB RAM or more, one of the nVidia cards mentioned above, and either Win7 64 or OSX 10.6. Again, CS4 runs excellent on this config as well.

The big change will come with true 64 bit performance built for a 64 bit OS like Windows7 64 and OSX Snow Leopard 10.6. Once you drop the legacy support for 32 bit operations you open the gates for better performance and a better over all experience.

When ?

The 64 bit versions are still many many months away - but we need you thinking about your "next" step.This was a tough decision but a necessary one. We are hard at work in the labs on this new 64 bit project. Much of the major 64 bit work is already done for Premiere and After Effects and we are beginning to see the benefits of our work. The early performance tests are truly amazing.

Do yourself a favor and take that major leap forward and upgrade to 64 bit now.

Look for a new video featuring Premiere Pro the 4.2 update. I'll be posting a new article and video link here in the next few weeks. Support for AVC-Intra import, FCP 7 Import, and more...

Here's more information on 64 bit from our website: Whitepaper: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/pdfs/cs4_production_premium_64bit_wp.pdf FAQ: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/faq/ http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/mastercollection/faq/ http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/faq/ http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/faq/ http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/faq/ System req pages: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/systemreqs/ http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/mastercollection/systemreqs/ http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/systemreqs/ http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/systemreqs/ Product sites (look for the 64-bit feature item in the "news carousel"): http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/ http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/ http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects

What’s new in the Premiere Pro 4.1 Update

The 4.1 updater for Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder are fairly critical updates for the CS4 user. If you are using the CS4 Production Premium Suite, After Effects also has a new updater, 9.02. Below are some of the major changes in these updates. I’ve also listed some of the various bug fixes for Premiere Pro and After Effects. Take the time to scan the list. I’ve also created a “What’s new in Premiere 4.1” video to get you up to speed. For the RED camera users out there, both Premiere Pro 4.1 and After Effects have new workflows for RED R3D files. I do a quick run through of the new features on the new RED workflow in the 4.1 video but there is a completely new Adobe RED video, which walks you through the new workflow in detail. I should also note that Adobe Media Encoder has been updated to match the changes in Premiere Pro 4.1 and After Effects  9.02. One of the most noticeable changes in 4.1 update for Adobe Media Encoder (AME) is the rendering speed. In many cases, you’ll see quite a speed bump.

Premiere Pro C4.1 &

After Effects CS4 9.02

workflow using the

NEW Native

RED R3D plug-in

     After several months of hard work, the REDCODE 1.7 Red Plug-in is finally available and you can find it here:  http://www.red.com/support . Make sure you update Premiere Pro and AfterEffects and Adobe Media Encoder. The workflow video will show you how to apply the updates.

As you'll see in the New Tech workflow video and workflow guide, this plug-in now allows you to use Premiere Pro CS4.1 and After Effects CS4 9.02 to import Native RED R3D files as easily as any of our other native tapeless formats.

I’d like to take the time to say thanks to the beta testers that spent countless hours figuring out the various 2K and 4K workflows. After working with the beta testers and discussing these workflows we have updaed the workflow video that steps you through the basic workflow. Included with the plug-in is the RED Workflow Guide which has been put together as a reference guide.

The new 4.01 updater for Premiere Pro now allows you import FCP projects (also supports OMF & enhanced AAF export).  This is perfect for Adobe video workflows needing to work with FCP projects. One example would be a 3D Studio Max, Maya, or Maxon Cinema 4D (my favorite) user needing to work with FCP users and their video timelines. Instead of exporting a single movie, you can now export an FCP XML file and import directly into Premiere Pro CS4 (4.01) From there you can goto Encore CS4 for Bluray output or import the Premiere Pro CS4 sequence directly into After Effects CS4.

I had the opportunity to work with nVidia on their new powerhouse of a video card, the NEW Quadro CX board. Over the past several months I also worked with one of the companies (ETI) who is the first to unleash the GPU power of  nvidia’s CUDA for Adobe software. ETI is the company behind the new GPU based H264 exporter. This new exporter gives you upto 5x performance for h264 exports. This is perfect for people creating blu-ray discs. The performance gain depends on your system config. For example, if you have an 8 core machine, then your looking at about a 2x gain. I also highly recommend that you use Vista64 and 8GB Ram for Windows based HD workflows. (the CX card is currently windows only)

The new Production Premium CS4 now supports AVCHD for Premiere Pro, AfterEffects, and Encore. With the various price ranges of AVCHD cameras, tapeless workflows will surely reach the mainstream in the near future. I’ve been using CS4 internally for quite a while and have been totally converted to the new CS4 workflow.

Take a look at the quick workflow video and see what’s new in Production Premium CS4 and AVCHD. I also show a few more CS4 features like the new Media Browser which lets you browse media from any drive right from Premiere Pro. (The big advantage is here is not having to import unknown clips just to view them).

UPDATED 12/11/08

The RED plug-in has been released.

CLICK HERE TO SEE NEW ARTICLE and video

Adobe Production Premium support !

For a few weeks now I have been checking out the new Red Camera Adobe Importer plug-in for Premiere Pro, AfterEffects, and Encore. For their first Adobe CS3 plug-in, they’ve done some excellent work. Their importer plug-in makes using the native R3D file type as easy as any of the other tapeless formats we currently support with CS3. As with our P2 and XDCAM support, importing is as easy as drag and drop or you can still use the standard File>Import dialog. The Plug-in gets installed in the Adobe Common MediaCore folder and is shared by all Adobe video applications. Yes, there are plug-ins for both Intel Mac and Windows. Windows users might consider using Vista64 so they can address more than 3.6 GB of RAM for the larger frame sizes(yes - currently CS3 can only address upto 4GB of Ram on Windows ** stayed tuned ** we'll have a better answer - more on that later) Vista users, just remember to turn off all of the friendly Vista helpful messages like “Cancel or Allow?” )

 
 
 

Blu-ray Playback Problems ?

After reading a few emails with people having issues playing back their Blu-ray discs created with Encore (or most other BD-R authoring apps), I thought I should mention a few basic 101 tips to help people just getting started with BR authoring.

FIRMWARE WARS - if you are making BD-R’s for yourself or for your customers, it a good idea to get to know the more popular Blu-ray players. WHY? Most of the older Blu-ray players (if not 100%) need a firmware update to play BD-R or BD-RE (re-writeable). WHY? I’ve heard arguments ranging from constant changing of the Blu-ray spec to copyright issues. Either way it will effect all of us at some point that are burning Blu-ray video from desktop applications like Adobe Encore.

Intro to PremierePro CS3 and XDCAM, XDCAM HD, and XDCAM EX support
For Intel Macs and Windows XP/Visa (Version 3.2.0)

What’s New ?
With Premiere Pro CS3 and the 3.2.0 update, you can now natively Ingest, and Edit Sony’s XDCAM (DVCAM), XDCAM HD, and XDCAM EX format. Just as you would expect from Adobe and the Premiere Pro team, just drag and drop directly from the card into the Project Panel and start editing. No need to transcode your video with “wacky” single platform codec’s and no need to worry about .mov and .avi files – just edit ! There are also more updates to the MPEG-2 (HDV) editing modes. For more info jump to the “What’s New in the 3.2.0 release?” section and read about new Fixes, Known Issues, and more.

To Learn More ………..Click Continue Reading

Creating MPEG-2 Output Files for Blu-ray with Apple's Compressor 3

I've been getting a lot of questions from FCP Users on how to create "Blu-Ray legal" MPEG2 files using Apple's Compressor version 3.02. Here are a few simple steps to get you started as well as few tips for the new Blu-ray author. For the record, I have been able to get the H.264  AppleTV setting to play on some players but it is not 100%. My engineering team says that the version we tested (3.02) does not create true legal H.264 Blu-ray. Looks like 3.03 was recently released and has new AppleTV settings - not sure if anything changes in 3.03 yet - My guess is no.

During our internal CS3 beta cycles of Adobe PremierePro CS3 and Adobe Encore CS3 , I spent most of my efforts on HDV and Blu-ray workflows while prepping for NAB 2007. The idea was to come up with a simple workflow allowing the user to ingest HDV and end up with a playable Blu-ray disc for the Sony Playstation 3, which is currently the least expensive Blu-ray player.  In the Adobe booth we demo’d Blu-ray authoring on an Intel QuadCore Mac and playing burned media on a Playstation3. We had 2 Blu-ray discs, one encoded as MPEG2 Single Pass (draft mode) and a H.264 Two Pass (High Quality Mode) ** UPDATE ** Since this article was written last year, I have spent my early 2008 efforts on working with Panasonic P2 footage and Blu-ray and have been very happy with the workflow. P2 footage to Blu-ray works amazing well with Encore. Look for an upcoming article. Once you go tapeless , it's hard to go back to tape. I'll also be working with Sony EX tapeless footage this year as well - Stay tuned.

In the Sony booth Blu-ray area, a Sony Rep was demoing and burning Blu-ray discs from EncoreCS3 via a Sony burner and Dell machine. He was taking the burned BD-RE Sony disc from the Dell Desktop and playing it in the PS3.For time sake, they were also encoding in MPEG2 Single pass “draft mode” and using a standard DVD size project (720x480). This allowed them to demo a complete “click to burn” cycle in just a few minutes. They wanted to show a complete Blu-ray workflow from PremierePro’s Timeline to Encore to Auto Erase to burn, and lastly, playing in the PS3. It was a great demo. The video quality was so so, but keep in mind that the idea was to show the workflow, not wait for a long H264 Encode for the highest quality.

Read on to learn more .......

The AfterEffects CS3 8.02 update is NOW available. To update, launch any CS3 application and go to the Menu option Help>Updates. The Adobe updater will scan your CS3 apps and start downloading. Once it starts downloading, make sure you close all of your web apps and any open Adobe apps. There are STILL EXPORT ISSUES WITH QUICKTIME 7.4.Hopefully we will see a quick update for QT from Apple as many AE users have been crippled by 7.4.For mac users the 8.02 update includes OSX Leopard support.

Read on to learn more about the 8.02 update .......

Watch This:

As promised here is a quick workflow video showing the new support in  After Effects CS3 for Panasonic P2 MXF.You will see this P2 feature as part of the next free update (v8.02) which is due to be released before the end of 2007.

A few key points:

AE Importer P2