Premiere Pro CS4 : Adobe Media Encoder problem

[Doughie]

Friend who is experienced with Prem CS3 but has just upgraded to CS4 and Adobe Media Encoder ("AME") is very slow to render.

Seems this is a typical complaint about AME with CS4 and elsewhere we dug around and there is a suggestion to :
"On the flyout menu in the Media Encoder setup dialogue (3rd of the way down along the right side of the panel), there is an option to include source XML data...make sure that is unchecked."
- trouble is we can't find the 'setup' menu. We have the "Settings" menu, but we dont *think* thats' it. I have no experience with Adobe Prem Pro so i'm really just passing on this enquiry.

Any Prem Pro users out there? Cs4 preferably, but CS-anything would be good. trying to find out where we can switch off the XML option and if anyone has any other great suggestions on how to speed up Adobe Media Encoder CS4, that would be terrific.

[acgold7]

I've got AME open in CS5 now and can't find the setting you're referring to. Encoding FROM what TO what?

This bigger issue is why your friend "upgraded" to the worst release in Adobe history. CS3 was much better than the train wreck that was CS4. CS5 blows them all away, but if he can't afford that he should stay with CS3. I had very few problems with CS3 and now have none with CS5.

What's the destination and file type of the project?

[Doughie]

I've got AME open in CS5 now and can't find the setting you're referring to.

Yes thats basically the issue he's having at the moment. he has same issue really as this post :
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/898383

and he cannot find out how to switch off the XML check-box.

He's encoding a DV project (720 x 480) and trying to render to an AVI, same res. Should be fast.

This bigger issue is why your friend "upgraded" to the worst release in Adobe history. CS3 was much better than the train wreck that was CS4. CS5 blows them all away, but if he can't afford that he should stay with CS3. I had very few problems with CS3 and now have none with CS5.

I dont think he knew CS4 was so problematic. He really wanted to be able to open Cineform AVI files, and he couldn't do that in CS3, and you can in CS4. That wasn't the only reason for him to "upgrade" but it was one of them. I think it was just a matter of him not knowing that CS4 introduced probs over CS3.

As i say, he's shot Standard def footage on an HDV cam, imported it fine into Prem CS4, and is just trying to render to AVI. the Adobe Media Encoder dialog box starts as normal, reports the task is "encoding" but at bottom of that dialog box, the elapsed time is frozen at 1second (it does this repeatedly, it's not a one-off, and the app has *not* crashed).

According to the post at the link above, AME may be doing a 'front-end' task of creating some XML stuff as the project has a lot of cuts. So it was recommended to switch off that 'generate XML' checkbox and it's reportedly in the AME Setup dialog box on right side, fly-out menu. But neither of us can find the "Setup" menu. Only the "Settings" menu. 2 different forums used said word 'setup' so we are assuming this XML checkbox item is in another menu as yet undiscovered.

I guess the smart answer is to say "skip CS4 and go to CS5" but i don't know if he has CS5 to upgrade *to*. So basically, as a quick fix, he's just trying to work through any of the reported "ah yes, try this, that will help" stuff as reported by other people complaining that AME seems really very slow in CS4 compared to CS3. If anybody can point out where this darn XML checkbox item is to be found in CS4, that will at least allow us to check un-tick that, and see if it makes a difference (or not). appreciate it.

[acgold7]

This is interesting and I wish I could help more. I spent some time digging around in the help files for any reference to XML and all I could find was in the context of exporting to Flash. So I'm really not sure if it's even a factor in avi to avi encoding.

Some windows in Adobe apps have a little tiny drop-down right next to where you'd X out the window in the very upper-right corner -- that's the only drop down I can think of. Now it isn't in the CS5 AME window but it might be in CS4. Also look for a button that says Metadata in export settings, possibly in the Advanced section. These are the only clues I was able to pick up from reading the AME CS4 help.

I'm wondering if there is a direct export option in Premiere without opening AME, the way there was in CS3 and there is in CS5. Just a simple File > Export > Media, maybe?

AME was widely slammed as being one of the worst CS4 apps, but appears to be fixed in CS5, especially with the MPE and CUDA acceleration enabled.

Cineform gave up on trying to make their stuff work with CS4, so even just buying Neo HD probably wouldn't help at this point. But you could download a fully-functional trial and use it to get the project done, to see if it helps.

Would it be possible to post some screen grabs? Maybe I'll see something that looks familiar.

[Doughie]

Would it be possible to post some screen grabs? Maybe I'll see something that looks familiar.

Thanks Adam for your input on this. Neither of us knew CS4 was a bit of a flaky version of Prem, but i think we now get that message!
He's in NYC right now, so i can't get a screen-shot til he gets back.

But anyway, good to know that AME was iffy in CS4. this may well prompt him to go for CS5. for now i think he is reverting to CS3 just to get stuff done in the interim.

[acgold7]

Going back to CS3 would also be my recommendation until he can afford to upgrade to CS5, but he won't be able to open a CS4 project in CS3, I don't think. So for this problem I think he's stuck.

I took a look at the thread in the Cow and noticed a) most of it was indeed about Flash and MOV export rather than AVI, and b) there were a variety of workarounds posted. Did he try these?

I'm really irritated that I never installed CS4 even though I bought it, because now I have no experience to draw from.