MainConcept Codec Suite 5.

0
Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
What is Codec Suite 5?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Choose what matches your needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Evaluate them all in Demo Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Codec Suite Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
My Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Importer Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Creating a Project and Using Codec Suite Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Adjusting Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Importing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Smart Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
The Default Profiles tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Custom Profiles tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The Advanced Video Encoder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The Advanced MPEG Encoder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
The Basic Settings Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
The Advanced Settings Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
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The Miscellaneous Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

The H.264/AVC Encoder Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The Basic Settings Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The Advanced Settings Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The CUDA H.264/AVC Encoder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Basic Settings Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Advanced Settings Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
The Advanced DVCPRO Encoder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The Advanced Audio Encoder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The MPEG Audio Encoder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The PCM Audio Encoder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
The AAC Encoder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
The Dolby Digital Professional Audio Encoder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
The Advanced Multiplexer Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The MPEG Multiplexer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The MP4 Multiplexer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The MXF Multiplexer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Performance & Stability Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Technical Support
MainConcept Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Copyright 2010 MainConcept GmbH. All rights reserved.
Trademarks are used for informational purposes, and remain the property of their owners. Depending on the software version, screenshots
may vary in this manual.
Manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories.
Dolby and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories.
Confidential unpublished works. Copyright 1993-2005 Dolby Laboratories. All rights reserved.
Adobe and Flash are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Edition: July 30, 2010

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Contents page 3

Introduction
What is Codec Suite 5?
MainConcept Codec Suite 5.0 is the successor of the popular MPEG Pro HD Plug-In
for Adobe Premiere Pro that has a high reputation among Adobe users for many years
now. The new plug-in version that has been renamed to Codec Suite 5.0 is a set of fullfeatured editing and export Plug-Ins in native 64-bit for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. It is
a plug-in which adds powerful MPEG-1/2, H.264/AVC and DVCPRO editing capabilities,
including smart rendering of MPEG-1/2, DVCPRO, AVC-Intra and CUDA accelerated
H.264/AVC encoding, to Adobe Premiere Pro. It comes in two different versions that
suit the demands of the Professional and Broadcast industries by supporting formats
such as Sonys XDCAM, Panasonics P2 DVCPRO, P2 AVC-Intra or Ikegami GFCAM as
well as MPEG-2, DVCPRO and AVC-Intra in generic MXF Op1-a and OP-Atom containers. Furthermore, it extends MPEG-2 and H.264/AVC encoding capabilities to 4:2:2 formats while the professional version is limited to 4:2:0. An optional add-on allows to
encode Dolby Digital Pro audio in mono, stereo or 5.1 channels.
Other than often presumed, MainConcept Codec Suite 5 is not just a Codec. Although it
comes with a variety of codecs it also adds additional so called Editing Modes to Adobe
Premiere Pro.
An editing mode consists of a player, a preview rendering encoder and an importer for the
rendered previews. Once you have installed Codec Suite 5, you will find a huge choice of
additional sequence presets. Each of these presets is based on a specific Codec Suite 5
editing mode. Premiere Pro CS5 sequences based on Codec Suite 5 presets will use the
Codec Suite Player for timeline preview, will render previews of effects and transitions into
a format that matches the presets video format specifications and will import the rendered previews by the assigned importer for playback.
Furthermore, Codec Suite adds several new importers to Premiere Pro. These importers
are not only designed for working in Codec Suite 5 editing modes, but also add support for
some formats that Premiere Pro can not import natively, and have special features to support smart rendering.
Last but not least, it offers a powerful export module, which offers a wide range of default
presets for many professional and consumer formats. Additionally, it provides you with the
opportunity to create own custom presets by editing audio, video and multiplexing parameters in detail. But the most powerful feature of the exporter to significantly speed up your
workflow is Smart Rendering for H.264/AVC (coming soon), MPEG-1/2, AVC-Intra and
DVCPRO. Smart rendering means export of video footage without reencoding and quality
loss. It works in conjunction with Codec Suite 5 importers, editing modes and sequence
presets. Whenever the footage on the timeline or the rendered previews match the export
target format, no transcoding will be necessary but an extremely fast export without any
quality degradation will take effect. For MPEG-1/2 even an export to different bitrates than
the source material will happen in the fast Smart Requantization mode. Smart rendering
MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Introduction page 4

and smart requantization are not only restricted to timeline export. You may even use it for
quick remultiplexing or requantization of single clips throughout the Premiere Pro project
bin or the Adobe Media Encoder CS5.

Choose what matches your needs

Codec Suite 5 comes in two different versions that suit the demand of almost every user
working with Adobe's video-editing flagship ranging from consumers up to professional
content creators:

Codec Suite 5 - Professional

Codec Suite 5 - Broadcast

An optional add-on which adds Dolby Digital Pro audio encoding capabilities to either version is available as well.
Table 1: Available Plug-In Versions & included Codecs/Formats
Codec/Format

Codec Suite Professional

Codec Suite Broadcast

MPEG-1

MPEG-2

MPEG-2 422

H.264/AVC

H.264/AVC 422

H.264/AVC High 10

CUDA H.264/AVC

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Introduction page 5

Table 1: Available Plug-In Versions & included Codecs/Formats

Codec/Format

Codec Suite Professional

Codec Suite Broadcast

AVC-Intra Class 50/100

DVCPRO 25/50/100

Sony XDCAM EX

Sony XDCAM HD

Sony XDCAM IMX

Sony DVCAM

Panasonic P2 DVCPRO

Panasonic P2 AVC-Intra

Ikegami GFCAM

Convergent FlashXDR/NanoFlash

Canon XF300

Canon XF305

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Introduction page 6

Table 1: Available Plug-In Versions & included Codecs/Formats

Codec/Format

Codec Suite Professional

Codec Suite Broadcast

MXF OP-1a/OP-Atom:
- MPEG-2
- DVCPRO
- AVC-Intra RP 2027*
Blu-ray Disc

AVCHD

AVCCAM

DVD

Apple iPod

Sony PSP

HDV

Dolby Digital Professional**

* Currently import only.

** Additional add-on.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Introduction page 7

Evaluate them all in Demo Mode

There is only one common installer for both Codec Suite 5 versions and the Dolby Digital
Professional add-on. It will offer all features listed above in demo mode. Demo mode
means that all imported and exported video will get a logo added to the stream. During
smart rendering frequently some frames will be reencoded and carry a logo. Furthermore,
import of footage which contains AAC or Dolby Digital audio as well as export of these
audio formats are restricted to a 30 days trial period. Once you purchased a serial number
for a specific version and unlocked its features, the demo logo and audio restrictions will
no longer appear in the formats that version supports. Other formats will continue to carry
a demo logo. If that disturbs your work with Adobe Premiere Pro projects once you finished the evaluation of all versions features, please read how to disable Codec Suite
importers in the Codec Suite Toolbox chapter.
Codec Suite 5 is easy to use, because most of its functions happen behind the scenes. If
you know Premiere, you already know almost all you need to use the plug-in. This Users
Guide is designed to get you up and running quickly.
However, we want to wish you a lot of fun with our latest product. If you have any suggestions on how to improve Codec Suite 5, please send us your feedback to the following email address: [email protected].
Throughout the MainConcept Codec Suite 5 Plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro manual you
will be guided by a popular character. It signals you when you have to pay attention or
gives you some advice when we think that it is necessary.
When you see the little fellow with the megaphone you have to pay
attention. He gives advice as well as some clever tips and tricks for
working with Codec Suite 5. But sometimes he signals also a warning
for the user, that some settings should only be changed by professionals.

And now we wish you a lot of fun with this manual and, of course, have a good time while
editing your videos with Adobe Premiere Pro and MainConcept Codec Suite 5.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Introduction page 8

System Requirements
Codec Suite is designed to work on any PC which meets Adobe Premiere Pro CS5s minimum system requirements (Microsoft Windows 7 x64 or Vista SP1 x64 required).
Codec Suite requires Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 (not included).

Installation
Installing the MainConcept Codec Suite 5 Demo Plug-In
If you received the MainConcept Codec Suite 5 application on a CD, follow the included
installation instructions. If you downloaded the plug-in, please follow the steps below:
From time to time, MainConcept will release new versions of Codec
Suite 5 containing tweaks and new features. Before you install the plugin, we highly recommend checking the MainConcept website to see if a
newer version is available for downloading.

1 Double-click the Setup file. A splash screen and progress indicator will appear.

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It may take a few moments until the installation process begins. In the Welcome dialog, click Next to proceed.

2 When the license agreement appears on the screen, review it carefully, then click Yes
if you agree to the terms and you want to continue the installation.

If you do not click Yes, the installation process will be aborted.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Introduction page 10

3 Now the installation starts. An indicator will show the installation process.

4 When the following dialog box appears, click Finish to complete the setup.

The MainConcept Codec Suite 5 Plug-In demo version is now installed on your computer. When you now launch Premiere Pro, you will have access to the Codec Suite 5
sequence presets as well as the export module. Additionally, it has installed the MainConcept Codec Suite Toolbox application, where you can briefly check the plug-ins
license status and manage importers. You can launch it from your Windows Start
menu or from the shortcut on your Windows desktop. The MainConcept Codec Suite
Toolbox is described in more detail in the following chapter.

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The Codec Suite Toolbox

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 comes with a small utility tool. Codec Suite 5 Toolbox can
be started by double-clicking its desktop icon. It allows you to manage the import modules
of the plug-in, turn the desired plug-in into a full version after having purchased a serial
number and check the license status.

My Licenses
Here you can see the current license status of each version and the Dolby Digital Pro
Add-On. A green check mark indicates that the features have been activated. Otherwise
the Buy Now button will be enabled which will direct you to the corresponding product
page on the MainConcept website where you can purchase the product.

After purchasing a plug-in or the Dolby Digital add-on, you will get a serial number for
unlocking it. Please copy the key into the Enter serial number input prompt, and confirm
with the Activate button. Full license Codec Suite 5 Plug-Ins are marked by a green
checkmark.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Introduction page 12

Importer Control
In this dialog, you have the opportunity to disable the Codec Suite 5 importers if necessary, in order to avoid conflicts with the Adobe Premiere Pro import modules. Simply
uncheck the desired checkbox to disable them.

Third party plug-in importers usually have a higher priority than Premiere Pro's importers.
Whenever a media file gets imported to Premiere Pro the plug-in importers will be asked
first, and if they are able to handle such type of media, they will take over.
This means that all Codec Suite 5 Importers will handle your imported footage even in
projects that are not based on Codec Suite 5 sequence presets.
If you encounter problems in projects that are not Codec Suite 5 based or want to get rid
of the demo logo in footage which is handled by a version of Codec Suite for which you
did not purchase a license, but which is also supported by Premieres importers, the
Importer Control allows you to disable specific importers of Codec Suite 5. As an
example, you will want to disable the DVCPRO importer in case you have not licensed the
Broadcast version, but want to edit P2 DVCPRO by Premieres native support. You
should do that before you open such a project and before you import some media files.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Introduction page 13

On the bottom of the Codec Suite Toolbox window you will find five buttons:
About shows some information about the current version of Codec Suite 5.
Help opens the Codec Suite 5 manual as PDF file.
Check for Updates... opens the MainConcept website to see if updates are available.
OK confirms all settings and closes the Codec Suite Toolbox.
Cancel enables you to close the window without accepting the current settings.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Introduction page 14

Creating a Project and Using

Codec Suite Sequences
After installing Codec Suite 5, launch Adobe Premiere Pro and create a New Project.

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You may choose a sequence preset for the first sequence now, but you can also omit that
in this step and create sequences later when the project is opened. Each sequence is
allowed to be based on an individual preset. You will notice a variety of MainConcept
Codec Suite 5 sequence presets. You find them when extending the MainConcept
branch of the tree view in the Available Presets browser in the Sequence Presets tab.

They are designed to cover the most popular MPEG-1/2, H.264/AVC, XDCAM, DVCPRO
and AVC-Intra editing needs, and you can also create custom settings to meet special
needs. The latter can be done in the General pane.
Choose the Codec Suite 5 preset you want, specify the project file name and path, and
click OK. When the project opens you can edit as you would normally edit in Premiere,
except that you now have the ability to work with your video content much more easily and
efficiently.
Please be aware that not all features of the plug-in might be available if you use a project
or sequence preset that is not based on one of the MainConcept Editing Modes.

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Creating Custom Presets

You will now find a group of sequence presets called MPEG-2 HD Templates. These are
designed to give you the opportunity to create sequence presets and sequences with preview render settings for MPEG-2 HD formats that are not covered by the already available
defaults, e.g. for editing high bit rate Ikegami GFCAM or Convergent Flash XDR and
nanoFlash footage as well as other broadcast MPEG-2 MXF footage.
1. Choose the template that matches your footages frame size. A description of the further steps will become visible in the Preset Description window, but we repeat the
procedure here in detail.
2. Switch to the General tab. The selected Editing Mode is MainConcept MPEG-2 HD
Templates. Please do not change that.
3. Adjust Timebase, Frame Size, Pixel Aspect Ratio and Fields parameters to match
the desired format of the sequence and footage to edit.
4. Select a Preview File Format that matches your source footage in terms of profile/
level, bitrate and GOP structure (long GOP or I-Frame-only).
5. Hit Save Preset to store your new preset with a meaningful name and comment if
you intend to reuse its later.
6. Name the sequence and hit OK to start editing.
If you are unsure about the various format parameters of your footage, before you start to
create a preset, first import a sample clip into Premiere Pro. In the Project window highlight the clip and right click it to raise the context menu where you choose the Properties
option. A dialog will appear which list detailed format information, such as bit rate, field
order, GOP structure, etc. Write them down and then go to create a preset.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Using Codec Suite 5 page 17

Adjusting Playback Settings

Under Premiere Pro CS5 the player that will be used for the Sequence Monitor is
controlled by the sequence preset, but you can choose the Player Module to be used for
the Source Monitor globally. To do so, please open Edit > Preferences > Player
Settings and choose the MainConcept player in order to get the best performance for
your source preview when working with Codec Suite and its importers.
You can launch the Playback Settings by clicking the Output button on the bottom right
of a monitor window. In the appearing menu choose Playback Settings.. to raise the settings dialog of the Player Module.

In Premiere Pro CS5 you can also launch the Playback Settings dialog
from the General pane of Premiere Pros Sequence Settings dialog
box (choose Sequence > Sequence Settings > General, then click the
Playback Settings button).

All playback settings settings will affect the Sequence Monitor Player as well as the
Source Monitor Player.

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The Playback video on the desktop checkbox lets you turn Premieres preview on and
off.

If a second monitor is connected to your system, and Windows is configured for dual view,
the drop-down menu Fullscreen on secondary monitor is enabled. If you have at least
two monitors, you can either choose Auto or one of the listed ones. The monitor where
the Premiere Pro main application window is displayed will not be listed. If you select
Auto, the player will automatically select the monitor for the fullscreen display, which is
not the one on which Premiere Pro resides. If you now drag Premiere Pro to the other
monitor, the fullscreen preview will jump to the opposite side.
Please be careful, if you have the dual monitor setup only temporary,
when you drag Premiere Pro to the secondary monitor and then close it
there. When working with a single monitor next time again, the application may open somewhere on coordinates where your second monitor
used to be.

The MainConcept player makes intensive use of DirectX acceleration features from your
graphics card. Some graphics boards - across all brands - do not perform colorspace conversions correctly and do not expand the reduced YUV color range to full RGB color
range. The output will look washed out with reduced contrast then. If you experience this
with your graphics hardware, enable the Force full color range option, which can be set
individually from the monitor window and the fullscreen preview. The Player Module will
then adjust the color range. This setting is global and stays persistent. You do not need to
set it for any new project. It solely affects the video display and has no influence on the
quality of preview rendering and exported files. If you are not sure whether your graphics
hardware needs the Force full color range option enabled or not, please follow the test
instructions in the FAQ section at the end of this document.

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The Playback audio on audio hardware option determines whether the PCs sound
hardware will be used for audio playback.

The Preview Render Settings section also includes one more option:
The Force rendering of material which does not match sequence settings box gives
you more control over Codec Suites capabilities. The plug-in will try not to render any
material on the timeline unnecessarily, even if its size does not match the size specified in
the sequence (status bar turns yellow). But some types of unrendered material might not
preview smoothly. By turning on this option (status bar turns red), you can force this material to be rendered to the specified Sequence preview render format for better playback.
The drawback is that rendering may take some time, depending on the amount and format of the material.
All Player Settings you make will affect the players in the current project. The only exception are the Force full color range options, which will stay persistent per user account, so
that you do not need to change them again until you change the systems hardware.

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Importing Files
When using Codec Suite 5, you can import files as you have always done in Premiere
Pro. In addition to material that is supported by the Codec Suite importers, you can import
virtually any format supported by Premiere, in order to edit it in Codec Suite sequences.
The plug-in is specially optimized to handle MPEG-1/2, H.264/AVC, AVC-Intra and
DVCPRO video as well as MPEG, AAC, Dolby Digital, LPCM and AES-3 audio in various
container formats.
The demo version of MainConcept Codec Suite has an import limitation
of 30 seconds for files which include AC-3 and AAC audio, i.e. after this
period of time audio will be muted. After activating a Codec Suite PlugIn and/or the Dolby Digital Pro Add-On, please delete the Adobe
Premiere Pros "Media Cache Files" folders, so that audio is imported
anew. Otherwise, the 30 seconds audio limitation will still persist,
because Premiere imports and conforms audio only once for a file, and
will remember it even if you import the file in an other project again. If
you are experienced you may not need to delete the whole Media
Cache Files Folder, but you can select and delete the affected clips *.cfa
and *.pek files in there. This can even be processed when Premiere is
currently running and you discover a clip in your project which is still
muted. Minimize Premiere Pro, locate and delete the *.cfa and *.pek
files for this particular clip and bring Premiere Pro back to the front,
which will then immediately start conforming this clips audio again.

AVCHD and AVCCAM Import:

These formats are typically recorded on SD cards which have an FAT32 file system and
a file size limit of 4 GB. If a recording exceeds the 4 GB limit, it will be split into separate
files. However, these files can not be handled independently but must be stitched together
for seamless playback. Codec Suite 5 handles this automatically. Just make sure that the
AVCHD media folder structure stays intact. Copy it to your HDD in a whole. An attempt to
import split files that have been copied out of their AVCHD folder structure as one clip will
fail.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Using Codec Suite 5 page 21

XDCAM Import:
XDCAM HD, IMX and DVCAM footage must be copied to your harddisk prior to editing.
Install the necessary XDCAM FAM driver software and configure the device for 1394 FAM
connection. Once connected, the device will appear as an external drive on your computer and the clips can be copied to HDD easily.
Technically it is possible to import XDCAM clips directly from the disc in an XDCAM deck
connected via FAM. You can import and play back a single clip that way. However, the IO
is quite slow and will be overcharged by quick random access on different clips on the
media as it happens during non-linear editing. The device will take a long time to respond
and that will let your editing application behave like it is hanging infinite.

DV/DVCPRO Import:
MainConcept Codec Suite Broadcast is fully compliant with the following standards: DV
(IEC-61834), DVCPRO 25 and DVCPRO 50 (SMPTE 314M) as well as DVCPRO HD
(SMPTE 370M). The DVCPRO import module allows you to import DVCPRO video in
MXF OP-1a, MXF OP-Atom, AVI container or as DIF format (RAW).

P2 AVC-Intra and DVCPRO Import:

You can import P2 files by choosing the video MXF or one of the audio MXF's. If you want
to import a complete folder of P2 recordings, select the /VIDEO folder of the P2 structure.
Do not select /AUDIO or /CONTENTS as this will result in duplicate imports of the same
clips.
P2 AVC-Intra and DVCPRO compliant material in MXF container consists of a set of single files: one for the video stream, and one for each audio channel. Each channel will be
imported as a separate track.
Exporting multichannel clips directly from the Premiere Pro Browser
might cause audio problems in the exported file. For that reason, when
working with multichannel clips, please add them to the timeline, so that
you can mix the mono channels correctly regardless of the project
format. Then the clips audio is exported correctly.

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Importing of Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM EX and AVCHD Footage

When you connect your camcorder to the PC via USB, each media in the camcorder will
appear as an external disk drive on your desktop. Copy the complete folder structure from
each media into a separate subfolder on your harddisk. To avoid import problems do not
delete, move or rename files in these folder structures, except for tools from camera
vendors which are designed to organize your footage, such as Sony Clip Browser or the
Panasonic P2 Viewer and Content Management applications.

Editing

Edit your footage as usual while Codec Suite 5 works under the hood. It is
recommended that you use Codec Suite Sequence presets on CS5. Only then you will
get the benefits of smart rendering for MPEG-1/2, DVCPRO and AVC-Intra. Furthermore,
using presets that are based on Codec Suite editing modes will ensure best performance
since Codec Suite's player and its importers are designed for optimum cooperation.
In standard definition, many transitions and effects can be previewed in real-time
(depending on your systems capabilities), making it easy to experiment with different
ideas and instantly see the results of color correction and other adjustments. Once you
have rendered a preview, it will be in the same format as the Sequence preset, e.g on a
HDV 1080 60i sequence all previews will be rendered into that format. When you export

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the timeline to the same format later, smart rendering for MPEG-1/2, DVCPRO and AVCIntra ensures that neither unchanged footage nor the previews will be reencoded. Fast
export without any quality loss are the result.
The plug-in also features MainConcept Smart Requantizing, which converts material
from one MPEG format to another at the same resolution without re-encoding. For example, if you capture material at NTSC resolution from a MICROMV camcorder, you can edit
it and then export to lower bitrate NTSC DVD-compliant MPEG-2 without re-encoding.
This feature prevents unnecessary quality loss and wasted time.
High-definition editing requires lots of CPU power, high memory and IO bandwidth. Codec
Suite 5 does not offer any special acceleration for high-definition editing, because such
acceleration is usually achieved by converting material to another, intermediate, format.
Instead the goal of Codec Suite is to avoid transcoding whenever possible, in order to
obtain the highest quality. The demo version of Codec Suite 5 enables potential customers to evaluate the performance on their own systems.

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Exporting
Codec Suite 5 adds a powerful export render module to Premiere Pro which offers a variety of predefined default presets that cover most formats required by consumers and professionals in daily practice. In addition, it allows advanced users to create own custom
presets by modifying video, audio and multiplexing parameters. But the most powerful
features are its CUDA accelerated H.264/AVC encoding and MPEG-1/2, DVCPRO and
AVC-Intra smart rendering capabilities and MPEG-1/2 smart re-quantization which avoid
reencoding of a timeline's source footage and previews that match the export target format to speed up your workflow.
In Premiere Pro CS5 choose File > Export > Media
which will take you to the Adobe Export Settings dialog first.

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From the Format drop-down box, please select MainConcept Advanced Export. Leave
the Export Video and Export Audio options checked. Then choose the MainConcept
Export Settings tab and click Configure... which will take you to the Codec Suite
Exporter Settings dialog. The export can be started immediately by clicking Export or
within the Adobe Media Encoder later on. Press the Queue button to add a job to the
encoding queue. You may also change the settings of a queued export in the Adobe
Media Encoder at any time.

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The Codec Suite Export Settings offer two tabs: Default Profiles and Custom Profiles.

The Default Profiles window allows easy selection of frequently-used presets, and in
most cases these may be all the settings you need to change. They already offer highquality results. If you do need to access additional settings to optimize or finetune the
video and audio streams, click the Custom Profiles... tab. But we will explain these settings in more detail later on.

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Smart Rendering
Smart rendering can speed up your work flow dramatically. When you export to MPEG-1/
2, DVCPRO or AVC-Intra, the exporter checks the segments on the timeline and communicates with their importers to determine whether their video parameters match those of
the target format. If the format matches, those portions of a source clip that are not
changed by effects, transitions, etc. will be processed and transferred to the output without re-encoding and quality degradation in a very high speed. For MPEG-2 even if source
and target bitrate do not match, a special variant called smart requantization can take
effect. All this happens automatically under the hood, and you will only notice the high
speed.
There are no controls to force smart rendering. Instead you need to take care about
source and target formats. If you work with industry standard format footage and you
chose the matching project or sequence preset as well as export profile, you do not have
to care about it at all.
If you wish to suppress automatic smart rendering for some reason, check the No Smart
Rendering option. All footage on the timeline will then be reencoded.
For example if your footage is XDCAM HD 4:2:2 1080 60i, then choose the MainConcept
XDCAM HD 1080 60i CBR 50Mbps sequence preset for your timeline. This will ensure
that your effect and transition previews will be rendered into the same format and do not
need to be re-encoded again but can be smart rendered when you choose the same format as the export profile.
Smart Rendering will only work when a MainConcept Renderer is
selected under Project > Project Settings > Video Rendering and
Playback. Make sure to set this before you start editing a new project.
You can change the renderer at any time, but may be forced to delete
the already rendered previews. Under Premiere Pro 5.0 and 5.0.1 the
only MainConcept renderer available will be MainConcept Renderer
(Software). However, with the next Premiere Pro CS5 update a MainConcept Renderer (GPU accelerated) will become available which will
offer same render performance boosts as the GPU accelerated Mercury
Renderer, given that your system is equipped with a supported graphics
card.
The P2 DVCPRO and AVC-Intra formats are fixed and you will hardly meet any footage
that is not yet covered by the default presets. However, you might have to deal with
MPEG-2 material that is not yet covered by the sequence presets and default export presets. But even then you are not completely lost. You only need to gather as much information as possible about its video parameters to create matching custom preset. Refer to
the chapters Creating an Codec Suite Sequence and The Advanced Settings.
On the Custom Settings pane you will even find an Analyze... button. This feature
allows you to open an MPEG file and create best possible video export parameters that
match the source.

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Even if it is not possible to create a sequence preset with matching preview render settings, there is still a chance that at least the unchanged parts of the clips on the timeline
can be smart rendered. If you have to work on huge projects with such footage, it is worth
to experiment a bit before you start. If you were able to create matching preview render
and export settings that enable smart rendering, please do not forget to save them for
later use.
Under Premiere Pro you must check the option Use Previews in the
Adobe Export Settings dialog, in order to make sure that pre-rendered
previews of your timeline will be exported without new encoding and
smart rendering can take effect. Leave this option only unchecked if you
are sure that the preview render format is not of the same quality as the
target format.

The Default Profiles tab:

The Default Profiles pane under Type and Profile offers many presets for MPEG, H.264/
AVC, Panasonic P2 DVCPRO and AVC-Intra, various Sony XDCAM devices etc. In the
Type drop-down menu, you specify the more general format and codec type.

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In the Profile drop-down menu, you specify the exact preset, e.g. for H.264/AVC it offers
many presets for H.264, including Blu-ray Disc, AVC-HD, Apple iPod, Sony PSP etc.

Under Video Standard you decide whether you want the video to be exported in PAL or
NTSC.
On the right you find a summary of the most important export settings.

Below you find some general options for exporting a project:

If the Preserve Work Area Timecode option is checked, the timecode in the output
stream will begin with the value of the work area starting point on the timeline, rather than
with zero. This option is not available for any format.
As described earlier, the decision whether smart rendering will be performed or not happens automatically under the hood. However, you can disable it by enabling the No Smart
Rendering option.
When a P2 or XDCAM EX profile was specified as target format, an additional option
Force 4GB split on NTFS volume will be available. Normally, when exporting to an
NTFS formatted volume, the file size is only limited by the free space on that volume. If
you intend to copy the exported P2 or XDCAM EX footage onto a FAT32 formatted P2 or
SxS media later on, please check this option to get the output split into chunks that do not
exceed the 4GB file size limit on such media.
When one of the XDCAM EX export types or profiles is chosen, a checkbox Create
XDCAM media structure will appear. If this option is unchecked, only the audio/video
muxed file in MP4 container will be exported with the file name you have specified. Ticking

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this checkbox exports your project by generating the XDCAM EX compliant folder structure, including the non-realtime metadata files. The clip name is generated automatically
following the rules of the specifications. When you want to export your project to an
already existing XDCAM EX folder structure, please make sure to choose the root folder
above /BPAV as location. Codec Suite export will create new clip directories in there and
update the media information file MEDIAPRO.XML when finished.
When you export to an XDACM EX media (SxS card) which is FAT32, the files are automatically split into 4 GB portions when Create XDCAM media structure is enabled. So
the output will result in one or more separate clips. For technical reasons the metadata in
the TAKR directory that will combine these clips as a multi-clip will not be written. The
location for exporting to an SxS card must be the root of that volume. The output location
to any other existing XDCAM EX structure on harddisk must be the folder above /BPAV.
It is not recommended to export to an SxS card with the Create XDCAM
media structure option unchecked. If you do so anyway, please make
sure you direct the output of the *.MP4 file to the /BPAC/CLPR folder.

On the right you find four buttons which perform the following functions:
Save stores all settings for the export process, and brings you back to the Adobe
Premiere Pro Export Settings page.
Cancel enables you to close the window without accepting the current settings.
About shows some information about the current version of Codec Suite 5.
Help opens the Codec Suite 5 manual as PDF file.

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The Custom Profiles tab:

The Custom Profiles pane enables you to specify some more detailed settings for customizing and finetuning the output file.

The drop-down menu Video enables you to specify the video stream type. The available
options are MPEG, H.264, H.264 CUDA accelerated, DV/DVCPRO and None (no video
stream; audio-only export is currently not supported). Depending on the video stream
type you choose, you can open the advanced MPEG, H.264/AVC or DVCPRO settings by
clicking the Edit button. They will be described in more detail in the Appendix of this manual.

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The drop-down menu Audio enables you to specify the audio type. It offers the following
options: MPEG, PCM, AAC, Dolby Digital Professional and None (no audio
stream). Depending on the audio stream type you choose you can open advanced audio
settings by clicking the Edit button. They will be described in more detail in the Appendix
of this manual.

The drop-down menu Multiplex enables you to specify the multiplexer type. It offers the
following options: MPEG, MP4, MXF, AVI and None (no multiplexing). Clicking the Edit
button opens the advanced multiplexer settings windows. They will be described in more
detail in the Appendix of this manual.
The checkbox 2-pass encoding (VBR only) enables you to choose whether you want to
use 1-pass or 2-pass encoding for exporting your projects. When using 2-pass the
encoder analyzes the project during the first pass, and uses these information to optimize
the video during the second (encoding) pass. This will improve the quality but also take
about the double of time. 2-pass encoding is only available for MPEG-2 or H.264/AVC
VBR (Variable Bit Rate). It is not supported for CUDA accelerated H.264/AVC encoding.

Moreover, there are three buttons which perform the following functions:
Load Profile opens one of the predefined or a user-defined preset file which includes the
previously made export settings. You can search and select one of the profiles in the following window.
Analyze opens a file with MPEG-1/2 video content to create settings that match your
source footage, e.g. to enable smart rendering. This function will do its best to read the

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source streams parameters, but you may need to do some fine tuning in the advanced
settings dialogs.
Save Profile saves a user-defined preset which can be used for future projects.

Under Settings Summary you find some detailed information about the current export
settings.

After you have finished changing all parameters in the MainConcept Codec Suite 5
Export Settings dialog, you confirm them by clicking the Save button. Then you will be
led back to the Adobe Premiere Pro Export Settings window. Click the Export button
here, in order to start the actual encoding process or press Queue to send the job to the
Adobe Media Encoder.

We recommend to disable the Preview while Encoding option in the

Adobe Media Encoder Preferences. It costs extra CPU load and may
slow down the export, especially when using Smart Rendering.

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Appendix
The Advanced Video Encoder Settings
Using Codec Suite you can capture and work directly in MPEG and H.264 as well as
export your projects in the same format in Premiere Pro, too. To optimize your MPEG/
H.264 streams, the plug-in contains the advanced settings of the MainConcept MPEG
Encoder and H.264 Encoder. The advanced interface offers many settings which are
predominantly for professional users. The different panes enable you fine-tune your clips
by changing a lot of audio and video parameters.
You open the advanced settings by clicking the Edit... button behind the Video, Audio
and Multiplex drop-down menus in the Custom Profiles pane. Now you are able to optimize your MPEG and H.264 video and audio streams. However, some options are only
available when certain parameters are in effect.
The default settings in the main window generally offer the correct settings for high-quality results. We recommend that you only change the
advanced settings if you are familiar with them and have a specific
need to do so. Incorrect adjustments of these parameters can result in
non-compliant MPEG or H.264 files.

Before we explain the most important advanced settings in detail here some general
remarks before. As mentioned above we recommend that only experienced users should
modify these settings. It is possible to make changes to these settings such that the
resulting file is not compliant for the chosen format.

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The Advanced MPEG Encoder Settings

When you choose MPEG under Video and click the Edit... button, a new window appears
which offers three different panes: Basic Settings, Advanced Settings and Miscellaneous. In the following, we will describe the different options of the panes in more detail.

The Basic Settings Pane

In this window you can change the settings for Video Format and Bitrate. You can also
see the current Preset here.
Under Preset you see the current MPEG-2 profile that has been chosen in the export window of MainConcept Codec Suite.
Under Video Format MainConcept Codec Suite offers the
following options:
Resolution shows the current resolution that has been set
in the main window.
The checkbox Keep Aspect Ratio enables you to select
whether the aspect ratio should be kept or not.
Next to the checkbox you have a drop-down menu with different options:
Square Pels: Square resolution (used for PC monitors)
4:3: Standard format (TV)
16:9: Widescreen format (16:9 TV, cinema)
1:1: Aspect ratio
Progressive Sequence: If the checkbox is ticked, all frames in the video are progressive,
if set to 0 both progressive and interlaced frames can appear in the video. See ISO/IEC
13818-2 section 6.3.5 for more information. This option is only valid for MPEG-2.
The drop-down menu Picture Structure enables you to define whether MainConcept
MPEG Encoder should work in Frame coding (Progressive Frame) or Field coding
(Interlaced Frame) mode. In interlaced mode, the video footage is encoded field-based,
i.e. the whole picture is saved, but no fields or field information will be used. In progressive
mode the video is encoded frame-based, i.e. frames will be saved which include field
information. These will be used to combine the individual fields to one frame. Using this
method the temporal aspect of the fields is considered, i.e. whether the top field or the
bottom field is saved first.
The drop-down menu Field Order enables you to specify the adequate order of the fields:
Bottom Field First or Top Field First.

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Under Frame rate you specify the number of frames per second.
The parameters under Pulldown/Telecine convert 23.976 fps (frames per second) to
29.97 fps, or 24 fps to 30 fps, and it is supposed to be done only on progressive frame
video (like film). The movie studios slow their films from 24 fps to 23.987 and then encode
using pulldown to display at 29.97 fps. The video encoder manipulates the Top Field First
(tff) and Repeat First Field (rff) flags to convert 4 frames (8 fields) to 5 frames (10 fields)
like this:
(T = top field, B = bottom field)
frame 1: tff = 1, rff = 0 fields displayed: TB
frame 2: tff = 1, rff = 1 fields displayed: TBT
frame 3: tff = 0, rff = 0 fields displayed: BT
frame 4: tff = 0, rff = 1 fields displayed: BTB
So you get the sequence of fields: TB TBT BT BTB or grouped as frames: TB TB TB TB
TB. The above would be considered 2:3 pulldown as it is 2 fields, 3 fields, 2 fields etc.

3:2 is the reverse:

frame 1: tff = 1, rff = 1 fields displayed: TBT
frame 2: tff = 0, rff = 0 fields displayed: BT
frame 3: tff = 0, rff = 1 fields displayed: BTB
frame 4: tff = 1, rff = 0 fields displayed: TB
In this case you get the sequence of fields: TBT BT BTB TB or grouped as frames: TB TB
TB TB TB.
In most cases the MPEG Encoder adjusts the necessary settings automatically, so that
the Pulldown option remains disabled.

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The Bitrate section offers the options below:

Bitrate Mode: The drop-down menu Bitrate Mode offers
three options: Constant Bitrate (CBR) offers a fixed bitrate
(the relevant input prompt will be enabled if selected).
Choosing Variable Bitrate (VBR) option defines the maximum value of the bitrate range the encoder should stay
within while encoding. The average value is the desired
average bitrate of the video stream. The relevant input
prompts will be enabled if selected. Constant Quantizer
and Constant Quantizer (strict) are the last options. They
offers quantization parameters for the different frame types
(I, P and B). Using this function, the bitrate can vary without
any limitation in contrast to VBR and CBR mode. A lower
value for any frame quantization parameter will result in better quality.

When choosing VBR or CBR, the following options are available:

Under Target Bitrate (kbps) you define a fixed average bitrate for the encoding process.
The Maximum Bitrate (kbps) input prompt is only available in VBR mode. Here you
specify the maximum bitrate for the MPEG Encoder, it should not exceed.
When choosing one of the Constant Quantizer options, the following options can be set:
I Quant specifies the macroblock quantization value for I-frames to use in constant quantization variable bitrate mode.
P Quant specifies the macroblock quantization value for P-frames to use in constant
quantization variable bitrate mode.
B Quant specifies the macroblock quantization value for B-frames to use in constant
quantization variable bitrate mode.

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The Advanced Settings Pane

This pane offers professional settings which should not be changed if you are creating
MPEG streams for VCD, SVCD or DVD. These adjustments are designed for specific,
highly technical environments. It offers settings for GOP Structure, Picture Coding
Style, Motion Estimation and Quantization Matrices.
Under Profile you have five different options here: High Profile, Main Profile (standard
setting), Simple Profile, and 4:2:2 Profile.
Level lets you choose between High, High 1440, Main (standard setting), and Low
Level.
The MPEG-2 spec (specification) allows for a large number of variations in the settings,
e.g. the frame resolution can theoretically be as large as 214 x 214. The Profiles and Levels just set limits on what the values of some of the other settings can be; so if a specification (like the DVD spec) says only Main Profile/Main or Low Level is allowed, the
decoders can safely assume what the bounds of some settings are going to be. A DVD
player does not have to account for the resolution being 214 x 214 because the DVD spec
only allows a maximum of Main Profile/Main Level which only enables for a maximum
frame resolution of 720x576.

Under GOP Structure you can find the following options:

I frame distance (min/max): These frames are also called
Key Frames. All GOPs (Group of Pictures) start with an I
frame. I frames contain information for a complete picture,
and can be decoded independent of any other frame. I
frames are the largest (and least compressed) frames.
Using the spinboxes you define the minimum and maximum
distance between the I frames.
P frames distance: P frames are encoded using information from the previous I or P frame, and can only be decoded
correctly if the previous I / P frame is available. P frames are
smaller than I frames.
Closed GOP Interval: This value specifies how often the
GOPs should be closed and is only of importance if there
are B frames present in the GOPs. A value of 0 means do
not close any of the GOPs, a value of 1 means close every
GOP and a value of 2 means close every other GOP etc. If
a GOP is closed, it can be decoded by itself. If a GOP is not closed, the first few B frames
of the GOP will be dependent on the last P frame of the previous GOP and cannot be
decoded correctly without decoding the previous GOP first. When a GOP is closed, the
first few frames of a GOP are encoded so they only depend on the I frame in the GOP (the
previous GOP is not required). This can be useful for setting chapter points so a player

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can jump to these GOPs and can start decoding immediately without having to read the
previous GOP (or discarding the first few B frames).
Leading Bs: B frames are usually encoded using information from the previous I or P
frame and the next I or P frame. In this case, B frames can only be decoded correctly if the
previous and the next I / P frames are available. B frames are smaller than P frames. In
addition, B frames can be encoded using only information from the next I / P frame but
then they are larger than if they were encoded using both the previous and next frame
information.
As a general rule for practical settings: The GOP size (in frames) is specified with the I
frame setting and it must be a multiple of the P frame setting. When I frame is set to 1, all
frames in the video will be I frames. When I frame is larger than 1, it specifies the size of
the GOP, and the P frame setting specifies how often P frames occur in the GOP. If P
frame is set to 1, the video will consist of only I and P frames. If a P frame is larger than
1, B frames are placed between the P frames and the video will consist of I, P and B
frames. Larger GOPs will yield greater compression but will possibly cause a loss of quality. We recommend using the default settings.
Auto Gop Placement: This function always starts a new GOP when there is a scene
change, i.e. the encoder sets an I frame. If you choose None from the drop-down menu,
there will be no scene detection. The Fast option is a quick method of scene detection
where no VCSD happens. During the motion search the application checks, if a scene
change occurs, and - if yes - the P frame is encoded as an I frame. Then the encoder
starts a new GOP. VCSD is the abbreviation for Visual Content Scene Detection, which is
a better way of doing scene detection. At first, the VCSD is carried out, i.e. the analysis
of the frames, and then the GOP planning. It will yield a slightly slower encoding.

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The Picture Coding Style offers the following options:

Chroma Format: The option specifies whether to use the
4:2:0 or 4:2:2 (high profile only) chroma format for the
encoded video. See ISO/IEC 13818-2 section 6.3.5 for more
information. Only the 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 formats are supported.
This option is only valid for MPEG-2.
DC Precision: Specifies the effective precision of the DC
coefficients in intra-coded macroblocks. 10-bits usually
achieves quality saturation, 11-bits can be used if the
quantization is very low (the bitrate is quite high compared to
the frame size/rate). See ISO/IEC 13818-2 section 6.3.10
for more information. This option is only valid for MPEG-2.
Prediction/DCT: Set to 1 to have the motion estimation and
DCT (Discrete Cosine Transformation) computations done
on both fields of a frame in the same pass, set to 0 to have
them done on each field independently. Normally this should
be 0 for interlaced frames and 1 for progressive frames.
Setting this field to 1 will result in slight faster encoding but will yield less quality in
interlaced frames. This setting can be specified independently for each frame type (I, B
and P). See ISO/IEC 13818-2 section 6.3.10 for more information. This option is only valid
for MPEG-2.
Quantization Scale: Specifies which mapping to use between the encoded quantization
scale factor and the quantizer scale applied in the inverse quantization arithmetic. Set to
0 to specify a linear mapping or 1 to specify a non-linear mapping. This setting can be
specified independently for each frame type (I, B and P). See ISO/IEC 13818-2 section
6.3.10 for more information. This option is only valid for MPEG-2.
VLC Format: VLC is the acronym for Variable Length Coding. This option specifies one
of two MPEG defined variable length coding tables used for intra coded blocks. Table 1 is
considered to be statistically optimized for Intra coded pictures coded within the sweet
spot range (e.g. 0.3 to 0.6 bit/pixel) of MPEG-2. Normally set to 1 for MPEG-2 video, this
setting can be specified independently for each frame type (I, B and P). See ISO/IEC
13818-2 section 6.3.10 for more information. This option is only valid for MPEG-2.
Scanning Order: Specify one of two entropy scanning patterns which define the order in
which quantized DCT coefficients are run-length coded. Set to 1 for the alternate
scanning pattern or 0 for the zig-zag scanning pattern. The alternate scanning pattern is
considered to be better suited for interlaced video where sophisticated forward
quantization is not enabled. This setting can be specified independently for each frame
type (I, B and P). See ISO/IEC 13818-2 section 6.3.10 for more information. This option is
only valid for MPEG-2.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 41

Under Motion Estimation you can find the options below:

When ticking the checkbox Auto adjust the encoder automatically sets the best Motion Estimation parameters for the
output stream.
When Sub Pixel Mode is activated, the Motion Search
operation also looks for pixels that move only 1/2 of a pixel
from one frame to the next (a subpixel search). This should
usually be enabled and should only be disabled if speed is
desired above quality.
The Search Mode defines which method is used to search
for pixel movement in the video stream. A higher value
specifies a better method and will normally yield better quality. The practical range is 3 to 11.
Search Range specifies the motion vector range.
Noise Sensitivity specifies how sensitive the video
encoder is to noise in the source video; it does not reduce the noise in the source video
at all. It sets a motion search threshold at which point the encoder will stop the search for
matching blocks of pixels from one frame to another. Higher values mean low sensitivity
(faster search times, less quality), while lower values mean higher sensitivity (longer
search times, better quality). Typically this option is set in the 1 ... 14 range as follows:
1 ... 5 - Computer animation, VCD from DV-Source, after a line-filter or noise reducing filter (virtually no noise in the source video)
3 ... 7 - Digital video, DV-quality, Hi8-quality etc.
5 ... 14 - Analog captured video, Video 8, Hi8, broadcast TV
The setting is strictly based on the state of the source video; it has nothing to do with the
type of output (DVD, SVCD or VCD).
If you are only concerned with quality (at the expense of speed), you should set the value
to 1 all the time, as this would yield the best results (but for noisy video it would slow the
encoder quite a bit without any quality benefit).
Basically what the setting does, is set a level in the encoder at which point the encoder will
give up trying to match a pixel between two frames.
If the source video is noisy and the setting is set to a low value, the encoder will spend
more time trying to match pixels from frame to frame, and (in the case of noise) it may not
find a match at all, so excessive time is spent trying to find a match when there is none.
If the source video has no noise at all, and the setting is set to a very high value, the
encoder may give up to soon and not match some pixels from frame to frame (wasting
bits).

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 42

Under Quantization Matrices you can modify the quantization matrices for export:
Each 8x8 block of pixels in the image is run through a DCT
(Discrete Cosine Transformation) function which yields an
8x8 block of DCT coefficients. These coefficients are
arranged in the 8x8 array with the lower frequencies in the
upper left corner of the array and the higher frequencies in
the lower right corner. The numbers of these 8x8 blocks are
the results of mathematical functions performed by the
encoder to represent the video in a smaller number of bits.
The quantization matrices determine the divider used by the
quantization function for each DCT coefficient. Lower numbers mean the coefficient will be quantized less (better quality, closer to the original DCT value but more bits are
needed), while higher numbers mean the coefficients are
quantized more (lower quality but less bits are needed). The
default intra matrix values are biased towards the low frequency coefficients; they are represented better while the
high frequency coefficients are not represented as well. The
numbers on the top left handle the low frequency regions, and the numbers on the bottom
right handle the high frequency regions. The human eye is less sensitive to the high frequencies, so that region can be compressed to a higher degree; this is why the values are
higher there. If the whole matrix consists of 1, there would be virtually no compression at
all (but a very large number of bits). If you set all numbers of the matrix to 255, you will
obtain a very bad picture because it has been compressed to such a degree that it will
lead to a significant loss of quality.
When you activate the checkbox you can click the arrow buttons in order to choose
whether you want adjust the parameters for Matrix for Intra Block, Matrix for Inter
Block, Matrix for Chroma Intra Block or Matrix for Chroma Inter Block. In the following window you can change these settings.
These values must be in the range 16 ... 256, with the exception that the first entry in the
intra block matrix must be 8. Intra blocks are macroblocks coded using only information
from the current picture (I frames), non-intra blocks are macroblocks coded using information from the current picture and other pictures (B and P frames). If the bitrate is high
you should not change the parameters. Ultimately, these values depend on the source
material. If the bitrate is low you can change the parameters to get better results.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 43

The Miscellaneous Pane

This pane offers additional settings for the Input Format as well as the Stream Structure.
Under Input Format you can modify some options for the
input stream:
Ticking the Specify Incoming Field Order checkbox
enables you to define the correct order of the input streams
fields: Bot Field First or Top Field First.
Ticking the checkbox Invert Incoming Color Range will
invert the color range of the incoming stream.

Under Stream Structure you can enable/disable several

options for the output streams structure:
Write SMPTE 328M Timecode places SMPTE 328M user
data in the elementary stream that contains the timecode
information. These information are predominantly necessary for XDCAM streams.
Write Picture Display Extension specifies whether picture
display extensions are written in the video stream. This field
does not affect the encoding process.
Write Sequence Display Extension specifies whether a
sequence display extension is written in every GOP. It
seems some players have problems playing SVCDs that
have the extensions present, so this flag is present to turn the extensions off if needed.
Write Sequence Header every GOP specifies whether to write a sequence header every
GOP or just one at the beginning of the stream. Ticking the checkbox, puts a sequence
header before every GOP. If it is not set, a sequence header is only put at the beginning
of the stream. Please note that VCD, SVCD and DVD should have this option turned on.
Write Sequence End Code specifies whether the encoder writes a sequence end code
at the end of the stream.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 44

The Advanced H.264/AVC Encoder Settings

When you choose H.264 under Video and click the Edit... button, a new window appears
which offers three different panes: Basic Settings, and Advanced Settings. In the following, we will describe the different options of the panes in more detail.

The Basic Settings pane

In this dialog you specify different basic video settings for Video Format, and Bitrate.
The drop-down menu Video Preset shows the current encoding preset for H.264/AVC.
There are a few differences between the options we like to explain to you briefly. Using
H.264 Baseline the encoder does not use B-slices. For the Baseline profile only progressive and for coding mode only CAVLC are available. The H.264 Main profile enables you
to use B-slices and CABAC as coding mode, too. You can choose interlaced or progressive here. In general, this profile offers better encoding properties.
Under Video Format you find the following options:
The spin boxes under Resolution are disabled here,
because you can specify the desired resolution in a previous
dialog.
The checkbox Keep Aspect Ratio you can only change in
the previous dialog, too. For that reason, it is disabled here.
The drop-down menu next to it enables you to change the
aspect ratio of the clip.
The Frame Rate drop-down menu is disabled again,
because you can define the appropriate frame rate in one of
the earlier dialogs.
Pixel aspect ratio allows you to choose one of the predefined parameters here. When you select Custom here,
you have the opportunity to specify a free value using the
corresponding spinboxes that are now available.
The drop-down menu Picture Structure enables you to
define whether MainConcept H.264/AVC should work in Frame coding (Progressive) or
Field coding (Interlaced) mode. In Interlaced mode, the video footage is encoded fieldbased, i.e. the whole picture is saved, but no fields or field information will be used. In Progressive mode the video is encoded frame-based, i.e. frames will be saved which include
field information. These will be used to combine the individual fields to one frame. Using
this method the temporal aspect of the fields is considered, i.e. whether the top field or the
bottom field is saved first. The third option is Adaptive (MBAFF). MBAFF is the acronym
for MacroBlock Adaptive Frame/Field coding. Using this option, the encoder in each case
writes two fields as one frame in the stream, i.e. it uses interlaced frame coding.
Field Order specifies the field order of the video. The available options are Top Field
First, and Bottom Field First.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 45

The parameters under Pulldown convert 23.976 fps (frames per second) to 29.97 fps, or
24 fps to 30 fps, and it is supposed to be done only on progressive frame video (like film).
The movie studios slow their films from 24 fps to 23.987 and then encode using pulldown
to display at 29.97 fps. The video encoder manipulates the Top Field First (tff) and Repeat
First Field (rff) flags to convert 4 frames (8 fields) to 5 frames (10 fields) like this:
(T = top field, B = bottom field)
frame 1: tff = 1, rff = 0 fields displayed: TB
frame 2: tff = 1, rff = 1 fields displayed: TBT
frame 3: tff = 0, rff = 0 fields displayed: BT
frame 4: tff = 0, rff = 1 fields displayed: BTB
So you get the sequence of fields: TB TBT BT BTB or grouped as frames: TB TB TB TB
TB. The above would be considered 2:3 pulldown as it is 2 fields, 3 fields, 2 fields etc.

3:2 is the reverse:

frame 1: tff = 1, rff = 1 fields displayed: TBT
frame 2: tff = 0, rff = 0 fields displayed: BT
frame 3: tff = 0, rff = 1 fields displayed: BTB
frame 4: tff = 1, rff = 0 fields displayed: TB
In this case you get the sequence of fields: TBT BT BTB TB or grouped as frames: TB TB
TB TB TB.
In most cases the H.264/AVC Encoder adjusts the necessary settings automatically, so
that the Pulldown option remains disabled.

The drop-down menu chroma format allows you to specify the chrominance sampling.
Available parameters are 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4. The latter is currently not supported.
Bit-depth Luma specifies the bit depth of the encoded luminance samples. Available values are 8 bits and 10 bits. The 10 bits value is only available for High 10 profile and
higher.
Bit-depth Chroma specifies the bit depth of the encoded chrominance samples. Available values are 8 bits and 10 bits. The 10 bits value is only available for High 10 profile
and higher.
In the black field of the dialog, the H.264 Encoder shows possible errors which might be
caused by wrong settings, because some parameters are not allowed in a specific combination.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 46

The Bitrate area offers the following options:

The drop-down menu Bitrate Mode offers four options:
Constant Bitrate offers a fixed bitrate (the relevant input
prompt will be enabled if selected). Choosing Variable
Bitrate option defines the maximum value of the bitrate
range the encoder should stay within while encoding. The
average value is the desired average bitrate of the video
stream. The relevant input prompts will be enabled if
selected. Const. Quality - Constant Quantization is the
third option. It offers quantization parameters for the different slice types (I, P and B). Using this function, the bitrate
can vary without any limitation in contrast to VBR and CBR
mode. A lower value for any slice quantization parameter
will result in better quality. The value range is between 1 and
52. The last option is Const. Quality - Average Quantization. It is similar to the previous option, but the encoder will
use an average quantizer instead of a constant one.
Under Target Bitrate (bps) you define a fixed average
bitrate for the encoding process (in bits per second). The
Main profile offers a higher quality here. It is only available
for Variable Bitrate.
The Max Bitrate (bps) input prompt is only available in VBR mode (in bits per second).
Here you specify the maximum bitrate for the encoder, it should not exceed.
Under Buffers you have different options on how to specify the corresponding values:
Under Units you see three checkboxes that specify how the different buffer values should
be calculated and displayed. Depending on the option they can be set in bytes, percent,
bits, etc.
Bitrate buffer specifies the size of the virtual buffer verifier in bytes or bits. This value
should be adjusted to bitrate (Constant Bitrate) or to maximum bitrate (Variable Bitrate), to
avoid DTS/PTS underflows during muxing.
VBV buffer initial specifies the initial state of the HRD buffer in percent, bits or 90 kHz
clock.
VBV buffer target specifies the target state of the HRD buffer in percent, bits or 90 kHz
clock.
The checkbox HRD conformance controls applying HRD conformance in the encoder. In
most cases it is recommended to disable this parameter whenever possible. However,
some video formats may require HRD conformance, such as Blu-ray, Sony PSP, Apple
iPod, etc. For general or custom presets, it is always disabled.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 47

Depending on the Bitrate Mode, the following settings can differ:

Maximum I-frame size defines a value which limits the maximum number of frame bits
for each I-frame.
Maximum P-frame size defines a value which limits the maximum number of frame bits
for each P-frame.
Maximum B-frame size defines a value which limits the maximum number of frame bits
for each B-frame.
Maximum Br-frame size defines a value which limits the maximum number of frame bits
for each B-frame used as reference.
Quantizer I-frames specifies the macroblock quantization value for I-slices, that are used
in constant quality/quantization mode. The value range is 0 - 51.
Quantizer P-frames specifies the macroblock quantization value for P-slices, that are
used in constant quality/quantization mode. The value range is 0 - 51.
Quantizer B-frames specifies the macroblock quantization value for B-slices, that are
used in constant quality/quantization mode. The value range is 0 - 51.
Maximum Quantizer defines the maximum quantization parameter that should be used.
The value range is 0 - 51.
Mainimum Quantizer defines the minimum quantization parameter that should be used.
The value range is 0 - 51.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 48

The Advanced Settings Pane

The Advanced Settings pane offers settings for adjusting the Profile and Level. Moreover, you find several options for the GOP Structure, Motion Estimation, Rate Distortion and a section for Miscellaneous options here.

The drop-down menu Profile enables you to change the H.264 profile if necessary. The
available options are Baseline, Main and High.
The parameters under Level define the limits for the settings. A higher level results in
more available settings. The H.264 spec (specification) allows for a large number of variations in the settings, e.g. the frame resolution can theoretically be as large as 214 x 214.
The Profile and Level just set limits on what the values of some of the other settings can
be.
Under GOP Structure you find several checkboxes:
Ticking the checkbox Enable scene detection activates the
visual content scene detection (vcsd) that can be used for
getting better quality on scene changes.

The I-frame settings sections offers several options:

I-frame interval specifies the number of frames between Iframes or the number of frames in a GOP. If this value is 1
only I-frames are generated.
Min. I-frame distance specifies the minimum GOP length,
i.e. the difference to the previous I-frame.
Mark every n-th I-frame as IDR allows you to mark every nth I-picture as IDR.
The Fixed I-frame distance means that there is always an Iframe at the multiple of a GOP length. So e.g. when the
GOP length is 30, you can set an I-frame at a scene cut this
way.

The B-frame settings sections offers several options:

Allow adaptive B-frame placement allows the user to specify even B-slices as reference.
Allow pyramidal structure for B-frames allows the usage of pyramid B-pictures coding.
For example when encoding 3 B-frames, such as IbBbP, B will be encoded before b, and
B will be used as reference for both b pictures.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 49

Number of B-frames specifies the number of B-frames between consecutive I- and Pframes.
When the B-frames as reference frames checkbox is enabled you can specify in what
intervals a reference frame appears (P-frames). Under Baseline there are no B-frames.

Under Motion Estimation you find the following options:

Under Macroblock search block size you specify the
search mode for the macroblocks. In these areas the
encoder predicts inter-coded macroblocks in P-slices. The
inter-prediction creates a prediction model from previously
encoded frames. It can be combination of the following
flags: 8x8 and 16x16.
The drop-down menu Subpixel search depth enables you
to choose the subpixel motion search depth. Full means
that only the full pixel position will be examined. When
choosing Half, only half-pixels positions will be added to the
search. Quarter means that both half and quarter pixel positions will be added.
Using the spinbox Reference Frames you specify the maximum number of reference frames you want to search for, in
order to encode a picture. The value range is 1 .. 128.
Motion vector search range specifies the motion vector
range from a spatial point of view.
Weighted Prediction for P-frames can be used supplementary to motion compensation
and reference picture selection for prediction of the current picture content. When
Weighted Prediction in P-slices is utilized, customized weights can be applied as scaling
and offset to the motion-compensated prediction parameter before its usage as a predictor for the current picture samples. It can be very useful for fading scenes. You can enable
the option with On or turn it off by setting it to Off.
Enable Fast multi-reference frame search offers a heuristic search mode which is significantly quicker, but can result in a loss of quality. Disabling the checkbox offers a greedy
search mode. It is slower, but can result in better quality.
Enable Fast sub-block search offers a heuristic search mode which is significantly
quicker, but can result in a loss of quality. If it is disabled a greedy search mode is used.
It is slower, but can result in better quality.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 50

Under Rate Distortion you find the following options:

The checkbox Fast Intra Decisions allows the encoder to
use fast intra coding decision metrics, in order to speed up
the encoding process. This option can slightly decrease picture quality, but will result in a significant speed improvement.
The checkbox Fast Inter Decisions allows encoder to use
fast inter coding decision metrics, in order to speed up the
encoding process. This result can be a decrease in picture
quality, but at the same time it leads to some speed improvement.
The Simplified RD Optimization checkbox allows you to
enable the optimization for rate distortion. The rate distortion
specifies the trade-off between quality and bitrate. If the
checkbox is enabled is a heuristic rate distortion optimization mode is used which is significantly quicker, but can
result in a loss of quality. If it is disabled a greedy optimization mode is used. It is slower, but can result in better quality.
The Hadamard transformation option enables and disables the Hadamard Transformation. This is an optimized
cosine transformation. Activating the option, the clip will be
encoded in better quality, and it will have a smaller file size.
Under Adaptive quantization you find several sliders:
When using Brightness based macroblock-adaptive quantization the macroblock quantization scale depends on the average brightness level. 0 means that the option is not
used. Positive values denote coarser quantization for macroblocks with brightness higher
than the average value for the current picture.
When using Contrast based macroblock-adaptive quantization the macroblock quantization scale depends on the contrast level. 0 means that the option is not used. Positive values denote coarser quantization for macroblocks with contrast higher than the average
value for the current picture.
When using Complexity based macroblock-adaptive quantization the macroblock quantization scale depends on the complexity level. 0 means that the option is not used. Positive values denote coarser quantization for macroblocks with complexity higher than the
average value for the current picture.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 51

Under Miscellaneous you find the following options:

The Deblocking Filter option enables you turn on and off
the deblocking filter for smoothing video frames. Ticking the
option enables the deblocking filter.
Entropy coding mode allows you specify this mode. The
CABAC option is only available for the Main and High profile. CABAC is the abbreviation of Context-Based Adaptive
Binary Arithmetic Coding. Using this option only binary decisions are encoded. A non-binary item is binarized or converted into binary code. When CABAC is disabled the
encoder automatically switches to CAVLC (Context-Adaptive Variable Length Coding). In general, we recommend to
use the CABAC option, if it is available. Although it is slower,
it offers a higher compression and much better quality than
CAVLC.
Threads specifies the number of threads to be used during encoding. Auto mode will
automatically find the optimum number of threads, 1 means single threaded encoding,
more threads will use more CPUs/cores.
Slices per picture specifies the number of slices that should be used per picture.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 52

The Advanced CUDA H.264/AVC Encoder Settings

The advanced windows for the CUDA H.264/AVC encoder are similar to the normal
H.264/AVC settings, but they offer less features: Basic Settings, and Advanced Settings. Some options are only available when certain parameters are in effect.

The Basic Settings pane

In this dialog you specify different basic video settings for Video Format, and Bitrate.
The drop-down menu CUDA Device allows you choosing the desired Nvidia graphics
board that should be used for GPU based hardware accelerated H.264/AVC transcoding.
This can be useful if you have more than one Nvidia board with CUDA support installed
on your system.
Under Video Format you find the following options:
The spin boxes under Resolution are disabled here,
because you can specify the desired resolution in a previous
dialog.
The checkbox Keep Aspect Ratio you can only change in
the previous dialog, too. For that reason, it is disabled here.
The drop-down menu next to it enables you to change the
aspect ratio of the clip.
The Frame Rate drop-down menu is disabled again,
because you can define the appropriate frame rate in one of
the earlier dialogs.
Pixel aspect ratio allows you to choose one of the predefined parameters here. When you select Custom here,
you have the opportunity to specify a free value using the
corresponding spinboxes that are now available.
The drop-down menu Picture Structure enables you to
define whether transcoder should work in Frame coding (Progressive) or Field coding
(Interlaced) mode. In Interlaced mode, the video footage is encoded field-based, i.e. the
whole picture is saved, but no fields or field information will be used. In Progressive mode
the video is encoded frame-based, i.e. frames will be saved which include field information. These will be used to combine the individual fields to one frame. Using this method
the temporal aspect of the fields is considered, i.e. whether the top field or the bottom field
is saved first. The third option is MBAFF. MBAFF is the acronym for MacroBlock Adaptive
Frame/Field coding. Using this option, the encoder in each case writes two fields as one
frame in the stream, i.e. it uses interlaced frame coding.
Field Order specifies the field order of the video. The available options are Top Field
First, and Bottom Field First.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 53

The parameters under Pulldown convert 23.976 fps (frames per second) to 29.97 fps, or
24 fps to 30 fps, and it is supposed to be done only on progressive frame video (like film).
The movie studios slow their films from 24 fps to 23.987 and then encode using pulldown
to display at 29.97 fps. The video encoder manipulates the Top Field First (tff) and Repeat
First Field (rff) flags to convert 4 frames (8 fields) to 5 frames (10 fields) like this:
(T = top field, B = bottom field)
frame 1: tff = 1, rff = 0 fields displayed: TB
frame 2: tff = 1, rff = 1 fields displayed: TBT
frame 3: tff = 0, rff = 0 fields displayed: BT
frame 4: tff = 0, rff = 1 fields displayed: BTB
So you get the sequence of fields: TB TBT BT BTB or grouped as frames: TB TB TB TB
TB. The above would be considered 2:3 pulldown as it is 2 fields, 3 fields, 2 fields etc.

3:2 is the reverse:

frame 1: tff = 1, rff = 1 fields displayed: TBT
frame 2: tff = 0, rff = 0 fields displayed: BT
frame 3: tff = 0, rff = 1 fields displayed: BTB
frame 4: tff = 1, rff = 0 fields displayed: TB
In this case you get the sequence of fields: TBT BT BTB TB or grouped as frames: TB TB
TB TB TB.
In most cases the H.264/AVC Encoder adjusts the necessary settings automatically, so
that the Pulldown option remains disabled.

The drop-down menu Chroma Format allows you to specify the chrominance sampling.
Available parameters are 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4. The latter is currently not supported.
Bit-depth Luma specifies the bit depth of the encoded luminance samples. Available values are 8 bits and 10 bits. The 10 bits value is only available for High 10 profile and
higher.
Bit-depth Chroma specifies the bit depth of the encoded chrominance samples. Available values are 8 bits and 10 bits. The 10 bits value is only available for High 10 profile
and higher.
In the black field of the dialog, the encoder shows possible errors which might be caused
by wrong settings, because some parameters are not allowed in a specific combination.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 54

The Bitrate area offers the following options:

The drop-down menu Bitrate Mode offers two options:
Choosing Variable Bitrate option defines the maximum
value of the bitrate range the encoder should stay within
while encoding. The average value is the desired average
bitrate of the video stream. The relevant input prompts will
be enabled if selected. Const. Quality - Constant Quantization is the third option. It offers quantization parameters
for the different slice types (I, P and B). Using this function,
the bitrate can vary without any limitation in contrast to VBR
and CBR mode. A lower value for any slice quantization
parameter will result in better quality. The value range is
between 1 and 52.
Under Target Bitrate (bps) you define a fixed average
bitrate for the encoding process (in bits per second). The
Main profile offers a higher quality here. It is only available
for Variable Bitrate.

Depending on the Bitrate Mode, the following settings can differ:

Maximum I-frame size defines a value which limits the maximum number of frame bits
for each I-frame.
Maximum P-frame size defines a value which limits the maximum number of frame bits
for each P-frame.
Maximum B-frame size defines a value which limits the maximum number of frame bits
for each B-frame.
Maximum Br-frame size defines a value which limits the maximum number of frame bits
for each B-frame used as reference.
Quantizer I-frames specifies the macroblock quantization value for I-slices, that are used
in constant quality/quantization mode. The value range is 0 - 51.
Quantizer P-frames specifies the macroblock quantization value for P-slices, that are
used in constant quality/quantization mode. The value range is 0 - 51.
Quantizer B-frames specifies the macroblock quantization value for B-slices, that are
used in constant quality/quantization mode. The value range is 0 - 51.
Maximum Quantizer defines the maximum quantization parameter that should be used.
The value range is 0 - 51.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 55

Minimum Quantizer defines the minimum quantization parameter that should be used.
The value range is 0 - 51.

The Advanced Settings Pane

The Advanced Settings pane offers settings for adjusting the Profile and Level. Moreover, you find several options for the GOP Structure, Motion Estimation, Rate Distortion and a section for Miscellaneous options here.

The drop-down menu Profile enables you to change the H.264 profile if necessary. The
available options are Baseline, and Main.
The parameters under Level define the limits for the settings. A higher level results in
more available settings. The H.264 spec (specification) allows for a large number of variations in the settings, e.g. the frame resolution can theoretically be as large as 214 x 214.
The Profile and Level just set limits on what the values of some of the other settings can
be.
Under GOP Structure you find several checkboxes:
Ticking the checkbox Enable scene detection activates the
visual content scene detection (vcsd) that can be used for
getting better quality on scene changes.

The I-frame settings sections offers several options:

I-frame interval specifies the number of frames between Iframes or the number of frames in a GOP. If this value is 1
only I-frames are generated.
Min. I-frame distance specifies the minimum GOP length,
i.e. the difference to the previous I-frame.
Mark every n-th I-frame as IDR allows you to mark every nth I-picture as IDR.
The Fixed I-frame distance means that there is always an
I-frame at the multiple of a GOP length. So e.g. when the
GOP length is 30, you can set an I-frame at a scene cut this
way.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 56

The B-frame settings sections offers several options:

Allow adaptive B-frame placement allows the user to specify even B-slices as reference.
Allow pyramidal structure for B-frames allows the usage of pyramid B-pictures coding.
For example when encoding 3 B-frames, such as IbBbP, B will be encoded before b, and
B will be used as reference for both b pictures.
Number of B-frames specifies the number of B-frames between consecutive I- and Pframes.
When the B-frames as reference frames checkbox is enabled you can specify in what
intervals a reference frame appears (P-frames). Under Baseline there are no B-frames.

Under Motion Estimation you find the following options:

Under Macroblock search block size you specify the
search mode for the macroblocks. In these areas the
encoder predicts inter-coded macroblocks in P-slices. The
inter-prediction creates a prediction model from previously
encoded frames. It can be combination of the following
flags: 8x8 and 16x16.
The drop-down menu Subpixel search depth enables you
to choose the subpixel motion search depth. Full means
that only the full pixel position will be examined. When
choosing Half, only half-pixels positions will be added to the
search. Quarter means that both half and quarter pixel positions will be added.
Using the spinbox Reference Frames you specify the maximum number of reference frames you want to search for, in
order to encode a picture. The value range is 1 .. 128.
Motion vector search range specifies the motion vector range from a spatial point of
view.
Weighted Prediction for P-frames can be used supplementary to motion compensation
and reference picture selection for prediction of the current picture content. When
Weighted Prediction in P-slices is utilized, customized weights can be applied as scaling
and offset to the motion-compensated prediction parameter before its usage as a predictor for the current picture samples. It can be very useful for fading scenes. You can enable
the option with On or turn it off by setting it to Off.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 57

Enable Fast multi-reference frame search offers a heuristic search mode which is significantly quicker, but can result in a loss of quality. Disabling the checkbox offers a greedy
search mode. It is slower, but can result in better quality.
Enable Fast sub-block search offers a heuristic search mode which is significantly
quicker, but can result in a loss of quality. If it is disabled a greedy search mode is used.
It is slower, but can result in better quality.

Under Miscellaneous you find the following options:

The Deblocking Filter option enables you turn on and off
the deblocking filter for smoothing video frames. Ticking the
option enables the deblocking filter.
Entropy coding mode allows you specify this mode. The
CABAC option is only available for the Main and High profile. CABAC is the abbreviation of Context-Based Adaptive
Binary Arithmetic Coding. Using this option only binary decisions are encoded. A non-binary item is binarized or converted into binary code. When CABAC is disabled the
encoder automatically switches to CAVLC (Context-Adaptive Variable Length Coding). In general, we recommend to
use the CABAC option, if it is available. Although it is slower,
it offers a higher compression and much better quality than
CAVLC.
Threads specifies the number of threads to be used during encoding. Auto mode will
automatically find the optimum number of threads, 1 means single threaded encoding,
more threads will use more CPUs/cores.
Slices per picture specifies the number of slices that should be used per picture.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 58

The Advanced DVCPRO Encoder Settings

When you choose DV/DVCPRO under Video and click the Edit... button, a new window
appears with several settings for DV, DVCPRO 25, 50 and 100. In the following, we will
describe the different options of the panes in more detail.
In this dialog you specify different video settings for Format, Mode etc.

Under Format you select the desired DV or DVCPRO format, you want to use for export.
DV is the normal format for consumer video and DVCAM. The other formats are
DVCPRO 25, 50, and 100 (720p and 1080i).
16:9 widescreen enables you to export the clip with a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio. If the
checkbox is enabled, the output will be 16:9.
Mode offers different interlaced and progressive modes for the output file. It even
includes formats with 2:2, 2:3 and advanced (2:3:3:2) pulldown as well as native frame
rates from 720p.
720p DVCPRO is based on 50/60 fps/sec. If you want to export 24 fps,
25 fps or 30 fps you have to choose between pulldown modes and
native modes. With pulldown the resulting bitrate remains 100 Mbps,
because a lot of frames will be repeated. In contrast, native modes do
not repeat frames. So the bitrate is reduced significantly which helps to
save storage space. If you do not plan to play back the rendered footage to a tape later, we recommend to use native modes. However,
please note that 720p in native modes will not carry audio in the DIF
stream. Please consider this if you intend to export to raw DIF stream
rather than MXF or AVI.
Check the Drop frame timecode option for 29.97p or 59.94i modes if the drop-frame
timecode shall be written into the DIF stream. The default setting is non drop-frame timecode.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 59

The Advanced Audio Encoder Settings

As already mentioned before, you have three different audio types which can be selected
in the drop-down menu under Audio: MPEG, PCM, AAC and Dolby Digital Professional. Each type offers different advanced settings, which can be opened by clicking the
Edit... button.

The MPEG Audio Encoder Settings

This dialog offers professional adjustments for MPEG audio export.
Set private bit: Just a spare bit in the audio headers,
which is user defined. DVD specifies it shall be 0.
Set copyright bit: Specifies whether the audio is copyrighted or not, this setting is completely arbitrary; it has
no effect whatsoever.
Set original bit: Specifies whether the audio is a copy
or an original, this setting is completely arbitrary; it has
no effect whatsoever.
Enable CRC: Specifies whether a CRC is embedded in each audio frame, both SVCD
and DVD specify enabled.

Psycho-acoustic model:
Two different models (1 and 2) specified by MPEG to compute the "just noticeable noiselevel".

Layer:
MPEG-1 Layer 1: Normally not used
MPEG-1 Layer 2: Used for VCD, SVCD and PAL DVD
NTSC DVDs use LPCM (Linear PCM) audio or Dolby Digital as the standard audio type
instead of MPEG Layer2. LPCM is an uncompressed audio format, which offers higher
quality but it also uses far more of the total bitrate (consequently less bitrate is available
for the video stream). PCM is only used for MPEG-2 type streams, and is seldom used for
PAL DVDs.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 60

De-Emphasis:
Under De-Emphasis you find three options: None, 50/15 uS and ccitt. j 17. This is a flag
to the player specifying what kind of de-emphasis to perform on the audio. DVD and
SVCD specify None, VCD can be either None or 50/15 uS.

Sampling rate:
The option enables you to specify the desired frequency for the output file.

Mode:
Stereo: Standard stereo
Joint Stereo: This option can convert the sound to mono in the lower frequency range
(which can hardly be perceived by the human ear). This results in an enhancement of the
stereo quality in the median and higher frequency ranges. The setting is useful if the audio
bitrate is below 200 Kbps.
Dual Channel: In this case both audio channels are output separately as mono channels;
it is normally used for two-channel sound. The compression of the channels takes place
separately.
Single Channel: Another expression for mono audio.

Bitrate (Kbps):
32-384: This specifies the bitrate of the audio stream. Depending on the MPEG type
selected, some values may not be available. Increasing the bitrate will yield better sound
quality and result in larger files, or if the total bitrate is limited it will mean less of the total
bitrate is available for the video.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 61

The PCM Audio Encoder Settings

This window offers professional adjustments for PCM audio export.
Mute flag: Flag to the player whether to mute or not
when all samples in an audio frame are zero.
Emphasis (48 KHz only): Flag to the player whether
emphasis is to be applied to all audio samples from the
start of the audio stream.
Dynamic range control: The option is a recommended gain value which can be applied to all audio samples decoded from the first
access unit. Ticking the checkbox enables the Dynamic range control. The setting does
not affect the encoding of the audio at all. It is simply a value decoders may use when
playing the audio.
Gain (dB): The Gain value (X and Y) is a recommended gain value to be applied to all
audio samples by the player, where: Gain = 24.082 - 6.0206 * X - 0.2007 * Y.
Quantization defines the bits per sample. It offers three options: 16 bit, 20 bit and 24 bit.
Right now, only 16 bit and 24-bit are available.
The Sampling rate option enables you to specify the desired frequency for the output file.
Mode lets you choose between Stereo or Mono in PCM conversion mode.
The drop-down menu Type enables you to specify the PCM type. PCM is the normal PCM
format. AES-3 (SMPTE 302M) is also a PCM format that is used for MPEG transport
streams only. For XDCAM IMX MXF you have to select AES-3 (SMPTE 311M) as default
audio type. You must choose AES-3 (SMPTE 382M) when you want to mux to any other
MXF format. The number in brackets defines the SMPTE spec. AES is the abbreviation
for Audio Engineering Society. The last parameter is LPCM BDMV (BD/AVCHD) that
allows you to generate Blu-ray Discs or AVCHD streams with LPCM audio that are compliant with the corresponding devices.
Under Channel Mode you specify the number of output channels. Available options are
Mono, Stereo, 4 Mono, 6 Mono and 5.1. Not all channel modes are available for every
PCM type. 4 Mono and 6 Mono are available only for AES-3 311M and AES-3 382M, and
can be used for multichannel export to MXF formats. 5.1 mode will become available for
LPCM HDMV to create PCM surround sound for Blu-ray or AVCHD compliant videos.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 62

Since Premiere Pro only supports Mono, Stereo or 5.1 audio mastering
you have to use a timeline sequence with a 5.1 master if you intend to
export 4 or 6 channels MXF. Please make sure to specify this when you
choose a sequence preset. On the New Sequence dialog first choose
the desired default preset, then switch to the Tracks tab and change
the Master if this preset does not already has 5.1 master set. During
editing you then have to assign the mono tracks of your MXF source
clips to the 5.1 channels in the Audio Mixer. Refer to the Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 manual on how to use the 5.1 Panner. When exporting
your sequence, the 5.1 channels will be assigned to the mono channels
in an MXF files as follows:
Front Left Channel 1
Front Right Channel 2
Rear Left Channel 3
Rear Right Channel 4
Center Channel 5
LFE Channel 6

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 63

The AAC Encoder Settings

This dialog offers professional adjustments for AAC audio export.
The demo version of Codec Suite 5 has an AAC audio limitation of 30
days, i.e. the audio conversion and decoding process stops after this
period of time.

Version allows you to set the output format: MPEG-4 (ISO/IEC 14496-3) or MPEG-2
(ISO/IEC 13818-7).
Using the Header function you can specify the header type you want to use for encoding.
The available options are RAW, ADTS (Audio Data Transport Stream) or LATM/LOAS.
Under Bitrate Mode you specify whether MainConcept
Codec Suite 5 should use constant or variable bitrate
mode. Moreover, you can define the target quality level
for the variable bitrate mode by selecting the adequate
parameter.
The drop-down Bitrate (kbps) enables you to set the
appropriate constant audio bitrate. Default value is
160000.
The Sampling Rate option enables you to specify the
desired frequency for the output file.
Mode lets you choose between Stereo or Mono in AAC mode.
The High frequency cut-off checkboxes and input prompt define the cut-off frequency
value in Hertz. The Default option specifies the default value for given sampling
frequency. When you choose Not used, the cut-off frequency is not used and all
frequencies are kept. The Custom option enables you to remove all frequencies above
the specified frequency.
Under Quantization you specify the number of bits per one PCM sample. 16 bit provides
two bytes per sample, and 24 bit offers three bytes per sample.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 64

The Dolby Digital Professional Audio Encoder Settings

This pane offers many settings for Dolby Digital Professional export. It is the sound for
Blu-rays and DVDs worldwide, found in DVD as well as Blu-ray players, broadcasted
HDTV channels, IPTV solutions, etc. The AC-3 standard is based on the ATSC A52 Revision B specification.
The demo version of Codec Suite 5 has a Dolby Digital audio limitation
of 30 seconds, i.e. audio is muted after this period of time.

One the left side of the Dolby Digital Professional Audio Encoder Advanced Settings
dialog you find the Main Settings.

Restore defaults for allows you to restore the default settings for some formats if this is
possible for the current preset.
Sample rate enables you to specify the adequate sample rate.
Output channel configuration specifies the number of channels and how they are distributed.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 65

Bitrate (bps) defines the bitrate that should be used for encoding (in bits per second).
Bitstream mode specifies the audio service embedded in the bitstream.
Dialog normalization specifies the dialog normalization. It allows you keep a constant
volume in the center speaker throughout a complete movie, so you can also rise or lower
the audio level.
Ticking the checkbox Extended bitstream parameters enables some of the advanced
bitstream options in the Bitstream info and Mixing tabs.

On the right side of the Dolby Digital Professional Audio Encoder window, you see three
different tabs: Preprocessing, Bitstream info and Mixing.
The Preprocessing tab offers the following options:
Under Input filtering you find several checkboxes that perform the following functions:
Digital deemphasis decreases the higher frequencies to
improve the overall signal-to-noise ratio
DC filter applies a DC-blocking 3 Hz highpass to the input
channels.
Bandwidth filter provides low frequency signals, but
reduces the signals with higher frequencies than the cutoff
frequency.
LFE lowpass filter applies a 120 Hz eight-order lowpass filter to the LFE input channels. This option is only available
when the LFE (subwoofer) channel is enabled.

Under Surround channel processing you find checkboxes

that perform the following functions:
90 degree phase shift specifies if a 90 degree phase shift is applied to the surround
channels.
3 db attenuation specifies if a 3 dB attenuation is applied to the surround channels.

Under Dynamic range compression you find two drop-down menus:

Line mode compression allows you to choose the appropriate line mode dynamic range
compression profile.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 66

Rf mode compression allows you to choose the appropriate RF compression profile. In

this case high-level and low-level compression is not allowed.

The Bitstream info tab offers the following options:

Under Audio production information you find several
options:
A/D converter (analog-to-digital converter) provides audio
that has gone through a specific A/D conversion. Standard
simply uses the default conversion. HDCD (High-Definition
Compatible Digital) improves the audio quality of standard
CDs.
The Mixing level/Room type checkbox enables the corresponding options.
Mixing level specifies the audio production mixing level. It
controls the peak Sound Pressure Level (SPL) that is used
during the mixing process.
Room type specifies the audio production room type. It controls the equalization that is applied during the final stage of
mixing. Large defines a dubbing stage with standard Xcurve equalization. Small room offers a flat equalization.
Not indicated does not care about the Room Type.

Under Metadata you find several options:

The drop-down menu Dolby Headphone mode to enable and disable this mode for special headphones supporting this feature. Not indicated does not care about this mode.
The checkbox Original material specifies whether the audio material is original or a copy.
The checkbox Copyright material specifies whether the audio material is copyright protected or not.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 67

The Mixing tab offers the following options:

Under Levels you find several options that perform the following functions:
Center mix level (Lt/Rt) specifies Lt/Rt center mix level.
Center mix level (Lo/Ro) specifies Lo/Ro center mix level.
Surround mix level (Lt/Rt) specifies Lt/Rt surround mix
level.
Surround mix level (Lo/Ro) specifies Lo/Ro surround mix
level.

Under Metadata you find several options that perform the

following functions:
The drop-down menu Dolby Surround mode indicates to a
Dolby Pro Logic decoder whether or not the stereo encoded
bitstream includes a Dolby Surround (Lt/Rt) program that
requires Pro Logic decoding. Disabled includes information
which will not be encoded in Dolby Surround. Enabled contains data which was encoded
in Dolby Surround. The bitstream can be decoded using Dolby Pro Logic. Not indicated
does not care about the Dolby Surround mode.
The drop-down menu Dolby Surround EX specifies whether audio should be encoded in
Surround EX (Enabled) or not (Disabled). The option can only be used when the audio
has two surround channels. Not indicated does not care about Dolby Surround EX.
The drop-down menu Preferred downmix specifies whether the encoder should apply a
Lt/Rt or Lo/Ro downmix to the output stream. This is very useful for 5.1-channel
soundtracks to play in Lo/Ro mode. None means that no downmix should be performed.
Lt/Rt performs a Lt/Rt downmix, and Lo/Ro performs a Lo/Ro downmix.

The demo version of MainConcept Codec Suite 5 has an Dolby Digital

Professional audio encoding limitation of 30 seconds, i.e. the audio
conversion process stops after this period of time.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 68

The Advanced Multiplexer Settings

You reach the advanced multiplexer settings by choosing MPEG, MXF, AVI or MP4 under
Multiplex in the Custom Profiles pane, and then clicking the Edit... button. There are no
advanced settings for AVI (DVCPRO). In these dialog you can control if your exported
files will be multiplexed (also referred to as muxed). Multiplexed output means that the
video and audio are exported in a single file (except DVCPRO MXF, please see the notes
in the MXF Multiplexer Settings for details).

The MPEG Multiplexer Settings

In this pane you can control whether your exported MPEG files will be multiplexed (also
referred to as muxed). Multiplexed output means that the video and audio are exported
in a single file. This pane also offers some more professional settings for muxing. It is
divided in several sections: General Options, Delay Options, Pack Options and Video
Options. In general, the basic settings for this pane and the other advanced panes are
set by the options in the Output format section of the main window.
Under Preset you find the appropriate multiplexing file format for your transcoding aim.
The drop-down menu offers the options MPEG-1, VCD, MPEG-2, SVCD, DVD, TS (transport stream), Cable Labs, None and many more parameters, such as HDV HD1, HDV
HD2, DVB (which can also be used for transport streams), and MircoMV. The settings
are usually defined by the parameters of the MPEG Encoder.
The General Options section offer these settings:
VBR muxing: This option sets the muxing mode to variable
or constant bitrate. If it is turned off (constant bitrate), the
output data stream will contain padding packets (if needed)
to maintain the constant bitrate. In variable bitrate muxing no
padding packets are added.
Align Sequence Headers: When enabled, the sequence
headers present in the video stream are placed at the beginning of a PES packet, this makes it easier to find the
sequence headers and the start of a GOP. When a
sequence header is aligned, it is possible that the previous
video PES packet will need to be padded to make it the correct size, so this option can consume a little of the total
bitrate. This option is required for SVCD and DVD.
Write Program End Code: When enabled, sequence and program end codes are written
to the old file when switching to a new file. If the files are meant to be played one after
another, the streams should not be terminated. This option only applies to the files that
are split; it does not apply to the last (or only) file generated.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 69

Pad VCD Audio: Some VCD burning programs require this flag to be set and some do
not. VCD video packs are 2324 bytes long, but the audio packs are only 2304 bytes long.
When the data is written to a VCD disk, the audio packs are put in normal 2324 byte sectors. Some VCD burning programs deal with the extra 20 bytes themselves, while others
require the extra 20 bytes to be present. When this setting is enabled, the audio packs are
padded with 20 zero bytes so they are 2324 bytes long, if not enabled the audio packs are
only 2304 bytes long. This setting is only meaningful for VCD.
Add SVCD scan offset: SVCD defines some navigation information that is put into the
video stream to help players jump back and forth or skip ahead easily. The info is called
scan offsets, this option is normally required for SVCD. This option also consumes a little
of the video bitrate. It will be ignored if the user mux rate is set higher than allowed for
SVCD.

The Delay Options section offer the following settings:

The Sector Delay (ms) value specifies the starting timecode of the muxed stream (this can be different than the
starting timecode of the video stream). It is the starting SCR
(= System Clock Reference) in ms of the program stream.
The Video Delay (ms) and Audio Delay (ms) delays are
respective to the Sector Delay.
For example, if you set the Sector Delay to 500 ms, and the
Video Delay as well as the Audio Delay to 300 ms, the first
SCR of the stream would be 500 ms, and the first video and
audio PTS (= Presentation Timestamps) would be 800 ms.
If you make the Sector Delay five seconds (5000 ms) and
the Audio/Video delays 400 ms the first SCR would be
5000 ms and the first audio/video PTS would be 5400 ms.
The Video and Audio delays actually specify the starting time of the respective stream
(relative to the pack delay). If these settings do not match, the streams will start at different times. Normally they are the same, but say you have a video stream and an audio
stream where you know the audio actually starts 500 ms after the video, you would set the
video delay to some value and set the Audio Delay to Video Delay + 500, this would then
synchronize the two streams when played.
For example, if you specify the Sector Delay as 0 ms (the normal case), the Video Delay
as 200 ms and the Audio Delay as 300 ms, the first SCR will be 0, the first video PTS
would be 200 ms and the first audio PTS would be 300 ms. This would shift the audio/
video synchronization, so the audio is 100 ms behind the video.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 70

The Pack Options section offer the following settings:

Under this heading you find the options Sector Size (bytes)
and Packets per pack. Sector size is the number of bytes
in each pack (or sector); VCD and SVCD use 2324 bytes,
DVD uses 2048 and general MPEG-1/2 can use up to 4096
bytes (4096 is our limit, not MPEG's limit). The muxed bitstream is broken up into these 'packs' with a pack header
starting each one and they contain 1 or more PES (= Program Elementary Stream) packets (chunks of video or audio
stream). The Packets per pack setting specifies the number of PES packets that are placed in each pack. VCD,
SVCD and DVD always want 1 PES packet per pack.
The Mux Rate (kbps) is the total bitrate, i.e. video bitrate
plus audio bitrate plus muxing overhead bitrate. This option
specifies the bitrate of the multiplexed program stream.
Extra packets (per sec) defines how many 0 packets are added to the Transport Stream.

The Video Options section offer the following settings:

Timestamps: You find All frames, Only I and P and Only I
in this menu. Here you can choose which frames in the
stream have a timestamp attached. The timestamps are
needed for synchronization of video and audio. In general, it
is enough to set this option to I Frame. For particular formats
the values are clearly defined.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 71

The MP4 Multiplexer Settings

When you choose a preset, such as Sony PSP or Apple iPod and AAC for export, you can
choose MP4 file format under Multiplex. Clicking the Edit... button opens the MP4 Multiplexer Settings dialog, which offers the following options:
Under Compatibility you specify the device or standard, for which the encoder shall produce MP4 compliant streams. Standard generates the normal MP4 file
format. Ticking the checkbox Sony Playstation lets
you produce MP4 streams, which are compliant with
the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP). iPod generates
streams which can be played back on the latest Apple
iPod generation. Additional settings, are QuickTime
7.1 that guarantees Apple QuickTime compatibility,
and Sony XDCAM HD EX, which allows you to create
files for the new Sony XDCAM EX camcorder generation. They generate files with MPEG-2 HD video and
LPCM audio muxed into an MP4 container.
Under Audio/Video interleave you find a spinbox which enables you to specify how
many audio/video frames are written one after the other. It the option set to 3, so the field
on the right displays: VVVAAAVVVAAA... etc. (Video, Video, Video, Audio, Audio, Audio
etc.).
The Title option is only available for the Sony PSP preset. It enables you to define a name
for the encoded clip, which is displayed on your Sony PlayStation Portable later on.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 72

The MXF Multiplexer Settings

When you choose an MPEG-2, AVC-Intra or DVCPRO format which allows MXF multiplexing, you can select in this dialog, which preset the plug-in should use.
Please note that in 2008 Sony has changed the specification for
XDCAM MXF files in order to make it SMPTE compliant. From April
2008 onwards, all XDCAM hardware shall get a firmware update and all
XDCAM supporting software is expected to support the changes soon.
The MainConcept MXF Multiplexer will create streams that match this
new specification by default. However, if there is hardware or software
within your workflow that cannot yet handle the new format, you need to
configure Codec Suite for old style XDCAM HD files output: Please
select an XDCAM preset, then switch to the 'Custom Profiles' page,
open the MXF multiplexer settings and tick the 'Maintain XDCAM
Spec. v1.1 Compatibility' checkbox. Once you have executed an
export, this setting remains persistent for all other XDCAM HD exports
and for any other project until you disable the checkbox again. The Settings Summary will keep you informed which mode is currently active.

The Profile drop-down menu specifies whether you

want to use the Op1a, Op-Atom, XDCAM DV
(DVCAM), XDCAM HD (MPEG), XDCAM IMX
(MPEG), the P2 DVCPRO or P2 AVC-Intra (H.264/
AVC) MXF format for your project. The three XDCAM
profiles are intended for the Sony XDCAM HD camcorders and decks portfolio. The two P2 profiles are
intended for the Panasonic hardware generation supporting DVCPRO and AVC-Intra. OP-1a and OP-Atom
are widely supported by other professional editing software and server solutions and are the preferred container formats for a maker neutral media exchange.
Please note that currently only MPEG-2 and DVCPRO are supported
for multiplexing these generic MXF formats. The audio format for any of
them is PCM AES-3 382.

Under Audio Tracks you specify whether your MXF file you want to create should include
One Track per Channel or Multiple Channels in one Track. While multiple channels in
one track is fixed for XDCAM IMX, and one track per channels fixed for other XDCAM formats and P2, you are free to choose for generic OP-1a and OP-Atom format.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 73

FAQs
Q: I have evaluated Codec Suite 5, bought a license for the Professional version,
entered the license key in the MainConcept Codec Suite Toolbox and the demo logos
in the imported and exported footage have disappeared. But when I edit e.g. XDCAM EX
footage there is still a logo in the imported clips.
A: Since the Professional version does not include support for XDCAM EX the Codec
Suite XDCAM Importer will remain in demo mode. In order to let Premiere Pro's own
XDCAM EX import take over, open the Toolbox, go the Importer Control tab and
uncheck the XDCAM Importer.
Please read also the Chapter 'The Codec Suite Toolbox' Importer Control to get some
more information about the specific reasons for that.

Q: In the chapter Adjusting Playback Settings you mention a test to find out whether I
need the Force full color range option enabled for my graphics board. How do I perform
such test?
A: The test is easy and will take only a few minutes. Create a sequence which is based on
an Codec Suite preset that matches the source material that is available on your side, e.g.
HDV or AVCHD. Frame size, aspect ratio and frame rate must be equal, so that Premiere
Pro does not need to scale or tweak it otherwise. Now import a clip of that format and
place it on video track 1. It shall not get the red render bar. Frames from this track will
appear at the graphics hardware as YUV. Then place the same clip above on video track
2, and put an effect or title on it (Video Effects >Video >Timecode). Frames of track 2
will have to pass Premiere Pros Effect Render Engine and arrive as RGB at the player.
Now compare the displayed image of both tracks in the Sequence Player by switching
video track 2 off and on. If track 2 (RGB) appears with more contrast and color depth than
track 1 (YUV), you need to enable Force full color range in the player settings. After that
the images of both tracks should look equal.
On the other hand, if Force full color range is enabled and track 1 looks darker than
track 2, your hardware does not need that tweak and you should switch that option off.
The setting will stay persistent per user account, and you will only have to repeat the test
after a hardware change or a major upgrade of Premiere Pro and Codec Suite 5.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 74

Q: When I export MPEG, DVCPRO or AVC-Intra footage to the same format it runs quite
fast, so I assume Smart Rendering is happening. However I see that the CPU load is quite
low. Would it work even faster if the Exporter would use all my CPU power?
A: No. Smart Rendering does not need much CPU cycles and its performance is limited
by the IO bandwidth only. To get the best performance, use separate hard disks for source
footage and as export target device.

Q: Why is Smart Rendering of HDV 1080 slower? On my system the fastest I can get is
about realtime, while when I export to XDCAM EX 25 Mbit, which has same video stream
parameters, it runs at three times realtime.
A: HDV-2 (1080) has specific requirements regarding GOP structures, which cannot be
achieved in the fastest Smart Render mode our encoder currently offers. It uses a slower,
more complex mode, which ensures that the output stays fully HDV-2 compliant and can
be recorded back to tape without any problems.
An alternative is to use XDCAM EX 25 Mbit or XDCAM HD 25 Mbit profiles for export. The
video stream parameters are compliant to the ones for HDV-2, meaning fast Smart Rendering from HDV-2 to one of these formats is possible as well. This can be done when you
have licensed the Codec Suite Broadcast Plug-In.

Q: When I export from HD to SD, to a different frame rate, or even within same frame size
and frame rate but with lot of effects and transitions, I observe that my multi-core CPU is
not fully loaded during the encoding.
A: In all these cases the Premiere Pro render engine has to perform intensive processing
on the video frames, and the encoder is often waiting for the render engines output. If
your system is equipped with a graphics card that is supported by Premiere's GPU accelerated Mercury render engine, make sure the MainConcept Renderer (GPU accelerated)* or the GPU accelerated Mercury renderer is selected under Project > Project
Settings > Video Rendering and Playback. Rendering of several effects as well as scaling will be performed in the GPU then with high speed and even lower CPU load when
you export directly from the Premiere Export Dialog. Please note that exports from
Adobe Media Encoder will not benefit from GPU accelerated rendering.
*not available under Premiere Pro 5.0 and 5.0.1.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 75

Performance & Stability Notes

Current recommended Nvidia Display Driver version for CUDA accelerated H.264/AVC
export is 197.90. Version 258.49 may cause instability and temporary system locks when
the CUDA accelerated H.264/AVC encoder and the GPU accelerated effect render
engine are active at the same time. Later versions have not yet been fully tested.
Video-editing is a very resource intensive task, which will drive your computers CPU, IO
and memory to its limits, especially when you work with HD footage. To get the best performance and maintain stability, please consider the following recommendations, which
not only apply to work with Codec Suite 5, but to Premiere Pro in general.
1. Choose a healthy system with good hardware. Make sure you have installed as much
memory as your system allows and your operating system version can handle. Use separate fast disks for storing footage and as export target location. Do not expect performance wonders on a laptop computer. Even if the CPU power and memory equipment
are better than the minimum requirements of Premiere Pro, the IO on laptop computers is
usually much slower than on desktop systems.
2. When you import footage, do not import hundreds of clips in a rush. Import 10 by 10 by
by 10.., and always wait until the audio conforming for all clips has been finished. Do not
edit or perform other tasks on your computer while audio conforming is running. Save
your project before you import the next bunch of clips. Be patient, especially when you
import very long XDCAM clips. The multichannel audio of such clips requires that each
channel is conformed separately. Conforming can only be as fast as your systems IO.
Copy a 50 GB file to your HDD and see yourself how long it will take. Then you will understand how long it will take Premiere to conform 8 audio channels of a 50 GB XDCAM HD
clip. Leave your computer alone during such tasks and relax a bit.
3. On the Sequences Timelines open Set Display Style and choose Show Name Only
unless you instantly need the thumbnails. In huge projects, their creation and the display
update during timeline scrubbing cost a lot of extra CPU cycles.
4. Save your project often. Closing and reopening the project from time to time is a recommended way to continue with a refreshed memory management under Premiere Pro
CS3. If you often run into memory problems with huge projects, split them into separate
projects and merge their output later.

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Appendix page 76

Technical Support
MainConcept Technical Support
If you want more information about MainConcept Codec Suite 5, visit our website at
www.mainconcept.com. Visit the Support section for a variety of resources.
If you need additional assistance, the MainConcept Technical Support team is standing
by to help. Send an e-mail to [email protected], and well assist you as quickly
as possible.
Thank you for choosing MainConcept Codec Suite 5!

MainConcept Codec Suite 5 - Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Technical Support page 77