Sequence presets and settings

Available Presets are groups of sequence settings. Premiere Pro comes with several categories of sequence settings presets installed: AVCHD, AVC-I, DV-24p, DV-NTSC (North American standard), DV-PAL (European standard), DVCPRO50, DVCPROHD, HDV, Mobile & Devices, XDCAM EX, and XDCAM HD. These contain the correct settings for the most typical sequence types. The AVC-I, DVCPRO50 and DVCPROHD categories of sequence settings presets are for editing AVC-I or DVCPRO material recorded to MXF files using a Panasonic P2 video camera. For DV25 material recorded in Panasonic P2 format, use a preset for DV-NTSC or DV-PAL, depending on the television standard of the footage.

For more information about international television standards, see the video tutorial, lynda.com Digital Video Principals - Video standards.

The settings on the General tab of the New Sequence dialog box control the fundamental characteristics of the sequence.

Choose General settings that conform to the specifications for the type of output intended for your project. For example, if your target output is DV NTSC, use the DV NTSC editing mode. Changing these settings arbitrarily often results in a loss of quality.

Editing Mode

Determines the following:

• the video format used for preview files and playback,

• the timebases available,

• the compression methods which appear in the Video Settings panel,

• the display formats available.

Choose an Editing Mode option that best matches the specifications of your target format, preview display, or capture card.

The editing mode does not determine the format of your final movie. You specify output settings when you export.

The Desktop editing mode allows you to customize all of the other sequence settings.

DV video and audio use standardized settings that are specified automatically when you select either DV editing mode. When you use a DV editing mode, avoid changing the Timebase, Frame Size, Pixel Aspect Ratio, Fields, and Sample Rate settings.

Note: (Windows only) To access the Uncompressed UYVY 422 8-Bit codec or the V210 10-bit YUV codec, select Desktop for the Editing Mode.

Timebase

Specifies the time divisions Premiere Pro uses to calculate the time position of each edit. In general, choose 24 for editing motion-picture film, 25 for editing PAL (European standard) and SECAM video, and 29.97 for editing NTSC (North American standard) video. Do not confuse timebase with the frame rate of the video you play back or export from sequences, although timebase and frame rate are often set to the same value. The options listed for Timebase vary according to the editing mode you select.

Playback Settings

For information about Playback Settings, see Preview on a television monitor via camcorder or deck.

Frame Size

Specifies the dimensions, in pixels, for frames when you play back sequences. In most cases, match the frame size for your project to the frame size of your source files. Don’t change the frame size to compensate for slow playback. Instead, adjust playback resolution by choosing a different quality setting from the Project panel menu, or adjust the frame size of final output by changing export settings.

Pixel Aspect Ratio

Sets the aspect ratio for individual pixels. Choose Square Pixels for analog video, scanned images, and computer-generated graphics, or choose the format used by your source. If you use a pixel aspect ratio that is different from the pixel aspect ratio of your video, the video often plays back and gets rendered with distortion.

Fields

Specifies the field order, or which field of each frame is drawn first. If you work with progressive-scan video, select No Fields (Progressive Scan). Many capture cards capture fields regardless of whether the source footage was shot with progressive scan. (See Interlaced video, noninterlaced video, and progressive scanning)

Display Format (Video)

Premiere Pro can display any of several formats of timecode. You can display the project timecode in a film format, for example, if you are editing footage captured from film. You can display timecode in simple frame numbers if your assets came from an animation program. Changing the Display Format option does not alter the frame rate of clips or sequences—it changes only how their timecodes are displayed. The time display options correspond to standards for editing video and motion-picture film. For Frames and Feet + Frames timecodes, you can change the starting frame number to match the time-counting method of another editing system you use.

The options made visible in the Display Format field depend on the Editing Mode selected. You can choose from the following Display Format options, depending on which editing mode is selected:

30 fps Drop-Frame Timecode

Reports time in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, separating units with semicolons. Drop-frame timecode assumes a rate of 30 frames per second (fps), but skips some numbers by design. To accommodate the NTSC actual frame rate of 29.97 fps drop-frame timecode skips, or drops, two frame numbers (not the actual frames of video) each minute except every tenth minute. Use for output to NTSC videotape.

30 fps drop-frame timecode as indicated by semicolons

30 fps Non Drop-Frame Timecode

Reports time in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, separating units with colons. It assumes a rate of 30 fps and does not drop frame numbers. Use for output to computer displays via the web or CD-ROM.

30 fps non drop-frame timecode as indicated by colons

24 fps Timecode

Reports time in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames; separating units with colons. Use for 24p footage and to output to 24-fps formats for film and DVD distribution.

24 fps timecode showing “23” as highest possible number of frames before next second

25 fps Timecode

Reports time in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, separating units with colons. Use for output to PAL videotape.

25 fps timecode showing “24” as highest possible number of frames before next second

Feet + Frames 16mm

Reports time in feet and frames, assuming the frame rate of 16mm film: 40 frames per foot. Use for output to 16mm film.

Feet + frames 16mm timecode showing “39” as highest possible number of frames before next foot

Feet + Frames 35mm

Reports time in feet and frames, assuming the frame rate of 35mm film: 16 frames per foot. Use for output to 35mm film.

Feet + frames 35mm timecode showing “15” as highest possible number of frames before next foot

Frames

Reports time solely in a running count of frames. Does not assign measurements of either time or spatial length. Use to output sequential stills such as those generated for an animation or DPX film editor.

Frames timecode simply numbers each frame in sequential order.

Note: When working with NTSC video assets, use 30 fps drop-frame timecode. This format conforms with the timecode base inherent in NTSC video footage and displays its duration most accurately.

Sample Rate (Audio)

In general, higher rates provide better audio quality when you play back audio in sequences, but they require more disk space and processing. Resampling, or setting a different rate from the original audio, also requires additional processing time and affects the quality. Try to record audio at a high-quality sample rate, and capture audio at the rate at which it was recorded.

Display Format (Audio)

Specifies whether audio time display is measured using audio samples or milliseconds. Display Format applies when Show Audio Time Units is selected in the Source Monitor or Program Monitor menu. (By default, time is displayed in frames, but it can be displayed in audio units for sample-level precision when you are editing audio.)

Video Previews settings

Video Previews settings determine the file format, compressor, and color depth Premiere Pro uses for preview files and playback of clips and sequences.

Preview File Format

Select a file format that gives the best quality previews while keeping rendering time and file size within tolerances acceptable for your system. For certain editing modes, only one file format is available.

Codec

Specifies the codec used for creating preview files for the sequence.

(Windows only) The Uncompressed UYVY 422 8bit codec and the V210 10-bit YUV codec match the specifications for SD-SDI and HD-SDI video respectively. Select one of them if you intend to monitor or output to one of these formats. To access either of these formats, first choose the Desktop Editing Mode.

Note: If you use a clip without applying effects or changing frame or time characteristics, Adobe Premiere Pro uses the original codec of the clip for playback. If you make changes that require recalculation of each frame, Adobe Premiere Pro applies the codec that you choose here.

Maximum Bit Depth

Maximizes the color bit depth, up to 32 bpc, to include in video played back in sequences. This setting is often not available if the selected compressor provides only one option for bit depth. You can also specify an 8-bit (256-color) palette when preparing a sequence for 8 bpc color playback, such as when using the Desktop editing mode for the web or for some presentation software. If your project contains high-bit-depth assets generated by programs such as Adobe Photoshop, or by high-definition camcorders, select Maximum Bit Depth. Premiere Pro then uses of all the color information in those assets when processing effects or generating preview files.

Maximum Render Quality

Maintains sharp detail when scaling from large formats to smaller formats, or from high-definition to standard-definition formats. Maximum Render Quality maximizes the quality of motion in rendered clips and sequences. Selecting this option often renders moving assets more sharply.

At maximum quality, rendering takes more time, and uses more RAM than at the default normal quality. Select this option only on systems with sufficient RAM. The Maximum Render Quality option is not recommended for systems with the minimum required RAM.

Maximum Render Quality often makes highly compressed image formats, or those containing compression artifacts, look worse because of sharpening.

Note: For best results with Maximum Render Quality, select Memory from the Optimize Rendering For menu in preferences. For more information, see Optimize rendering for available memory.

Save Preset

Opens the Save Settings dialog box, where you can name, describe, and save your sequence settings.

Save and name your sequence settings even if you plan to use them in only one project. Saving settings creates a backup copy of the settings to which you can revert in case someone accidentally alters the current sequence settings.

Controls the number of video tracks and the number and type of audio tracks for new sequences you create.

Master

Sets the default channel type for the Master track in new sequences to Mono, Stereo, or 5.1 surround.