Transcoding Video Files - Adobe Media Encoder or ??

[MandicReally]

So I just finished my first project shot entirely in ProRes with my new Atomos Ninja Inferno.  I am so happy with the purchase and the editing process was so much smoother than my standard H.264 workflow is.  

Now that the project is done it is time to backup my footage.  I save EVERYTHING from my projects so I can pull up the footage for future video use or make changes down the line.  That said, this project was a little over 350GBs of data (4k shot in ProResLT).  So I decided to Transcode the entire project to H.264 for archiving.  If and when I go to use the footage in the future I can live without having the FULL video quality at my disposal.  It will still be better than clipping out sections of an exported YouTube video down the road.  

For this first run I used Adobe Media Encoder to do my transcoding.  Is there another program that may do this job better and/or more efficiently?  Handbrake, VLC or something like that?  I haven't had much luck using those for transcoding formats that Premiere didn't recognize but that is very likely my fault in settings.

[Origami Cactus]

Handbrake is good.

 

The problem i have with media encoder is lower cpu usage than handbrake, meaning longer times.

 

But in my experience The media encoder is much easier to automate.  I created a watch folder, and when i drag all my files into that folder, it automatically encodes them to set preset every time, i dont need to do anything.

[MandicReally]

2 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

Handbrake is good.

 

The problem i have with media encoder is lower cpu usage than handbrake, meaning longer times.

 

But in my experience The media encoder is much easier to automate.  I created a watch folder, and when i drag all my files into that folder, it automatically encodes them to set preset every time, i dont need to do anything.

That was my thought.  AME was easy to do but didn't seem to be utilizing my CPU enough.

AND I just discovered another problem.  It Exported all 100+ Files at the WRONG Resolution.  I selected a 4K Preset and bumped up the Bitrate on it, then it Exported everything at 2.7K... There isn't even a 2.7K Preset.  Now I have to figure out doing this all over again.

[Origami Cactus]

1 minute ago, MandicReally said:

That was my thought.  AME was easy to do but didn't seem to be utilizing my CPU enough.

AND I just discovered another problem.  It Exported all 100+ Files at the WRONG Resolution.  I selected a 4K Preset and bumped up the Bitrate on it, then it Exported everything at 2.7K... There isn't even a 2.7K Preset.  Now I have to figure out doing this all over again.

Don't use the presets.

 

Create a custom one, and set all the dimensions, frame rate etc yourself. Make sure to save the preset!!!!!

 

Are you using Media Encoder CC or 5.1 or 6?

[MandicReally]

4 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

Don't use the presets.

 

Create a custom one, and set all the dimensions, frame rate etc yourself. Make sure to save the preset!!!!!

 

Are you using Media Encoder CC or 5.1 or 6?

CC. I just went back in and redid everything in the Preset and saved it as my own thing and it seems to have worked.  So Now I just have to redo every other file.  

[Origami Cactus]

2 minutes ago, MandicReally said:

  So Now I just have to redo every other file.  

Not really. Just delete all the files, and then drag the source files back into the watch folder, and it will do them automatically.

 

Make sure to set the watch folder preset to the right one!!

[Sakat]

As stated above, Handbrake does a good job but when it's possible I prefer to stick to AME.