Advanced Movie Formats for the Web

Premiere lets you access the advanced features of your encoding applications directly using the plug-ins listed in the File->Export Timeline menu. Export plug-ins for Windows Media 7, Cleaner 5 EZ and RealMedia 8 come bundled with Premiere 6.

Windows Media 7 encoding integration is so complete with Premiere 6.0 that you can have both WME 7 and Premiere open, create new profiles in one, and they show up in the other. You can also simply edit or remove any profile from within Premiere, but keep in mind that these changes will be reflected in your WM Encoder application as well.

Live streaming features are, of course, missing from the Windows Media plug-in.The Cleaner 5 EZ plug-in that comes bundled with Premiere 6.0 is manifested as the Save for the Web option. If you're looking for a quick and easy way to produce MPEG-1 video or MP3 audio files, this is where you should head. If you want to build in more preprocessing and optimization functions or more advanced codec technologies, you'll need to invest in Cleaner 5 Pro. Note that the pro version of Cleaner 5 comes with a Cleaner 5 Pro Premiere export plug-in, so upgrading doesn't revoke any of your capabilities. Click here for more information about Cleaner 5.

Real Media encoding can be accomplished by clicking on the Advanced Real Media Export option, which brings up the Plug-in Dialog. Here you see a slightly different interface, but most of the same functionality, of RealProducer 8. I like the fact that you can launch Real Player to view your output and watch the statistics monitor while you encode, just like in the stand-alone application.

All the advanced processing features introduced in Real 8 are available under the Preferences option. This is where you choose the RealVideo 8.0 format or the RealVideo G2 format. You can also select two-pass encoding, Variable Bit Rate Encoding, and the De-Interlace or Inverse Telecine filters introduced with RealVideo 8.

A few subtle options are missing from the Real Media Export. One is the "Enable Resizing" tool in RealProducer's Video Settings Dialog. This tags the encoded output file so the client can double the frame size automatically using special processing technology built into some computers. I like this option for producing lower bit-rate files with a higher perceived quality.

Features for the Web Production Environment

With Premiere 6.0, Adobe has begun to address the needs of the streaming media environment. The advanced plug-in support is a welcome addition that saves both time and resources, but mainly only for small production facilities. If you need to produce multiple versions of a movie for various formats, the process can be cumbersome.

For QT alternates, all the features of Cleaner 5 EZ are built in, though this version limits your choices for bit rates.

If you need to produce Real and Windows Media files as well, you have to set up separate projects for each stream required. In many streaming media production environments, that can add up quickly: at least two Real SureStreams and two Windows Media Intellistreams, or more if you are more comfortable offering single bit-rate streams in either format. The Batch Processing option is not available using the Export Timeline function. If you are looking for automated encoding, you will probably want to use Cleaner 5 Pro or the scripting capabilities of RealProducer or Windows Media Encoder.

Adobe has also introduced the Web Marker feature into Premiere 6.0, but it is obscurely placed under Timeline->Edit Timeline Markers. This selection brings up a dialog, where you can enter a URL that will be activated at the specified time in your movie. These URL designations, including pages and frame information, can be imported directly into Adobe's GoLive application, so creating Web pages with embedded streaming media has just gotten much easier.

Wrapping Up

The upgrade to Premiere 6.0 is well worth the cost if you already use this application for capturing, editing or exporting your video footage. No matter what your application, if you need to repurpose content for the Web, Adobe has made great strides in shortening the production cycle for streaming media. While productivity tools for large-scale projects are lacking, and it caters to video production rather than Web production, Premiere is still a welcome tool in any streaming media production environment.

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