Sunday, July 7, 2013

PE11: Exporting a 1080p25 or 1080p30 file with 5.1 Channel Audio

INTRODUCTION

In an earlier blog post the focus was on the export of a 1080p50 or 1080p60 video file with 5.1 channel audio. And, the story was that, although Premiere Elements allows for the import of video with Dolby Digital 5.1 channel audio, the Dolby Digital 5.1 channel audio export choice for that video is not available. However, there are limited opportunities for a 5.1 channel audio choice in export as AAC 5.1 channel audio via Publish+Share/Computer/AVCHD.

But here is the catch. These limited opportunities for AAC 5.1 channel audio choices in export fail unless the project preset used is one that includes 5.1 channel audio. Not all project presets have the alternatives of with and without the 5.1 channel audio.

Premiere Elements 11's new NTSC AVCHD 1080p60 and PAL AVCHD 1080p50 did not come with 5.1 channel counter parts. So, for those wanting a successful export to AVCHD 1080p50 5.1 channel or AVCHD 1080p60 5.1 channel, the copies of the Notepad documents for the existing AVCHD 1080p50 and AVCHD 1080p60 were edited to include 5.1 channel audio, giving the user the choice of with or without 5.1 channel audio for these project presets.

The work reported in the earlier blog post is extended here to include the Premiere Elements 11 project presets for NTSC/DSLR/1080p/DSLR 1080p30 and DSLR 1080p30 @ 29.97 as well as PAL/DSLR/1080p25 and the creation of their counterpart 5.1 channel project presets derived from the Notepad document of the existing project preset that does not include 5.1 channel in its description.

The same How To was used for the creation of the new 5.1 channel version of DSLR 1080p30 @ 29.97, DSLR 1080p30, or DSLR 1080p25 in this blog post as was used for AVCHD 1080p60 and AVCHD 1080p50 in the earlier blog post. The discussion that follows the How To will include:

  • All found Publish+Share/Computer/AVCHD or Windows Media opportunities for taking a Timeline video (with or without 5.1 channel audio) and exporting it to a video file with AAC 5.1 channel audio (AVCHD route) or Windows Media Audio 10 Professional 5.1 channel audio (Windows Media route).
  • Other observations.

HOW TO

Starting Files and Their Locations

PAL/DSLR/1080p/DSLR 1080p25
(Local Disc C\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 11\Settings\Sequence Presets\PAL\DSLR\1080p\)

NTSC/DSLR/1080p/DSLR 1080p30
NTSC/DSLR/1080p/DSLR 1080p30 @ 29.97
(Local Disc C\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 11\Settings\Sequence Presets\NTSC\DSLR\1080p\)

1. Make a copy of each of the starting files cited above which came with the program and which are found in the above path. Paste to computer Desktop and proceed for each file as follows.

2. First right click the PAL DSLR 1080p25.sqpreset.file copy that was pasted to the computer Desktop, select Open With, and then select Notepad.

3. In the Notepad document of the PAL DSLR 1080p25.sqpreset, where it says

<InitialNumberOfFiveOneTracks>3</InitialNumberOfFiveOneTracks>
<InitialNumberOfStereoTracks>3</InitialNumberOfStereoTracks>
Change to:
<InitialNumberOfFiveOneTracks>3</InitialNumberOfFiveOneTracks>
<InitialNumberOfStereoTracks>0</InitialNumberOfStereoTracks>

And where it says

<AudioChannelType>1</AudioChannelType>
Change to:
<AudioChannelType>2</AudioChannelType>

Before saving and closing out of this Notepad document, Save As, changing the name of the document to DSLR 1080p25 5.1 channel. Place that .sqpreset file in 1080p Folder in the route cited above (Local Disc C\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 11\Settings\Sequence Presets\PAL\DSLR\1080p\).

Repeat the How to in order to create the NTSC DSLR 1080p 5.1 channel.sqpreset for placement in the Program Files in the 1080p Folder in the route cited above (Local Disc C\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 11\Settings\Sequence Presets\NTSC\DSLR\1080p\)

4. It is highly recommended that you take control over setting up the Premiere Elements 11 project when you are using the sqpresets described. To do this, open to Premiere Elements 11 workspace, go to File Menu/New/Project and, in the New Project Dialog, select your new DSLR 1080p 5.1 channel project preset. Make sure you put a check mark next to "Force selected Project Setting on this project" before you click OK. And, then move forward to Add Media and import of video with its DSLR 1080p properties. In the opened project, you should see a little "5.1" to the right of the name Audio 1 for that track.

DISCUSSION

From the onset it was believed that the prerequisite for all this were source media which included Dolby Digital 5.1 channel audio or 5.1 channel with audio codec other than Dolby Digital. In other words, 5.1 channel in to get 5.1 channel out. So, it was a bit unexpected when it was discovered that a Timeline with video (stereo audio) could be exported as video with AAC 5.1 channel or Windows Media Audio 10 Professional 5.1 channel if the project preset included 5.1 channel in its make up. This finding was a bonus since the mission was to try to export source media with 5.1 channel audio without the export erroring out, and the use of the project preset which included 5.1 channel took care of that.

The earlier work confined itself to an AVCHD.mp4 with AAC 5.1 channel audio export for the Timeline with source media containing 5.1 channel audio. Only one specific route to this end was given, that is, Publish+Share/Computer/AVCHD with Presets = MP4 H.264 1920 x 1080p25, with adjusts under the Advanced Tab/Video Tab and Audio Tab to get the video with 5.1 channel audio end product. But, other opportunities in this regard exist and were found to be:

Publish+Share/Computer/AVCHD with Presets =
MP4 (all)
TiVo series 3 (both)
Vimeo (both)
YouTube (both)
and export settings changed under the Advanced Button/Video Tab and Audio Tab of the preset. Audio codec AAC and Output Channels 5.1 Channels.

Publish+Share/Computer/Windows Media with Presets =
720 x 480 16x9 29.97
720 x 480 4.3 29.97
720 x 576 16x9 25
720 x 576 4.3 25
and export settings changed under the Advanced Button/Video Tab and Audio Tab of the preset. Audio codec must be Windows Media Audio 10 Professional with 5.1 channel included in the choices in the Audio Format pop up.

Whether the user is using a 5.1 channel containing project presets that came with the program or those that were created by the user, in these studies the properties readout programs gspot and MediaInfo both confirm the end product as AVCHD video with AAC 5.1 channel from the Publish+Share/Computer/AVCHD route. However, if that same end product AVCHD video with AAC 5.1 channel is imported into a new Premiere Elements 11 project and the Properties for it read in Project Assets, the readout says the audio is Mono.

On the other hand, when the Windows Media opportunities are used, the end product wmv video with Windows Media Audio 10 Professional 5.1 channel has its audio readout as 5.1 channel whether the program is MediaInfo, gspot, or the Premiere Elements (Project Assets Properties). Often, if not always, the read out for "5.1 channel audio" says 6 channels. "6.0 channels" is 5.1 channels. Please refer to the Sony explanation.
https://us.en.kb.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/39221/~/what-is-the-difference-between-dolby%E2%AE-prologic,-dolby-prologic-ii,-dolby

The principles of this matter are not restricted to Premiere Elements 11 Windows.

ATR