Workshop

Review the questions and answers in this section to try to sharpen your Premiere advanced exporting skills. Also, take a few moments to tackle my short quiz and the exercises.

Q&A

Q1:	I encoded an MPEG-2 file, but it stutters on playback. Any idea why?
A1:	Did you select Lower Field First in the Fields drop-down menu in the MPEG Encoder? If you selected Upper, that may be the cause (a slow PC could be another reason). No Fields is the safest choice if you don't know which to choose, but its output quality is not as good as finding the correct setting ”Upper or Lower.
Q2:	I encoded an MPEG-2 file, played it back in the Windows Media Player, and there was no audio. What's up?
A2:	By default, the Adobe MPEG Encoder creates "elementary streams" (separate audio and video files) when encoding MPEG-2 files. To create a multiplexed (or muxed ) file, select DVD for the MPEG Stream setting, click Edit ( next to Advanced), click the Multiplexer Settings tab, and select MPEG-2 from the Multiplexer Type list.

Quiz

1:	What's the difference between MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4?
A1:	MPEG-1 is VHS-quality compression geared primarily to CD-ROM playback. MPEG-2 is broadcast-quality compression geared to movies and videos on DVD and digital satellite systems. MPEG-4 is the newest of the three codecs (released in late 1998) with a focus on streaming video on the Internet.
2:	How do you place a URL marker in a video and then later edit it?
A2:	Set your edit line where you want a Web page to pop up or change during playback of your video. Press the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad or right/Option-click and select Set Timeline Marker. Double-click the marker and type in a URL. To edit it later, either double-click it or access it by right/Option-clicking anywhere on the time ruler and using the Go To Marker menu.
3:	How do you convert a section of your timeline into a Windows Media file?
A3:	Place the work area bar over the portion to export and export the timeline to an AVI file. Then open Windows Movie Maker, create a new project, import the newly created AVI file, and save it as a WMV file.

Exercises

1:	Create both Windows Media and RealMedia files using similar settings and see how long the encoding processes take, how large the files are, and how the encoded clips look and sound.
2:	Take a small step into the highly technical world of customized MPEG settings by opening the Advanced window in the MPEG Encoder and changing the Video Encoder Quality slider value. Then tweak Motion Search and Noise Sensitivity in the Advanced Video Settings tab following the recommendations in the tips I provided in the MPEG Encoder section.
3:	Experiment with RealMedia's 2-pass encoding to see whether you think it's worth the extra compression time. Access this feature by selecting Preferences in the RealMedia Clip Settings dialog box and then clicking 2-Pass Encoding under the Video Codec tab.