I will chime in that on some of my boxes I had stopped using AE for H.264 due to crashes with export and started using AME and never had an issue or crash.
The one downside to AME is not having an export history saved with the project – not sure if that is even possible.
But h.264 as a final for clients? I can’t imagine doing that. ProRes 422 or Avid is about as uncompressed I would ever deliver. H.264 is just a proof/web format
as it just won’t holdup to much after that.
From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv]
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2014 2:45 PM
To: After Effects Mail List
Subject: Re: [AE] Depreciated output formats gone completely in AE 2014
I can vouch for this exact approach. Here’s a sample from last weekend, exported via AME using the Vimeo 1080p 29.97 preset.
Brian
You're asking for output directly from After Effects, but my answer is to use the Vimeo encoding presets in Adobe Media Encoder.
Just render and export a losslessly encoded master from After Effects into a watch folder that AME is monitoring, and let AME create the Vimeo file.
What is a better alternative than .MOV H.264 for optimal qualityute for upload to Vimeo?
Requirements: 24 fps, 1080p, 44kHz Stereo, size < 200 Mb per 60 sec of video, direct render from AE output.