• Avid Media Composer

  Avid Codecs….

  Posted by Jason Hare on December 9, 2009 at 11:31 pm

  I would be interested to hear peoples opinions on which codec to use and when.

  I have been doing a few HD online and grade jobs and the material has already been conformed for me by an edit assistant. Usually it has been put in at 1080i50 at 1:1 mxf, but on one occasion was put in at 10bit. Considering the 8bit 1:1 codec runs at over 800Mb/sec and 1:1 @10bit is over 1100Mb/sec I feel this could be overkill, especially when you consider that my source material is HDCam @135Mb/sec and HD-XDCam @ 50Mb/sec. If it is true (as Avid states) that their DNxHD codecs are lossless then surely the 145 codec would be perfectly suitable? And if you would agree with this when would it be appropriate to use 220 or even 1:1?

  I would ask a similar question about SD. Most of my clients have asked for SD online work to be done at 2:1 interlaced (PAL SD), yet most international sporting events I have worked on (especially when they involve EVS systems) run at only 50mb/sec. Is there ever a real need to online at 1:1?

  One last question… I have noticed that the new Nitris DX machines offer a 10bit output (as does the Nitris Symphony). But as HDCam and Digi Beta are both 8 bit systems is there ever any benefit to running a 10 bit output? I assume internally Avid would be smoother (especially with effects processing) if it were working in 10bit rather than 8, but the selection of 10bit on the output seems to make no apparent difference to effects processing.

  I look forward to any opinions offered…..

  Thanks,

  Jason

  Jason Hare replied 16 years, 5 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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