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Export setting for archival reasons
Hello,
Recently finished a 10 minute video and wanted to export a best quality file for archival reasons. I have a PC and currently use Adobe Premiere 5. The premiere project consists of hi-res images, HD AVCHD raw footage and AE projects.
I exported using QT and ANIMATION codec, which I believed was the highest quality. Well the 10 minute video translated to a 75GB file!
I could barely do playback on my computer at half size. Does it really make sense to have such a big file? I mean what could I actually do with it? Could I even rip that to a blu-ray DVD?Is there an alternative file format and codec that people use to export best quality for archiving?
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8 Replies
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Hi Drew,
There are a few popular (free) options that come to mind –
Lagarith lossless codec
Avid DNxHD codec
The Matrox MPEG-2 I-Frame codec is also an option
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Thank you for the quick response Jeff. Unfortunately I don’t see any of those options on the Adobe Premiere drop-down. Do I have to purchase them?
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Hi Drew,
As mentioned in my post, all are FREE. However, you do need to download/install to use any of them. I don’t think the Cow is keen on pasting web links on the forum, so I will ask that you simply defer to a web search.
Hints –
“download Matrox codec build 33”
“download avid dnxhd codec”
“download lagarith lossless codec”Thanks
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Even though you might not be able to play back your huge animation QuickTime it is technically the best quality source. Whenever you got back to that file you can always re-encode it into some other format to work with or view. And it is always best to go back to the original source for each encode.
It is also a more common codec than any of the others mentioned above, which means in 5 years time, if you try and open it on another system, you won’t have to try and find the codecs again.
That being said, I’m sure the Avid one in particular is common enough that it will be readable for a long time to come and the difference in file size verses the quality will probably make it a more viable option.
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[Conrad Olson] “That being said, I’m sure the Avid one in particular is common enough that it will be readable for a long time to come and the difference in file size verses the quality will probably make it a more viable option.”
Avid’s DNxHD is also now a SMTPE standard (VC-3). I don’t think it’s going anywhere.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Walter Soyka] “Avid’s DNxHD is also now a SMTPE standard (VC-3). I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”
Quicktime on the other hand probably is. 🙂
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It’s a matter of where you feel comfortable balancing file size versus image quality. The lowest risk options are uncompressed, fully-sampled codecs such as RGB and 4:4:4 Y’PbPr. The next level is compressed, lossless codecs. Lossy codecs offer a higher level of risk.
Whichever codec you ultimately choose, save the archival footage with light compression. Even VC-1, H.264, and H.262 will look good at high bit rate, I-frame only, and maximum DQuant.
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We’ve been exporting to a “P2” master lately.
Will be readable by most edit sys. for many a years to come.Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC
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