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ProRes Questions – Just a few
Hey Guys,
I’ve read a 2-part article about ProRes here on the Cow and I read a thread started by GaryAdcock (i think it was him). Everything I’ve read was very informative, but I still have a few questions if you don’t mind helping me out.
1. I have read many times that it is OK to capture your footage natively, let say HDV for instance, and just set “Compressor” in the Sequence Settings window to ProRes422 or ProRes422 (HQ). I do not understand why this works. It sounds to me that you are still cutting GOP footage because it was captured natively as opposed to being transcoded to ProRes. Do you know what I mean? If this really does work, why would anyone want to transcode to ProRes — why take up more hard drive space and tax the CPU even more?
2. I also read a good way to handle ProRes if you’re working with a less powerful Mac is to set the playback quality to “Medium.” This may be a stupid question, but that will not affect my footage, correct? It’s simply lets FCP process 1/4 of the resolution to allow for more real-time effects and faster renders? I can switch between Medium and High quality playback anytime, right?
3. In your opinion, how do you feel about transcoding footage from miniDV to ProRes and/or working in a timeline with the Compressor set to ProRes?
4. I’m still a bit confused about when to use ProRes422 vs. ProRes422 (HQ). I understand the regular version is 145Mbps and 220Mbps, and I think both are 10-bit, but when will I want to use one over the other?
Thank you for taking the time to read my lengthy post.
Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
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2 Replies
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[Rob Grauert] “1. I have read many times that it is OK to capture your footage natively, let say HDV for instance, and just set “Compressor” in the Sequence Settings window to ProRes422 or ProRes422 (HQ)”
This works because it doesn’t matter if you convert the native files to ProRes and then edit or edit then native files then convert your sequence to ProRes when you’re done. In both cases, you’re taking the native file and converting it to ProRes.
[Rob Grauert] “If this really does work, why would anyone want to transcode to ProRes — why take up more hard drive space and tax the CPU even more?”
If you have enough drive space, I’d convert to ProRes for the edit because it’s what I consider a “edit friendly” codec. It actually takes less CPU power to work with ProRes than to work with HDV. HDV isn’t “edit friendly” because of the long GOP structure.
[Rob Grauert] ” I can switch between Medium and High quality playback anytime, right?
“Yes. It’s only for playback.
[Rob Grauert] “3. In your opinion, how do you feel about transcoding footage from miniDV to ProRes and/or working in a timeline with the Compressor set to ProRes? “
I prefer to set the compressor to whatever is native for the footage. Less rendering for editing means less time waiting and more time editing.
[Rob Grauert] “4. I’m still a bit confused about when to use ProRes422 vs. ProRes422 (HQ). I understand the regular version is 145Mbps and 220Mbps, and I think both are 10-bit, but when will I want to use one over the other? “
When I’m using ProRes as an offline file for editing for something like RED footage, I’ll use the non HQ. I just like that it’s full raster. When I’m going to be using the files for finishing, I’ll use the HQ version.
-Russ
Russell Lasson
Universal Post
Ridgeline Digital Cinema Mastering
Salt Lake City, UT -
thanks for the input
Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
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