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RE: Codec terminology help
I am trying to get up to speed, but I can’t find a source that I can just read and study for codec and trancoding advice.
I have an HVX200 and plan to shoot a doc this summer in HD. I have been shooting a lot in 720, but I want to have a better handle on options and when to transcode to 4:2:2.
I know there are good benefits to ProRes 4:2:2, but I would like to see comparison charts etc. I know a lot of this is picked up by experience and research, but has anyone put out a guide for this yet?
I have an 8 core Mac Pro and MAc Book Pro. I don’t have any other way to transcode than compressor. I would like to start taking advantage of 4:2:2.
Cheers.
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6 Replies
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Some years back, Marco Solorio posted a series of tests at https://www.onerivermedia.com/codecs/
The tests haven’t been updated for 5 or 6 years, but if you read about his methodology, you can recreate the tests yourself for Prores and other new codecs.
[Nelson May] “I have an HVX200 and plan to shoot a doc this summer in HD. I have been shooting a lot in 720, but I want to have a better handle on options and when to transcode to 4:2:2.”
The HVX shoots DVCPro HD. It is 4:2:2. Many people confuse this with HDV, it’s not.
Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/ -
Hi Nelson,
The Marco Solorio site pointed by Arnie is a classic and is a pity that haven’t been updated.
About Proress and the 422 workflow, IMHO you only get real advantage when capturing with a video card. The upgrade from 8b 420 to 10b422 is done with chroma filtering and will be better than the one you will get by transcoding in Compressor< Mpgstreamclip or so. You can get a better transcoding applying a Chroma filter (Nattress Chroma Smooth?Sharpen)) in FC, but this will make the process much longer. I think that now most of the people work native (HDV, XDCAM, DVCPro) and shift to Proress on exporting. Cheers, rafael http://www.nagavideo.com -
With DVCPro HD, you don’t need to transcode your footage to ProRes to edit.
Simply change your Timeline Compressor to ProRes when you are done cutting and render out a final Quicktime, which will be in the ProRes codec.
The other time when you want to use ProRes is in Color. This workflow is: edit DVCPro HD footage in a DVCPro HD timeline, File > Send To Color > Do your color grade > Render out as ProRes.
So as you can see, the only time you really need to go to ProRes is when you render out.
No need for ProRes HQ either. Regular ProRes is fine since your original source is 8-bit.
Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com -
One thing to remember when shooting on P2 is the advantage of Metadata. The more information you enter, the less you need to shuttle through your footage.
A good reference for P2 is the Goodman guide.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
[Nelson May] “I have an HVX200 and plan to shoot a doc this summer in HD. I have been shooting a lot in 720, but I want to have a better handle on options and when to transcode to 4:2:2.”
As noted in this thread, you already have 4:2:2 footage from your camera. That’s the big advantage of Panasonic over Sony in these cameras. Much better color reproduction.
You can edit in a DVCPro HD timeline and switch your render settings to ProRes or even drop your DVCPro HD material into a ProRes timeline and work in realtime with fast enough media arrays. No need to transcode anything in Compressor, you’re good to go.
As for searches on the codecs, you can read up on ProRes in the Apple white pages and you can also search for Gary Adcock’s papers on ProRes
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” now in Post.
Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
Thanks Guys,
This helps. I am re-reading the Barry Green Book that came with the HVX to get a better handle on my camera. Funny, I have had it for three years and haven’t shot a whole lot of HD…..This recession really tapped me out. I am really video assist on union jobs, so I wanted to learn how to shoot for indy stuff. Anyway, thanks for the website info. I am finding that I am getting forced into editing and I am starting to get asked to edit different formats than the DVCproHD. I know there is 600 combinations of formats, but I need to get a handle on the ones that are the most common. I did the lynda tutorials on compressor, since I don’t have a video card, and have learned a bit, but compressor tutorial seem to a little generic. That said, it can’t cover everything, just give enough of examples on how to get out what you what after you put it in.
Plus I am starting to do some grip work with local production companies, and they are asking me to start editing. I need to get my game on a little faster than I wanted to.
Cheers.
MBP 2.4GHz 4MB RAM, 30″cine, MAC PRO 2.6 8 core 6GB RAM, Mbox, Neumann TLM-103, FCP HD 7. Pro Tools 8, Adobe Creative Suite, Reason 3.0, Macromedia Studio, ProAnimator, HVX200 with Firestore v4.0
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