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Alternative to Apple ProRes?
I’ve heard a lot of people say that it’s a good idea to convert raw footage to ProRes before working on it. Is this a good format for storing raw files (instead of, say, native MPEG2 MXF’s)?
I don’t have the ProRes codecs, I’m assuming because I don’t have quicktime pro or final cut. I use the Adobe suite. What is a good alternative to ProRes? Is it equivalent to Animation Codec, or Intermediate codec?
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4 Replies
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You’re correct that the reason you don’t have ProRes is because you don’t have Final Cut Studio.
It is a good format for archiving files, but you can archive your native raw footage. This would be ideal anyway since it’s the purest form of your footage. If you want another format to archive in, you could use Avid DNxHD, since you can download the Quicktime component free of charge.
https://www.avid.com/US/industries/workflow/DNxHD-Codec
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Thanks!
So if I were to use Avid’s 36Mbps codec to save, say, 50Mbps 1080p MPEG2 raw files from camera, would that be a good idea if I wanted to save some space? Or would I be better off using something like Apple Intermediate? Would the same thing apply to lower bit-rate raw files, like 720p?
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I wouldn’t use DNxHD 36, this is meant as a proxy format and while you will be saving space, you’ll also be losing quality.
Apple Intermediate is an 8 bit 4:2:0 codec meant to use when you’re editing long-GOP formats such as HDV. While mpeg2 is long-GOP it sounds like you’re shooting 50Mbps 4:2:2 video, so by using apple intermediate you’d be losing that color fidelity. Rather than spending the time to transcode all your footage and end up losing either bits or color fidelity, I would just store my footage as native mpeg2 mxf. It’ll save you time and quality to just archive it native.
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That’s very helpful, thank you!
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