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Can’t render as hardware codec doesn’t exist?????
I have a project that is 1920×1080, prores 422, all edited, sent to color for grading, then round tripped back to FCP, all is almost good. There were four clips that came up orange on the timeline so naturally, selected them pressed CMD R to render then FCP threw up an error that says it needed a hardware codec?
After much screaming and hair pulling, the issue appears to be down to this:
These four clips are H.264 movs made from quicktime 7 image sequences (timelapses). I made an error exporting these by not introducing the cropping correctly hence they are 1620 x 1080. So I corrected this in the timeline by resizing to 122%, all is good. FCP renders them, color renders them.
The only issue is when they come back from color, then FCP can no longer export them, compressor can’t render them, in fact the only way is with quicktime conversion, but that seems to lose quality.
The item properties are reported as Size: 1920×1080 V1 1620×1080
Very odd…..
Declan Smith
https://www.madpanic.tv
FCS3 / After Effects CS5 / Combustion / Canon 7D / Canon XL2 -
4 Replies
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Hi,
I appreciate your comment Dave because we can all learn to resist the quick-fix temptation of putting H.264 in the timeline …
However, I wonder if something different is happening here. I receive the same error when dealing with ProRes422 files and it has me stumped.
Here’s the situation that happens to me:
I use a 7D and a timer to shoot several hundred JPEG stills as the basis for a timelapse shot. Then I open them as an Image Sequence in QuickTime Pro. From QT Pro, I export a QuickTime movie in ProRes422 format.
Since the file dimensions are too huge to work with (5184×3456), I change the output size to a smaller size.
If I choose one of the QT presets like HDTV 1920×1080 then I have no problems in Final Cut. But I prefer to use a larger size (like 3000×2000) so I can drop the clip in a 1920×1080 ProRes422 timeline and add zooms and pans.
This 3000×2000 QT appears to work fine but I can’t render with it … it plays well in QT Player … it plays well in Final Cut’s Viewer … but when I put it in a 1920×1080 ProRes422 timeline and try to render I get the error about hardware codec not found.
Oddly, if I change the codec of the timeline to an older technology like Photo-JPEG or Apple Intermediate Codec then the clip will render fine. It’s only when it’s a ProRes422 timeline that the problem presents itself. And I want to reiterate that even though the footage was shot on a 7D, it was never an H.264 file — it was a JPEG image sequence converted directly to a ProRes422 QuickTime.
This only happens in the middle of hectic time-pressured projects (isn’t that always the case?!) so I haven’t done any super-extensive troubleshooting …
Has anyone else run into this situation? Or do you know if ProRes422 is restricted to certain file dimensions?
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John Street
http://www.inpoint.tv
Mac OS 10.6.6, FCS 7.0.3, QT 7.6.6, Mac Pro 2x3GHz Quad-Core, 16GB Ram -
[John Street] “do you know if ProRes422 is restricted to certain file dimensions?”
I recall seeing other posts indicating that ProRes will function erratically when not used at standard video production resolutions, so I think your hunch is correct. Use of the ProRes codec should be restricted to standard production resolutions for best results.
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Dave
As a rule I always transcode to one of the ProRes codecs, but for what ever reason, these 4 clips were rendered incorrectly, however if you read my original post, the issue is not with the H.264 part of the workflow, it’s final cut not being able to render a prores clip (the one roundtripped back from color)!
This is the error message I get when trying to render in Final Cut.
The clip details are below, which clearly show this as a ProRes clip. Annoyingly enough, final cut handled the H.264 element of the workflow just fine, so your H.264 question count has just gone down to 799.
I know to fix this I need to go back and redo the image sequence and ripple the change through. The question was raised because Final Cut was bitching about its own ProRes Codec.
Regards
Declan Smith
https://www.madpanic.tv
FCS3 / After Effects CS5 / Combustion / Canon 7D / Canon XL2 -
its almost definitely down to having altered the dimensions of your pro res frames.
I have had the same error message several times, and it was always a result of my trying t be clever and create a prores file with non-standard dimensions.
adam
Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UKhttp://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
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