DNxHD ?? which res to import as for DVD output

[John Pale]

You did not specify the format you are shooting in. . If you are shooting 1080i or 1080p @ 29.97, I would use DNX 145. 220 is probably overkill.

If you are in PAL land or shooting 23.98/24, the DNX numbers will be different, but generally the second highest number will be fine, No harm in going to the highest level, but will give you a bigger file with little to no visible difference in quality. Do a quality test if you are unsure. Some material compresses better than others.

You can AMA link and transcode rather than import. It’s much faster…but if you would rather import, go nuts.

I would not work native with AVCHD, as I’ve had very poor experience with that. Transcoding is the way to go,

[Fred Jean]

Totally agree.
Working avchd native is to be avoid, although very fashionable those days, unless there is good reason for it: little volume, fast turnarround requiered.

Also true that there is a point where it’s virtually impossible to see a visual difference between codecs so not necesarly is required to jump to the very
Highest. But it would also depend very much on how far are you going to affect the image in post. The more CC and compo needs, the highest codec.
As the transcode time is the same for dnxhd…

The way you want to use squeeze is a correct one. Better to just do qt references, way faster, and let squeeze doing the job instead of blocking Avid.

But keep in mind (this is a doubt I had and asked in this forum) that Avid does not automaticaly point to the highres material if you want to transcode from proxies. You have to conform first. It’s not a complain, logical and expected but it could have been different. In other
Words, the app does not take
Into account the hierarchy of the
medias, it just transcodes what
You give it.

On Ama…big debate.
It sounds faster just ama and start
To edit. However, what’s faster
On the paper can become the big
Hassle very soon.
I use ama for storyboarding, reviewing.
For editing, I want dnxhd 36.
There is a reason for that: stability.
I can collapse an edit and work
With gazillion effects and tracks,
No freeze, no crash. No rendering.
When all that is booked, conform the
Sequence to the highres media.
If I did that with amaed avchd
Of even prores 444 from Alexas,
I’d need the Pentagon computer power.

Same in a compo app. One do not
Just grab a codec material and
Ingest that into Nuke. No. It would
Work for simple tasks but if you
Want to do serious compo,
You want to feed Nuke with sequence
Of exr ir tiffs. Same with edits:
Serious edit requieres stability
And proxy workflow.
So Yeah, working with proxies
Always is more step,
But it’s worth.
And It’s even worth transcode
Your avchd footage into 2 flavours
Of dnxhd: One high-res and the proxies.
And that’s where ama is usefull.
Why doing 1 highres transcode?
Because avchd aint prores444.
It falls apart at the minimum CC.
Can’t be considered as a stable
Highres media.

Fred.