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DNxHD vs native DSLR footage on Premiere Pro CC
I keep watching and reading tutorials how to enhance the editing capacities of DSLR footage. I am using Canon 7D ,WITHOUT ‘magic lantern’ on the CF card. Editing on PP CC(updated) and generaly do not move the project to AE(export via Encoder from PP).
I transcode the footage via MPEG StreamClip 1.2, from the native MOV to the DNxHD 185/10 bit codec. the tutorials say it helps the workflow on PP, but all the tutorials i’ve seen are old, and for older versions of PP.
i want to know, if aside of easier workflow, it actualy improves the video quality, and allows more play with color correction and grading? Is it worth spending the time for transcoding, and 3 times more virtual storage space for it? Or did this method become absolete with the new, and versatile PP CC?Thank you
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7 Replies
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converting files does not improve the quality (you cannot make something out of nothing).
PP works natively with dslr footage so no need to convert.———————————————–
Adobe Certified Expert Premiere Pro CC
Adobe Community Professional -
There may be disagreement, but for our experience, if you have a relatively powerful system(whatever THAT means), native media should be fine. Any performance gained by transcoding to an ‘edit-friendly format’ would probably be offset by the time required to do this, plus, as you mentioned, the huge amount of disc space required.
I recently had some strangely sudden performance issues(stuttering timeline, frozen video w/audio, etc.) with AVCHD media, and just for kicks, I transcoded into both Cineform and DNxHD. The performance issues remained. After I, or rather Red Giant, resolved the problem, I tried the same clips again to see if there was any noticeable gain in performance between the native media, and the mezzanines – not a bit – and my system is perhaps no longer what you might consider a “relatively powerful system”.
Asus P6X58D Premium * Core i7 950 * 24GB RAM * nVidia GeForce GTX 770 * Windows 7 Premium 64bit * System Drive – WD Caviar Black 500GB * 2nd Drive(Pagefile, Previews) – WD Velociraptor 10K drive 600GB * Media Drive – 2TB RAID0 (4 – WD Caviar Black 500GB drive) * Matrox MX02 Mini * Adobe CC * QuickTime 7.7.5
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“98% of all computer issues can be solved by simply pressing ‘F1’.”
Steve Brame
creative illusions Productions -
Steve, Since you mentioned DNxHD and Cineform which of these would you use (if either) to master out for Archive and use in Sorenson Sqz for multiple outputs Youtube – Vimeo – DVD – BR disc
PC 1
I7 2.8 Ghz 8GB Ram
Win 7 Pro 64bit OS
PNY Quadro 4000
PC 2
I7 3930K 3.2Ghz
32 GB Ram
Win 7 Pro 64bit OS
PNY Quadro K20003-4 TB HD
Vegas 13 & Adobe Production Premium CS6 & Avid Media Composer 5.5Camera
Sony EX1 shoot in 1920×1080 30P -
I’ve been using DNxHD to archive for a while now. I’ve had issues with Cineform footage before, enough to make me worry about it as a final archive. DNxHD is solid.
Asus P6X58D Premium * Core i7 950 * 24GB RAM * nVidia GeForce GTX 770 * Windows 7 Premium 64bit * System Drive – WD Caviar Black 500GB * 2nd Drive(Pagefile, Previews) – WD Velociraptor 10K drive 600GB * Media Drive – 2TB RAID0 (4 – WD Caviar Black 500GB drive) * Matrox MX02 Mini * Adobe CC * QuickTime 7.7.5
——————————————-
“98% of all computer issues can be solved by simply pressing ‘F1’.”
Steve Brame
creative illusions Productions -
Thank You Steve – I just found out Sony does not edit in DNxHD and a bit of my work is in Vegas so I will have to go with Cineform. What do you know of Grass Valley HQX avi – someone suggested that?
Thank You
DonPC 1
I7 2.8 Ghz 8GB Ram
Win 7 Pro 64bit OS
PNY Quadro 4000
PC 2
I7 3930K 3.2Ghz
32 GB Ram
Win 7 Pro 64bit OS
PNY Quadro K20003-4 TB HD
Vegas 13 & Adobe Production Premium CS6 & Avid Media Composer 5.5Camera
Sony EX1 shoot in 1920×1080 30P -
I have a live production coming up and have been researching this exact subject….with no definitive answer. We’ll be shooting multiple different formats and editing in Premiere Pro CC on Windows 7 64bit systems. We’ll have DLSR footage, GoPro, 5k RED and then the live production feed. The live production company can give us “any format we want” and I’m trying to find out what would be best. I’d like to transcode the RED footage for editing and have the ‘live’ footage be in the same codec. We’ll need to be able to edit the footage each night for a ‘daily recap’ but ultimately have the footage for future projects (promotions for future events, event recap using ‘never before seen footage’, etc)
Previously the live feed footage came to me in a ridiculously large overkill version of 1080 60i DNxHD. The files were massive and unwieldy for editing. My solution was to convert everything after the fact to MP4 so the files were much easier to handle, however the quality was not good (as you could imagine). This year we are early enough in the process to be able to tell them what we want.
Wondered what your opinions were between the aforementioned CineForm and DNxHD (in a more reasonable compression ratio). The DSLR and GoPro footage we’ll leave as-is, just looking for a common core for the RED and live feed.
I read somewhere that the DNxHD codec is limited in performance due to the 32bit architecture of the QuickTime helper plugin for Windows. I read that ONE place and wondered if there was any merit to it.
If this was your project, what would you do and why? Thanks everyone!
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Sorry Don, I completely missed this. I haven’t used any Grass Valley stuff since they were Canopus.
Asus P6X58D Premium * Core i7 950 * 24GB RAM * nVidia GeForce GTX 770 * Windows 7 Premium 64bit * System Drive – WD Caviar Black 500GB * 2nd Drive(Pagefile, Previews) – WD Velociraptor 10K drive 600GB * Media Drive – 2TB RAID0 (4 – WD Caviar Black 500GB drive) * Matrox MX02 Mini * Adobe CC * QuickTime 7.7.5
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“98% of all computer issues can be solved by simply pressing ‘F1’.”
Steve Brame
creative illusions Productions
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