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Does Sequence Setting Matter?
I’m on a Mac Pro, using CS5 with a GTX285 NVidia card. I’m quite familiar with Final Cut Pro’s behavior when selecting sequence settings and have learned that for quick editing to set the sequence to the codec of the clips. If I don’t Final Cut will spend a lot of CPU on converting the preview of the clips from their format to the sequence’s format. I also set FCP’s render control to use Prores for the renders, such as transitions and such so there is less CPU spent on rendering, then transcoding so some compressed format again. Also when I export from FCP, there is very little or no transcoding involved when I create output media if it matches the sequence setting, as it has rendered what it needs to already in the sequences format.
In Premiere Pro CS5 I’m not sure if this is helpful or of any use at all. As I’m using a number of different codecs it’s also not as easy to ‘choose’ the correct codec. For example, the most footage is in Sony EX HQ format, but a lot is also in AVCHD.
So for now I’m choosing the Sony XDCAM EX format for the sequences, framerate, etc. Is this hurting me when I need to render the work area?
Thanks much for any advice!
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1 Reply
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No, you’re fine.
sequence settings in PPro are really a convenience as the timeline is codec agnostic. Any codec on the machine will decode without much fuss as long as the sequence is set for the right framesize/pixel aspect and framerate…however, even those traits can be mixed up to the capabilities of your machine.
For instance, any sequence setting that is 1920×1080 23.976p will take XDcamEX or XDcamHD 422, or AVCHD, or DSLR, or ProRes, or AVC-Intra (or anything else the computer can decode) of that size and framerate without any issues at all…
The mention of cameras and codecs in the “presets” area is basically to help reduce confusion for those people who want an obvious setting that they know is “correct” but are unsure of the specifics of the codec, etc.
For instance, in cases of XDcamHD, DVCProHD and HDV 1080, the framesize is not full raster and it can be hard to keep track of all the different approaches…
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,
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