DVC Pro HD to Apple Pro Res

[Mark Maness]

Bill, you ALWAYS edit your projects based on the majority of your footage. DVCProHD renders rather quickly and with great quality.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com

[Mark Hatch]

I’ve often been wrong on these things, but I’d like to throw in my two cents…

First, I did not know that ProRes(HQ) was only really necessary for 2K and 4K work. That’s interesting. Can anyone confirm that that is true? We do HD work, for broadcast, all of the time and have been using HQ for finishing. The difference between HQ and non-HQ is bit rate, right? So it seems to me that HQ can be helpful with HD footage that is complex and needs those extra bits.

Second, I have to agree with Kevin that ProRes is far superior to DVCProHD, in regard to graphics. Maybe that’s not important to some people. I have worked with both formats for a long time and my experience has been that graphics, especially graphics with alpha channels, look horrible in DVCPro HD. Not to mention that any red colors fall apart almost immediately. I’m guessing that this is due to the 8-bit vs 10-bit color space. If you drop the DVCPro HD footage into a ProRes timeline, or any other 10-bit timeline, and then add those same graphics, with alpha channels, the problem goes away.

Third, what is the data rate of DVCProHD versus ProRes versus ProRes(HQ)?
DVCPro HD: 6-14 MBps (Approximately)
ProRes: 5-18 MBps* (Approximately)
ProRes HQ: 8-27 MBps* (Approximately)
*This doesn’t include prores 60fps in 1080, since DVCPro HD doesn’t do that.
So I guess it depends what you are working on. ProRes over DVCPro HD seems like a no-brainer. Perhaps the HQ data rate is a deal-breaker for some, but the benefits are worth it for us.

Lastly, straight from the Apple ProRes White Paper 2007… “For years now, Final Cut Pro editors have relied on HD formats such as DVCPRO-HD and HDV for native, real-time multistream editing. The effciency and image quality of these workflows are excellent for content that originates with and can be finished natively in these formats. But such formats were designed under significant camcorder engineer- ing constraints, so they limit the full quality that can be carried in an HD signal.”

That’s my experience. DVCPro HD is a very good format, but when it comes to graphics and full-raster, it’s a tough sell. I’m sure someone will let me know if I’m wrong. 🙂

Mark Hatch
Cosmic Pictures

[David Roth weiss]

[Mark Hatch] “ProRes is far superior to DVCProHD, in regard to graphics. Maybe that’s not important to some people. I have worked with both formats for a long time and my experience has been that graphics, especially graphics with alpha channels, look horrible in DVCPro HD.”

Mark,

I’m not a very big fan of DVCProHD either, at least not these days. It was great when it was the only viable compressed HD format that could be edited without the massive and very expensive storage options that were the only options a few years back. However, I don’t think it’s quite as bad as “horrible.” I leave that description to the impact of DV compression on text and graphics.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Shane Ross]

The ProRes and ProRes HQ is really a 10-bit vs 8-bit source thing. If your source is 10-bit, then you can use HQ. If it is 8-bit, then plain ProRes 422 would be the choice.

https://forums.creativecow.net/faq/applefinalcutpro#75

YOu gain nothing by going to HQ with 8-bit source, other than file size.

As for DVCPRO HD, I have delivered three 2-hour specials with tons of graphics and maps, all at DVCPRO HD, and everything held up. THis was pre-ProRes, so it was what I had. It worked great, did the job just fine. And I would STILL stick to DVCPRO HD from start to finish if I am handed a DVCPRO HD project today…and I am. Only if I had a lot of green screen or blue screen would I consider the switch. But when you shoot DVCPRO HD on P2, and it comes in as DVCPRO HD…that means a LOT of time, and space, to transcode all of that to ProRes. Time that I can better use to organize and get to know my footage.

HDV is the footage that looks like @$$.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Bryant Coffey]

So after reading everyone’s thoughts let me throw another kink into the question. I am a VFX artist studying at the Art Institute of Colorado running a dual platform Mac/PC workflow. Without forking over the $70 or so for the Calibrated Quicktime Converter codec would anyone recommend the ProRes codec for me? I will be using 3D matchmoving programs (Autodesk Matchmover 2010/PFTrack 5.3), Autodesk Maya, and The Foundry Nuke or Apple Shake for compositing. What workflow would you recommend for me at just the importing stage off of the P2 cards of a Panasonic HVX200A? I appreciate your time and responses. Have a good night.

Bryant Coffey