—Export Suggestions for Hi Res Masters…

[Walter Soyka]

[Anthony Paglia] “TGA seems faster than PNG when it comes to encoding and seems to be same quality… 1) Is this actually the case?
“

Yes. TGA and PNG are both lossless encoders; that is, the data is exactly the same as the original after compression and decompression.

PNG uses the DEFLATE compression scheme — the same one used in ZIP compression. TGA uses run-length encoding (RLE), which is the same scheme used in the QuickTime Animation codec.

PNG compression is computationally intense, but yields smaller compressed file sizes for photographic sources. TGA compression is computationally simple, but yields very small file sizes for animations with large areas of flat color.

TGA and PNG both also support alpha channels.

One critical difference between TGA and PNG is that TGA is limited to 8-bit output; PNG supports 16-bit output. If your sources and output are also 8-bit, this may not be a concern.

[Anthony Paglia] “Anyway, the duration of video’s are around 15 mins or so – mix of live on cam and motion graphics. Sizes are coming out to 15-17gb at 720p. Ideally wanted something that would retain quality as near to PNG as possible while coming in at much lower sizes – prob under 3gb or around there. 2) Any suggestions…? What do you use…what have you found to be best in terms of speed, size of file and quality?”

If you are committed to using image sequences, JPG might be a reasonable compromise. Its compression is lossy, but at higher quality levels that’s not really noticeable, and JPG compression is very similar to ProRes or DNxHD compression.

If you do not need to use an image sequence, then DNxHD movies (MXF) might be a reasonable option.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Anthony Paglia]

Thanks Walter.

So, DNxHD is what you would use given same situation and preferences?

I downloaded AVID codecs but I don’t have the option for “DNxHD”. I have CS5.5, what else would I need to download?

[Walter Soyka]

[Anthony Paglia] “So, DNxHD is what you would use given same situation and preferences?”

I actually like image sequences quite a bit — but I’m largely an animator, so I am biased. If you want a single movie file instead, DNxHD is a good option.

[Anthony Paglia] “I downloaded AVID codecs but I don’t have the option for “DNxHD”. I have CS5.5, what else would I need to download?”

With CS5.5, you’ll have to export QuickTime in order to use DNxHD.

Premiere Pro CC and later have direct support for DNxHD in the MXF format.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Anthony Paglia]

I checked under QTime and DNxHD wasn’t an option…called anything else? After AVID codec download, it added codecs but that doesn’t appear under QTime.

[Tim Kolb]

Download GoPro CineForm Studio (free) and try CineForm…10 bit 4:2:2 color and wavelet transform.

Higher spec versions available at a cost, but I store a lot of my masters in this format…works well for me.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

Adobe Certified Instructor

[Walter Soyka]

I’ll second Tim’s recommendation for CineForm. I use it quite a bit here, and it’s awesome — but I will mention from first-hand experience that it’s less well-known than DNxHD, so using it to interchange with other facilities can be a challenge.

However, CineForm is a great-looking codec, and I think it’s a bit simpler to use than DNxHD/MOV — as I’ll outline now.

I had initially suggested DNxHD because Premiere Pro CC’s native support for it is so good. DNxHD via QuickTime has two drawbacks: it’s slower to export and Avid’s QuickTime implementation has a few weird bugs.

You should be able to use DNxHD via QuickTime like this:

[image]

All the important settings, including frame size and frame rate, are in the Codec Settings window:

Changing the normal video settings below in the Export window will not work.

It seems that many users have run into problems using 709 levels; Tom Daigon has recommended using RGB:

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/933850

(Excellent thread with a couple other mastering options to consider!)

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Anthony Paglia]

Thanks Tim, is that a codec that you can import into premiere?

You need to download the software to get the codec here? =

https://gopro.com/software-app/gopro-studio-edit-software

Walter – the codecs magically showed up after some time so ran some test exports last night and found out that the settings don’t work – so running a test exporting the right way – as you outlined. Thanks so much for the time taken to diagram that sucker! Really appreciate it.

[Tim Kolb]

[Anthony Paglia] “Thanks Tim, is that a codec that you can import into premiere? “

Yes…I also use it for AE renders frequently.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

Adobe Certified Instructor

[Anthony Paglia]

Tim, any difference between AVI and MOV Cineform…What do you suggest?

And, I didn’t see wavelet transform – where’s that in premiere?

What GOP Length setting?

Thanks