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Exporting DVCProHD Timeline to ProRes Master File
Hi,
I received an hard drive with a movie edited as DVCProHD (from P2 cards). I made some post production work and now I need to export my digital master file as ProRes.I would like to keep the quality as best as possible without wasting too much time.
If I export my timeline as prores “using quicktime conversion”, I guess that final cut will use render files to do so and it will be a re-compression of something already recompressed during rendering.
I don’t want to duplicate my sequence into a prores timeline since it use mixed formats and motion effects and it would be time consuming to re conform everything.
I cannot use Send to Compressor. I tried it and I get an horrible quality if do not use frame controls, and a disturbing thin green line / halo on the left side if I use frame controls (I think it should be a bug because I get it every time I use frame controls in Compressor 3)
So I decided to go for the “Export as quicktime movie” and use “ProRes 1280×720” intead of “current settings”. I guess that if I check the “Recompress all frames” option Final Cut will re-render my entire starting from the DVCProHD footage and not from the render files so there will not be a recompression of the render files.
Is that right?
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9 Replies
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I would change the sequence codec by Prores, set “Render in High Precision” and export with current settings.
Then import the file to Compressor and resize it to 1280×720 with Frame Control On.
rafael -
+1 to what Rafael said.
Change the sequence codec to prores and re-render all, full.
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
Thanks Raphael. Normally I will follow your advice but I’m looking to a faster way to do the job.
If I change my sequence settings now DVCPro HD will resize / distort and I have reconform my sequence. I did not edited the movie and – since it has several motion effects (from the final cut motion tab) – I should also start over with every single motion effect…
Moreover compressor will make an annoying thin green line on the left side of my footage when I have frame controls ON.
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[Pierpaolo Ferlaino] “If I change my sequence settings now DVCPro HD will resize / distort and I have reconform my sequence. I did not edited the movie and – since it has several motion effects (from the final cut motion tab) – I should also start over with every single motion effect..”
No.
You just change the codec. The output file will be Prores 960x 720 HD pixels.
Then you resize in Compressor (1280×720) with the Frame Control ON + Best scaling.
rafael -
[Pierpaolo Ferlaino] “Normally I will follow your advice but I’m looking to a faster way to do the job”
You’re going to have to be patient. In the long run, this is the fastest way to achieve what you want. Correct workflow is important.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Creative Pro Users Group -
Thanks!
Changing codec to prores, setting “always render in high precision YUV” and sending to compressor with frame control ON worked really fine! And no green line!!I still don’t know why when sending to compressor and using frame controls ON in all other situations (wether I’m upscaling or downscaling) produces a green line on the left (on many different machines)…
I will try to ask in the proper forum…Thanks again!
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I’ve used this workflow loads of times. Working with and editing DVCProHD 720p formats then transcoding on output. However, I didn’t use Rafaels method, I simply changed the output settings under Export Quicktime movie. I made a self-contained file and left re-compress frame unchecked. I simply matched the ProRes flavor of choice to the frame rate of my sequence and let FCP render out the 960×720 DVCProHD timeline to ProRes 422 1280×720. This worked for everytime and it only had rendered gen-loss (generation loss) once. The other method seems like 2 render passes for 2 gen-losses.
Now, I don’t know if I’d do the latter for broadcast but for corporate videos and web deliver it was just fine. Not saying my method was write and theirs was wrong, cause either method will work. Its just my 2 cents.
OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD
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I tried both Rafael’s and Matt’s methods.
Starting from a DvcPro HD timeline both movies seems to be visually identical though exporting via compressor doubles render times.
So I made some test and tried an HDV 1440 x 1080 timeline with superimposed subtitles.
Both methods worked fine for video but compressor resizing was slightly better with the subtitles.
No visual difference with subtitles for the DvcPro HD timeline…
In the future I will use both methods depending on the final deliever.
Thanks -
So I made some test and tried an HDV 1440 x 1080 timeline with superimposed subtitles
This is fine for a test, but I wouldn’t ever transcode anything to HDV. HDV is like DVCProHD. They are anamorphic HD formats. DVCProHD has both 960×720 and 1280×1080. HDV is also 1480×1080. I would always transcode this to a full raster codec.
Starting from a DvcPro HD timeline both movies seems to be visually identical though exporting via compressor doubles render times.
Compressor does lengthen the encoding time, but almost always does a better job. However, be careful with those frame controls. Even though there is a best option, doesn’t mean it always yields the BEST results. This is ever so true with rate conversions. Just keep an eye out for wicked frame blending and pixel morphing.
And depending on your deliver, like you said, exporting your DVCProHD timeline straight to ProRes is just fine too.
OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD
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