Extremely long Transcoding times

[Michael Kammes]

5D and 7D is h.264. Highly compressed.

400GB? That’s a ton right there. I would think that amount of files PLUS the h.264 decode…..time is about right. How many hours? Data rates vary with the 5D and 7D so it’s hard to ballpark the time length of the files.

In the future, I would recommend:

NOT using MC for transcoding (i.e. importing). Use a 3rd party encoder which works better and faster AND doesn’t tie up Media Composer…that way you can begin editing while the 3rd party app is chugging away in the background transcoding. I recommend Telestream Episode, which can be distributed amongst many computers easily. Yo would wantt o do an encode so Avid can do a Fast Import, which is roughly 80% faster than a straight Import. ( https://michaelkammes.com/encoding/avid-is-self-aware-fast-import/ )

Have you tried using Menu Meters? Free application which allows you to see how your machine is using the processors…I use it to see how efficient the Codec and/or editing/transcoding application is hitting the processors.

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com

[Brendan Maghran]

Thanks Michael,

Good call on using a 3rd party transcoder, it’s a pain to do it this way. Unfortunately that’s not my call at work, but I will certainly bring it up. As for the data rate, I’m also not sure, I know that 4GB equals rougly 12 minutes of video. This footage was shot across the country and then just shipped to me on a external hard drive. Thanks for your help, Menu meters sounds great I’m going to download it right now. And if you’re ever working with double system 7D/5D footage I would recommend the program Pluraleyes, its great for syncing separate audio and video footage in the background.

Much Appreciated,
Brendan