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FCP DVCPRO HD and finding the Right Codec
Hello. I have been doing some research on this topic, but I’m not satisfied with what I’m finding partly because a lot of the posts are pre-Final Cut Studio 2. Here is what I’m trying to decide:
Just shot a feature length movie using a Panasonic HVX200, stored to P2 cards. We have about 16 hours of footage. The MXF files come out to about 420GB worth of data. I’m in the process of rewrapping the MXF files to the only choice of DVCPRO HD. My current understanding is that DVCPRO HD is a lossy codec to use and that it is best to transcode the files to something else. I did a few simple tests with Apple ProRes and uncompressed 8bit. both increase the file size, which is fine. Surprisingly, I thought the uncompressed looked MUCH better than the ProRes, much bigger difference than I’ve seen with other video/codecs in the past. We’ll be eventually laying to HDCAM and DVD, so DVCPRO HD will not be the final output. Hoping to see this feature on a big screen at some point, so maintaining quality is fairly important. I understand that it’s not going to look amazing, but I’d like it to not be distractingly poor either.Any Suggestions on what Codec to use? I’d like to put a rough cut together staying in DVCPRO HD and then transcode the footage we’re actually using. At that point, what should we go to?
Here’s some specs on the system, and the footage:
I’m running a brand new Mac Pro, with Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core, 6GB RAM, and Final Cut studio 2
The video was shot with Panasonic HVX200, 720/24fps
It is rewrapped as DVCPRO HDI know this question has come up before, I apologize for reposting it, but I’m looking for the NEWEST info I can find. Thank you so much.
http://www.steviewondershow.com -
2 Replies
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This will probably not be the answer that you want, but here it goes….
DVCPro HD is a perfectly fine Online Codec. Yes it is a compressed Codec, but you will not gain anything other than potential color gradations by transcoding it now or later.
When you tried ProRes did you use “ProRes” or “ProRes HQ”? ProRes is the Offline/ SD flavor of ProRes, so it will not look anything near as good as 8 Bit Uncompressed HD. That said, DVCPro HD is an 8 BIt Codec, so you don’t really gain anything in transcoding to 8 Bit. ProRes (and ProRes HQ) on the other hand is a 10 bit Codec which will give you vastly more color gradation which will benifit you when you get the show color graded, Apple also claims that it is a lossless Codec. ProRes HQ also runs at just about 25MB/ sec (approx the same as 10 bit uncompressed SD) which is a far cry better than 8 bit Uncompressed HD at or around 80-100MB/ sec, especially when you consider the added color space.
Hope that helps.
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Eric,
this does help. I intended to use ProRes HQ, but now that i think about it, i’m not sure that i did. that would explain it. it’s been a good codec from past experiences, so i’d be happy to use it. the data rate is great too. Thank you for your response.
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