HD file for PBS Tech Spec Evaluation

[John Pale]

Without seeing it , it’s hard to say. There could be some value in recaptuing uncompressed, as your fx and color correction renders would not be subject to DVCPRO-HD compression. However, tons of stuff airs everyday in the DVCPRO-HD codec and generally looks fine…even outstanding.

I’d be inclined to just take the final product and create an uncompressed version in Compressor…..only do the recapture if you are seeing obvious compression artifacts. But without seeing it for myself, it’s hard to make a judgement.

Is the final delivery to PBS going to be the file?…HDCAM-SR? Not DVCPRO-HD tape, I am assuming.

[Ralf Meyer]

Thanks John,
your response is a long my line of thinking and will scrutinize the uncompressed file. And yes the final output is to HDCAM tape.

Ralf

[Rob Tinworth]

How did you capture the original tapes? If it was a native transfer, you’re not going to gain anything from recapturing uncompressed 8 bit.

But you are taking a hit by rendering in DVCProHD. It’s slight, but it’s there.

It’s worth copying your sequence into an uncompressed timeline, hitting render and exporting from there.

Something to watch for (regardless of which route you go) is aspect + pixel ratio. Your DCVProHD material is likely 1280×1080 with the corresponding pixel aspect ratio.

If you do paste your timeline into an uncompressed 1920×1080 square timeline you need to check that FCP has done all the basic motion adjustments correctly. You may find you also need to rebuild some of your effects. It can be a headache – which is why ProRes being full raster is such a great thing.

If you just use compressor to transcode your master file, it should do the anamorphic shift for you, but you’ll have the slight quality hit from the original renders.

Rob Tinworth
http://www.1021.tv

[David Roth weiss]

[Rob Tinworth] “It’s worth copying your sequence into an uncompressed timeline, hitting render and exporting from there. “

There’s no need for that. All you need to do is go to Sequence>>Settings, change the compressor to whatever codec you decide to go with, re-render the sequence. From that point forward, anytime you Export>>Quicktime Movie at current settings it will yield a file that precisely the codec you switched to when you changed the compressor setting.

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.

[Ralf Meyer]

Hi Rob & David,
it was a native capture – shot in DVCPROHD 1080i60 (FS&P2), edited in DVCPROHD 1080i60 (all non – DVCPROHD 1080i60 material coverted to DVCPROHD 1080i60 in Compressor).

The only reason for me to try to get the best possible Uncompressed 8 bit file is that the PBS station that will do the Spec Check and Close Caption work etc. asked for an 8 bit uncompressed file to work with.

And since I did not like 2 shots from my first conversion – DVCPROHD 1080i60 Final Cut Self-contained QT file through Compressor to an Uncompressed 8 bit file – I am now rebuilding the Original Timeline and will set the compressor in the sequence settings to Uncompressed 8 bit and export it as a Quicktime movie with the current settings.

I’m curious how this will look – especially regarding the 2 marginal shots.

BTW: I’m sure you all know this – but it surprised me quite a bit that a 30 min show conversion from DVCPROHD 1080i60 to 8 bit Uncompressed resulted in a 195 GIG file.

Thanks again

Ralf

[David Roth weiss]

Ralf,

8-bit uncompressed at 1920×1080 is approximately 417Gb per hour, so your 195Gb file should not surprise you.

If you don;t already have it, get the VideoSpace widget for free from Digital Heaven. It will tell you very precisely how much storage space is required for codecs at any running time you plug in.

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.