Intermediate codecs informally compared

[Angelo Lorenzo]

Since PPro is relatively format agnostic, we have our pick of intermediate formats. I did a really informal test of how some of them stack up after 5 rounds of recompression and it may be surprising https://www.fallenempiredigital.com/blog/2013/02/28/avid-dnxhd-vs-apple-prores-vs-gopro-cineform-recompression-generation-loss/

——————–
Angelo Lorenzo

Need to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
Introducing ProRes Helper, an awesome little app that makes it possible
Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
RED transcoding, on-set DIT, and RED Epic rental services
Fallen Empire – The Blog
A blog dedicated to filmmaking, the RED workflow, and DIT tips and tricks
Can your post production question fit in a tweet? Follow me on Twitter

Tweets by FallenEmpireDPS

[David Cherniack]

Interesting. But in actual use anyone who would re-compress anything through 5 generations would be a complete moron. More interesting is how they stack up after 1-2 generations – an actual use scenario,

David
AllinOneFilms.com

[Angelo Lorenzo]

You’ll notice I preface the entire test with that point. I think the greatest take away is that there is some deficiency with DNxHD, whether it be purely compression or heavy pre-filtering) that causes it to degrade so severely.

Perhaps a follow up is in order with some 1 or 2 rounds of compression. It would be interesting to see how, say, ProRes performs against Cineform when it comes to green screen keying as Cineform appears to be less blocky overall.

Again, an informal test but there is still interesting take-aways.

——————–
Angelo Lorenzo

Need to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
Introducing ProRes Helper, an awesome little app that makes it possible
Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
RED transcoding, on-set DIT, and RED Epic rental services
Fallen Empire – The Blog
A blog dedicated to filmmaking, the RED workflow, and DIT tips and tricks
Can your post production question fit in a tweet? Follow me on Twitter

[David Cherniack]

[Angelo Lorenzo] “I think the greatest take away is that there is some deficiency with DNxHD, whether it be purely compression or heavy pre-filtering) that causes it to degrade so severely.”

Degradation after 5 generations isn’t any meaningful take away at all. The only meaningful degradation is that after one or two generations. Do that test and there’s something worth considering.

David
AllinOneFilms.com

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[David Cherniack] “Degradation after 5 generations isn’t any meaningful take away at all. The only meaningful degradation is that after one or two generations. Do that test and there’s something worth considering.”

Measuring or viewing degradation over multiple (5+) generations has been a meaningful way to gauge codec’s “lossiness” since the beginning of digital video and graphics.

What’s meaningful to you, is not necessarily meaningful to others.

Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Engineer
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA

[David Cherniack]

Let’s not confuse theoretical relevance with real world applicability is my only point. No one today needs to be going more than one or two generations from source. If they do have to go 5 I agree it’s nice to know that Proves is the best option. Otherwise show me the difference in my real working situation to have any meaning for me.

David
AllinOneFilms.com