Is native prores stable enough to edit feature film? Or should we go dnxhd?

[Toke Trangbæk]

Ok i get it and i hear what you are saying in this scenario.

But i would really just like to hear from somebody that have worked with native prores in Avid 6 on a big project.

Let’s say i have a documentary – 300 hours – prores – it was planned to edit in fcp – but the producer now wanna change to Avid… Will Avid 6 new native prores feature be solid enough to dó this?

[Shane Ross]

The likelyhood that someone, in the very short time that MC6 has been out (2-3 months), has used MC6 for this specific workflow, AND who frequents these forums…is mighty slim. You might, indeed, be the first. There might be people who did short projects, but not long ones.

And Michael…If you AMA, then transcode, that is a FAST IMPORT as well.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Job Ter burg]

Michael, I thought you could AMA-link to a ProRes file, then not Transcode but rather Consolidate, and that this would be a re-wrap rather than a retranscode.

[Job Ter burg]

I don’t think you should transcode but consolidate then, Shane.

[Michael Phillips]

Unless something changed in 6.0.1, I was told that the rewrap was done as part of the “fast import” process. During beta I entered a bug that my ProRes was being transcoded with AMA, and that was the response I got. I agree that an AMA “consolidate” logically, that’s how it should work. I will try to test it again today. I would be glad to stand corrected.

Michael

Michael Phillips

[Michael Phillips]

Quick test under 6.0.1 on Windows 7. I understand the fact that it doesn’t allow for Prores encoding… but since the incoming file is ProRes (HQ), the rewrap process should not invoke an encode process.

1. AMA to ProRes(HQ) file. Plays back fine. Highlight and click on consolidate/transcode. Go through first screen of settings, then second about linking master clips to target drive. Click OK. Get message to check error message in console. Lots of info about how codec being read not supporting, resorting to sample player. So no rewrap “copy” of ProRes file to Avid managed media. Logically, this would be the way to do it.

2. Since there is no encode on Windows 7, the “fast import” was not even a choice since I could not select ProRes(HQ) as a target resolution. Dead end.

So it seems, unless I am missing a step, that ProRes on Windows is AMA playback only. Select alternative codec (DNxHD) for render and/or transcodes. I will need to get a v6 on my Mac to test there.

Michael

Michael Phillips

[Shane Ross]

Yes, Windows machines have ProRes playback only…cannot encode or transcode to ProRes.

And I was told that AMA then Transcode was a FAST IMPORT. I THOUGHT I was anyway…could be that the CONSOLIDATE feature is the fast import. But I swear it was the transcode option.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Michael Phillips]

Logically a “consolidate” is only a copy/rewrap to Avid managed media, but does not work that way on Windows for whatever reason since technically, it is still only doing playback.

I need to get on a Mac version to see what’s it’s doing, but then again, “logically” it would still be a copy/rewrap as part of the consolidate process – especially for entire takes (and not sub-spans of files). I remember doing it once as a transcode during beta, and while it “fast”, it was decoding and encoding from and to the same codec. But I will test and get to the bottom of this. The Avid website didn’t offer much detail on this specific process.

Michael

Michael Phillips

[John Pale]

Just tested on a Mac. Here’s how it works.

Pro Res media linked as AMA does not Consolidate…you get an error message telling you that you need to transcode. It will not re-wrap as MXF.

ProRes media imported into Avid as Pro Res MXF will Consolidate…no need to transcode.

Have not tried with tape media captured as Pro Res, but I would guess it would be the same as imported media.

[Michael Phillips]

Thanks John. The question now is what where the times associated with either method? Was one fast than the other? Did the import process say “fast import” while importing? And if so, how did that compare to the transcode process?

Or another test; with AMA/transcode. Select the same codec as the source and time it, then select a different codec and time it. What are the times between those two? This will indicate whether it is a straight copy, or a decode + re-encode process is happening.

Michael

Michael Phillips