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

[Chris Harlan]

Now, I’ve only been cutting promos with it, but the ProRes experience has been terrific in it for me.

[Chris Harlan]

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

I don’t know if I count or not, but this is what I’ve done so far:

I’ve done a season’s worth of promos (13) for dramatic scripted, with all 42 min episodes on board in the same project at the same time. All were transcode rewraps of ProRes HQ. Everything ran smoothly, with the following two exceptions:

1) The automatic space allocator in transcode does not accurately assess the required disk space, generally more than doubling the actual amount of space required. The file transcodes accurately, but the allocator will not let you proceed if it thinks you don’t have enough space. I do not know if this has been fixed in 6.5, but it is a consistent problem on 6.

2) Coming from PoRres Quicktime, there is the possibility of some sort of metadata mismatch that can throw off sync. This problem has only occurred for me @25fps, and is inconsistent. When it happens, it effects both MXF re-wraps and DNx transcodes. It is also visible with AMA, so its quickly spotted. My answer was to pass the files through Compressor, which ironed out the issue without fail. Since my source files all came from the same Post House, I don’t know if this was an issue restricted to their setup, or something wider. I did notice that files processed on the same day, seemed to have the same problem.

Otherwise, re-wraped ProResHQ behaved flawlessly. I don’t know if that helps you, but there it is.

[Chris Harlan]

Oh, yeah. A year and a half late. Sorry about that

[Chris Harlan]

FWIW:

I’ve done a season’s worth of promos (13) for dramatic scripted, with all 42 min episodes on board in the same project at the same time. All were transcode rewraps of ProRes HQ. Everything ran smoothly, with the following two exceptions:

1) The automatic space allocator in transcode does not accurately assess the required disk space, generally more than doubling the actual amount of space required. The file transcodes accurately, but the allocator will not let you proceed if it thinks you don’t have enough space. I do not know if this has been fixed in 6.5, but it is a consistent problem on 6.

2) Coming from PoRres Quicktime, there is the possibility of some sort of metadata mismatch that can throw off sync. This problem has only occurred for me @25fps, and is inconsistent. When it happens, it effects both MXF and DNx transcodes. It is also visible with AMA, so its quickly spotted. My answer was to pass the files through Compressor, which ironed out the issue without fail. Since my source files all came from the same Post House, I don’t know if this was an issue restricted to their setup, or something wider. I did notice that files processed on the same day, seemed to have the same problem.

Otherwise, ProResHQ behaved flawlessly. I don’t know if that helps you, but there it is.

[Danielle Zorbas]

Hi all,
I’ve read this thread and looked elsewhere for a clear answer.

I’ve got Canon 5DII footage I’ve been editing a longform project from in ProRes (HQ) in FCP. On mac.
Now moving to AVID Media Composer. On mac.

I want everything to come across- media, project…

Can someone please let me know which pathway to take?!

Many thanks,
Danielle

[Shane Ross]

AutomaticDuck.com will have tools to get the SEQUENCE and footage used in the sequence over…but that’s it. There is no way to port a full project and all the internal organization from FCP to Avid, or Avid to FCP.

I suggest finishing this show on FCP and doing future work on Avid if you plan on switching. Trying to switch now will just take time and cause a lot of frustration. If you can deal with both…have at it.

You’ll have to reimport the footage into Avid and re-organize your bins. And then you can DUCK over the sequence.

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

[Christian Hart]

HI Everyone – I wanted to resurrect this thread if that’s ok?
Going back to the ProRes QT import process in MC i have a test i hope might be helpful.

I don’t know if it is helpful truthfully but here it is anyway

I have found (on a mac, MC7.03, 23.976 project, straight ProRes files) that i could not use the consolidate function either. Even with Import color space set to 601/ 709 it did the rather weird thing of making new AMA linked clips (no new media) – rather than the error message people seemed to get with MC 6.5

If I AMA linked the ProRes and then transcoded, a 4m30sec file took 42 seconds to transcode & appear in a bin as mxf. (there was a .new appended to the file name)

If i fast imported (my resolution & frame rate is the same – i did get a “fast importing” confirmation box while doing this) the same 4m30sec file took longer – 48 seconds to import and appear in bin as .mxf (this time of course there was no “.new” appended – the filename had the exact same .mov name)

Both methods kept metadata intact (as far as “Source File” name & “Source Path” go anyway)
Both methods resulted in identical files sizes in the mxf folder as we’d expect.
Can anyone explain if there are benefits drawbacks to either method?
I’m thinking fast import (slower!) might be more robust when it comes to workflows involving other software due to the identical clip name (no “.new” ending)

I was wondering if anything has changed with MC7 and if i have missed out any useful new methods?
These days i get still get projects from people who are used to a FCP workflow, so they keep on making prores files before bringing me on – and as their editor wanting to work in MC i feel i should keep up to speed on all the ins & outs before i say – “let’s do it”.

ps. thanks to
John Pale for showing that fast import works – although i got exactly opposite speed results!
Chris Harlan for the info re stability / problem-free editing mxf wrapped ProRes with all but 25fps projects
Shane for reminding me that export same as source is not available should i ever AMA (not that I want to)
Michael Phillips for explaining all his thought processes – and being so thorough

best