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ISO universal codec
I suspect in this unsettled period, many of us will have this problem.
I am currently editing with FCP 7. This year, I’ve been asked to supply video files for use in Adobe Premiere and Avid, both Mac and PC based. This has proved a surprisingly difficult process.
Even when there are codecs such as Avid’s DNxHD, which allegedly allow a FCP editor to export a file that a PC-Avid system can use, they often depend on the recipient having updated their own codecs. For example, I discovered, after many hours creating the files, that a certain major PBS station has a conservative policy of not updating their codecs promptly.
Is there a near-universal codec which can be relied on to work on all NLEs, all platforms?
Bob C
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22 Replies
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If the destination isn’t staying up-to-date, it’s pretty tough.
Cinepak is a classic…
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,Adobe Certified Instructor
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Coming from FCP I continue to master to Prores.
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com -
I’ve used Quicktime Motion Jpeg and Animation with people who use Avid, FCP, Premiere and Vegas, no issues ever came up.
Vince Becquiot
Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area -
[Tom Daigon] “Coming from FCP I continue to master to Prores.”
I honestly have a difficult time seeing any modern facility being so behind as to not have up-to-date QT drivers to read ProRes.
Again, no matter what platform you’re on, no matter what edit system you use…
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,Adobe Certified Instructor
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[Tim Kolb] “I honestly have a difficult time seeing any modern facility being so behind as to not have up-to-date QT drivers to read ProRes.”
Me too. But these are facilities which produce weekly nationally-televised shows, and I’m here to tell you…
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What about a dvcpro hd or avc-I p2 compatible MXF file?
Whenever I deliver that, I get no problem as usually any modern nle can read p2.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “dvcpro hd or avc-I p2 compatible MXF file”
DVCPro HD sounds good. That one appears in the list of FCP export formats, but the latter, I’m not familiar with. I wound up yesterday exporting Motion-JPEG, and putting the whole show back on tape for good measure. Nothing in my inbox this morning … yet.
Which format do you think delivers the best combination of quality, small file size, and universal (whatever the OS or NLE) functionality? I’d rather just settle on one.
I know, everyone SHOULD have ProRes, but anything that requires the recipient to be current — forget it.
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AVC-I or AVC-Intra is a Panasonic 10 bit 100 mb/sec codec. They also have a 50 mb/sec variant. Hey are commonly referred to AVC-I 100 or AVC-I 50.
AVC-I 100 is same data rate as DvcPro HD, but it’s 10 bit full raster. AVC-I 50 is half that data rate of DVCProHD, but it’s thin raster (still 10 bit).
Their NLE must be cool with P2 formats. You can use a free compressor plug in from Panasonic to make an AVC-I 100 p2 file, or use MXF4mac. Supposedly Adobe Media Encoder can make p2 compatible MXF files, but I have never tried it. The compressor and MXF4mac methods most definitely work.
Hope that helps.
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Yes, Media encoder makes P2 (even right back to the card) compatible files.
HOWEVER…since the files are compatible in structure, they are also compatible in naming protocol…which means the file names are every bit as useful and intuitive as normal P2 files.
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,Adobe Certified Instructor
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[Tim Kolb] “which means the file names are every bit as useful and intuitive as normal P2 files.”
You can easily use P2CMS to modify the metadata. I prefer P2Flow, actually, but Mac only.
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