.MOV and different cameras

[Richard Sanchez]

No, MOV alone is not a basis to not need transcoding. MOV is a wrapper, but what matters is the codec. A very common codec that DSLRs shoot is H.264 which will have to be transcoded before you can edit. The Alexa shoots to ProRes444 which technically doesn’t need to be transcoded, but in the case of that camera you probably want to apply a look up table, and ProRes444 will require a lot of bandwidth, so it’s a good idea to transcode.

What camera do you plan to use? Bigger concerns are if you are shooting with Canon 5D Mark ii, that camera doesn’t include timecode on the clips, however QTChange (Available at https://www.videotoolshed.com/product/42/qtchange) will add the camera’s clock information from the THM files, to create timecode that will allow you to properly conform at the end of the project. The 5D mark iii embeds timecode, so you’re good in that respect.

Richard Sanchez
Los Angeles, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks

[Mads Frausig]

Thank you very much for the answer, Richard.

MOV is wrapper, DNxHD is codec – got it 🙂

So I already have the material.

Some of the material is 5D. I thought that timecode was only necessary when syncing?
I also have material from a Canon fs100 and other .MOV files with a mpeg-2 codec, etc.

What workflow would you suggest?

/Mads

[Richard Sanchez]

Timecode is necessary for more than syncing, you need it if you’re going to create low res media for offline and then match batch for online, and since Mark ii doesn’t have timecode here’s where it gets really weird. If you import Mark ii footage, it’s starting timecode will always be 01:00:00:00 but if you AMA it, it will come in as 00:00:00:01. Meaning, you would be force to batch import clips for online, but batch import won’t allow you to just upres the portion you used, you’d have to import the entire clip which defeat the purpose. Time of day timecode is also useful if your director says, “I remember we shot it right after lunch.” you’ll have some kind of indication of the time (Of course this is also depending on your camera op setting the time on the camera correctly, which doesn’t always happen with 5D camera ops, but still it’s a useful indicator)

MPEG-2 is a long GOP codec. Without getting overly technical, it’s a compression where frames are based on each other. Instead of each frame existing individually, it tracks the differences between frames. (GOP means, Group of Pictures). Long GOP formats are not meant for editing, and will have to be transcoded.

I haven’t used the FS100, but if it’s tapeless, AMA the clip and then transcode it. With 5D Mark ii, run QTChange first, then AMA and transcode.

Richard Sanchez
Los Angeles, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks