MXF vs. ProRes 422/HQ…? (AVC Intra Footage)

[Shane Ross]

[Norman Greenwood] “Would I gain any visual quality if I used MXF over ProRes 422?”

I doubt it. ProRes is a fairly good codec, also 10-bit and also 4:2:2.

[Norman Greenwood] “Should I use ProRes 422 HQ instead of ProRes 422 [if MXF is not a better choice]?”

What is your final intended output? That dictates a lot. As does your workflow. DO you intend to color correct in FCP or send it to COLOR? If you send it to Color, I think you have to transcode it to ProRes…Color will not work with the native MXF files. But unsure how they respond to the proxie files that a couple of the third party applications make.

What import software are you talking about? Raylight, MXF4QT or Calibrated?

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
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[Norman Greenwood]

I was thinking Calibrated, but I may use COLOR. So I will probably stick with ProRes 422, I was leaning towards that anyways.

I plan to output this to Blu-Ray and also have it projected on some big screens. Would ProRes 422 or ProRes 422 HQ be better for this? Or would each be respective to Blu-Ray and big screens?

[Jeremy Garchow]

At this particular time, AVC-I is not enabled in real time in FCP. You can download the codec from Panasonic, but FCP sees it as 8 bit and also knocks it down to smpte range. As of now, it is best to transcode to ProRes or HQ. Since your material is 10 bit to start with, ProResHQ will work. Your file sizes will be bigger, but you will get a little less compression.

Hopefully AVC-I will get licensed from Panasonic by Apple someday. that would be so super cool because you can then edit the native MXFs like you can with DVCPro HD and third party components ( I love and use MXF4mac. Check this out for a primer:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/garchow_jeremy/dvc_pro_hd.php

[Shane Ross]

Calibrated doesn’t work with Color. Is you plan to do that, best to import as ProRes Regular and non-HQ will be fine.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Norman Greenwood]

So it would be a bad idea to use ProRes 422 HQ in Color then?

And again, thanks guys. I appreciate all the help.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Norman Greenwood] “So it would be a bad idea to use ProRes 422 HQ in Color then? “

No, not at all. You can use HQ for the whole workflow if you want to.

Jeremy

[Sterling Johnson]

I to am considering shooting AVC intra 100. Now that AJA has a product that captures in ProRes422 HQ, does any one have an opinion on which is the better codec?

[Shane Ross]

ProRes HQ really is for codecs ABOVE 1080i…like 2K and 4K. Regular ProRes is what you should use for 1080i or 1080p video.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Jeremy Garchow]

There is no native encoder for AVC-I material and FCP.

You have to use ProRes.

[Banks Meador]

“At this particular time, AVC-I is not enabled in real time in FCP. You can download the codec from Panasonic, but FCP sees it as 8 bit and also knocks it down to smpte range…”

Hi, Jeremy… Is your above statement still true? Bummer if it is, because I just purchased an AVC-Intra option board for my HPM-110 (P2 recorder) so I could use MXF4MAC to edit the files natively. If I use that workflow, am I still doomed to 8 bit and smpte range when working with AVCINTRA?

Thanks for your insight…

Banks