Native H.264 workflow in Resolve

[Marc Wielage]

[Paul Campbell] “I’ve used this analogy before, but transcoding H.264 to PR would be the video equivalent of converting an mp3 back to wav, yes? You can’t get the original uncompressed information back, all you’re doing is creating a larger file size, but it’s a necessary step if you want to color grade since you’ll at least be grading in 10-bit space, yes?”
No. It’s like pouring 8 gallons of water in a 10-gallon bucket: there’s no extra water there. But it is less stress on the computer and it will play more easily, since the CPU doesn’t have to work as hard in decoding the H.264 compression. You don’t get any more bits that way, even if you pad it out to 10-bit. It’ll still “step” in gradiated-edge or clipped situations.

[Ole Kristiansen]

Why you should use Avid DNxHD and Apple ProRes

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https://www.redsharknews.com/post/item/88-why-you-should-use-dnxhd-and-prores

[Paul Campbell]

Hey, that’s a fine analogy right there, so fine in fact that I’m using it from now on. Ok, I get it. (This time I actually think I do ☺ ) Thanks again.

[Paul Campbell]

Thanks for the link, Ole.

Of course, now I have more questions about using Optimized Media in Resolve, but I’ll save that for a new thread since it’s off-topic from this one.

Stay cool, herd.

[Ole Kristiansen]

Faster Resolve Editing Using Optimized Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDa_DqKQo-0

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[Marc Wielage]

[Paul Campbell] “Buy hey, since you brought it up, would you mind describing briefly your workflow with this project you mention? Are you transcoding the H264 stock stuff to PR so that it will play nicely in your timeline without giving your processor a migraine? How was the other footage compressed that isn’t H264? (Or maybe it was shot with a serious rig, and there was no compression to begin with??)”
I have no idea what camera was used to shoot the material. It could have been a reasonable camera, and for whatever reason the stock footage company opted to sell their material only as 8-bit H.264 2K and 4K. I’m taking it all and transcoding to the exact same resolution in ProRes 422HQ (for 8-bit) or ProRes 444 (for the 10-bit material). I’ve gotten a few oddball QuickTime Photo ad QuickTime PNG files over the years, even some QuickTime Animation (which is a gnarly format), and always converted them to 444.

Given enough horsepower and storage, I’d gladly use DPX for everything. I think ProRes 444 is a good compromise for my clients and certainly doesn’t compromise the material at all. It makes the workflow simpler and is one less thing to have to worry about. I have a whole set of instructions for the editor when it comes to turning over the material for color, but the problem nowadays is a) everybody’s in a hurry, b) a lot of people don’t read, and c) I basically get told, “well, this is the way we did it the last time” and I just deal with it as best I can.

There are some other H.264 issues, like video range vs. data range clips, and you have to stay on top of that as well.

[Paul Campbell]

Marc, thanks for all of this, and everyone else, too. I could keep asking you guys questions all day, but I fear it’ll get off-topic and I don’t wish to annoy the Admins. (This thread really picked up some steam, for me anyway!) My original question has been more than sufficiently answered, and it’s been quite an education.

Happy Holidays to all of you, and I’ll see you out in the ether.

[Sunderland Green]

The H.264 codec is very CPU intensive, therefore, it takes some serious computer power to decode its compression, that’s why your editing experience is so terrible and the playback is rather fluctuating on the timeline of Davinci Resolve when the processor of your computer is not powerful enough to handle the H.264 video. In addition, H.264 is an 8-bit format, if you edit it natively, you start to lose image quality as you do color correction or composite gradients to create greenscreen keys. There just isn’t a lot of room to work.