Outputting 1080i sequences

[Ryan Holmes]

[Frank Cervarich] “What should I select as my options to create a high quality master?”

Are you laying this off to tape? Do want a digital file? How will you archive the digital file – LTO tape, hard disk, Blu-Ray data disc? I would probably use ProRes or DNxHD as my codec of choice (assuming Uncompressed isn’t an option), and then back that up however you deem appropriate – LTO, hard drive, etc. If you wan to compress it more heavily you could do a h.264 mp4 @ 100mbps or higher. Problem is that h.264 is a heavily compressed format and not an edit friendly format. But depending on what you’re doing it may be a worthy solution.

[Frank Cervarich] “What should I select as my options to create a copy for placing on the web that will be universally recognized but still have high quality? “

AME has presets in it for web video. Just look under the “Web Video” area for YouTube or Vimeo. Those are a good place to start. The most universally accepted format is a h.264 codec wrapped in a mp4 wrapper. Those files play on Windows/Mac, iProducts, Android, etc.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ivan Myles]

Recommend H.264 with AAC audio at 320 kbps for web distribution. You might need to render multiple versions depending on requirements. Consider submitting high bitrate video to sites that re-render.

There are a few options for mastering. Commonly used codecs include ProRes, DNxHQ, PNG, and uncompressed RGBA (compressor = “None”). The QuickTime uncompressed 422 and AVI V210 YUV codecs maintain luma and chroma information, which is helpful if you need to make color corrections at a later date. (I’m not sure about ProRes, but the other codecs convert to RGB during encoding.) 10-bit varieties are preferred.

[Frank Cervarich]

Ryan –

I wish I could say I was laying off to LTO or using the cloud BUT I still use hard drives, and they are non-RAID array type. I suppose that I would lean toward the Avid codec rather than the Quicktime one if I had to chose between the two.

What other items should be adjusted to get maximum quality based on your experience?

What about the soon arrival of H.265 in regard to a web codec? I notice that the mp4 that I get out of Premiere Pro does not play well on a Quicktime player but, of course, it does great on an Adobe Reader.

Thanks for the tips. Would welcome more.

[Ivan Myles]

[Frank Cervarich] “I notice that the mp4 that I get out of Premiere Pro does not play well on a Quicktime player”

Use the master file to render H.264 MP4 using QuickTime Pro.

[Ryan Holmes]

[Frank Cervarich] “What other items should be adjusted to get maximum quality based on your experience?”

Just remember that Quicktime is just a wrapper, like AVI or MXF. Quicktime, as a wrapper, can take virtually any codec – ProRes, DNxHD, h.264, Uncompressed, Motion JPEG, etc. So you can export out a Quicktime DNxHD file if you wanted to store that long term.

[Frank Cervarich] “BUT I still use hard drives”

You can do this….just make sure you spin them up every 3-6 months. Hard drives have to be spun and started occasionally in order to maintain working order.

[Frank Cervarich] “What about the soon arrival of H.265 in regard to a web codec? “

When it arrives, it looks to be a step up from h.264. But at this point it is only just now leaving the standardization stage. I don’t see it being widely adopted or implemented for another couple years. It took h.264 several years to finally move to ubiquity. I expect h.265 will get there, but if you’re doing files for the web today, h.264 is still you’re best bet.

You might have a look at Vimeo’s compression guidelines page. They have good tips and video walkthroughs for most every software: https://vimeo.com/help/compression

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost