P2 support in Adobe Premiere Pro???

[Karl Holt]

I asked this queation a month or so ago. It seems that misrosoft does not support DVCPROHD yet, and until they do Adobe cannot implement it.

We may be looking at next year before Adobe announces support for the camera. It’s annoying because Im sure a lot of use here are PC based. IMO Panasonic would do well trying to push this one as a lot of current HDV users are also PC based, and surely this is a market Panasonic would like to tap into.

I have heared Avid can edit DVCPROHD, but Im not sure whether this is just Avid on a Mac. If it’s true that DVCPROHD is currently a MAC only codec then thats a very big blow

[Brian Deviteri]

As I was told by Avid, Xpress Pro HD can edit DVCPRO HD on their PC versions… so I think a PC is capable of editing DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, and DVCPRO HD, as long as the codecs are present.

Until recently, I only knew of MainConcept offering the DVCPRO 25 and DVCPRO 50 codecs and they were $350 to purchase. I downloaded the demo in case I ever had any DVCPRO or DVCPRO 50 material to edit in PPro 1.5 (with the demo it outputed watermarked or something when using it).

But recently, there was a link posted to the Matrox Video for Windows Software codec. I have downloaded this and installed…

https://www.matrox.com/video/support/ds/software/codec/home.cfm
(ftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/video/DigiSuite/End_Users/release71/codecs.exe)

Installing this set of codecs will let you export video as:
Matrox DV/DVCAM
Matrox DVCPRO
Matrox DVCPRO 50
Matrox M-JPEG
Matrox MPEG-2 I-Frame

I am going to test some of these codecs in much more detail next week and see how they respond a little bit more. They seem to work fine right now though. I’ve done test exports with bars/tone and black video. All of them work fine, no watermarks, no test patterns, no demo patterns. They seem to be full-functional working versions.

To use them:
File > Export > Movie
Settings
General > File Type = Microsoft AVI
Video > Compressor = Matrox (choose codec)

I had the MainConcept DVCPRO 25/50 demo codec installed on my computer and after installing this Matrox codec package, the MainConcept DVCPRO codecs have “disappeared” from my system and been replaced with the Matrox versions. No real big deal, but if you paid for the MainConcept versions, you probably do not want to install this.

Using my “Media Info” program that displays codec and other information for media files, Matrox DVCPRO 25 exports shows as “dv25” and Matrox DVCPRO 50 exports shows as “dv50”. I think the codecs are definately working fine.

My thought is that the DVCPRO and DVCPRO 50 codecs are universal with different manufacturers putting the codec out with their name branded on it. It makes sense to me, but if someone could verify this or if you have a different explanation, I’d really love to hear it.

The Matrox DV and DVCPRO codecs are located in the file:
“c:windowssystem32digivcap.dll”

Also worth noting, I was having some problems playing some of the exported clips back in Windows Media Player (no suprise really). I’d get the thumbnail for the preview, but the video would not play back at all, only the audio. However, when I import the files back into the PPro timeline, they play fine and are high quality. DVCPRO and DV/DVCAM plays fine in WMP, no issues at all. If I turn off WMP Video Acceleration (Tools > Options > Performance Tab > Video Acceleration = None) then DVCPRO 50 plays fine… maybe because of the higher data rate? No big deal really to me, I’d only be using this in a timeline anyway, not for mass distribution or e-mailing to any clients.

The video test of bars/tone and black video looks absolutely amazing in DVCPRO 50! No artifact at all. Even the Matrox DV/DVCAM codec looks a little better than the Windows DV AVI export that I did for comparison.

Now, does anyone know how to capture using these codecs? That would really make all of this worth the effort. I can’t really test this in it’s full spectrum without importing digital video as a DVCPRO or DVCPRO 50 file. If anyone has a suggetion, I’d love to hear it.

[Karl Holt]

I use a Matrox RTX100 for editing. I think the reason for the codecs is so that you can render to the digisuite card on a system which doesnt have the board installed.

However, does the Matrox DVCPRO50 all play back in realtime off the timeline? If you had a blackmagic card would the ouput be sent to this? probably not my guess. So it’s ok for editing on the computer but you wouldn’t be able to monitor it.

We really need someone like blackmagic to support DVCPRO50 and HD in Premiere Pro.

[Larry Sherwood]

Matrox has announced Axio will soon support this format . . .more as soon as I am allowed to say more, NDA’s at the moment. . .

LS

[Brian Deviteri]

Not that I do not believe you, but the Axio HD specs are below with no mention of DVCPRO HD or DVCPRO 100. Can you provide any other details?

https://www.matrox.com/video/products/axio/key_features.cfm
Matrox Axio HD
Most powerful realtime engine for HD and SD editing

[Brian Deviteri]

I found the quote… in the “axio_guide.pdf” it states:

High definition (HD) resolutions and codecs

HD resolutions and frame rates

[Karl Holt]

I think for most people getting into HD the Axio is a step too far.

The question remains if DVCPROHD can be supported by Matrox and Mainconcept on a PC, then surely Adobe can also announce support for this natively. I hope they are working on it.

The investment in the Panasonic camera will probably mean an upgrade to my PC too; including new monitors, bigger drives etc. If Adobe do not get it together then I’ll just buy a mac with FCP.

[Dom Silverio]

Avid Xpress Pro HD [aka version 5] on the PC can edit DV25, DV50 and DVC Pro HD in its native format. You can capture, playback, edit and output via firewire. No additional hardware needed.