ProRes 422 HQ vs 422 for D5 workflow

[Jeremy Garchow]

According to Gary Adcock, you should stick with 422 from 8 bit footage.

Jeremy

[Russell Lasson]

Plus the h.264 files are so compressed to start with, trying to see if there is any difference at all between the compression of ProRes HQ and SQ would be very difficult.

-Russ

Russell Lasson
Colorist/Digital Cinema Specialist
Color Mill
Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.colormill.net

[Elizabeth Czyzewski]

The reason I was leaning toward the HQ is because I think the filmmaker will want to mess around a bunch with the color and look of the piece and it’s my understanding that the image holds up a lot better with HQ than with SQ when it comes to digital image manipulation. Is this valid?

[Andrew Kimery]

I haven’t done a side by side test but you should be able to manipulate HQ more, but I think your limitation is going to be the source footage and not the difference between ProRes and ProRes HQ.

-Andrew

3.2GHz 8-core, FCP 6.0.4, 10.5.5
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (6.8.1)

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Elizabeth Czyzewski] “The reason I was leaning toward the HQ is because I think the filmmaker will want to mess around a bunch with the color and look of the piece and it’s my understanding that the image holds up a lot better with HQ than with SQ when it comes to digital image manipulation.”

ProRes and ProRes HQ are both 10bit. There’s no more color space or bit depth, just more data rate. This isn’t going to help anything, but it will increase your file size.

Since you are starting from a highly compressed 8bit RGB image, HQ is not going to help much. Really, it’s not.

Yes, HQ is compressed less, but your starting point is so low, ProRes HQ can actually do more harm than good.

Read this for more info:

https://provideocoalition.com/index.php/apple/story/prores_a_closer_look/

Jeremy

[Russell Lasson]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Since you are starting from a highly compressed 8bit RGB image, HQ is not going to help much. Really, it’s not. “

Jeremy is totally right here. If you want better color correction, shoot on a format that has less compression.

-Russ

Russell Lasson
Colorist/Digital Cinema Specialist
Color Mill
Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.colormill.net

[Gary Adcock]

[Andrew Kimery] “I haven’t done a side by side test but you should be able to manipulate HQ more, but I think your limitation is going to be the source footage and not the difference between ProRes and ProRes HQ. “

I have Andrew and I could not agree more

from 8 bit originals the only issue becomes generational. (ie: the more times it is re-encoded after renders) when you are talking about ProRes vs HQ.

I only use HQ in 3 instances.
a) Recording a Live signal direct from the camera (not previously recorded material)
b) Transcoding footage from certain cameras that record at 444 10bit or Higher
***RED, Phantom, ARRI(D21,Alexa), f35(S-log only), SI-2K and of course Film originals***

c) Projects that start in the manner above I know are going to Filmouts (not HD DI, Not HDcamSR, real honest filmout usage only.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows for the Digitally Inclined
Chicago, IL

https://blogs.creativecow.net/24640

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/adcock_gary/AJAIOHD.php

[Elizabeth Czyzewski]

Great! As far as Compressor goes, I’ll just use the Apple ProRes 422 compression setting (but change compression type from 422HQ to 422). It seems strange for that to be the default as opposed to 422. Any idea why that is?

[Elizabeth Czyzewski]

And I guess it’s wise to double check – are there any settings that I should change from what the Apple ProRes 422 (not HQ) defaults would be?

[Adam Claude jones]

Interesting thread, I’m subscribing.
Carry on.