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ProRes Necessary If Editing for Web?
Hi,
Firstly, I’ve read countless forums here and in other places covering ProRes and H.264. I know that H.264 is not an editing codec, etc…
My issue arose today when I took the time to transcode all my 7D footage to ProRes 422 (LT) and cut it in FCP..
Then after a 1.5 hour waiting time, I find out that Youtube doesn’t accept it. So, my question is this:
If I’m editing for the web, is it Necessary to convert my H.264 footage to ProRes if I’m going to have to make it into H.264 anyway to put it on the web?Thanks in advance for anybodies input.
Additional information: I realized that there isn’t any problem editing H.264 in FCP if you change the sequence setting to H.264 then it’s cake editing it…so, it takes me back to the question of how necessary it really is to make everything into ProRes. It adds about 2 more hours onto all my projects doing conversions.
I’d like to feel as if this is a justified step.
🙁Thank you again.
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6 Replies
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[Stephen Castro] “So, my question is this:
If I’m editing for the web, is it Necessary to convert my H.264 footage to ProRes if I’m going to have to make it into H.264 anyway to put it on the web?
“You’re not going to be able to avoid the transcode step if you’ve got more than a few minutes of h.264 to edit. So, unless you want to start editing with FCP X or Premiere, yes, you’re going to have to take that step.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comDon’t miss my new tutorial: Prepare for a seamless transition to FCP X and OS X Lion
https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/FCP-10-MAC-Lion/1POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.
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Hi David!
I have Premiere Pro CS5 also and am considering just using that, due to issues with FCP (the long transcoding times + the ProRes footage looks extremely dark in FCP for some reason).
So, are you saying that if I edit in CS5 then I could potentially skip the step of having to transcode all my footage?
I’m starting to think that transcoding is only meant for FCP.
Thanks again
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You have to transcode from the camera’s H264 to Youtube or Vimeo’s specs for H264. Totally different data rates, so whatever timeline you chose, there is still the normal steps to exporting and re compressing for web delivery.
FCP X can also be considered for the sort of work you are doing, as it supposedly handles H264 camera files directly. Do your homework on how to install FCP X so that your FCP 7 install is still OK. Search this forum, particularly tutorials by David Roth Weiss. It might be a cheaper option than Premiere Pro (CS5.5). Also the FCP X forum has lots of opinion if you want to see what real world experiences many are having.
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[Stephen Castro] “So, are you saying that if I edit in CS5 then I could potentially skip the step of having to transcode all my footage?”
Yep! That’s a fact.
[Stephen Castro] “I’m starting to think that transcoding is only meant for FCP.”
FCP 7 is ancient now Stephen, at least in computer terms, and Apple was behind everyone else in terms of all this transcoding business.
And, this is one reason why the release of FCP X has been so very controversial. The anticipation was so great in advance of it’s release that people could hardly stand it. And, although it does allow users to skip all the transcoding, there are loads of other things either missing, or just so very different, that FCP X just isn’t for everyone. You might like it, so give it a shot.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comDon’t miss my new tutorial: Prepare for a seamless transition to FCP X and OS X Lion
https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/FCP-10-MAC-Lion/1POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.
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[Stephen Castro] “I’m starting to think that transcoding is only meant for FCP.”
Avid does it too. And FCP X will do it in the background if you choose to. Adobe works natively…but really only if you have a lot of things helping it. NVidia card to enable CUDA to kick in the Mercury Engine…and fast processors, and lots of RAM. You can’t just take a base iMac or MacBook or MacPro and expect realtime everything. There will be some, but the more tools you have to enable PPro 5 and 5.5, the better.
And you work native, then transcode to the format you deliver.
Anyway, transcoding isn’t only for FCP…and it isn’t new by any means. NOT transcoding is new.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Shane Ross] ” Adobe works natively…but really only if you have a lot of things helping it. NVidia card to enable CUDA to kick in the Mercury Engine…and fast processors, and lots of RAM.”
I would take a slightly different point of view overall. You can use a MBP or iMac and edit effectively. The question is HOW MUCH real-time do you want/need? More memory and the GPU card will definitely give you more real-time. I wrote this some time ago for Mac people prior to FCP X. It may help some.
Premiere Pro on a Mac – what is the truth?
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