RD3 files on CS3

[Angelo Lorenzo]

Forgive meas my knowledge with CS3 is minimal (I think you’ll find few users will attempt to try and help you support a program 6 years old).

Firstly, avoid the AVI container like the plague. with HD footage, you’ll very quickly run into the 4gb AVI limit. Do not be fooled by AVI files larger than 4gb, these are non-standard.

Firstly, you need RED’s management software Redcine-X Pro.
https://www.red.com/faqs/workflow
https://www.red.com/downloads/4fad7fd417ef027cd8000eb1

Read the software manual thoroughly! I’m not joking about this.

At this step, you’ll need to make a few decisions. First is do you want to keep full 2K, do you want to scale it down and have some slight shadow boxing, do you want to crop down to an anamorphic-style 2.4:1, or do you want to crop it to fit a 1920×1080 16:9 raster. I assume your production already has an idea of what it wants to do.

Second is do you want to convert your footage in full or half debayer quality. Without a RED Rocket processing card, the conversion will be very slow. Half debayer quality will sacrifice resolution (sharpness) to save you a good chunk of speed. Full debayer if you want to carry your intermediates to your final product, half debayer if you want to online your edit on a more powerful system later on.

So, I assume, you have access to read and write to Quicktime MOV? Look into Avid DNxHD as an intermediate format within the MOV container. https://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/download/Avid-QuickTime-Codecs-LE-2-3-8 Be aware that this limits your resolution to 1080 or 720; you’ll make a slight sacrifice on the full 2K image.

If you want true 2k, you’ll have to look into the paid version of GoPro Cineform. The free version also has a 1080 limitation.

Both of these codecs can be exported in the MOV container. Their performance/size should be similar to using ProRes in FCP7.

If you’re in the Los Angeles area, it may be worth using my services for conversion or for additional assistance if you choose to do an online conform.

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Angelo Lorenzo

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[Adam Andrews]

Wow thanks Angelo.
I know I’m using old software, but until now (enter RD3 files) it’s been sufficient for my work. I’ll definitely upgrade soon. I really appreciate the links you’ve posted. I’ll give it a go. If all else fails I’ll outsource the conversion. Thanks for your offer to transcode for me, I’m on the west coast too, but the west coast of Australia, so it could be tricky.hahaha!
Thanks again!