Transcoding 5D H.264 to ProRes 422HQ

Canon DSLR Cameras

Transcoding 5D H.264 to ProRes 422HQ

Posted by Andrew Kmiec on July 28, 2011 at 4:18 pm

Hey everyone, I’m posting all over the place today because there’s some craziness going down.

I’ve got 350GB of H.264 shot on the 5D (most of it is 720 59.94). I’m working on a 2×2.8ghz quad-core xeon macpro with 5gb ram running OSX 10.6.7 … Here’s my workflow:

I’m conforming the 59.94fps clips to 23.98 in cinema tools, then batch transcoding through compressor and mpeg streamclip (I have both running to try to get as much done as possible). I’m transcoding to ProRes 422HQ 1080 23.98

It seems to be taking a long time, as I assumed it would. And this is only Day 1 of 5.

Can anyone suggest a faster workflow? Any tips or tricks with dealing with so much footage?

Thanks!!!

Andrew Kmiec replied 14 years, 11 months ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
4 Replies

Chris Tompkins
July 28, 2011 at 11:05 pm

so you shot 720p60 and you want 1080/24p?? Is that right?
Why didn’t you shoot 1080/24p ?

Run it all thru compressor and wait for it.
Turn frame controls on and set to best.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC
Gary Huff
August 4, 2011 at 4:32 pm

[Andrew Kmiec]I’m transcoding to ProRes 422HQ 1080 23.98

Is there a particular reason you are encoding it to ProRes HQ? That is overkill for DSLR footage.
Andrew Kmiec
August 4, 2011 at 6:19 pm

1. I’m aware that 23.976 is technically correct. But like many other video/film terms, it does in fact have a nickname, like how 2.39 aspect ratio is commonly referred to as 2.40.

2. I also agree — ProResLT is sufficient for DLSR footage… but I’m encoding to ProRes422HQ because that’s what our producer wanted and sometimes producers are impossible to reason with and must be appeased accordingly.

3. My real question was if anyone had any tips or tricks in getting the transcode to go faster. I was hoping there was some secret plugin or something out there that might boost my productivity, but, alas, there is no help really except hardware that the company I’m working for doesn’t want to purchase.
Andrew Kmiec
August 4, 2011 at 6:22 pm

Oh, sorry, I forgot —

4. Yes, I’m more than aware that 59.94 conformed to 29.97 or 23.98 will result in slow motion. That’s why they shot at 59.94 and that’s why I’m conforming it in cinema tools. If I wanted it to play at normal speed, I would just change the frame rate in the transcode, which will not slow down the footage.

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