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transcoding HDV sources for producer
Hi there
I have been trying to use MpegStreamClip to batch transcode a bunch of HDV sources (many clips, totaling 8 hours of doc footage) into some kind of small compressed offline quicktime files for my producer to review and rough cut in FCP on her laptop. I have been trying to figure out how to get the size down, but still have the clip play natively in fcp. seems like audio compression is an issue. is there a type of compressed audio, AAC IMA, etc, that will still play natively in FCP (using the drag and drop to an empty sequence to set settings method)
also, what video codec should i try? I know hdv is already compressed, but i was imagining having 1/4 or smaller the file sizes so she could still do some offline edits on her laptop in FCP but not have the entire 100gb of hdv sources we have captured so far. I was also using a custom size that was about 1/4 the pixel size of the HDV.
i have tried motion and photo jpeg. should i keep using those with smaller settings, or is there something else i should try. I know h.264 is not great to edit with in FCP, just from my experience with the canon 7D QT movies. i know ideally there shouldnt be interframe compression, but i dont really care if it is ok to edit and scrub through the timeline or footage.
any suggestions, i would be stoked to learn a good offline format for this kind of log and rough cutting type of offlining. thanks so much
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3 Replies
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HDV is just 13Gb per hour. Why take the time to transcode such small files when no other editable codec will be smaller than that?
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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thanks david
thats what i was wondering, if there was a smaller size quicktime flavor i could transcode to that would still be offline editable. I was thinking i could make the frame size smaller at the least and stay in hdv, or if there were any other suggestions as offline codec settings.
otherwise i guess we could live with 100gb of footage for the 8 hours or whatever, but i was hoping to have some really low rez stuff that is easier for my producer to have on her laptop and just edit for content and translate from the spanish…
does that make sense? it seems like its worth doing, but it doesnt sound like there are many options that are smaller and still editable
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[jonas espinoza] “does that make sense?”
No, not really. There is no editable realtime codec that takes up less space than either DV or HDV, so it makes no sense to waste your time giving your producer files she can’t edit easily that will also take you many hours to create.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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