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XD CAM Footage Storage
Hello , I have just completed a project shoot on EX3. Now I have distributed the DVD and Blu-Rays also. Now finally I need to wrap up the project.Please tell, what is the best way of archiving the edited master
footage, and it should be editing friendly, if required to do in future. I am working on Premier CS 5 on MAC platform. There are so many options that sometimes I get confused. For making Blu-ray I opted for H.264, but now when I have to archive it , I think to go for some other format may be MPEG 2 , which is more strong and more edit friendly. But before making any decision I need advice from you people who have more experience….. -
10 Replies
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You should archive the camera masters as they are. In BPAV format. LTO would work. My “poor person’s” solution is to back up the data to 25GB Blu-ray disks. The XDCAM software allows you to safely split the BPAV so they can fit. Some will also keep a backup on hard drive for fast access. Additionally some may also backup an Apple ProRes copy. Given the changing nature of codecs and NLEs I personally feel the safest thing is to backup the BPAV for future conversion should new codecs arise for NLE use.
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Thanks Craig, but my question is not regarding camera footage , I am asking to archive my edited master. camera masters I have stored on hard drives, now the question is for storing edited master.
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Edited masters I’d use either Apple ProRes or DNxHD. If you’re leery about long term support for those codecs you could use Uncompressed 4:2:2 which would be huge files of course.
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hello Craig, I have just checked the output options in premier, there is no Apple pro res or DNxHD…how can i get it
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Puneet,
ProRes should be an option in PP. After all, PP can edit ProRes, but maybe you need to have Final Cut Pro on your system in order to have the ProRes codecs. DNxHD is an Avid Codec and ProRes is the Mac’s version.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
i do not have FCP on my MAc , as i am more comfortable with premier.
So can you suggest some other option….
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It’s generally accepted that either Apple’s Pro Res or Avid’s DNxHD are the best compromise between quality and file size of present day formats. If you don’t have them then there must be some sort of output format that Premiere uses for exporting a finished product. If you’re planning to stay with PP long term then you should be using something that’s easily recognized by your favourite NLE anyway.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
how about going with H.264 or MPEG 2. if we do not consider the storage space and only think in terms of quality and should be edit friendly in future, then which option to go for….
someone even suggested me for DPX, but I have never tried it…
your suggestions are desired….. -
DPX file format is probably the ultimate if you have access to lots and lots of hard drive storage. I would strongly suggest against using H.264 or MPEG 2 if you ever want to re-edit what you’re trying to archive. Those codecs are quite lossy in that you suffer a generational loss every time you edit. In this instance it’s best to use an “I-frame” codec instead of Long GOP codecs.
If you have Quicktime Pro on your machine there are several intermediate-style codecs right in QT Player such as the Apple Intermediate codec (IAC) that you can transcode with.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
Hello Don, as per your saying can we simply put it like making a .mov file from my edited master, and it will be superior to h.264 and mpeg 2, in terms of quality and future edit friendly….
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