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XDCAM to ProRes (HQ)
Hi there
I am working on a series that has been shot on XDCAM (XDHD Discs) with a small amount shot on EX3 sxs cards. I am taking this in using XDCAM transfer and all of the XDCAM has been shot at 1080 50i at 50mbps. I am cutting on FCP7 with a Kona 3.
I am cutting the offline together here and it is being onlined elsewhere and they are thinking about converting all of the footage to Pro Res HQ. Is there any point in doing this? Surely the XDCAM codec is a native HD codec and just as good, not to mention a more economic bit rate! What, if any, are the advantages in going to the Pro Res codec? I have used it when working on HDCAM, but for this I am not sure of the benefits.
I just wanted some fire in my arsenal as these codecs are still a little new to me when it comes to techno talk!
Thanks
Simon
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2 Replies
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Hi Simon,
I work with EX-1 and lately with the NANO-Flash files that are XDCAM at (if needed 280 Mbps).
I work native. I could capture with the ioHD, but I don’t see the need.
I work with a MBP and an external eSATA RAID-0.
I think that in some ime ago people was very paranoid about editing MPEG-2, mostly for the difficulties of the HDV in his beginning).
You can ask in the XDCAM forum too. Almost nobody transcode.
Cheers,
Rafael -
[Simon Green] “I am cutting the offline together here and it is being onlined elsewhere and they are thinking about converting all of the footage to Pro Res HQ”
Let’s be specific about what they mean by “converting”.
We work with XDCAMHD (and the EX flavor) all the time. We bring it in the same way that you do. Our timeline is set to “Native XDCAM”, but the rendering is set to prores. This gives you the best of both worlds… a low weight codec for the bulk of the material, but a higher quality codec for the GRFX and other renders.
By the way, we do NOT use Prores HQ… just the regular full quality prores. For material originating on XDCAM, HQ is overkill.
So, in my opinion, it would be pointless to convert everything to PRORES HQ for final finishing. By the way, what are the details on how you’re finishing. That may explain why they want to convert. Without that info, I’m just guessing.
Mark
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