[Craig Seeman]

It also shows the major business problem developers have in supporting that mindset.

You’re selling a product to a market that isn’t inclined to pay for upgrades very often and when it does, it’s inclined to be averse to major feature changes that might require any significant rethinking.

With a subscription model, the developer gets steady income whether or not the Post Production team takes advantage of new features.

It would seem a tough market to cater to and make profit should of selling big iron that require expensive support contracts and upgrades as project demands increase commensurate with production demands.

[Craig Seeman]

Reading all the other post in the thread so far, I think you should call this forum…

42

[Craig Seeman]

I like thinking of it as sandwich.
There are different types of bread (containers).
You can different types of stuff (codec) between the slices of bread.

Just another way of looking at buckets. I guess I’m food oriented. 🙂

[Craig Seeman]

[Katie Gates] “They want the footage NOW for the news feed in 4 hours. Many times they ask for an .mov, “

If you want to keep it simple you could consider getting PremierPro CC which is probably the most camera codec friendly NLE and then export as ProRes 422.

Keep in mind transcoding slows you down. Keep in mind that ProRes 422 will take longer to deliver than the camera master files which might only be 35 or 50mbits. Transcoding and ProRes work against “NOW”

Long gone are the days when you could just send a BetaSP or DigiBeta unfortunately.

You could look at ExtremeReach Pathfire specs as they specialize in VNR delivery, which sounds like what you’re doing more or less.
https://syndication.pathfire.com/master-specifications

[Craig Seeman]

Unless the client makes clear what they need, you risk getting it wrong.
Some Windows users might prefer DNxHD instead of ProRes. Some would prefer ProRes4444 rather than 422 if they’re going to have a heavy FX or Grading post workflow.

Personally if the client is professional they should be able to handle the camera masters and transcode as they see fit if their workflow requires it. If they aren’t professionals you certainly may chose the delivery codec for them but I think it should be clear, in writing, that sans their input, you decision is final.

At the point they sign the contract (or letter of agreement or email agreeing to the job) you can offer Native Camera Masters, DNxHD, ProRes 4444, ProRes HQ 422 and if one isn’t specific you reserve the right to chose delivery codec.

Keep in mind that uninformed clients or clients without the knowledge may respond “These Pro Res files are too big” whereas you could have given them 35mbit or 50mbit camera masters and get a response “We can’t play these” or “we can’t transcode these.”

BTW if they’re ducking because they don’t like spending the time transcoding than you charge them for your time to do that.

I should add that the best way to encode might depend on what your encoder can do depending on the flavor of XDCAM you shot with. Keep in mind that it might range from BPAV from XDCAM EX wrapped in .mov first or .mxf files and whether they are MPEG2 or XAVC.

[Craig Seeman]

[anna economou] “Handbrake is a software like compressor or mpeg stream clip?”

HandBrake is free like MPEGStreamclip but it uses a better version of H.264 called x264.

[anna economou] “Is h264 not ideal for screening in a cinema screen?”

Some may be fine with ProRes if you can get them the file. H.264 may need specific settings. As you can see, quality can vary depending on the settings.

[Craig Seeman]

The professional thing to do is get the specs from them. The codec used is just one factor. You need to know exactly what they can play. If you can understand the settings, I’d recommend HandBrake because it’s x264 encoder is better than MPEGStreamclip which uses Apple’s.

[Craig Seeman]

In Compressor 4.1.3. Use the “+” on the lower left and select “New Setting…” and in the popup box next to Format: select MPEG4. Then enter the setting you prefer. In most cases my personal preference is to select H.264 profile: High Profile and Entropy mode: CABAC. It’ll be a single pass encode but it’s nearly as good as x264 encoding found in other programs.

[Craig Seeman]

That was the first place I checked thinking maybe he’d have something for pre-order.
Also Alistair Chapman’s XDCAM-USER who reviewed the X70 and has, in the past, done some very detailed online videos explaining the Picture Profile settings for EX cameras. Nothing from either, yet.

[Craig Seeman]

Since you do have to recompress your compositing work from AE, you may want to try DNxHD. If you don’t have it installed, I believe it’s a free download.

It should be in the Avid codecs download.
https://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/download/Avid-Codecs-LE-2-3-9