DVCPRO-HD Codec Released - Vegas

[elrosten]

http://www.studiodaily.com/main/news/7119.html

DVCPRO-HD can now be used native in Vegas.

It's about FREAKING TIME!!

I wonder what the performance is like.

-jesse

[David Jimerson]

It's only half the equation, though. You need to convert the MXF files before you can use them. Vegas still won't accept them natively.

Still, it's good news.

[Jive]

I consider it a tolerable trade-off to convert considering that it's not actually transcoding the footage, just rewrapping it, as it were.

Any extra steps suck, but the steps required for this solution seem to be the least bothersome IMHO.

[David Jimerson]

I agree, assuming it works well.

[Jive]

Right, that's the kicker. Unfortunately there's no demo available to test it out (yet).

Also, it appears to be a decoder only, so while it lets you work with DVCPro HD material in any program that supports VFW codecs (Vegas, Premier, After Effects, etc.), if you can't also encode back to DVCProHD, then moving video from one program to another would have to be done with another codec. This kinda sucks if you want to do a quick assemble edit in your NLE and then open the edit in another program (i.e. AE) for further processing. You'd probably want to render to a uncompressed or lossless format going the other way though (AE -> Vegas), so that's not such a big deal.


I posted this in the "Vegas and DVCPro HD" thread yesterday, but here's the direct link to the product so people can find it here too:
http://seriousmagic.com/products/dvcPro/index.cfm

[David Jimerson]

In theory, if you installed, say, the free Avid codecs, you should be able to output DVCPRO.

[Barry_Green]

Only as a Quicktime file though; the Avid codec works only in Quicktime.

[DVXSanDiego]

Well, that's a relief. Have purchased and have been training on FCP the last few months but HATE it. Compared to Vegas' intuitive interface and real-time playback, FCP made me insane with frustration. This whole thing of red and green bars at the top of the timeline...please. Our little production company is gearing up for our second feature (on an HVX) in January and since our director and other production team are only familiar with Vegas, this will settle some stomachs. Oh, and anyone out there who is interested in shooting an HVX-based feature early next year, on a sub-$25k budget, but with a stellar cast that includes an Emmy-winner and current network TV actors (friends of the director) send us links to your reels or sites.

[stokestack]

Only as a Quicktime file though; the Avid codec works only in Quicktime.

And if you want to move this footage to a Mac (to composite with Shake, for example), you'll need to install the Avid codec there too; the FCP DVCPro HD codec will not recognize the tags in the Avid-encoded files.

[Norm_Li]

I have a bunch of Quicktime 720p MOV clips that were from a HVX200 transferred to a Apple and copied to my harddrive.

Can this DVCPROHD Decoder only transfer P2 MXF to MOV or can it also convert these FCP Quicktime MOV's to editable MOV or AVI (in HD) as well for me to edit within Vegas 6.0d?

Norm

[stokestack]

That depends on which codec-type tags this new codec recognizes. Files encoded with FCP's DVCProHD and Avid's DVCProHD codecs are not interchangeable. If this codec uses the same tags as Apple's, then you should be able to load your FCP-captured footage into Vegas. Otherwise, no. There's really no way to know without trying or asking the vendor.

[azboy1985]

so wait... what would your project settings be if you shot footage on the HVX at 720p and 24p? I'm guessing you would have to make a custom one...