AVC-Intra vs ProResHQ

P

Peter Richardson

Well-known member
Hey guys,

I have a project that was mostly shot on the Varicam in AVCIntra (HPX2700 at 720p). The files have all been imported into FCP 6 at ProRes HQ. My question: Now that there is native support for AVCINtra in Final Cut 7, would I see a quality difference if I re-imported all the AVCIntra material in native format, instead of ProRes?

Thanks!

Peter
 
Pro Res HQ is likely to exceed or match the bitrate/sampling of the native AVC i codec chosen for your project. You'd need to check the original footage metadata to find out what exactly you have (AVCi 100 4:2:2 or AVC 50 4:1:1 etc) and then the spec of the HQ Pro Res. I doubt there will be any issues.

I also think 'native support' is pushing it a bit - FCP cant edit off a P2 card and it still has to re-wrap. Its is far less painfull though timewise!

d
 
I am very curious how you import AVC-I natively since the only way i can do it is prores tasts. Moreover the word AVC-i I even haven't seen in fcp7 interface !!!! So ive me a hint where I can find it.

Peter Richardson said:
Hey guys,

I have a project that was mostly shot on the Varicam in AVCIntra (HPX2700 at 720p). The files have all been imported into FCP 6 at ProRes HQ. My question: Now that there is native support for AVCINtra in Final Cut 7, would I see a quality difference if I re-imported all the AVCIntra material in native format, instead of ProRes?

Thanks!

Peter
Click to expand...
 
Wish I had an FCP in front of me now to check but have an Avid!

AVCi is wrapped up as an MXF in cameras. When I did the workflow tests for a client on FCP it just did a quick re-wrap on FCP for P2 ingest and NO transcoding. Re-wrap means it still aint naitive, but it did move FCP's game on and save much time.

As Pro Res is always transcode (like Avid DNX) dig deeper into those FCP 7 res presets - does it call it something by Panasonic?

D
 
If you go into FCP v7 Log and Transfer and click on the little cog wheel in the top right of the left import panel and go to preferences you can change the P2 AVC intra plug in and select the target format to native, DVCproHD, pro res 422 proxy,LT,std or HQ
 
Great one to know... thanks...

But the timeline will still be ProRes???

There is no native editing is there???

I can't find any setting so far...

And if that's the case... I'm guessing what would be the real benefit of bring it in native ???

Cheers
 
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Lez, FCP has nothing like 'native' editing as termed by say Avid NLE's, but FCP 7 does not have to transcode AVCi into Pro Res any more. It handles the source AVCi MP4 file (that is wrapped up as an MXF by the P2 cam) by quickly re-wrapping it on ingest to your FCP media HDD.

My workflow on my NLE is to offload my P2 cards to a Firewire drive outside of the edit suite (ideally as I'm driving back from a shoot :) ) and then plug that drive into the Avid and I can immediately start editing FROM it. You however cant do this as you have to ingest and re-wrap. The 'FCP7' silver lining is no time consuming transcoding (killing your suite time) and no massive 'over the top' Pro Res HQ files chewing up your HDD space.

Cheers

D
 
Thanks guys for all the input. So does it seem that there would be no quality difference if I re-imported everything in FCP7 in "native" format? I will be doing color correct, so would like to preserve as much information as possible going into this.

Peter
 
Peter Richardson said:
Thanks guys for all the input. So does it seem that there would be no quality difference if I re-imported everything in FCP7 in "native" format? I will be doing color correct, so would like to preserve as much information as possible going into this.

Peter
Click to expand...

If you are 4:2:2 all the way as seems likely your grading aint going to get any better than that (and what a difference it is to 4:1:1 or 4:2:0).

D
 
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