F3: F3 Mp4 footage archival. ProRes?

starcentral

starcentral

Veteran
What is everyone's thought about permanently converting my old F3 footage to say ProRes 422 and tossing (deleting) the original MP4 files? As it stands now that I've moved to Davinci Resolve I can't open my MP4's regardless, and ProRes just seems that much of a better longterm standard anyway.

I always thought that throwing away any original files was a bad idea, but now I'm reconsidering.

Anyone out there permanently convert their F3 footage to ProRes and exclusively work off F3 ProRes files as part of their overall workflow?

Would appreciate thoughts, warnings, and considerations.

Cheers,
 
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The only reason I can think of keeping them is that they give you a backup, and one that takes up less space than ProRes. That's why I keep the XDcam originals from my (now sold) EX1.
 
Yes you're right, the thought of redundant files just bothers me. Maybe if I put XDCAM files on a hard drive on a shelf so I won't have to look it, I will feel better about it. :)
 
It's always been a conundrum. Keep duplicate SxS, XDCAM-EX MOV's and then duplicate Pro Res files ? Yikes what to do? Whatever makes you most comfortable I guess.
You need to really trust that your Pro Res files are OK before dumping the SxS though.
 
If you're not currently using the MP4 files I'd keep them and dump the duplicate Pro Res files. The MP4 files are smaller and haven't been recompressed. As codecs improve it's quite possible that if you ever need to use them again the decoder will be better than when you converted them to Pro Res the first time. I thought I read somewhere that Apple announced they are no longer going to support Pro Res? A double reason to keep the MP4.
 
I'm in agreement with Duke on this one.

After Apple sacked FCP, let QuickTiime Pro languish and were undecided on the future of the Mac Pro, I stopped using Pro Res as an intermediary and moved to DNxHD. I still keep my SxS XDCAM-EX originals for the reasons Duke has cited. I did consider Cineform but the ubiquity of DNxHD and its ability to play nicely with DaVinci Resolve pushed me in this direction.
 
starcentral said:
Yeah you've convinced me to keep originals.

Murphys law.
Click to expand...

always best Dennis, always keep the originals whenever you can, like keeping the film negative in the not too distant past. I still have many cans of negative well sealed and stored.
You probably know this, but for those who don't remember to spin up whatever drives you do archive to on a regular basis, apparently this helps to prolong the life of the drives.
 
I guess if I was converting them to uncompressed files, that would be okay to then ditch the files. But then I'd have a whole new problem of storage space on my hands.

Anyway, looks like I will keep all of them. I know I would regret deleting them but wanted to hear what others thought.

Looks like I will be putting a SAN together with an array of hard drives I can just keep adding, and access via gigabit ethernet or possibly even fiber connection.
 
Given that ProRes has beome such an industry standard (and thanks to Alexa has provided the masters for a large number of films and high-end TV shows) I suspect backwards compatible support for the codec will survive longer than XDCAM. If I were going to save old footage to a particular codec for archiving - ProRes would be my pick for the moment.

An uncompressed video stream would obviously provide the most archive security for digital footage, but even with the cheap cost of storage these days, the data requirement of uncompressed is still huge.
 
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