GH1 Action/Thriller

I

Indyreel

Well-known member
I've spent the past eleven months filming an action/thriller with the GH1 (nights and weekends). Still have three months left to go, but I want to start some major editing now that I have Avid MC5.

My goal is a theatrical release, so all my efforts will be toward that. The problem is that I don't know what to transcode to, from the GH1 AVCHD files.

Does anyone know the correct format to transcode to for editing for a theatrical release/filmout in Avid?
 
I don't think there is a specific intermediate to be in. It's going to come down to what functions best for you and the program. It's going to have to be lossless/minimally lossy so that weeds out a lot of codecs at least. Are you going to do offline editing/proxy or just edit the files directly? That could also weed out a few of the other lossless codecs.
 
When I bring an AVCHD file into avid, it transcodes it to DNxHD 145. I don't know if this is the appropriate codec for a professional theatrical final product or not.
 
The industry standard is HD MPEG2(high bitrate) for digital theater projectors.

Your workflow might go:

MTS->Cineform(or other editing intermediate for editing unless you can do MTS natively)->MPEG2
 
When you say high bitrate can you elaborate please, a blu-ray in Vegas 9 goes up to 25 Mb/s.......if you were going for a digital theatre projecter, what format do they require to play it and HD MPEG2 at what bitrate?
 
If your looking for a theatrical release to print to film:

Film = DXP files > 35mm Print
HD = 1080p HDCAM or BluRay

Cheers
 
BrianBrook said:
When you say high bitrate can you elaborate please, a blu-ray in Vegas 9 goes up to 25 Mb/s.......if you were going for a digital theatre projecter, what format do they require to play it and HD MPEG2 at what bitrate?
Click to expand...


up to 250Mbit/s. typical is around 80Mbit/s.
 
Indyreel said:
I've spent the past eleven months filming an action/thriller with the GH1 (nights and weekends). Still have three months left to go, but I want to start some major editing now that I have Avid MC5.

My goal is a theatrical release, so all my efforts will be toward that. The problem is that I don't know what to transcode to, from the GH1 AVCHD files.

Does anyone know the correct format to transcode to for editing for a theatrical release/filmout in Avid?
Click to expand...

There are two issues here. One is what codec to use during your postprocessing activities, and the AVID DNxHD 145 that you mention, is an 'intermediate' codec, and as such, is designed for the postprocessing activities.

The second issue is 'what codec' a processing house will require for you to submit for film out. One site, given just a quick search, required that the submitted digital file be an Apple Quicktime MOV file, and video media of 1920x1080 HD uncompressed. Submissions would be via Firewire disks.

It would behoove you to check with the lab/service as to exactly what format they accept without 'additional render/transcode' charges.
 
I missed the "filmout". My comments were strictly for digital projection. I think j1clark is right to check with the transfer house to see what works best for them. The other hand is that film transfer is not cheap.
 
Film transfer is cost prohibitive unless your sitting on 100K, I'm interested in what the studios deliver to Digital Cinemas for projection these days.....ie. Flash drives, Blu-Ray? and what universal format is used...there must be standardization at this point.....I'm sorry Svart but the link provided gooblygook to this question.
 
BrianBrook said:
Film transfer is cost prohibitive unless your sitting on 100K, I'm interested in what the studios deliver to Digital Cinemas for projection these days.....ie. Flash drives, Blu-Ray? and what universal format is used...there must be standardization at this point.....I'm sorry Svart but the link provided gooblygook to this question.
Click to expand...

Did you read the 'gobblygook'?

6.2.2.
Transport Fundamental Concepts
The transport of Digital Cinema content can be accomplished in many different ways. The Distributors will select the method that is both economical and technically robust to ship their content to the theaters. This can include the use of physical media or through transmission (e.g., satellite, fiber, copper). Any selected method is required to provide for a secure environment for the content as well as no corruption of the data. Segmenting of the packaged content can occur to accommodate fixed media or bandwidth constraints.
Click to expand...

These are guidelines. It's going to be up to the equipment operator to determine what they will accept. Essentially these things are just servers. Whatever a computer can take, they can take.
 
In your defense....NO I didn't read it! My patience is strained form late-nite editing but let's try it this way...you mentioned 80-250 Mb/s delivery.....what hardware/software combos are people using to achieve this.....I'd prefer "I don't know" to very general information such as the Transport Fundamental Concepts provides.....and a genuine thank you as I know these are tough questions because it's IMO probably still being worked out depending on where the Theatres are....ie. NO standardization?? But the studios must be using the same protocol?
 
wow so as brian said there's no standardization, studios just make custom deals with each theatre group for every single film? Sometimse shipping on one format sometimse on another? That seems hard to beileve but interesting
 
Homunculus said:
wow so as brian said there's no standardization, studios just make custom deals with each theatre group for every single film? Sometimse shipping on one format sometimse on another? That seems hard to beileve but interesting
Click to expand...


From a 'Pure Digital' faq blurb for a theater chain with home offices down the street from me... This is pretty 'simplified for the masses', but it gives clues... as in 'its all over the place'... My guess is it will stabilize on 'beaming via satalite, or via Internet feeds at some point... rather than physical disks being delivered to the theater ala film cans...

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Instead of using 35mm film (like in your camera), running at 24 frames per second, the image on the PURE DIGITAL CINEMA big screen is beamed via satellite or delivered by Hard Drive and stored in a JPEG file server. Powerful processors then decode this encrypted information and project a pure DIGITAL picture, through our Christie 2k digital projectors.

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Thanks in part to the 94 screens that UltraStar has made available in digital, more and more motion pictures are becoming available for digital projection. However because this technology is so NEW and advanced, film producers and distributors are still working out the logistics. To make sure your presentation will be presented in PURE DIGITAL CINEMA , check out our show time listings. Just look for our PURE DIGITAL LOGO
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Delivered by Hard Drive and stored in a JPEG file server. Powerful processors then decode this encrypted information and project a pure DIGITAL picture, through our Christie 2k digital projectors.

Now we are getting closer......Am I to assume showing up with 40+ gigabytes of AVI on a Lacie external HD and plugging into said JPEG file server and SHAZAM.....instant digital cinema? For some reason this seems too easy but I do have of history of making most things harder than they have to be.......has anybody actually done this YET?
 
The first digital films were indeed delivered by hard drive. They were in some file format for the projection system.

Modern systems do deliver via satellite and/or some kind of hard line(DSL/ISDN). I'm not sure many use physical formats anymore.

Either way, a technician has to put the file on the server in the correct way. The files are encoded in an encrypted copy protection scheme (all according to the document I linked to). It does not say if a modern digital projector can play a non-encoded file.
 
I'm assuming the encryption is linked to piracy concerns(which is failing miserably) anyway thanks Svart, I'm understanding this now but it looks like growing pains are still the order of the day....BTW...I thought this would democratize media but unfortunately that has not materialized yet.........
 
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