Is ProRes 422 my best option? I'm scared of the huge file!

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Polarjee

Active member
I'm shooting a 15 minute short film on my GH1 and I have at least a few hours of footage. I'm working on my macbook pro and I'm running all my footage though Magic Bullet. I have about half a terabyte of space left but I would like to be more space efficient since I back up all the footage in other places.
I can sacrifice a little bit of quality for a lot of space, as long as it's not obviously worse, can maintain 1080 24p and still pass though magic bullet clearly.

Currently, I shoot in avchd at 1080p, then log and transfer in Final Cut 7 into ProRes 422, then pulldown removal in JES Deinterlacer.

I heard H264 and ProRes LT are good alternatives.

Also as for workflow, can I log and transfer into other formats, or do i need to convert it after its formatted?


thanks so much for any help!!
 
If you're concerned about space, I would transcode to prores proxy initially then re-transcode just the media you end up using as prores 422 for color timing.
 
Apple Pro Res LT (remember the LT) is a safe bet. Smaller files, quicker editing, and still looks good.
 
I could find no discernible difference in quality between LT and HQ on 720p GH1 footage. I have done 1080p projects using LT but have not done a side by side test.

I recommend buying some storage...it's cheap as hell...800 megabytes a minute doesn't seem like much when you have a few new terabyte drives. Also remember that you do not need to backup your transcoded footage, just backup and organize your PRIVATE folders...much smaller.
 
Polarjee said:
I'm shooting a 15 minute short film on my GH1 and I have at least a few hours of footage. I'm working on my macbook pro and I'm running all my footage though Magic Bullet. I have about half a terabyte of space left but I would like to be more space efficient since I back up all the footage in other places.
I can sacrifice a little bit of quality for a lot of space, as long as it's not obviously worse, can maintain 1080 24p and still pass though magic bullet clearly.

Currently, I shoot in avchd at 1080p, then log and transfer in Final Cut 7 into ProRes 422, then pulldown removal in JES Deinterlacer.

I heard H264 and ProRes LT are good alternatives.

Also as for workflow, can I log and transfer into other formats, or do i need to convert it after its formatted?




thanks so much for any help!!
Click to expand...


.....and I am a little nervous about the 100 hours of HD footage I am about to ingest into ProRes....First I need to go out and buy about 4 Terrabytes of hardrives. I think that will hold it all.
 
Jokerswild said:
.....and I am a little nervous about the 100 hours of HD footage I am about to ingest into ProRes....First I need to go out and buy about 4 Terrabytes of hardrives. I think that will hold it all.
Click to expand...

You're shooting 100 hours for a 15 minute short? That ratio is really weird...it's a documentary?

If it's a narrative your ratio will more than likely be more like 10:1...so that's 150 minutes of shooting: two and a half hours.

Anyway remember once you're done with the film to archive your footage all you need is a double-backup'd copy of your card data...so you're at least not buying that much storage to then just sit on your shelf.
 
Ben_B said:
You're shooting 100 hours for a 15 minute short? That ratio is really weird...it's a documentary?

If it's a narrative your ratio will more than likely be more like 10:1...so that's 150 minutes of shooting: two and a half hours.

Anyway remember once you're done with the film to archive your footage all you need is a double-backup'd copy of your card data...so you're at least not buying that much storage to then just sit on your shelf.
Click to expand...


Oh haha, I'm the one shooting the 15min short and "Jokerswild" is shooting 100hours. And yeah, I guess 150mins of shooting is about right. And great point about backing up just the card info! I didn't think about that!! i feel stupid. haha!

I see, well if you can't tell a difference with the side by side comparison, I'm sure it's good enough for me!

Can you just convert it to Apple ProRes straight from the card or do you have to log and transfer first, then conver it to ProRes LT?
 
Copy the card data to the computer, the PRIVATE folder, and then back that up. Then log and transfer straight to Pro Res LT from that PRIVATE folder. You're usually ok to rename your PRIVATE folders, just follow a naming convention that makes sense and doesn't have weird characters in it. Write down what order you transfered your cards in and make sure you write down which way you had the list in the log and transfer window sorted. Because AVCHD numbers clips sequentially and you're dealing with multiple cards you'll need to know the order you logged them in in case you have to relog them later because Final Cut will automatically renumber the clips (if your first card had #256 clips on it then clip #1 from card 2 will become clip #257...and yes sometimes clips get mixed in with the wrong numbers because they're named Clip #1 not Clip #01...it sucks like that.)
 
Ben, I've had some snags working with the folders and you just cleared some things up. Thanks.

I only have limited experience working with these things, but my experimentations, you can rename stuff in the log window, and it will stay renamed when you pull the log-window up, as long as you use the same project file.

Also, if you rename your private folders, if you delete your capture-scratch stuff (Transcoded), the clips go offline in Final Cut, but Final Cut usually knows right where to go to find it again.

That's kind of a poor explanation, sorry I didn't explain better, but it's worth playing around with a bit, to see what I'm talking about. Bring some footage in, and then delete the footage and try to recapture it from the private folders.
 
Ben B! Thank you! you have probably saved me large amounts hours of fiddling and testing settings! You are a genius! Haha!
One thing I was wondering is, when I'm color correcting, is it going to make a difference if its Pro Res 422 or 422LT?
 
Polarjee said:
Ben B! Thank you! you have probably saved me large amounts hours of fiddling and testing settings! You are a genius! Haha!
One thing I was wondering is, when I'm color correcting, is it going to make a difference if its Pro Res 422 or 422LT?
Click to expand...

My experience is that LT works just fine.
 
Polarjee said:
Oh haha, I'm the one shooting the 15min short and "Jokerswild" is shooting 100hours. And yeah, I guess 150mins of shooting is about right. And great point about backing up just the card info! I didn't think about that!! i feel stupid. haha!

I see, well if you can't tell a difference with the side by side comparison, I'm sure it's good enough for me!

Can you just convert it to Apple ProRes straight from the card or do you have to log and transfer first, then conver it to ProRes LT?
Click to expand...


Yeah, my film is a 90 minute documentary. Saving for all the 4-5 Terrabyte drives I will need to transcode to. And how about getting all that dialog transcribed..YIKES, that is gonna cost a whole lot more than the drives...No way around it though. Nobody can edit over a hundred hours of dialog and remember everything that was said and where it was....need that paper trail. :thumbsup:
 
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