GH2 Prores LT vs Prores 422

I was about the post the same. EXCEPT I was going to say-- should I do ProRes 422 HQ or ProRes 422 (standard)? I just did HQ for a project. The ProRes files combined came out to about 4x larger than the original files combined (~5 GB and ~20GB). So I'm worried HQ is a bit overkill and I only have about 100GB left on my 1TB drive.

I'm also trying to work out a proper backup system. I think right now I'm just going to put the original .mts files into another folder in my project folder-- just in case something goes wrong with a converted clip. If I ended up having to use one of these files-- what's the best way on a Mac (using FCP as my editor) to convert those clips? To get Log & Transfer to recognize the files, they have to be on the camera card with the file structure from the camera. So I'm guessing a stand alone application will be necessary to do it this way.

Thanks!
 
Anything more than LT is simply a waste of disk space and does not buy you anything.

ALL ProRes is 10-bit, which will help once you go into grading and adding efx, but both 422 and HQ are overkill for DSLR footage.
 
Thanks for the replies. I deleted my HQ clips from my current project, re-transferred them as LT and they do, indeed, look just as good at significantly lower file size.

As far as Clipwrap goes-- since AVCHD's codec is H.264, if I used the main function of Clipwrap (rewrapping the file to a Quicktime container), then the files would be the same format as Canon's DSLR lineup (5D, 7D, T2i, etc.), right? I'll be doing shoots alongside these cameras at some point, so if that's the case, it'll make it a lot easier on whoever is editing the footage (possibly on a PC).
 
It may not be bad idea to transcode avchd into prores, dnxhd, dpx, or something less compressed.

Otherwise you must rely on editor's h264 decoder.
 
im on the ropes as well for the workflow. And to add to it, I am interested in the ProRes 444 format as well. For the time being: Ill encode most all my footage in ProRes 422HQ, Do all my post work as needed, export, store the original .mts files, delete the ProRes 422HQ footage.
For those that like to store the full package for easy access, but worried about size. You could re encode the footage and reconnect the files later, so your working with the highest quality in post.... then store the project for later using a lesser compression.
 
I transcode GH2 24p footage through FCP Log & Transfer to ProRes LT for all my projects. Best quality to file size ratio. L&T is plenty fast for converting the footage without needing Clipwrap or anything else. This workflow is as basic and easy as it gets without going to Premiere Pro.
 
I've spent a lot of time recently trying different intermediate file formats and found that sony XDCam EX format is the best edit intermediate for our environment.
It's interframe 4:2:0 - same as original avchd but it edits much easier than re-wrapped avchd in fcp.
Visually it's indistinguishable from original. Worryingly low bit rate (35mbps vbr) but visually indistinguishable from original. It's native to EX3 and EX1's which we use with the gh2.
We have from 3-6 edits going at any one time, so server space is a big issue. Prores inflates the avchd to anywhere from 4-8 times the original size, xdcam is only about twice as big. FCP seems to love it (when the sequence codec is the same), and doesn't need rendering for playback, only before export. The files are light enough to be edited on laptops, and small enough to be edited over gigabit lan - it's a really good balance.
Only snag is, stuff encoded into xdcam by adobe software comes into FCP with a slim black border - adobe bug apparently, adding another encode step, but that's no biggie for graphics.
 
While comparing the software-converted files I noticed a couple of interesting issues. My testing found that when the camera native codecs DVCPROHD, HDV or SxS were converted to ProRes in software they universally ran better when using the Standard version of ProRes rather than choosing the HQ version. This was most noticeable on HDV and DVCProHD originals that seem to consistently stutter or choke when playing back software-converted HQ content from compressed camera originals. The best explanation I have is ProRes HQ wants to fill in 10bits of information from the 8bit native compressed files. Due to the massive amount of processing needed to handle this conversion, it overwhelmed most systems on playback, whereas the standard version of ProRes is not trying to over-sample the 8bit data but rather it allows that data to move freely within the larger 10bit color space, easing the load on the CPU when processing the video for output.
Click to expand...

transfer mts to prores
http://fastblurayripper.com/how-to-log-and-transfer-mts-fils-to-final-cut-pro
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top