Should I use ProRes (HQ) ?

J

Jokerswild

Well-known member
Or should I go regular ProRes? I realize using HQ is going to require lots more hardrive space but don't want to edit for hours in the wrong space. Here is how I shot the footage and the possible output needs:

Shot:
Canon XH-A1 in HD 24F
Most interviews on location and in studio.
Some events related to the interviews, shot outdoors, still all at 24F
Presently at 60 hours of tape but wlll be closer to 100 hours when all taping is completed.

Output:
Documentary could be picked up by PBS or Military Channel
Eventual output to DVD

Should I bite the bullet for the very best quality and go HQ or regular ProRes?
Do I need to do anything special in order to ingest the footage? as far as pulldown etc? Could someone explain the best method for ingesting?

I do own Noah's DVD that I purchased but would still like some comments on this if possible. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.
 
Regular is more than enough for the source material- it will never look any better than it does on the original tapes. And ProRes standard will easily capture every drop of quality there is.

Noah
 
Like Noah said, regular is more than fine and, as I understand it, HQ is designed when you are working w/very high quality images and really manipulating the footage (think heavy compositing done w/film or Red source footage).

You didn't list the specs of the machine you are using but if you have FCP 6 and a fast enough Mac you can capture directly into ProRes either via Firewire or using an I/O device from Matrox, AJA or Blackmagic. My suggestion is to spend a little extra money on an I/O device and not use Firewire because capturing via Firewire will not give you a full raster image (it will be 1440x1080, just like HDV, instead of 1920x1080) and ProRes that isn't full raster is a bit of a odd duck.


-A
 
Thanks Noah and Adkimery. Gotcha, use regular ProRes and HQ seems to be overkill. I use a MacPro desktop with 1T G-Raid drive and plenty of RAM. I also have a Blackmagic Pro card in the machine. But Adkimery, are you saying to ingest into the Blackmagic card into ProRes even though I have already shot the footage on the Canon XH-A1?????? Or are you saying if I have future footage to shoot, shoot it into the Blackmagic card directly? Remember I already have 60 hours shot to the tapes. Thanks.
Steve
 
Yeah you'll get better imagery into the BM card on live feeds. But anything that's already shot won't make any difference.

Noah
 
This discussion brought to mind another question. Does the quality of an edit to ProRes degrade the edits over time? For instance I know that in still photography, if one opens a JPEG image and edits it, and then saves it again as a JPEG, it slightly degrades the image each time that is done.

Now if opening an editing in ProRes and doing further work on it and resaving when done, does that degrade the footage?
 
You're only working with a pointer to the original ProRes file. So each time you save it doesn't actually create another generation.
 
Gentlemen,

I'd appreciate a little clarification for my own workflow.
I found that by using Apple ProRes HQ when transferring files
from my Sony Z5U via FW the noise level In the overall image is
much improved.

Is this not a better over all codec?

Thanks,
 
As I understand the only difference between prores and prores HQ is that the latter can handle 10 bits and the former 8 bits. So if your cam only records in 8 bits prores is enough. If you have a cam with a 10 bit codec like AVC-I prores HQ is more suitable.
 
Cees Mutsaers said:
As I understand the only difference between prores and prores HQ is that the latter can handle 10 bits and the former 8 bits. So if your cam only records in 8 bits prores is enough. If you have a cam with a 10 bit codec like AVC-I prores HQ is more suitable.
Click to expand...


Hmm, I am using the Canon XH-A1 and not sure if it is or not. Maybe Noah or the others can shed more light on this but I am not sure the 8bit v/s 10 bit is the only reason to consider the HQ ProRes or the regular ProRes.
 
Cees Mutsaers said:
As I understand the only difference between prores and prores HQ is that the latter can handle 10 bits and the former 8 bits. So if your cam only records in 8 bits prores is enough. If you have a cam with a 10 bit codec like AVC-I prores HQ is more suitable.
Click to expand...

ProRes and ProResHQ are BOTH 10-bit.
 
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