C100: Strategies for dealing with Prores to vimeo

[draculr]

I seem to have come across a new issue that I am trying to deal with now that I am filming with a C100 and Ninja 2. This was never too big a problem with my 5D3.

Now that I have this amazing quality footage in prores, I am some bad issues with banding when I publish to Vimeo. Here is an example video:

As you can see on the blinds you get some really bad banding which you only see when it gets on Vimeo. I recorded this in C-Log with the Prores HQ codec. I tried with a few different export options in Premiere ranging from 5mbps to 20mbps. At 20mbps (which this video is) it is better but still not that great.

I even tried putting a layer of film grain over it to see if that stops the encoder from wrecking the footage but it doesn't stop it completely.

 

[MattDavis]

I too have been having major issues with Vimeo.

I don't think our problems are totally down to the C100 or its codec, maybe more to its clean image. I've had a couple of things pass through Vimeo that were shot on a Sony F3, and now the C100. The two generate similar images.

I've noticed that Vimeo are now a lot more specific about how videos should be uploaded to them. I've used H.264 for ages and in general have been pleased with the performance and look, but not recently. Vimeo seems to alter the gamma of videos I submit, making them murkier. FS100 videos looked grainier or dirtier. With the C100, I'm getting the same thing on shots with areas of bland or no detail that have subtle gradation.

My fix has been to use Episode Pro with the X264 codec, following Vimeo's advice to use the High profile (and the rest), and do a little Gamma correction and saturation lift in the compression, so that the video Episode creates is not optimal for 'local' screen playback, but makes the Vimeo encoders sing. Since doing that, my videos upload and process faster even though the bitrate is higher (yes, they really do, I'm annoyed and yet happy about that - they have successfully modified my behaviour).

I really think it's to do with the upping from the 'Main' to the 'High' complexity in the H.264 encoder. Maybe there's some advantage to moving from the MainConcept H.264 to the open source X264 encoder (I still had to pay $$ to Telestream to do that - but I had a paying job that absorbed it painlessly). One thing I did hear over and over again was that the Adobe compressor app wasn't exactly the sharpest pencil in the box when it came to H.264.

I've been compressing video for over a decade, and came quickly and ruefully come to the conclusion that not all compression software is the same and you get what you pay for. As the aphorism goes, 'cheap, easy, quality, choose two'. Open source is great if you like leaping through hoops of fire, and Telestream's implementation gives you easy control and a relatively quick process, but at eye-watering costs. You can use X264 in Compressor, but there's no manual and lots of options.

It really isn't just about bandwidth and brands.

But just switching to High from Main? Maybe that's your magic bullet?

Just found this - should help:

 

[draculr]

Thanks for the write up! I just tried changing to the Main profile but that alone didn't help. I guess I gotta get my hands dirty and try some different encoders. I might try x264 and see how that goes.