Which format to transcode before editing ?

Started by vertigopix, August 29, 2012, 12:05:06 PM

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vertigopix

Hello !

I have read a lot about intermediate formats for editing.
Some people use 5d2rgb, others Cineform and others doesn't transcode before editing in (eg.) Premiere...

What do people here think about this ?
There is some "best practices" with Canon DSLR and/or ML ?

Thanks for your support, have a sunny day and sorry for my poor english...   ;)

Dns

I generally use 5d2rgb for AE, it's free and simple. I want to know the best option for the encoding with the best quality and less size . Hope pro users will share their settings here .

Thanks in Advance :)
Canon 70D | Canon 100mm 2.8 macro | Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 Vc | Canon 50mm 1.8 and The Magic Lantern :)

deleted.account

Only transcode if your machine is not up to editing comfortably with the MOV's, absolutely no point wasting time transcoding otherwise, no quality gain, just losses.

hosein0251

I use AvidDNX Format For Edit , vfx ,...
its so good
+ over 50% increase speed on edditing % Visual work (AE , Premier )
- the size of AvidDnx Files  is huge ( about 150 % to 200 % more space need )


1%

No point in transcoding BEFORE editing. Intermediate encodes should be cineform/dnxHD/prores. Then encode the final delivery format, ie H264.

Andrew Traweek

Transcoding is only meant to be used if your machine isn't able to process natively. So you keep your full-res clips on an external drive, transcode down to what editors call an "offline" format. The kids these days call it "proxy." Basically something editable with minimal RAM/CPU loads and doesn't need to be rendered to play back.

You do your edit, and when everything is locked and ready for output, you "online" it. Unlink your clips, then reconnect them to the original clips on your external drive. You'll do all of your final outputs from the up-rezzed version.

So, if you have a screaming system that can play multiple streams of 1080p and Premiere Pro, why not edit with the masters?

vertigopix

You're right but i found some informations about "good practice" for color correction and grading like this :  (courtesy Visioncolor blog)

Quote
Creating a "digital negative"

The post processing workflow we recommend has been tested extensively and hands down delivers the highest image quality that you can get from your Canon EOS DSLR.

UPDATE: Check out this video tutorial which briefly goes over the same steps described below.

Here's a list of what you'll need to create your "digital negative" – a high quality video file that you will color grade in Step 2:

    VisionColor Picture Styles (to get the most information out of your camera)
    Adobe After Effects(to run a denoiser in 16bit on your 8bit footage and export to a 10-bit codec – dithering FTW!)
    Neat Video (to denoise your footage – add some grain afterwards to avoid banding!)
    Cineform NeoScene (to upconvert your denoised files to 10-bit 4:2:2)
    You now have a DIGITAL NEGATIVE that is ready for color correction. You will be surprised by how much further you will be able to "push" the image now!

It should be noted that you don't NEED to use these exact programs or this exact order of operations (i.e. if you don't have the bucks for Cineform, it's perfectly fine to render to ProRes etc).

So what do you think about it ?
Is it worth it?

1%

Don't believe there is any bennefit to up-converting color depth before the edit. AE can process it at 8/16/32 internally. When it comes out is when cineform comes into play for me.

Try one clip converted and one clip regular H264 and see if there is a difference for grading.

Andy600

I totally agree with 1%. I've tested several other codecs against original footage in Premier and AE (CS6) and there was no perceivable advantage when color grading transcoded footage.

I do however think there was a slight playback performance increase using Cineform but that was before I started shooting everything at GOP1 or 3 (using 1%'s 600d ML build) . I use Cineform for intermediates because I feel it has a slight edge over DNxHD and Prores on my PC.

The only time I'll transcode is if I'm using DaVinci Resolve (lite). I tend to get better results using DNxHD or Prores.
Colorist working with Davinci Resolve, Baselight, Nuke, After Effects & Premier Pro. Occasional Sunday afternoon DOP. Developer of Cinelog-C Colorspace Management and LUTs - www.cinelogdcp.com

vertigopix

Thank you all !

That's very interesting and it's look like the discussions about 24 or 25 fps for so-called "film look"...   ;)

I will do some test and if i get some interesting results i will post it here !