ProRes 422/HQ + Premeire

[David J. Buchanan]

Hi all,

I just bought a Sony FS100, and plan on getting a Atomos Ninja to bypass the card (duh) and I was wondering. It records only to Apple ProRes, am I right?

Can I edit with that codec in Premiere CS5.5? And I mean without converting through some third party program.

[Kevin Monahan]

Yes, you can edit with it. If on a PC or a Mac that does not have FCP installed, you must first download the codec from apple.com. If you are on a PC or a Mac that does not have FCP installed, you cannot export to ProRes. A Mac with FCP installed will give you the option to export to ProRes codecs.

[Justin Molush]

Or you can just install the codecs and export to prores just fine.

I dont have FCP installed on my laptop and export all my masters to prores from premiere. I don't know how a colleague of mine did it, but I was complaining about a lack of prores option in premiere and they just handed me a flash drive, I installed a codec package, and AME, Premiere, and AE work with prores great. Ill ask them where they got it from...

*Edit* Just called them and they said all they did was copy the driver from the quicktime directory, Ill update this post again when I find out exactly where.

*Edit2* Pretty sure I found it.

/Library/Quicktime/AppleProResCodec.component

Just find a computer that has it installed, copy it, and install it on your own computer. You can now freely export/work with ProRes.

[Kevin Monahan]

There are no purchase options to use ProRes codecs for encoding_unless_you own FCP. You can, however, decode ProRes which allows you to edit with it on Mac or PC. Here are links to the decoders.

Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Mac
Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Windows

So, you can always edit with ProRes, however, you cannot export to ProRes unless you have FCP installed. If you are on a PC, you cannot export a ProRes file at all.

[David J. Buchanan]

Alright, thanks guys.

Good to know, because I didn't really want to spend the extra $ for the NanoFlash even with it's high record from people.

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi David,

On a current install of Windows 7 and CS5 or CS5.5, you shouldn't have to install ANYTHING extra. I've used Ninja with several builds in the shop and at home and the ProRes clips play fine "out of the box" without doing anything special.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[David J. Buchanan]

Since were on the Ninja. I have one more question.

I know HDMI is a 60i only current, but if important the ProRes clips into Premiere does it atomically do the pull-down to create 24P clips? Or is there some sort of setting I have to check?

[Paul Kapp]

You can output Prores as Quicktime, codec: none from Premiere.
This seems to give little generation loss.
If you create a custom sequence file with settings say; 1920h x 1080v, 25fps, square pixels, audio 48k, call it Full HD.
Import your Prores files, edit then output as QT none.
This works for uncompressed QT HD too.

With a PIX 240, you get the choice of the Avid DNxHD codec, which you can also work with and output from Premiere as Quicktime, codec: DNxHD.
The PIX also does 3:2 pulldown on the fly I believe, though I don't need it, using mainly 25p.
And it also does hardware conversion from HD whatever to HD whatever.
e.g. 1080 25p to 720 30p, 720 60i to 1080 24p.
It also takes SDI or HDMI in and outputs to both SDI & HDMI.
Amongst other things, it is a built in all purpose converter.

I am waiting, not so patiently, for the PIX 240 to ship.

Oops, just realised you are using HDMI.
Well then the PIX 220 is $900 cheaper and has HDMI I/O only.

[David J. Buchanan]

Wow!

I wish I would have heard about the PIX 220 before I bought the Atomos Ninja. Well I guess I have 30 days to return it. I'm mostly worried about the pulldown, but the other features on the PIX are also pretty nice. I guess I'll have to see what's up.

[Justin Molush]

Originally Posted by Paul Kapp

You can output Prores as Quicktime, codec: none from Premiere.
This seems to give little generation loss.

I dont know what to tell you guys... You can export ProRes from ANY of the Adobe applications with the above trick I mentioned.

Shot on the left is my after effects, shot on the right is my media encoder (where premiere sends all its projects).

[Andre Bernet]

Originally Posted by Justin Molush

I dont know what to tell you guys... You can export ProRes from ANY of the Adobe applications with the above trick I mentioned.

But only on a Mac!

[Paul Kapp]

Yes, not on a PC.
Avid DNxHD is looking more attractive, as the workflow remains in that codec in and out.

Also, my suggestion of exporting to QT, codec: none, means large file size.

[David J. Buchanan]

I dunno if I'm doing something wrong, but I bought the Ninja, loaded the files into the comp, and... It's not importing into Premiere.

[David J. Buchanan]

Originally Posted by David J. Buchanan

I dunno if I'm doing something wrong, but I bought the Ninja, loaded the files into the comp, and... It's not importing into Premiere.

Never mind, it was the dual audio thing that was messin' it up.

[Paul Kapp]

Originally Posted by Paul Kapp
For PC users:
You can output Prores as Quicktime, codec: none from Premiere.
This seems to give little generation loss.

Originally Posted by Justin Molush

I dont know what to tell you guys... You can export ProRes from ANY of the Adobe applications with the above trick I mentioned.

Shot on the left is my after effects, shot on the right is my media encoder (where premiere sends all its projects).