Apple ProRes 422 or H.264 at DVinfo.net

Ian Stark · August 2nd, 2011, 02:15 PM

I am in PAL land using a Canon XH-A1S and I have an indirect customer in the US who has asked for footage to be delivered as a .mov file compatible with Apple Pro Res 422 or H.264 as they work with FCP.

Could anyone give me an idea as to the best way to convert the footage to meet her requirements. I am a Sony Vegas user but I also have access to CS5 and Adobe Media Encoder.

Thanks for any guidance.

Jack Zhang · August 5th, 2011, 07:13 PM

Motion JPEG in "Photo - JPEG" format is a good delivery format for FCP from PC edits. The PC cannot export in ProRes 422 and Vegas cannot export in .mov H.264. H.264 is also more compressed and may cause generational loss if the footage is to be edited later.

Ian Stark · August 6th, 2011, 12:38 AM

Thanks Jack. In the end the client accepted my suggestion of Avid DnXHD. I will try your suggestion and see if we can get better results though.

The main challenge in the end was, of course, converting frame rates from PAL to NTSC. We took advice and shot in 25p and the client has just confirmed that it all looks fine on her timeline and in test renders without the fps conversion. There are practically no pans or sudden moves which is fortunate.

Next time, with a little more notice, I will rent an NTSC camera for the day. I may even buy a Mac ;-)

Thanks again for taking the time.

Jack Zhang · August 6th, 2011, 01:48 AM

Avid works, it actually is better compression-wise than Motion JPEG.

The Sony EX1R has both NTSC and PAL modes so that could be something you could look into next time you rent for an international production.

Ian Stark · August 6th, 2011, 02:53 AM

Yes, I've rented dual format a few times before (actually, dual format isn't the issue really - I would only need one or the other). Unfortunately I only had a few hours notice for this job so I was committed to using what I had to hand. All turned out well in the end though, I'm happy to say.

August 2nd, 2011, 02:15 PM	#1
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Apple ProRes 422 or H.264 I am in PAL land using a Canon XH-A1S and I have an indirect customer in the US who has asked for footage to be delivered as a .mov file compatible with Apple Pro Res 422 or H.264 as they work with FCP. Could anyone give me an idea as to the best way to convert the footage to meet her requirements. I am a Sony Vegas user but I also have access to CS5 and Adobe Media Encoder. Thanks for any guidance. __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

August 5th, 2011, 07:13 PM	#2
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	Re: Apple ProRes 422 or H.264 Motion JPEG in "Photo - JPEG" format is a good delivery format for FCP from PC edits. The PC cannot export in ProRes 422 and Vegas cannot export in .mov H.264. H.264 is also more compressed and may cause generational loss if the footage is to be edited later.

August 6th, 2011, 12:38 AM	#3
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Re: Apple ProRes 422 or H.264 Thanks Jack. In the end the client accepted my suggestion of Avid DnXHD. I will try your suggestion and see if we can get better results though. The main challenge in the end was, of course, converting frame rates from PAL to NTSC. We took advice and shot in 25p and the client has just confirmed that it all looks fine on her timeline and in test renders without the fps conversion. There are practically no pans or sudden moves which is fortunate. Next time, with a little more notice, I will rent an NTSC camera for the day. I may even buy a Mac ;-) Thanks again for taking the time. __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

August 6th, 2011, 01:48 AM	#4
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	Re: Apple ProRes 422 or H.264 Avid works, it actually is better compression-wise than Motion JPEG. The Sony EX1R has both NTSC and PAL modes so that could be something you could look into next time you rent for an international production.

August 6th, 2011, 02:53 AM	#5
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Re: Apple ProRes 422 or H.264 Yes, I've rented dual format a few times before (actually, dual format isn't the issue really - I would only need one or the other). Unfortunately I only had a few hours notice for this job so I was committed to using what I had to hand. All turned out well in the end though, I'm happy to say. __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk