Archive for the ‘Formats’ Category
Friday, May 16th, 2014
In Summary:
Purpose of FieldsKit ReInterlacer:
- Transforms progressive video (e.g. HDp25 frames/sec) into spatio-temporal interlaced video (e.g. SDi50 fields/sec). It achieves this by estimating the fields that would have been shot (had the original video itself been shot as interlaced) between each frame of the progressive video, via a process of motion estimation.
- Most NLEs do not use this “perfectionist” method, instead they at best simply combine (ghost-blur) successive frames, with no compensation for time/motion.
- On an interlaced display, such as an old analog TV or projector,
- The “NLE-simple” approach may lead to dynamic (changing e.g. moving) scenes and objects appearing flickery.
- The “perfectionist” approach will instead typically avoid such flicker.
Configuration of FieldsKit ReInterlacer:
- Field Order: [Lower First]
- Output Type: [= Create motion estimated fields]
- This is not the default (oddly). But it is the only proper way to get the expected “perfectionist” reinterlacing to happen!
- Source Layer: [Video 1]
Supplier’s website:
(more…)
Posted in Adobe, After Effects, artefacts, AviSynth, deinterlacing, DVD, DVD, Formats, interlacing, Motion, Premiere, Premiere, Twixtor | No Comments »
Friday, April 4th, 2014
Following on from my previous post entitled: “SSD Format Details for BlackMagic Cinema Camera”:
Here is how to (re)format a volume as exFAT , whether or not it is already in that format, from Windows 7, via Command-Line (cmd):
- Windows Start:[cmd]
- format E: /q /fs:exfat
- The type of the file system is EXFAT. Enter current volume label for drive E: <your volume’s name>
- WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE E: WILL BE LOST! Proceed with Format (Y/N)? y
- QuickFormatting 457860M
- Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.
- Format may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID.
- Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? (Y/N) y
- Volume dismounted. All opened handles to this volume are now invalid.
- Volume label (15 characters, ENTER for none)? <your volume’s name>
- Initializing the File Allocation Table (FAT)…
- Creating file system structures.
- Format complete. 447.1 GB total disk space. 447.1 GB are available.
- 131,072 bytes in each allocation unit. 3,662,754 allocation units available on disk.
- 32 bits in each FAT entry.
- Volume Serial Number is <your volume’s serial number>
Posted in Formats, SSD, storage, Windows, Windows 7 | No Comments »
Saturday, March 22nd, 2014
Suppose you have some RAW footage, in CinemaDNG format (a number-sequenced set of [.dng] files), for example shot on a Blackmagic Cinema Camera (BMCC). Compared to “visually lossless” say ProRes or DNxHD (let alone H264 etc.), CinemaDNG occupies an awful lot of disk space, primarily because it is mathematically lossless. The GoPro-CineformRAW encoding format offers significant reductions in file size (and hence data rate) at the cost of a practically negligible loss of visual information (and a purchase price). This codec can be purchased as part of the GoPro Studio Premium product. A comparison-grid of the various GoPro Studio products is here.
CineformRAW is an attractive compression-format, but unless care is applied to some very technical-level encoding options/settings, compatibility problems can arise when importing to DaVinci Resolve. The latter is in widespread use but is especially relevant to BMCC owners because it is supplied as free software with that camera. I experienced such problems myself: one version of Resolve (v.10.0) interpreted CineformRAW clips as green-tinted, while another (v.10.1) just gave black frames.
Happily, a simple solution existed: RAW4Pro, which is essentially a front-end to CineformRAW (and also to DNxHD, useful e.g. if you want HD proxies).
Summary:
- Install
- A product incorporating the GoPro-Cineform RAW codec.
- The RAW4Pro utility
- Essentially a front-end to generate CineformRAW and also to generate HD (e.g. as proxies) as DNxHD, in each case in either MOV or AVI container-formats.
- Run RAW4Pro
- Select (Browse-to) input-folder, output folder.
- Select:
- Sound: Audio-Merge
- Initially, extract audio from source file to a WAV file, then merge this audio in with the generated file. The WAV file remains, regardless.
- The alternative (if not enabled) is no audio in the generated file (and no WAV file).
- Processing: Convert-Only
- Quality: Fine
- Clicking the [?] button reveals that this creates 10-bit Log (colour-channel resolution).
- Video Format:
- Cineform RAW (encoding format)
- MOV (container format)
- LUT: NoneClick the [Process Clip] button.
- Result:
- A movie file with name prefixed by :R4P_” and suffixed by “_sound”, incorporating both video (10-bit Log) and audio tracks.
- An audio WAV file, similarly prefixed, generated as a “side effect”, may or may not be useful to you, can be deleted.
(more…)
Posted in Blackmagic, camera, Cineform, codec, Compressor, DaVinci Resolve, DNxHD, Encoding, Formats, GoPro, RAW, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, March 20th, 2014
For SSDs for the BlackMagic Cinema Camera (BMCC), the following partition/format scheme works fine, and was found in more than one person’s own such SSDs. I think in each case they were formatted from Windows, hence the “NTFS”.
- Device:
- Partition Scheme Map: MBR (FDisk)
- Device Block Size: 128 Bytes
- User manual recommends 128 Bytes
- Default of Command [format <diskletter>: /q /fs:exfat] itself reports “131,072 bytes in each allocation unit”
- Default of [Windows7 > Windows Explorer]: [aFile >RtClk> Format…] is instead 512 Bytes, but I have not noticed any problem with that.
- Partition/Volume:
- Partition Type: NTFS
- Format: exFAT
How to reformat from Windows 7: http://blog.davidesp.com/archives/1000
Posted in Blackmagic, Formats, SSD | No Comments »
Friday, October 18th, 2013
In summary:
There’s no magic option, each workstation needs a local storage volume with block-level data access (as opposed to simply file-level access) and formatted to a file system that is native (doesn’t require translation) to that workstation’s operating system. Migration and collaboration imply file copying/synchronization, which implies read-access to the “foreign” file-system. Mac OS can read NTFS, Winows can only read HFS+ via third-party add-on utilities. Furthermore, for speed and responsiveness appropriate to video editing, the local storage should ideally be RAID or SSD. In either case, it is possible to split the local storage (e.g. via partitioning) into more than one file-system. At least, that worked on the mutiple occasions I have taken that approach, and have not been aware of any issues.
In greater detail:
Consider the challenge of setting up a shared data storage volume (e.g. RAID array or SSD) for video editing, such that either Windows or Mac computers can connect to it, and a video project started on (and saved to) on one of those operating systems (OS) can be continued on the other (and vice versa).
My current solution is to split the drive into separate volumes, one for each OS. For example I have done this on RAIDs of various kinds and on an internal drive for Mac systems bootable to either Mac OS or (via Boot Camp) to Windows. In the case of RAIDs I was advised against this by my system supplier, but got the impression they were just being defensive, not knowing of any definite issues, and to my knowledge I did not experience any issues.
It is is not practical to have just one volume (necessarily in that case, one file-system format), because:
- Mac OS on its own is able to read NTFS but cannot write to it.
- This is a show-stopper. Some of the major video editing applications (e.g. NLEs), slightly disturbingly, may use (or for some functionality, even depend on) read/write access to source-files and the folders containing them.
- I initially, naively, imagined that video editing systems etc. would only ever read source media files, not write to them, or to the folders containing them. However that proved very naive indeed…
- In Apple/Mac’s (erstwhile) Final Cut Pro 7 I regularly used their (moving) image stabilization effect, SmoothCam. Its analysis phased was typically slow and heavy – not something one would wish to repeat. The result was a “sidecar” file of similar forename to the analyzed source file, but a different extension, placed in the same folder as the source file.
- I’m not certain, but got the feeling that maybe the source file (or folder) meta data, such as permissions or somekind of interpretation-change to media files in the quicktime ([.mov] mmedia format.
- Certainly, Adobe (on Windows and Mac) could adulterate both files (by appending XMP data – being an Adobe media metadata dialect in XML) and the folders they occurred in (depending on uder-configuration) in terms of sidecar-files.
- Sony Vegas also generates sidecar-files, e.g. for audio peaks.
- File system translation add-ons can add Windows read/write access to HFS+ (ordinarily it could not even read it) and add Mac OS write access to NTFS (ordinarily it could only read it), but not sufficiently transparent/seamless for big real-time data access as required for demanding video editing endeavours.
- File system translation add-ons (to operating systems) exist, such as MacDrive, to allow Windows to read/write Mac OS, or Tuxera NTFS, Paragon NTFS or Parallels for Mac to enable it to read/write NTFS, but these (reportedly, and in part of my experience) only really work well for standard “Office” type applications, not so well for heavy (big andd real-time) data applications such as video editing, where they can impede the data throughput. Doh!
- Some people have experienced obscure issues of application functionality, beyond data-movement speed issues.
- {Also, I am concerned over the (unknown/imagined/potential) risk that the “alien” operating system and/or its translation utility might alter the file system in some way that upsets its appearance to the “home” operating system.}
- FAT is universal but is a riskier option:
- FAT is un-journaled, hence risks loss not only of individual files but of whole volume (integrity).
- In video editing, corruption could be disastrous to a project, not only in terms of possible data-loss or time wasting and project delays on data recovery, but also in terms of “weird” effects during editing, such as poor responsiveness to commands, whose cause the user may not appreciate. or even an increased risk of unacceptable flaws in the final product.
- FAT32 is essentially obsolete, because its maximum file size is (1 bit under) 4GB.
- exFAT, a kind of “FAT64” is practical, and indeed a big successful corporate Mac-based production company once supplied me with many GB of footage on an exFAT-formatted external disk.
- The largest file I have so far stored there is 40GB. No problems.
- NAS (Network-Attached Storage) sounds at first an easy option, but in my experience they impede big real-time data throughput (as stated earlier for “file system tyranslation” add-ons). Double-Doh!
- Such devices only permit file-level access. Consequently, the client systems can e.g. create or retrieve folders and files, but cannot e.g. format the device or address it in terms of lower-level data structures.
- A likely explanation for the “impedement” of a NAS (to data responsiveness and throughput) is that such devices store in a local format (typically they run linux) that is invisible to the client, then translate to an appropriate protocol for each operating system accessing it. They normally incorporate a bunch of such protocols. As always, translation => overhead.
- Other options, such as SAN and iSCSI, instead of providing file-level access to the client systems, instead offer the lower level of data block access. Thus they appear to the client system as would any local storage device, and can be formatted as appropriate to the client system.
- One suggestion I saw was to use a Seagate GoFlex drive, which can be used (read/write) with both Mac and Windows. But the supplier’s FAQ (about that drive) indicates that it depends upon a translator utility for the Mac:
- If you would like to be able to “shuttle” data back and forth between a Mac and a PC, a special driver needs to be installed onto the Mac that allows it to access a Windows-formatted drive (i.e. NTFS). Time Machine will not work in this case, nor will Memeo Premium software for Mac. However, if you want your GoFlex solution to also work with TimeMachine, the drive will need to be reformatted to HFS+ journaled.
So I guess there is no “magic storage” option, my main work setup will have to remain based on separate volumes for each OS.
When transferring an editing project from one OS to another, the following actions will be necessary:
- Copy any absent or updated files across.
- e.g. via a file-synch utility such as Syncovery.
- Allow time etc. for possible file re-linking, re-indexing, re-preview generation, re-“SmoothCam” (or equivalent).
- This aspect is down to the editing application etc., as opposed to the operating or file systems themselves.
- Ensure any effects used in the edit are present on both systems.
- If so then these should presumably still work…
(more…)
Posted in Adobe, collaboration, disk, FCP7, FCPX, file mgt, Final Cut, Formats, Mac, MacDrive, NAS, Parallels, Premiere, RAID, util, video, Windows, Windows 7, workflow | No Comments »
Friday, September 13th, 2013
I highlighted in http://blog.davidesp.com/archives/598 (10 months ago) that Adobe Premiere etc. can adulterate media files, in terms of metadata and/or sidecar-files (depending on user-configurations of these applications. I indicated that, regardless of the reasonableness of at least some of these actions, this could potentially cause problems to other applications.
Validating that concern, I note a post (2012-06-12) by Matt Davis on Philip Bloom’s website, stating (my italics):
- …if sharing assets with FCPX and Adobe Premiere, Adobe ‘touches’ (resets the modification date) of each file without doing anything else to it, but also sprinkles sidecar files into directories of transcodable files for metadata, thus sending any returning FCPX activity into a tailspin, requiring a re-linking session. It’s oddities like these which haunt the implementation of FCPX in a wider system and make system managers wonder if FCPX is actually worth implementing in its current state.
That was over a year ago, and so the issue may or may not exist for the current version of FCPX.
As users, whether or not the actions of one application adhere to standards and another don’t, what we as users ultimately care about is workflow, which in this case translates to “does it connect up with my other tools/processes?”. So we have to maintain a “situational awareness” of potential interoperability pitfalls.
Incidentally, I recall that FCPX’s predecessor (in history at least, if not development-line) FCP7 could adulterate source directories with its own sidecar files, produced by its SmoothCam effect. Not knowing anything further for sure, I nevertheless wondered (at that time) what it might be doing “under the hood” of the QuickTime [.mov] wrapper.
Posted in After Effects, Apple, collaboration, FCP7, FCPX, file mgt, Final Cut, folder structures, Formats, Premiere, roundtrip, SmoothCam, video | No Comments »
Friday, September 6th, 2013
Summary:
When uploading to YouTube (or Vimeo or indeed most online video services), the uploaded video need not be in the format that will ultimately be served to the audience. Instead, it is essentially in an an archive role, and based on this archive, the services will (now and/or in the future) encode their own copies at various resolutions. The uploaded “archive” should therefore be of the best quality, and is not constrained to be in a format that plays well on most target devices.
YouTube defines two upload-formats: Standard (for typical enthusiast videos) and Enterprise (for serious matter such as movies or corporate productions). A 5-minute video in Standard format may be about 350 MB while in Enterprise format it may be around 2GB. So for practical purposes, Enterprise format requires an Enterprise internet-connection.
- Standard-Level Encoding:
- YouTube gave good results when the video was uploaded in H264 at 8 mean 16 max Mbps.
- I (currently) believe this is a good practical upload-format to use in most cases.
- It has given good results for general scenes (in the experience of others as well as myself).
- My maximum bitrate (16Mbps) exceeds Adobe’s YouTube 1080 preset, which defines 8Mbps mean=max.
- However it is way below YouTube’s official (and YouTube-expert-confirmed) advice of 50Mbps (mean=max) for Enterprise-class (productions and internet connections).
- I wonder whether such high bandwidth is only really of advantage to fast-changing scenes e.g. foamy sea-spray or to future derivation of 4K from it etc.
- It could presumably be regarded as a useful format for archiving in general, at least where no subsequent significant levels/color manipulation was intended.
- Poor results were obtained when uploaded (mistakenly) at 720p25 at 5 Mbps (mean=max), especially when played (from YouTube) at lower resolutions, when blocking was apparent.
- I am not too sure about Adobe Media Encoder’s YouTube 1080 preset, maybe it is slightly under-specified, the audio bitrate as well as the video bitrate.
- Enterprise-Level Encoding via custom settings in Adobe Media Encoder (version CC of August 2013)
- These are essentially “BluRay-like” / “Gold Standard” formats, from which YouTube’s servers can derive multiple present-day play-formats. Their use should also result in good-quality archive material from which, in future, to derive further (as yet uninvented or not-yet-popular) formats. To “stand the test of time”…
- Audio 320Kbps
- Video:
- Bitrate:
- 50 Mbps for 1080p (25 fps)
- 30 Mbps for 720p (25 and 50 fps?)
- Level:
- 4.2
- General H264 advice is use lowest Level that permits (includes as an option) your required bitrate.
- Level 4.2 additionally has a reasonable number (hence density) of macro-blocks.
- Mode
- Mode should be [High] (as opposed to [Baseline] or [Main] ).
- [High] implies CABAC encoding (which is computationally-intensive but gives superior-quality results) and two B-frames.
- These are both requirements for Enterprise-class YouTube uploads.
- We are essentially uploading an archive format as opposed to playable, so we don’t care how computationally intensive it is.
- Key Frames Distance
- Same thing as GOP size or length (I assume).
- YouTube’s official spec says it should be half the frame-rate…
- e.g. 12 in the case of 25 fps ?
- As opposed to a general rule of thumb (elsewhere) of three times the fps.
- e.g. 75 frames in the case of 25 fps or 150 frames for 50 fps.
- Various people report less smooth motion when shorter keyframe distances are used. But maybe that only applies to lower bitrates?
- B-Frames:
- This is the number of bi-directional (B) frames between I and P frames, e.g. a value of 3 would give: [IBBBPBBBPBBBPBBBP]
- The recommended number is 2 for YouTube-Enterprise context (as opposed to 3 in some other contexts).
Details:
I had shot two videos on my trusty Sony EX3 camera, one at 1080p25 the other at 720p50.
Reason? The first one was a standard live entertainment event, demanding some run&gun, hence I shot it at highest definition. However the other event was a sporting one, and 50 fps provides more potential for handling fast action in various ways (smoother action or slow motion). On this camera, 50fps was only possible in 720p, not 1080p (the camera can also record 1080i50 (fields/second), from which one can generate motion-estimated full-frame 1080p50, but that is extra work, not conducive to productivity, hence best avoided).
On my Adobe CC editing system, I completed the 720p50 video first, then encoded that to 720p25 (Adobe Premiere CC’s YouTube preset, of 5Mbps, mean=max) for checking and eventual upload to YouTube. A day or two later I completed the (longer) 1080p50 video, then similarly encoded that to 720p25 for smaller file and faster upload for the draft/check process.
Then came time to upload the 1080p25 video to YouTube, initially with distribution set to Private. It was late and I forgot to change the encoder setting to 1080. Mistakes can happen, that’s why it was initially made Private and why a test-play or two at various resolutions was in order. When played (from YouTube), not only did this reveal the reduced resolution, unexpectedly there was also some very obvious blocking on fast action, especially when the YouTube video was played at lower resolutions.
…Which of course illustrates the exact purpose of Quality-Checking is for, in the workflow…
Naturally the first thing to so was re-encode at 1080 (duh!). Adobe’s YouTube-preset for this used a VBR bitrate 8 Mbps (mean=max). Then also I also increased the maximum bitrate to 16. I hadn’t time for experimenting, so I just made a best-guess. Result: Success! Following upload of the result to YouTube, test-plays of this looked far better in all respects at the various play-resolutions.
So I did some further web-research … which led me down a (finite) “rabbit-hole” wherein I discovered the existence of two kinds of upload-format standards: Standard (a few Mbps) and Enterprise (BluRay-ish, tens of Mbps). Aghast at the latter, I did further web-searching, which confirmed it.
(more…)
Posted in Adobe Media Encoder, Formats, H264, Premiere, YouTube | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 20th, 2012
I was using Adobe Premiere, this time on Mac OS, and wished to render something like ProRes or something suitable for an iPad. Aware of Larry Jordan’s post on this (from my earlier post), I nevertheless searched afresh, finding the following Adobe blog post. Very helpful.
In each case (folder of presets), just drill down to the lowest level, select all the [.epr] files and import. Each [.epr] file “knows” its appropriate folder internal to Adobe Media Encoder. And yes, I did first check the presets were not already there. Weird really, that I had to discover these by accident – surely should have been part of an Update?
http://blogs.adobe.com/premierepro/2012/06/new-prores-kindle-fire-nook-ipad-android-and-mxf-presets-for-adobe-media-encoder-cs6.html
- new ProRes, Kindle Fire, Nook, iPad, Android, and MXF presets for Adobe Media Encoder CS6
-
IMPORTANT: We do not distribute the ProRes encoders or decoders (codecs). You must get those from Apple. The ProRes encoders are included with various Apple video software, such as Final Cut Pro and Motion.
To install the encoding presets in Adobe Media Encoder CS6, do the following:
- Download the encoding preset packages:
- Extract (unzip) the package.
- Start Adobe Media Encoder CS6.
- In Adobe Media Encoder CS6, choose Preset > Import and navigate to the encoding preset(s) to import. You can choose multiple encoding presets at a time; it is most convenient to select all of the presets in a folder at once.
This video demonstrates the use of the Preset Browser to apply and manage encoding presets.
If you have any trouble, bring questions and issues to the Adobe Media Encoder forum, and we can help you there.
Posted in Adobe, codec, Encoding, Formats, iPad, ProRes, render | No Comments »
Monday, November 12th, 2012
- http://www.larryjordan.biz/prelude-v1-0-1/
- With this release, Prelude now provides new transcoding options that are optimized for editing.
- While the ideal option for Mac users is to transcode into ProRes, this isnt a viable option for Windows users. Since Prelude is cross-platform, Adobe provides two other options: MXF OP1a and P2 Movie. Of the two, I prefer P2 Movie > AVC Intra 100. This Panasonic codec is 10-bit, uses I-frame compression, and creates file sizes somewhat smaller than ProRes 422. For most editors, it should provide excellent quality.
- For Mac users wanting the best quality, I recommend creating a custom preset in Adobe Media Encoder using ProRes. For editors needing to support files in a cross-platform environment, I recommend AVC-Intra 100. (The 100 version has a higher bit rate, and generally higher quality than the 50 version.)
- http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5409
Posted in Adobe, Encoding, Formats, iPad, ProRes, QuickTime | No Comments »
Saturday, November 10th, 2012
Sometimes Adobe Premiere may write to a source media file or proprietary folder-structure. This may be considered a non-problem in most situations, but it is nevertheless worth being aware of.
This is nothing hidden, surreptitious or unheard-of, it’s explained in Adobe’s Help text and documentation. However the potential consequences may not be obvious to a new user. It may arise at various points of what we may regard as the greater process (workflow/manual) of ingesting media, consisting not only of Premiere’s Import of media but also subsequent manual updating of metadata or indeed automatic analysis such as speech recognition. As of CS6 it can also occur as a result of adding Markers in Adobe Prelude.
Premiere likes to add and manage metadata for each media file.
- The good side of this is that it value-enhances these files, making them easier to locate, navigate and use, potentially increasing workflow productivity and asset usage.
- But there’s also a dark side – not necessarily Adobe’s fault (e.g. their approaches may well adhere to official media specifications) – but it may be that so-adulterated media files may cause difficulties to other applications (e.g. that may not fully take on board such standards).
- In my experience, in the past, some (possibly poorly-written, but nevertheless useful) applications have refused to work with metadata-augmented files, again holding up productivity, in this case while the user figures out the issue and works out how to strip this data out, in order to progress.
- Technically a non-problem, but potentially consequential to a workflow, backup software will (rightly, from its point of view) see the metadata-change as a file-change (e.g. as a consequent file-size change) and consider that the files have been updated. Left to itself, the backup process (depending how it works/configured) will overwrite any previous copy of the files (e.g. the original files). Even if the backup process prompts the user to confirm this, the naive user may be uncertain what to do,
Also, the user has the option at their discretion for Premiere to automatically store additional files (such as cache files and metadata sidecar files) alongside source media files.
- In the case of media represented as a straightforward single file (like a .jpg or .mpg file) this does not affect that media.
- However some media (e.g. TV-playable DVDs or XDCAM-EX video media) are stored as proprietary folder structures with defined contents, part of these contents being essence files (e.g. .vob files or .mp4 files) while other files alongside them etc. in that structure (e.g. DVD’s .IFO files or XDVCAM-EX’s .SMI files) contain metadata or index into them etc. In this case, the consequence of adding further files into the structure will (in my experience) be acceptable to some applications and media players but not to others, which regard it as “pollution”, and may then reject such structures. Certainly in the past I have seen this happen in some software applications and also even some (mostly old) TV DVD players.
This is a case for “situational awareness”: if one is aware of the nature and potential consequences of the adulteration (be it regarded as pollution or enhancement, depending on the workflow situation), one is then in a better position to be able to avoid or fix any asociated issues. (more…)
Posted in Adobe, Formats, Prelude, Premiere, Sony EX XDCAM, video, XDCAM EX, XML | No Comments »
Friday, August 31st, 2012
The full (paid) version of GoPro-Cineform Neo (as I have) does support alpha channels.
(A colleague initially thought otherwise – but that impression turned out to be based on info from old forum threads)
(more…)
Posted in 10-bit depth, Adobe, After Effects, alpha, Avid, chroma, chromakey, Cineform, DNxHD, enhance, FirstLight, Formats | No Comments »
Monday, June 18th, 2012
I have a wish to make a product with a non-standard frame size 1024×400. I have found Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere capable of that but could not find any way in Avid to make a project of that size.
Indeed, Avid only offers standard broadcast frame sizes
(more…)
Posted in Avid, Formats, Media Composer | No Comments »
Saturday, December 10th, 2011
I have a Sony XDCAM-EX clip at 1280x720p25 to be transcoded to ProRes, so it can be used as source for iMovie (for another user on another machine).
In principle it should be very simple: go on Mac, use Compressor to transcode the XDCAM footage to ProRes. But as usual, things are pernickety…
Sequence:
- First tried dragging the XDCAM [.mp4] file into compressor.
- Not recognised.
- Likewise the BPAV folder.
- Next, I transcoded the XDCAM footage to “MXF for NLEs” format, using the Mac version of Sony Clip Browser
- Next, opened the XDCAM Transfer app.
- In this app, open the XDCAM’s BPAV folder.
- The footage displays OK but how do I export it to a QuickTime [MOV] file?
- Looks like I can’t. It only offers to export to an [MP4] file.
- Instead, I guess I’ll have to open it from FCP.
- FCP
- I opened a random existing FCP project.
- The footage is 720p but the project/sequence settings are arbitrary (unknown to me)
- FCP: File > Import > Sony XDCAM…
- It imported to somewhere … but where?
- FCP Browser: file > RightClick > Reveal in Finder
- It was at [/Volumes/GRm HFS+/_Media/_Projects/2010-05-30 (Esp) Alison Doggies/020 Source/Sony XDCAM Transfer/SxS_01]
- File System:
- In other words, at whatever destination was last used by some app – presumably XDCAM Transfer or possibly FCP
- The destination path was in fact specified in XDCAM Transfer, under its Menu: [XDCAM Transfer > Preferences > Import]
- Moved the file instead to [/Volumes/GRm HFS+/_Media/_Projects/2009-11-22 (JRM) Lady of the Silver Wheel]
- Compressor:
- Open it in Compressor
- Drag it to the “job-strip” (my term) in Compresor.
- Compressor displays data about that clip (e.g. 1280×720, 25 fps)
- Select jobstrip settings:
- Select Setting
- Settings: Apple > Formats > QuickTime > Apple Pro
- Name: Apple ProRes 422
- Description: Apple ProRes 422 with audio pass-through. Settings based off the source resolution and frame rate
- Apply (Drag) Setting to Jobstrip
- Destination
- Leave destination unspecified. Then it will be the same folder as Source.
- Processing (transcoding) of this footage (1280x720p25) took about 3 minutes (on MacBook Pro 2009).
- Result was not that much bigger than the original:
- Originally recorded [.MP4] file: 1.19 GB
- Rewrapped [.MOV] from XDCAM Transfer: 1.14 GB
- ProRes [.MOV] from Compressor: 1.97 GB
Posted in Compressor, FCP7, file mgt, Final Cut, Formats, iMovie, Mac, MacBook Pro, mp4, ProRes, QuickTime, Sony EX XDCAM, transcode, Uncategorized, XDCAM EX | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
MyFrench friend wanted to know how to continue receiving French Satellite TV after November 2011, when existing channels on the satellites at 5W will be switched off. Basically they are going to an MPEG4-related broadcast format, requiring a new generation of digital receiver.
The “least headache” solution we went for was a package and receiver called Fransat, which is available at Darty stores in France. Ironic name, given the main channel we want to watch is Arte.
(more…)
Posted in Formats, France, TV | No Comments »
Thursday, October 27th, 2011
I attended, working on one of the camera units. Had a great time, learnt lots, at all sorts of levels. Even how to make good use of the Movie Slate application on my iPhone! Link: http://www.fstopacademy.com/
Posted in 10-bit depth, camera technique, codec, collaboration, Encoding, enhance, FCP7, file mgt, film, filters, Final Cut, folder structures, Formats, gamma, grading, iPhone, lens, levels, lighting, logging, moviemaking, MovieSlate, Mpeg StreamClip, Music, ProRes, recording, render, self-organization, Setup, Sony EX XDCAM, Sony F3, Sony FS100, SteadiCam, storage, storyboard, transcode, tutorials, wide-angle, workflow, XDCAM EX, XML | No Comments »
Monday, August 8th, 2011
Compression formats for Digital Intermediates when using Sony Vegas:
- http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=770173
- Cineform for highest quality (smart-renderable)
- Cineform (is great for transfer) between After Effects and Vegas.
- MXF for almost the same quality at a fraction of the size.
- MXF previews beautifully off small bus-powered USB 2 drives.
- Quicktime .mov with png compression for anything with a transparent alpha layer.
- Quicktime .mov with Avid DNxHD codec for Handbrake encoding intermediary and for working with the FCP world.
Details (again from the above link) about use of MXF:
- The big thing with MXF is to make sure that you use it interlaced even (if) you are using progressive footage. …set it using one of the interlaced templates but set the deinterlace method to none.
- The reason this is important is that Vegas will only smart-render .mxf footage flagged as interlaced. If you set the MXF render properties to progressive, it won’t smart-render. If you set the properties to interlaced and select either blend fields or interpolate, it will screw up resizes and renders to other formats.
- MXF with a smart-render is very cool. The format looks wonderful and no damage is done as you smart-render sections into a final piece.
- MXF without a smart-render isn’t really good enough. MXF will not hold up to successive rerenders like Cineform or a lossless codec.
Posted in Cineform, codec, DNxHD, Encoding, Final Cut, Formats, Handbrake, MXF, QuickTime, roundtrip, Sony Vegas, transcode | No Comments »
Saturday, May 21st, 2011
BBC R&D have determined the resolution levels people can typically perceive at the most common viewing distance, just under 9 feet.
Some examples I draw from this:
- For my 24 inch (diagonal) editing monitor viewed at 2 feet (my typical distance), this is equivalent to a screen of (9/2)*24= 84 inches (diagonal) at the study’s typical viewing distance. Based on this, their results imply that I can resolve in excess of full HD (1920×1080).
- Though a typical TV viewer might not sit at this distance, someone watching on a laptop or tablet etc. might well do.
- An elderly person I know sits at “about ten feet” from a 50 inch (diagonal) HD screen (a Panasonic 3D TV). They notice little difference between SD and HD. BBC results suggest they should be able to perceive up to 1280×720.
- In addition to the possible ageing issue (deteriorating vision), I wonder if their TV incorporates any clever scaling algorithm to produce an image that is HD-smooth if not HD-detailed. In principle algorithms can infer greater resolution from consideration of sets of frames, so detail-enhancement is not beyond the realms of possibility.
Posted in Formats | No Comments »
Monday, May 2nd, 2011
What if one wants to encode a non-supported format in DNxHD? For example double-framerate HD at 1080p 50 fps? I typically produce such material by double-framerate deinterlacing from HD footage. Some cameras are also starting to appear that record directly at 1080p 60 fps. DNxHD config panel doesn’t give options for this – but there appears to be a workaround:
- <<Because there was not a 59.94 fps Progressive option in the DNxHD config, I thought it was not allowed. I chose the 1080p 25fps option in the DNxHD config & 59.94 fps in the “Quicktime 7” panel – and it worked like a champ! All the way thru a HandBrake Render @ 59.94 fps.>
- I have not yet confirmed this by experiment.
Posted in DNxHD, Formats | No Comments »
Monday, May 2nd, 2011
- H264 Encoder Tips:
- Some recommend the use of Handbrake (free encoder) over that in Sony Vegas 9 and earlier.
- Sony Vegas 10 uses an updated version of the MainConcept encoder (for H264 etc.) than Vegas 9 etc.
- I don’t know how this compares to Handbrake.
- Levels: Studio/Broadcast, 0-235.
- Any levels outside this range will be preserved by the encode/decode but will get clipped at 16=black and 235=white.
- Levels within the range will play back in Vimeo at 0-255 RGB on computer display.
- But what of gamma/colorspace? 601 or 709 or what?
- Framerate:
- 30fps (as in USA) or 25fps (as in Europe etc.).
- For nicer motion, might be worth mo-comp retiming 25 fps to 30 fps?
- Resolution:
- 640×480 for standard definition
- 4:3 video, 853×480 for widescreen DV
- 1280×720 or 1920×1080 for high definition.
- Pixel Aspect:
- Square, i.e. 1:1″ or “1.00”
- Interlacing:
- Encoding
- MP4-(H264+AAC). Other formats also possible but this one is probably the most popular.
- H264:
- Use 2000 kbits/sec for standard definition 4:3 video, 3000 kbits/sec for widescreen DV, or 5000 kbits/sec for high definition footage.
- Profile = Main ?
- Reference frames = 2 (default)
- Each macroblock (or part of it?) can be predicted from a different reference frame. Result can be higher quality but increased encoding time – since each Ref. Frame implies its own motion estimation. A default of 2 or 3 is about right. Higher values tend only to be helpful for animations. Values above 5 rarely help.
- Deblocking filter = Yes ?
- AAC: 320 kbps / 44.1 kHz
- http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=745821
- If you give them non-streaming source, the upload servers must do an extra preliminary pass to find the metadata, taking up more time and resources than is necessary. This has a cumulative effect on overall server response.
(more…)
Posted in Formats, levels, Vimeo, YouTube | No Comments »
Sunday, May 1st, 2011
Summary of my conclusions from my own limited experiments based around Sony Vegas (9.0e 64-bit):
- For HD 1080-50i, in its corresponding mode, DNxHD works as well as or better than Cineform.
- However for non-standard formats (like Vimeo SD-Wide 853×480), DNxHD does not work well while Cineform does.
- Confirmed by separate experiment, reported separately.
- For my experiments (Sony Vegas 9.0e-64) the following DNxHD settings made no difference:
- LevelSpace: RGB/709
- Quality: 50% (default) or 100%
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Posted in Cineform, DNxHD, Formats, Sony Vegas | No Comments »
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=736849&Replies=34
- Avid updated/fixed the DNxHD Codec Configuration Window with their Oct (2010) release…
- http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=372311
- The Avid codec can only exist in a .mov Quicktime wrapper. A big deal on a lower powered computer like my Core2Duo but pretty much a non-issue on any quad core.
- Not true. However, the FREE version only exists inside an .MOV. And yes, this is a problem for Vegas.
- (For) a Quicktime codec … you need QT installed.
- I noticed there is no 1080p in 29.97 frame rate with DNxHD. Damn.
- Sure there is 1080/30p. The things on the list for you to select are SUGGESTIONS. Use 1080/24p. It will work just fine, and won’t change your video to 24p.
- If you need a tool to convert to DNxHD you can tryout Avid’s Metafuze
- Is there a primer of which of the CODEC selections are which? There are 6 formats and each has slightly different setting available.
Posted in DNxHD, Formats, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
I was initially unable to find some required Easy Setups in FCP. Eventually I did locate them in the menu, it was just that they didn’t appear by default – I had to select the right (from FCP’s point of view) frame rate or something (I forget now).
- But before I discovered that, I googled lots, coming up with the following conclusions, which I am no longer sure about – whether they still apply or are obsolete. Maybe informative somehow anyway, so I’ll post it for posterity at least…
In Final Cut Pro menu: [Final Cut Pro > Easy Setup], if select Format [Apple ProRes 422] then Use only offers 720p50 ???. However, further options do exist, they are just hidden away as “Additional Easy Setups”. (Huh? I thought Apple philosophy was to make things easy???). For example there is the additional setup that I need, namely [Apple ProRes 422 1920×1080 25p 48 kHz.fcpre]. The fix for this is:
- The Format/Use combinations are stored as [.fcpre] files.
- The main folder for [.fcpre] files is [Macintosh HD>Library>Application Support>Final Cut Pro System Support>Custom Settings].
- That’s the only place (to my knowledge) that FCP looks.
- Additional [.fcpre] files are to be found in [Macintosh HD>Applications>Final Cut Pro Additional Easy Setups>English].
- Manually copy required files from the latter to the former.
(more…)
Posted in FCP7, Final Cut, Formats | No Comments »
Monday, July 19th, 2010
Problem:
- In Windows I export from Sony Vegas to AVI (CineForm). In OS X I read the file into FCP and apply the SmoothCam effect, then export to ProRes. In Windows, Sony Vegas, I replace the original file with the smoothed one. The levels/gamma are wrong.
Solution (Search):
- Sony Vegas forum http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=718371
- Use DNxHD
- Couple of tips re DNxHD: 709 color level assumes 16-235, and RGB assumes 0-255.
- Force it back again: www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/gamma_mac_pc.html
- But this presumably implies getting re-quantized twice (the roundtrip issue and the forcing), which for 8-bit footage I imagine could reduce the quality (banding).
- Uncertainties
- Where and how does this gamma get applied? In FCP I didn’t (knowingly) alter the levels (eg until it looked right), I just applied the SmoothCam filter. So I guess it would look wrong on the (pre-SnowLeopard) Mac but I wouldn’t care. Wouldn’t FCP then export back whatever it got but smoothed? This one is really confusing. Experiments needed (when I get time…) I guess.
Posted in Cineform, DNxHD, Final Cut, Formats, gamma, Mac, ProRes, QuickTime, roundtrip, Snow Leopard, Sony Vegas, Video Computer Technology, Windows 7 | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
To export from Final Cut to WMV, this can’t be done natively, you need to install a third-party app such as flip4mac (“Studio” or greater).
“When you do install something like flip4mac you will be able to export from FCP using quicktime conversion and choose the options for WMV” or can export a QuickTime (self-contained) and use a separate app (incl. QT Pro) to convert it [http://www.iov.co.uk/showarticle.pl?ft=0;id=61821;n=0]
Posted in Final Cut, Formats, Windows Media | No Comments »
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
- The mix&match feature of the Avid (e.g. MC4) assumes bringing in footage in corresponding projects. After that, you can instantly access that footage from any other project (or project type), and playback in real-time
- http://lfhd.net/2009/10/01/avid-mc-4-0-inside-look-at-mix-match
- Your sequence setting is what you tell it. 1080i, 720p, 525i
whathaveyou. And whatever clip you add to that that ISNT that format, gets scaled to that format
using a filter called a MOTION ADAPTER. This add interpolation to match the sequence settings, and this is added automatically when you add new footage that doesnt match. And there are all sorts of interpolation modes
these are all user selectable. AND you can change your sequence settings to match something else later.
- If you want the interpolation to better then you can promote the motion adapter to a full blown TIME WARP (that has been there for many years) and the footage will benefit more.
- Works in software-only (no Mojo required) and takes advantage of multi-core (e.g. 8 core)
- Avids open timeline implementation is much better than FCPs. Avid MC automatically adds a plugin that is designed to do this upscale in very smart ways. It isnt just scaling it and then repeating a frame.
- The editor does need to have certain switches turned on to see the highest quality output, such as: -Full Quality 10bit output, -HQ RT Scaling Decoder, -Advanced Polyphase image interpolation.
- For example: “you will have to import NTSC clips in an NTSC project and 720p60 clips in a 720p60 project. If you try to import 720p60 files into a 30i project, you will be downconverting upon import, which is not as nice, and will not be able to handle certain metadata correctly”
Posted in Avid, Formats, NLE, Video Computer Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
Eugenia recommended ([http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2008/09/15/prores-for-windows/] as of September 2008) DNxHD and ProRes, among other codecs, for transfer between PC and Mac. She also advises Lagarith for transfer to/from linux, though it sounds slightly tricky.According to BobRusso (Applications Specialist at Avid) [http://community.avid.com/forums/p/62217/407573.aspx#407573]:<<<
You can install the ProRes decoder on a system without FCP:
Make sure you have the latest version of the Avid codecs. They can be downloaded here:
I suggest using MPEG Streamclip to convert the files: http://www.squared5.com
>>>
Posted in Avid, Compressor, DNxHD, Final Cut, Formats, linux, Mac, ProRes, Uncategorized, Windows | No Comments »
Friday, November 27th, 2009
Gleaned from Philip Bloom’s presentation on using a 30p native cam to produce to other standards (e.g. 24p):
- Edit native, convert the edit result, not the source (rushes). Saves render time (& space)
- Don’t edit H264 – current machines are not fast enough to avoid jerkiness.
- Before edit, convert to ProRes (standard is sufficient, no need for HQ). If disk space at a premium then could instead use XDCAM EX format but that is not compatible with Cinema Tools.
- Conversion to ProRes is done twice as fast by Mpeg StreamClip (free) than by Compressor.
- Mpeg StreamClip:
- [File > Open Files, File> Export to QuickTime, choose format ProRes 422, change top-slider to Full 100% Quality (default is less)
- Can also use it to batch-convert, result can be either separate files or all concatenated in sequence.
- (DO THE EDIT)
- FrameRate Conversion:
- Simplest: speed change – change the timebase (the rate at which the existing frames are presented). OK when speed change does not matter (e.g. static scene).
- Can be done e.g. via Cinema Tools.
- Stages: Analysis then select desired new framerate then Conform.
- (or [Cinema Tools: File > Batch Conform], select a folder containing set of files, select any example file in it, Open, change speed, go: all the files are done)
- Speed-preserving frameRate conversion can be done by Compressor or by JES Deinterlacer (free)
- Compressor
- Open Compressor
- Drag file to job-strip
- Create a Setting if needed
- Geometry (5th icon along) – set Frame Size to “100% of source” (to ensure Compressor setting doesn’t re-scale)
- Frame Controls: Unlock
- (ignore settings that don’t apply e.g. resize method)
- Rate Conversion: choose the fastest you can get away with
- It is not compulsory to set a Destination.
- (what happens if not? same directory as source? what filename gets generated)
- If no destination specified then file goes to same directory, auto-named as the original filename plus the name of the export format Setting. Example: From TRV 12-39 AvidGrade.mov it generated TRV 12-39 AvidGrade-QT ProRes Interlaced.mov, where QT ProRes Interlaced was a compression setting (previously defined by myself). Incidentally the QT-DV was 35MB, the generated QT-ProRes was 47MB.
- JES Deinterlacer
- Choose > (input your file)
- Output > Compressor > Export
- (nothing to do with Apple’s Compressor, at least I assume…)
Posted in Cinema Tools, Compressor, Final Cut, Formats, JES Deinterlacer, Mac, Mpeg StreamClip, NLE, ProRes, Sony EX XDCAM, Uncategorized, XDCAM EX | No Comments »