Workflow Question

Chuck Spaulding · May 28th, 2010, 10:51 AM

Codecs like H264, XDCam EX and HDV were developed as acquisition codecs to capture the best quality given the camera's bandwidth limitations, they were not developed to be used in post production.

There are real benefits to encoding these formats to an intermediate frame based codec like ProRes or AIC. Just because an NLE can edit an acquisition codec natively doesn't mean you should. That leads to one of those religious debates over native vs non-native editing that I'm really bored with. If you want to edit natively have at it.

Although the OP was vague about where he thinks his problem might be, he did not mention editing natively. Tim, since (I'm assuming) you don't have Premiere Pro or Edius and can't edit H264 natively without spending more money, would you like to resolve the problem with the applications you do have?

If so you need to isolated the problem. The quality of your clips should be indistinguishable when converted to AIC with MPEG StreamClip, if there's a noticeable difference then your using MPEG StreamClip incorrectly. If the quality is good, then you need to make sure your sequence setting are correct in FCE and then export, using sequence settings, an AIC clip directly from FCE. Again, the quality will be imperceptible from the original. If that's the case then you know the problem is with the encoding back to H264 (or whatever codec your exporting for online use).

Use a 30 second clip and this entire process will take less than 30 minutes and you will know at what part of your workflow you are making a mistake.

Carl, I'm not sure how you can definitively compare your .mp4 with the original H264 clip. It's very subjective, but if you play the original H264 clip and the mp4 clip on the same monitor and they look the same then I guess everything worked as it should. The AIC is not a bad codec, you don't loose any quality by using it, its just that ProRes is a much better coded. But if you can't use ProRes, AIC works well.

Slight disclaimer, since I now use ProRes I have not used the AIC for some time and there is always the possibility that the developer (Apple) has screwed it up. Unlikely though.

May 28th, 2010, 10:51 AM	#16
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	Codecs like H264, XDCam EX and HDV were developed as acquisition codecs to capture the best quality given the camera's bandwidth limitations, they were not developed to be used in post production. There are real benefits to encoding these formats to an intermediate frame based codec like ProRes or AIC. Just because an NLE can edit an acquisition codec natively doesn't mean you should. That leads to one of those religious debates over native vs non-native editing that I'm really bored with. If you want to edit natively have at it. Although the OP was vague about where he thinks his problem might be, he did not mention editing natively. Tim, since (I'm assuming) you don't have Premiere Pro or Edius and can't edit H264 natively without spending more money, would you like to resolve the problem with the applications you do have? If so you need to isolated the problem. The quality of your clips should be indistinguishable when converted to AIC with MPEG StreamClip, if there's a noticeable difference then your using MPEG StreamClip incorrectly. If the quality is good, then you need to make sure your sequence setting are correct in FCE and then export, using sequence settings, an AIC clip directly from FCE. Again, the quality will be imperceptible from the original. If that's the case then you know the problem is with the encoding back to H264 (or whatever codec your exporting for online use). Use a 30 second clip and this entire process will take less than 30 minutes and you will know at what part of your workflow you are making a mistake. Carl, I'm not sure how you can definitively compare your .mp4 with the original H264 clip. It's very subjective, but if you play the original H264 clip and the mp4 clip on the same monitor and they look the same then I guess everything worked as it should. The AIC is not a bad codec, you don't loose any quality by using it, its just that ProRes is a much better coded. But if you can't use ProRes, AIC works well. Slight disclaimer, since I now use ProRes I have not used the AIC for some time and there is always the possibility that the developer (Apple) has screwed it up. Unlikely though.