HD Movie File From A PC?

[Mitchell Lewis]

One of our clients edits on a PC using Adobe Premiere. He has a brand new system with Quicktime on the machine and can export as an MOV. Anyone know if the latest version of Quicktime Pro (for the PC) can export as ProRes?

I think he's shooting/editing in HDV.

Thanks in advance.

[Battle Vaughan]

QT Windows can read ProRes but not export it to the best of my knowledge /Battle Vaughan

[Robert Lane]

ProRes is an Apple-only codec so no, Premiere cannot encode into ProRes. However if they're using CS4 the Adobe Media Encoder is capable of encoding into an "editing" codec without further compression such as HDV, DVCPRO or XDCAM which could then be transferred into ProRes if you prefer.

You can also use Automatic Duck to transfer the entire project from PP into FCP without having to worry about format conversion, but the app is pricey.

[Perrone Ford]

If you are going to be working with PC folks, do yourself a favor and both of you install Avid's DNxHD codec. It moves seamlessly back and forth from PC to Mac, has no gamma shift issues, and is the same quality as ProRes. You can even do 10 bit with it. It has absolutely erased any issues I had with working back and forth with Mac/PC projects.

If you need to share physical disks, have him purchase a copy of MacDrive also. Makes everything as easy as you please.

[Mitchell Lewis]

Sounds good Perrone! (as always)

Where can I download/install the codec? Does it come with an installer?

Thanks! :)

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Mitchell Lewis

Where can I download/install the codec? Does it come with an installer?

Knowledge Base

Bottom of the page. Latest Mac and PC versions. No charge either! :)

And yes, it has an installer.

[Mitchell Lewis]

Thanks Perrone. I'm going to give it a try. I'll let you know how it goes. (sounds like it's going to work great)

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Mitchell Lewis

Thanks Perrone. I'm going to give it a try. I'll let you know how it goes. (sounds like it's going to work great)

I use this workflow all the time with the Mac folks I work with. Works like a charm. They send me CompactFlash cards or external hard drives. I hook them up on the PC, read the files, edit or color, export them back to the Mac formatted device, and send it back on it's way.

Dead simple.

For me, using Vegas on the PC is the only quirk. Vegas doesn't work smoothly with the .MOV container on the timeline. It works, but it's just slow. I live with that limitation. But the transfer back and forth is as easy as you please.

[Mitchell Lewis]

When I go to the Resolutions settings, it doesn't seem to list 1080 30p. Only 24p or 25p. It does 30i and 60i. I'm going to try 60i, but this is graphics so I didn't want to do interlaced. And I don't/can't use 24p.....too much judder.

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Mitchell Lewis

When I go to the Resolutions settings, it doesn't seem to list 1080 30p. Only 24p or 25p. It does 30i and 60i. I'm going to try 60i, but this is graphics so I didn't want to do interlaced. And I don't/can't use 24p.....too much judder.

I forgot to mention this. Ignore the framerates and interlacing. It won't override what you have set in your NLE. It's just making suggestions so that it selects a proper bit-rate. All of those settings are meaningless if you simply know the bitrate you want to encode at.

Download the Whitepaper here: http://www.avid.com/resources/whitepapers/DNxHD_WP3.pdf

That has a nice chart in it you can use for reference.

[Mitchell Lewis]

It worked! Thanks Perrone!!!!

The next test is going the other way. The client is editing together man-on-the-street interviews and needs to export them as Avid DNxHD. Hopefully he'll be able to figure out how to choose the 1080 60i setting (versus 720p or 1080 24p, etc...).

Thanks again!

[Robert Lane]

Perrone's tip with the Avid plug-in is spot-on and should be used by almost every editing station regardless of platform. (It's been so long that I've had to collaborate with a PC editor that I totally forgot about the simplicity of DNxHD)

If you want more detailed info on what it is and how it works:

Avid DNxHD Codec

This is just one of the many reasons that Avid is still king of NLE's (albeit pricey for the common FCP user) and Avid has created many of the industry-standard references that both Apple and Adobe have attempted to copy and re-purpose.

[Mitchell Lewis]

The only thing I don't like about it is that the only full raster progressive option is 1080 24p (no 1080 30p option). But mixing 60i on a 30p timeline seems to work out okay. (a little loss of quality but not bad)

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Mitchell Lewis

The only thing I don't like about it is that the only full raster progressive option is 1080 24p (no 1080 30p option). But mixing 60i on a 30p timeline seems to work out okay. (a little loss of quality but not bad)

I will try to explain this again.

DNxHD WILL NOT change what you have on the timeline. If your project is 1080/30p and you choose to encode 720/60p, that is ONLY choosing a bitrate for the encode, it is NOT changing the format of the encode (Well at least that's how it works in Vegas). That's why I keep the chart handy. I just select the bitrate I want, and select that from the codec choice list.

Try it.

[Mitchell Lewis]

Sweet! That makes sense because my graphics didn't look interlaced when I viewed them in Quicktime player. Thanks for clearing that up! :)