mxf to mov

[Fraser Howard]

I'm interested in providing 1920x1080p footage from my EX1 to iStockvideo and pond5 etc. for sale as stock clips and I would be most grateful for any light you can shed on the following file format issue. Here is iStockvideo's FAQ on acceptable formats which is pretty typical for the prosumer stock-footage industry as far as I can tell:

Clips must be encoded with MJPG-A/B, PhotoJPEG, DV, or HDV, at BEST setting.
royalty free stock photography community | iStockphoto.com

Using Vegas Pro 8.0b, I have rendered my EX1, 1920x1080p mxf clips to all of the above Quicktime 7 *.MOV formats (including MPEG-4 Video) with predictably shaky results except for HDV. The HDV render at 1280x720p yields the best looking results but obviously it's noticeably down-sampled.

These same original mxf clips playback perfectly from the timeline in Full Preview mode and they look good @ 1920x1080p when rendered as Main Concept AVC/AAC (*.mp4) - not acceptable to iStock. If I was shooting DVC/PRO HD would I still have this problem since it's a full-frame format unlike the Long-GOP compression format of the EX1?

I have looked at lots of iStock clip-info describing clips as 1920x1080. Can all these people be P2 users? Am I overlooking some common conversion utility or workaround?

Bottom Line: How can I satisfy iStock's .mov format requirements without downrezing my footage? Can I re-wrap a .mxf file (or BPAV) in a .mov wrapper (using a PC)? ...

[Patrick Sculley]

Hello Fraser,

I think you have clearly articulated the conundrum of converting high quality, Long-GOP footage to JPEG or HDV. I can't answer why many stock footage sites degrade their artists' footage by not supporting better formats, but I can recommend that you check out Pixelflow - Content Exchange Marketplace.

Pixelflow accepts footage in all major HD source formats such as:
1. Panasonic P2 MXF media.
2. Quicktime HDV.
3. Quicktime wrapped Sony XDCam.
4. Quicktime wrapped DVCPro HD.
5. Apple Intermediate Codec.
6. Quicktime wrapped Avid DNxHD.
7. Apple ProRes 422 and HQ.

If you are using Sony Vegas on the PC, I would suggest downloading the Avid Codecs LE package for Quicktime. This will allow you to export your XDCam footage in DNxHD since the Quicktime XDCam Codecs are provided solely as part of Final Cut Pro. This will provide you with a means to upload your footage at optimal quality.

An additional benefit with Pixelflow is that derivative SD and web formats are automatically generated from the HD source. This means you only have to upload once and footage is available for purchase immediately after upload.

You can also set/adjust your price at any time and have access to content marketing metrics.

The link below provides details about how to create an account. If you would like any additional information, please feel free to message me directly.

Videographer Account Info

Best regards,
Patrick

[Ray Bell]

You might want to look into Cineform as you are on a PC....

It will create MOV files