Best playback codec for FCP at DVinfo.net

Geoffrey Cox · May 4th, 2011, 11:42 AM

Hi,

As part of a conference we will be receiving video files for playback from all over the world and from people working on numerous platforms. We will be playing them back from FCP via a Matrox mini and HD projector at 1080p. Projects will vary from HD and SD to video animation etc.

We want to ask people to submit the works in the same format for playback which will have to be in a single FCP session so we must ask for one codec only. My question is: what codec? Top quality is all important.

My first thought was ProRes but files are very large and as far as I'm aware this is not available to PC users.

Does anyone have any thoughts about what the best codec to ask for would be in this situation - we could do lots of conversion but we really want to avoid this!?

Thanks,

Geoff

William Hohauser · May 4th, 2011, 06:53 PM

Top quality and small size don't always work together. The best option is hard drive delivery. Then the files can be ProRes or Uncompressed QuickTime. If internet delivery is easier then full resolution h.264 mov or mp4 files should do. These can be sent by ftp or any reasonable on-line file service. Once you get them, transcode them to ProRes for editing and playback.

Geoffrey Cox · May 8th, 2011, 03:46 PM

Thanks William. Makes perfect sense.

May 4th, 2011, 11:42 AM	#1
Geoffrey Cox Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Huddersfield, UK Posts: 469	Best playback codec for FCP Hi, As part of a conference we will be receiving video files for playback from all over the world and from people working on numerous platforms. We will be playing them back from FCP via a Matrox mini and HD projector at 1080p. Projects will vary from HD and SD to video animation etc. We want to ask people to submit the works in the same format for playback which will have to be in a single FCP session so we must ask for one codec only. My question is: what codec? Top quality is all important. My first thought was ProRes but files are very large and as far as I'm aware this is not available to PC users. Does anyone have any thoughts about what the best codec to ask for would be in this situation - we could do lots of conversion but we really want to avoid this!? Thanks, Geoff

May 4th, 2011, 06:53 PM	#2
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	Re: Best playback codec for FCP Top quality and small size don't always work together. The best option is hard drive delivery. Then the files can be ProRes or Uncompressed QuickTime. If internet delivery is easier then full resolution h.264 mov or mp4 files should do. These can be sent by ftp or any reasonable on-line file service. Once you get them, transcode them to ProRes for editing and playback. __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

May 8th, 2011, 03:46 PM	#3
Geoffrey Cox Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Huddersfield, UK Posts: 469	Re: Best playback codec for FCP Thanks William. Makes perfect sense.