Capturing / Codec Question

I shot minidv footage with a DVX100b on 24p and 30i. What is the highest resolution that I can import into FCP and with what codec? I don't want to loose any quality. Thank you.

I'm sorry, I don't get you. Uprez the tape to what? When you capture DV via firewire, it is a data transfer...1s and 0s...ZERO quality loss. Then you edit. Then you output back to your tape...again, data transfer so zero quality loss. You are still at the full quality that you shot on tape. Unless you add filters and color correction, then in the render some very small minute quality is lost. Very small....unnoticably small.
But what are you talking about now? Outputting and uprezzing? Once you convert to another format, you have quality loss.
Shane

Similar Messages

1080psf 23.976 capture codec for Arri?

I need an update that includes a 1080psf 23.976 capture codec for Arri.

I am a working video assist on movie sets. I need the codec to capture a scratch track for playback purposes. The Arri outputs have a 1080p option, but the preferred codec of DIT's and camera operators is 1080psf. Video Assist is a job on movie sets that provides instant replay for Directors, Actors, Producers, Department Heads, Stunts, and Script Supervisors. DIT is the Digital Imaging Technition. The camera is cabled to a DIT who is cabled to the Video Assist. Simply put I need the codec to better perform my job, without having to spend $17,000 for Qtake software. Final Cut 7 has a psf codec, but Adobe Premier Pro is much nicer to operate.

Best capture codec?

What's the best capture codec for MPEG-2 HDV (HDV1 format, 8-bit, 19.7 Mbps), with the ultimate goal to send it to my client's drive as a DV/NTSC Quicktime file, 16:9, 853 x 480?

I guess I'm not being clear.
A San Diego production house hired me to do a shoot for their client. That client wanted it shot in HD, for whatever reason.
I sent the tapes to SD, they can't capture them into their FCP system, again for whatever reason (I've broached this topic on other forums).
I can capture the video fine on my FCP, so they're sending the tapes and a drive to me so I can capture the video to their drive and send it back, maintaining the full-res 720p30 video.
Yes, they did ask for "DV/NTSC."
Does this mean they don't know what they're talking about?
I suspect it's for the end client's website and he just thought "HD" sounded cool.

Capture Codecs

It seems like I am missing most of my capture codecs. Is there a way to import capture codecs and where can I find them online to download? Also what is the best sequence preset and capture preset to use when capturing DVCPRO 50 via firewire? Thanks.

I have reinstalled the entire final cut studio with no luck. I am running Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 and using a Panasonic DVCPRO 50 (AJ-SD93) deck to capture via Firewire. All my Mac info is listed below.

Codec question about Quicktime

Greetings All,
I've been rumaging through the help files here at Adobe as well as the internet in general and haven't been able to find the answers I'm looking for so I'm hoping someone here can help.
Before I get in to the questions, a little background on what I'm doing...forgive me if I get a bit long winded here as I try to explain. In the smallest nutshell possible, basically I've been creating some short videos, both from Maya animations I've created (I'm a college art student among other things) as well as some pretty basic home videos taken with various camcorders (2 digital one older Video 8 converted to digital). Until recently I've been using Premeire CS3 for creating my videos and I have been exporting to the Quicktime format with the Sorenson 3 codec. As I'm using my little video files for multiple uses (computer playback and DVD authoring, etc) and as I'm doing this on both PC's and Mac's (I use PC's at home but have to use Mac's at school), the Sorenson 3 codec has provided the BEST quality of anything I've tried so far on both PC's and Mac's...and having the files reasonably sized has been a bonus of course. Also, I'm not doing anything "Hi Def" here...the files are basically DV standard - 720x480 (although some of them do get played back on a big projector screen in a couple of classrooms at the college...they've still looked great though).
So far, so good...except that I recently purchased a small Sony digital camcorder (a DCR-SX44 in case it matters) and it seems that Premeire CS3 will not recognise the .mpg files from the new Sony. From what I gather, it has something to do with the audio format that Sony uses. Either way I picked up a used copy of Premeire CS4 from a friend at school (couldn't go with cs5 because I'm still running Windows XP 64 here at home and CS5 apparently wants Windows 7). While it will load the mpgs from the Sony just fine, all of a sudden the export video I'm creating with the Quicktime/Sorenson 3 looks REALLY bad. In fact, after playing around with this for the past couple of weeks, I can't really find a codec, either AVI or Quicktime that produces anywhere near the same quality as the Sorenson thru CS3 (including the H.264). It's also worth noting that where this problem is -really- evident is with text, intros and credits and such...the text looks really awful now, although the degridation in the actual video is quite apparent as well. Which leads me to the questions...
1.) What the devil happened that the Sorenson 3 looks like crap in CS4? It seems to be the EXACT same codec, so I can only assume that somehow Premeire or this Adobe Media Encorder are somehow handling the codec differently or something.
2.) ANY suggestions as to how to fix this...either with the Sorenson 3 or another codec?
I'm starting to think this isn't actually a codec issue as much as something with either Premeire or AME...somehow the video is getting mucked up a bit before it actually get's to the codec stage of the encoding. If the Sorenson 3 is the same codec I've been using (and it still works great in CS3) that would seem to indicate it's not actually the codec itself but something else...either in Premeire or AME...although I'm not sure where to begin looking.
So that said, again in a nutshell...Premeire CS3 with Sorenson 3 - great video quality (with both the videos and the animation). CS4 with virtually any codec I've tried (and I've tried -a lot-) mediocre to terrible quality. -Why-?
I'm grateful for any suggestions that folks may have here.

I appreciate your comment...thank you. While DVD isn't really my primary concern...mostly just being able to play the files on PC's and Macs so I can show them at school and such as well as a Youtube vid here and there (which is a different can of worms), with the CS3 you can actually see the difference in quality with the Sorenson on DVD. I actually just burned a DVD for my father with a Maya animation I recently did and I also put an older animation on the disk as well...the older animation had been created with uncompressed AVI and the new one with the Sorenson 3 and there was actually a rather significant difference...we watched it on my Dad's 37" flat panel and the Sorenson quality was noticably much better.
BTW...I tried the Animation option for Quicktime with the CS4 after watching a Youtube tut...nadda...quality was awful (although I don't know about that with the CS3). I had forgot to mention in the original post though...yes, the Maya animations are REALLY affected by whatever is causing this. That's how I got turned on to the Sorenson in the first place as my Maya teacher had suggested it. The AVI's I did for the Maya animations looked decent enough here at home (I think I had used Video 1 back then) but they really looked like crap on the Macs at school. They were pretty simple animations and I rendered them in Maya at really outragous quality...pretty much max settings on everything using Mental Ray at 1600x1200 but the actual vid just kept coming off soft and fuzzy...lacking any sharpness, until I started using the Sorenson.
That said, after a bit more experimentation this morning, I've found that the DV NTSC setting under Microsoft AVI is actually doing a pretty decent job (with video..haven't tried any Maya stuff there yet)...on my PC at least. Won't be able to check it on a Mac for a couple of days though (obviously I've had -a lot- of problems with AVI's on Macs).
Now...you said that you've "heard here that there was a change in par in cs4 to deal with some standards"...could you (or someone) possibly elaborate on that a little?
Thanks

Capture Source question (Device)

I’m using Pre 7 (Windows XP) and I am able to capture video from my Canon XHA1s, but have a question about how the camera shows up as a Capture Source. The camera shows up as: Microsoft AV/C Tape Submit 1. Is this the norm? I do see in the Pre 7 Help section that the Canon XHA1s is supported. When I capture on my laptop (Vista) the camera shows as XHA1.

The camcorder is supported and if you can capture I would not be concerned. By the way are you capturing in high definition or is the camcorder set to down-convert to DV-AVI?

Codec Question

I've been exporting some MPG2 files, which I thought was a pretty universal format these days, but not everyone in my office can open them. Windows Media Player tells them that they're missing a codec. The export settings list the codec as "MainConcept MPEG Video". My question is, are there many MPG codecs, or is this THE MPG codec? If one downloads the latest WMP updates, shouldn't it be able to run an MPG? My version even runs AVCHD files, so I wonder why MPG should be a problem even for slightly older versions. Of course, my ignorance can be breathtaking at times. Anyway, is the problem in what I'm exporting or is the problem with what they're running, which I think is WMP version 10 on Win XP? For what it's worth, I'm running Windows 7 64bit with WMP 12.
<rant> As an aside, why so many codecs anyway? Couldn't we just have 3 - 5 file formats and codecs to cover everything? I mean, the only delivery mechanisms in general use at this point are DVD, BluRay, web, and smart phones, right? Seems like one format should be ideal for each application, at which point were just talking about tweaking compression settings. It seems like this topic doesn't need to be as confusing as it is. </rant>
Whew. Got that out of my system. Thanks in advance for any insight, folks.

Dave LaRonde wrote:
Lukabrazzi wrote:
As an aside, why so many codecs anyway? Couldn't we just have 3 - 5 file formats and codecs to cover everything? I mean, the only delivery mechanisms in general use at this point are DVD, BluRay, web, and smart phones, right?
If that were true, no one would be using AE to do work on Hollywood movies, independent films, for delivery to broadcasters using any number of different nonlinear editing systems, for playback on laptop computers at trade shows, for multiscreen presentations at corporate meetings, for animated billboards....
....you get the idea.
AE is used by far more different types of multimedia producers than you've been exposed to so far, and they all have their specific needs and requirements. Hence, a wide diversity of codecs.
Hi,
I stem from the pro audio industry. Over there, the manufacturers seem to be a little more organized.
We've got 3 'Codecs' that we use. AIFF - WAVE - MP3
In the video industry there are a million codecs around and they are ALL poorly documented and most are crappy as H***.
OK... Video is more Processor intensive than audio... Get over it. Build your hardware so it matches that of a generally accepted codec.
Many Camera producers like ARRI are finally getting the idea. They are building cameras recording directly to ProRes 4444.
Imagine the audio industry being as ignorant as the video industry. We'd have every little manufacturer running around building his own audio codec,
persisting that HIS codec is BEEEETTER than all the rest. I think the video industry heard Tina Turner's 'Simply The Best' once too MANY.
Here in the VID ind. you have a bunch of small time companies releasing PAID codecs luring the unknown into thinking that THIS will give him better quality and performance. BS...
I could NOT give a flying F*** about the brand or NAME of the codec I use... It is a CODEC for petes sake. And as of NOW... All those codex are doing are GETTING IN THE WAY OF CREATIVITY. Then you have THAT great codec for your NLE of choice.. And you are a happy camper... UUUUntil you enter After Effects and find out that its render engine has HUGE trouble with ProRes 4444... Now what do I do... Should I dump my NLE so that I can work in AE or should I look for an alt. to AE... OK... I am going to dump my NLE and find another that jails nicely with AE... Oh... There ARE none... What do I do now... OK ... Let's look for another codec that works with both.. GREAT... I found one.. Costs $799 but what the heck they promise that it works. Then you download the trial and find out that it doesn't...
There is CHAOS at best in the Film/Video industry. But that is changing slowly...
I am a perfectionist and I can find a HUGE scratch in a freshly un-wrapped iPad display, where there is none. The only lossy codec out there today with archive-grade-quality after 8 generations of encoding is.... Drum Whirl...... ProRes. Great in performance and looks like the ORIGINAL source without that Mosquito SWARM of noise that all the others are producing (AVIDs DNxHD is also fantastic)..... But thats it...
So there you go. TWO intermiate/archival codecs and they ALREADY exist. Throw in H264 and you have your AIF, WAV & MP3 of the Audio Industry.
All the industry has got to do is accept that and move on... Because today I feel like the codec war is getting in MY way of being creative. And in the way of great creative and intuitive software like PPRO and AE.
Just my 1000,0000 cents... but this here topic is getting on my beeber...

Codec question - Sorenson 3

Alrighty, I have a fairly straight forward question that's been bugging me for sometime. Before I get started here however, at the risk of being rude or perfectly blunt, PLEASE...if your just going to post a link to another link to another link that just raises more questions than it answers, please do not waste the bandwidth. While I realize (and even appreciate) that some folks seem to believe this is somehow helpful, if I really wanted to wade thru page after page of irrelevant twaddle, I could do that on my own without the need for someone to push me into even more of it. Except for some explanation, This is a fairly straight question, I'm just looking for a fairly straight answer...thank you.
Ok...for the longest time I've been using Premiere CS3 as I've really had no particular need or desire to upgrade....it did what i needed it to do (I do NOT like upgrading software, especially my OS, just because something new and flashy rolls across the floor). That said, as Hi Def and Widescreen have become more previlent in recent years, I've had to step up my game just a notch....since I'm still running XP64 (and have no time, money or patience for Windows 7), I've upgraded to a copy of CS4 I've had down in the studio for some time now. Until now, I've primarily used the Quicktime wrapper with the Sorenson 3 in CS3...after some degree of experimentation, this combo seems to have worked best for my Maya animations....great quality with reasonable file sizes. I've gotten good quality with other combos there, but the file size is typically MUCH larger. In CS4 however...ummm...the quality of this combo with the Sorenson codec seems to have dropped off rather dramatically. The quality isn't horrible, but just not great either...fades for example seem a bit pixelated (actually they seem to "sparkle" a bit). For the sake of reference, the project I'm currently working on (doing a few tests with) was imported from and originally created in CS3. I had encountered this problem a few years ago when I had first tried to upgrade to CS4 and that, along with a number of other niggles with CS4 are why I choose to stay with CS3....for the college work I was doing at the time, CS3 again did what I needed to do and I'm a very strong believer in the old addage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".Also for the sake of reference, this problem is happening when I have both text and still images fading in (and out) of this project.
So here's the question: All other things being equal (such as screen size, bit depth, resolution, etc), why would the QT wrapper with the Sorenson 3 codec produce such dramatically different results between CS3 and CS4? To my somewhat limited understanding of all this, that codec should be the same regardless of the editing program I'm using....yes? What am I missing here? Is there some difference in the way that CS3 handled/applied the codec (or wrapper) vs. CS4 with Media Encoder? Was it perhaps something to do with the project being converted between the 2 versions? Btw...it looks just fine in Program Monitor...it's just when I try to export it and it runs thru Media Encoder that this happens.
Thanks!
Jim
(p.s. for some reason spellchecker in Firefox doens't seem to be working at the moment, so please be forgiving of any typos or spelling errors...thanks!)

I had the same problem- so I compressed using the H.264 codec. When I uploaded it to my site my client couldn't watch it. I tried going to QT preferences but I did not see that option anywhere...
I have a deadline. What is the simplest, fastest, easiest way for me to compress this film so that people with older computers can watch it? I tried uploading to Google video but that took hours and then I got a "failed" message... Would love to get that Sorenson codec back...
Thanks

Sony DCR-TRV140 w/Final Cut Express 4 - Capture format question

A big thanks to the forum for patience and direction. You all have helped me get an older digital camcorder hooked up to the Mac to date.
I'm now able to capture video from the camcorder to FinalCut Express.
So, on to today's question...
I have a Sony Digital Handycam DCR-TRV140. I know that it's NTSC (mainly because it says so right on the side of the camcorder). But I don't know what capture settings to use in Final Cut Express to get the best quality video onto the Mac, and ultimately onto DVD's or digital files I publish to my family over the net.
So when I go to the menu path Final Cut Express -> Easy Setup, I have a number of options to choose from... I (think) that I know that the best format option to choose from the dropdown is NTSC... But I don't know what to choose from the drop down list.
Here's a picture of the drop down list:
https://wu20hg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pNUoJrOOSdf-4NJq3OjEIyrt38TEU64-Pid2LRNbw kG9grywxFV1qA2NshK8uSxl6eiTlYiq4uNbG86CJRUantQ/FinalCutExpressTim1.tiff
Specifications for the Sony camcorder can be found here:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=1055 1&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11027762
or here
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DCRTRV140-Digital8-Camcorder-Streaming/dp/B0000634T4/ ref=cmcr_pr_producttop
Can you help me decide what is the best option to choose? If it depends, maybe you could explain what it depends on...?
Many thanks!
Tim

The differences among the Easy Setups have to do with audio sample rate, device control, and widescreen shooting.
The Anamorphic setups are for widescreen. If your camera doesn't shoot widescreen (16:9), you can ignore them.
DV media is generally recorded with audio at 48kHz or 32kHz. Choose according to the audio recorded by your camera (some offer different record options). If you capture with the wrong audio selected in your FCE Easy Seutp, you'll get a warning message at the end of the capture.
What FCE Setup are you using at present? I'm guessing it's either DV-NTSC Firewire Basic or DV-NTSC DV Converter. If that's working for you, stick with it.

4:2:2 DVCPRO50 Codec Question

Is it my imagination or what?
I recently started upgrading my final sequence codec choices from DV to DVCPRO50 for stuff with composited graphics and animation. With hard drives so cheap these days, who cares about file size any more, right? Yuk, yuk.
Anyway, I think I noticed something that requires more knowledge about the inner workings of FCP than I possess.
It seems to me that I don't get any real improvement in my imported graphics unless I drop them into a sequence that is already setup as DVCPRO50. If I do that I have noticed a dramatic improvement in type, stills, and other composited content.
But I think I have discovered that I need to START with an empty sequence that is already setup with a DVCPRO50 codec BEFORE I drag my graphics into it or create my type clips.
I mean, if I take an existing DV sequence and just upgrade the settings to DVCPRO50, nothing seems to change. Nothing good, that is. In fact, I think that imported Photoshop images actually degrade when I upgrade the codec "on the fly."
But if I start with a DVCPRO50 sequence and then add the images, they look great.
Am I imagining this? Or have I discovered something important about the way FCP processes imported graphics internally?

I believe there is an improvement if you start with a DVCPRO50 sequence setting, then edit... I'm not clear on the why though, other than maybe if you start with a DV sequence then convert it, remnants of the DV25 settings remain..?
When you capture DV thru analog, you are converting the digital to analog (which theory says is a loss) then re-compressing it (which is definitely a loss). D/A then A/D conversions will always have some loss involved, so they should be avoided as much as possible.
Jerry

Trial Software - Missing codec questions

Currently using PPro 6.5 and tempted to try CS4 and then CS5 when available to test to see if its worth upgrading.
Read on the FAQ - "some codecs for encoding MPEG formats are available only with the full version of these products"
First question - What are the titles of the missing codecs if that doesn't just mean the standard mp4/H264 codec which just needs QuickTime to be installed ?
Second - Do any of the old codecs need to be upgraded from the ones I use in Pro 6.5 to use CS4/CS5 - if so which ones need upgrading and to which version ?
My Video cam (Panasonic S15) uses a MPG format (not mp4) so I would like to test the new software versions with correct codec to compare outputs to that of PPro 6.5
Thanks for any help or details you can post

All of the missing MPEG CODEC's should be Adobe MainConcept. I think that all of the included (in the full-paid version) CODEC's are from MainConcept.
If one needs to test with MPEG footage (a very common need), then the 30-day, money-back guarantee is the way to go. One buys the full version, installs it (after first uninstalling any trials and running the appropriate Adobe Clean Scripts several times), tests it for < 30 days, and if it is not what they are looking for, then ship it back and request the full refund.
Good luck, and glad that you at least found the MPEG limitation - too many others do not.
Hunt

Codec Question for the Mac...

Background: I use Premiere Pro infrequently since I also own Final Cut Express and only need Premiere when I am doing something I shot in 24p mode - since FCE doesn't support frame rates other than 29.97 and 25.
Computer Specs:
Apple Mac Mini (Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GHz, 4 Gig RAM, 1 TB FireWire 400 drive as scratch)
So far I have tried bringing in the native AVCHD files and playing them back - and I get jumpy and unusable playback (I know this is to be expected). I also tried using the QuickTime files that use Apple Intermediate Codec and Uncompressed Audio, and I get worse playback.
When I pull up activity monitor I see "ImportProcessServer" running at full torque - which leads me to believe that although Premiere supports both formats without transcoding, my little Mac Mini just doesn't have the power to do it in real time.
My question - is there another codec that I could transcode my content to that would not require the ImportProcessServer to be running? Put another way, is there a native codec for Adobe that would be less processor intensive than AVCHD so I could edit content. I have Adobe Media Encoder so I have some flexibility as far as codecs.
Thanks!
- Brian
PS - As for "why don't you just get final cut studio" - I need Blu-ray authoring capability and don't want to spend more than I need must.

I figured out a solution and figured I'd post it for future reference should someone else have the same problem.
What I realized was that I needed to transcode my content from AVCHD (which was too demanding for my Mini inside of Encore - other apps can play it fine for the record) into a native codec that wouldn't be as demanding? My solution - MPEG-2. Transcoding into MPEG-2 at 30 Mbps allowed me to preserve most of the original quality (some was lost, but when you're starting with 17 Mbps H.264 allowing for 30 Mbps MPEG-2 seemed about right) while editing the file inside of Premiere Pro without difficulty. The other bonus is that the in the process of transcoding I could remove the 3:2 pulldown inserted by the camera.

Basic Capturing/logging question

For capturing footage, I usually hit the Capture "Now" option, and then label the clip after it's captured.
However when I do this, the actual file just gets labeled as "Untitled" in the folders on the computer.
How do I label a clip while it's actually being captured in FCP? Do I capture with the Capture "Clip" option?
Like I said, very basic question, but would help me out immensely. Thanks.

shocker11 wrote:
The Capture Now thing I'm getting now. However, I'm still getting confused for this logging and then batch capturing deal. I hit "set marker" for each of my in and out points on where I want to capture, however, it doesn't seem to log it into the "log window" correctly.
You log clips not by placing markers in an extended clip, but by setting In and Out points for smaller clips. Once you've determined where you'd like your clip to begin, press I. When you know where you'd like the clip to end, press O. Then press F2 to Log Clip.
Not to be snarky - because I really hate it when folks get told to read the manual - but this really is one of those times where skimming through the relevant sections of the manual will answer all of your questions. So you might want to give that a shot, since that's the best step-by-step that I've seen.

Problem with Video Capture, and question towards solution

Yesterday I worked on a commercial for which we captured 9 clips (roughly 10 seconds or shorter in length). The clips all had text/titles superimposed on them by an outside machine and looked good in the monitors when they were exported and captured into FCP (ie: none of the text was chopped off).
I edited the commercial and then was exporting it out, only to discover that the text on the bottom of the clips was getting chopped off.
My first question is this: is there some setting in the capture process that could have done this? something that might have gotten tweaked accidently, or corrupted in some manner? Didn't have this problem with footage captured the previous day. And since it looked good before it was put into FCP, thinking it had to be a problem with FCP.
Also, in trying to tweak the footage in FCP, I came across a 'there must be an easier way to do it' question. Is there a way to alter parameters on multiple clips (such as raising them, like I had to)? I tried selecting all and double clicking, hoping that the changes I made would affect them all, but it only affected the one I directly clicked. I'm sure there's something simple (and obvious) that I'm overlooking...
thanks!

For how and why this could have happened, would you mind sharing your capture and sequence settings?
As far as applying parameters to multiple clips, I think you can make use of the Paste Attributes function in FCP...
Alter one of your problematic clips
Select that clip in the Timeline, then press Command-C (or control-click and choose Copy from the contextual menu)
Select the remainder of your problematic clips
With your clips selected press Option-V (or control-click on one of them and select Paste Attributes from the contextual menu) to bring up the Paste Attributes dialog
Select Basic Motion - under the Video options, on your left-hand side - then click OK
(Basic Motion because, if I understand your solution correctly, you altered the Center property - either in the Motion tab of the Viewer or manually in the Canvas - of your clips. You nudged them all up a bit, right? If you did, then that would fall under the Basic Motion attribute.)
All your selected clips should be nudged up appropriately.
But, again, I'm making a bit of leap since I'm not entirely sure what caused your issue in the first place.

Codec questions

How do I find out what codec I need to use a video file in FCP?

Alright, here is the deal
Alright! Keep in mind for future posts it helps to have "the deal" in your original question.
My easy set up is set for DV NTSC (but I don't see how that would matter)
It does.
how do I find out what codec I need to install???
How about calling the production house and asking them?
-DH

Capturing / Codec Question

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