Convert h.264 to prores

Hi -
I am not clear as to whether my clips are converted to Prores after import because the clip CODECs on the clip browser window still shows H.264 Codec after I select Transcoding:"Create optimized media". So in effect, even though I optimized some of the clips, i can't tell which clips are optimized and which aren't because they all still show as H.264.
My clips are .MOV and imported from a Canon DSLR at 50fps 1280x720 (So i can conform to 24fps for slow motion)
Any thoughts gratefully received. thanks

ok thanks - it takes me to the "high quality media" folder under "transcoded media" and is 205MB large vs the original clip which was about 80MB.
so i assume it presumably did the conversion, and if so how come the clip window still shows it as an H.264 clip?

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H.264 and prores proxy question

I've read through a ton of posts about proxy and h.264 workflows but didn't find any that answers my specific question.
My raw video from my camera is mp4 (h.264). I understand that h.264 is not good to edit with, so I have a few options. I use a macbook pro for editing so I have been toying around with prores proxy for editing and it makes a difference on RT playback and rendering while editing, so that's good. When I get ready to output my movie after editing, I relink my project back to the original h.264 source files and that seems to work fine.
I'm wondering if that's not the right workflow though. Should I transcode the h.264 into prores HQ or LT and then ALSO to proxy, edit with proxy and then relink my project back to the HQ or LT files to output? Or is linking back to my source h.264 files and outputing the right way to go?
Since the original files must be in the best possible quality that I'm going to get (since they're my original clips), I assume that relinking to them right before output is the way to go but I really don't know much about codecs to know if I'm missing something.
Thanks in advance for the advice.

Thanks for your response. I'm shooting with a Sanyo FH1, mostly in 1080p, but I've scaled back to 720 since 1080 was overkill for what I'm doing to save some space.
The thing I don't quite understand yet is the issue with pointing my project back to the source files after all the editing is finished with prores proxy and just before output. That way, FCP would only have to uncompress the source files to render for final output only one time (besides the initial transcoding), albeit, probably longer than it would be for prores. I'm sold on proxy because it was so much faster to edit with than h.264 and I didn't have to keep any video files after I was finished except my source files....trying to budget hard drive space. I transcoded one file a while back to prores but the file size was more than I wanted to deal with since I only edit on my macbook pro so I didn't try to edit with it. Like you said, maybe just converting to prores and dealing with the space juggling would be the best way to go, or try prores LT to see how the quality is.
Does converting from h.264 to prores buy me any quality or a better final result, or just a cleaner workflow? Don't misread my questions, I'm not arguing, just trying to understand from you guys that know a lot more about this than I do. Making my living as a developer, it's just ingrained in me to understand this one
Message was edited by: kenmoberg (updated macos version)

Converting h.264 files for editing

When you convert h.264 files to edit, does it matter if you convert them to apple intermediate codec or prores? I'm going to export the finished project back to h.264 anyway so I just wanted to know if it made a difference, and what the advantages and disadvantages of converting the footage to either of those two codecs are. Thanks.

>Why won't the exported h.264 have the same settings as the original h.264?
Because the camera records H.264 with a bunch of settings that are specific to that camera. I guess that you can try to match those settings when you export...but to what end? Where will you show your work? How will it be displayed? YouTube/Vimeo doesn't play back video with that high of an H.264 data rate. Nor does DVD...BluRay has it's own spec.
The question is...what will you be exporting to for delivery...for final viewing? You'll be exporting a ProRes 422 as your master source...but then encoding from that the formats you need to deliver. Unless you plan on playing back in the camera, or via a laptop onto a projector...you won't be going back to that original spec.
>And if I converted the h.264 footage to prores for editing, and then exported it with prores, will that finished project be higher quality than the original h.264 footage?
Higher data rate...yes. But it will have gone through one layer of compression. But very good, low loss quality. Your eye really won't see the difference. But it will be better suited for editing and color correction...as H.264 is 8-bit 4:2:0 color space, and ProRes is 10-bit 4:2;2. It will be in better condition for editing and grading, but quality...about the same, ever ever EVER so slightly less quality. Nothing you'd notice.

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Hello, I was hoping someone could direct me to a software that can convert H.264 (HD) files to ProRes422 (HQ).

This program ... Bigasoft's "Total Video Converter" supposedly handles most any codec in/out situation. I asked if anyone on the PersonalView forums (LARGE forum run by a Russian dude who's created the 'hacks' for GH3's and a few other video cams) had used it ... and got a few positive responses, and also one who noted there's a free command-line ffmbc based program ... but I'm not a huge fan of studying all the quips/quotes/terms you need to know to really use command-line programs.
http://www.bigasoft.com/articles/convert-video-to-prores-4444-and-422.htmlhttp://
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D7000 H.264 to ProRes - Ridiculously long conversion times

When converting the D7000 footage from h.264 to ProRes for editing in Final Cut, it's taking absolutely ridiculously long to do so, even with short clips. I primarily use the Canon 7D. When converting 7D footage with those same output settings, it's acceptable the time it takes. But, with the D7000's footage, it's then astronomically longer of a process.
Does anyone know why? I'm assuming it has to do with the higher compression of the Nikon footage, but I wanted to see if there is anymore light to be shed on this.
Thanks in advance for taking time to read through this.
Evan

Shooting on the D7000, I used Image Capture to import a 2 minute 1080p24 clip that was 325 megs,
Compressor processed it to ProRes422LT using 7 of my 8 cores in about 7 minutes to a file that is now 1.2 gigs.
So, roughly, I'm looking at 6-8 times real time to process H,264 to ProResLT into a file that is roughly 4x the size of the original.
The image is lovely but shooting through my Nikkor primes has several negative aspects, most notably, today's autofocus lenses have focus barrels that go through the entire range in 120 to 200 degrees. My ancient manual Nikkors had focus rings that used 200 to more than 360 degrees of rotation to go from minimum focual distance to infinity. This, in combination with a split image rangefinder or microprism, meant precision focus was easy to achieve on the older lenses. Today's lenses have tolerances that are too tight for manual focus, merely letting go of the focusing barrel pushes the lens past the exact focus point. Of course, a precision focusing aid is not an option on any of Nikon's "professional" cameras these days.
Auto focus tracking while shooting is unreliable and unprofessionally lame. Manually tracking focus while shooting requires a very good monitor hood/magnifier. This requirement alone makes the whole DSLR video thing totally stupid and completely amateurish. Even though I scored a new camera, I'm stuck with this lame process because some pinhead at my company has suddenly decided bokeh is cool.
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bogiesan

Convert h.264 to Pro Res

I was having a problem editing h.264 shot on a DSLR....
Some on this forum kindly answered my question suggestiong I convert
the video to pro res.
What is the best way to convert the video to ProRes.
I have edited a sequence and do not want to start over again.
Thanks

Try again…
If you've managed tio edit a h.264 sequence, you've already jumped through some hurdles. Try exporting, You may be lucky.
If that gets weird, change the sequence settings to Pro Res – either PR422 or PR LT. Then export.
In the future, best practices are to use Log & Transfer, assuming you have intact card.
If you don't, convert the clips in Compressor or MPEG Streamclip. Then bring them into FCP.
Good luck.
Russ

What are the best settings to convert .mts files to Prores

Hi friends,
Trying to figure out some settings. I am a novice editor so please forgive lame terminology in advance:
I have footage shot on a Canon Vixia HF M500. I am editing in Premiere Pro CC on a MAC with OS 10 Mavericks. I tried editing directly from the .mts files, but it doesn't scroll through footage well unless I render. Also if I add any effects like a fade in, etc it wants me to render the entire clip. I think my best workflow will be to convert the files to Prores prior to editing. I generally output all of my masters as Prores anyway so it seems like the logical choice.
What I can't figure out is which settings to use. I'm converting using Adobe Prelude CC (which then uses Adobe Media Encoder CC). I installed a group of Prores presets and my four main choices are:
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1080p, 29.97
1080i, 23.97
1080p, 23.97
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Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks for the response Johnathan. I noitced that videos converted using the iPad preset did look ok on the mini, I was just curious if having more bespoke settings would create videos that would maximise the smaller screen real estate???

I can't convert mp4 files to prores...

Hey guys...
I can't seem to convert h246 file to prores...with mp4 file...
I don't know what to do...but i had no choice but to work with it for time being..
I went to media manager and set prores and all that...but it said there was some conflict...
It won't let me convert to prores...i went to youtube and all that..and I had no problems with mov. file...
but this is bugging me out..i'm using gopro to record...any help will do. thx.

Depending on how new you are to FCP and like youtube, this is very short and sweet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEAxjVZgqV4
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Major Workflow for Sports Team- H.264 and ProRes

I need some help hammering through my media management and workflow...
I'm trying to create an effiecient workflow to work with a sports team.
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My plan is then to create a new event, importing the h.264 media file, creating ins and outs of the highlights, and drop them into to each players individual highlight sequence/project.
Example - I just imported 5 highlight clips for a total 00:02:45:00 (2minutes45seconds)
Now, these files are going to imported, rendered and transcoded for Apple ProRes 422. Are these files now ProRes, or are they Proxy ProRes, referencing the original H.264 media?
My concern is that I'm going to quadrupling my media when the H.264 to ProRes takes place in Final Cut Pro X.
My final output/export will likely be back to 720p 60fps H.264 .mp4 for iPad and other digital formats.
Am I making sense? Does anyone have any suggestions for improvement?
My Computer:
Mac Pro 5,1
2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
6 GB Memory
OS Snow Leopard
Final Cut Studio 3
Final Cut Pro X

creating ins and outs of the highlights, and drop them into to each players individual highlight sequence/project.
Rather, keyword each player, then you'll have a keyword collection for each player in the browser. You can have separate keyword collections for each player and for each game and for each type of action and group the each type of keyword collection into a folder.

Converting H 264 video files

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Another bit of information. If I export from iMovie using the same exact settings on the same video files I don't get the flashing colors.

Fastest Converter for h.264 to ProRes

So long story short, we'll be shooting a few videos with some Nikon D600s and bringing them into FCP7 for overnight edits on location with MacBook Pros. I usally use Compressor to convert the footage over to ProRes but since we will be shooting a lot of video and the edit times are very tight (overnight) I'm trying to find out if anyone has found a converter that can transcode the video faster than Compressor does? Runnng some small tests Compressor is going to be a bit too slow for our turnaround time, but I understand we may have to make due. Was just checking if anyone has found a converter or workflow that is noticably faster than Compressor?
Thanks

So just an update for ya'll since I did the tests. I ran a bunch of tests with my i7 macbook pro (on 10.8.5) using a 2gig h.264 clip and found that it took 29:22 min to render a pro res clip in compressor 4, and 29:24 in compressor 3. Then after setting up the Qmaster as decribed in the doc and setting it for 7 instances it took 29:15 for compressor 4 and 29:33 in compressor 3 (strangly longer). So Qmaster made no diffrence for me at all.
Mpeg Streamclip did it in 26:30 so a bit faster. But the solution we're going to use is to render in the DaVinci Resolve lite which renderd it in 15min! The GPU rendering in Davinci really helped and I didn't have to put any Gama correction on the clip (for some reason compressor changes the gamma a bit).
Thanks again

How to convert h.264 elementary stream to MOV

I need to convert a h.264 elementary stream to a MOV file. When I try to open the h.264 file in QT pro I get a "-2048 Cannot open ... because it is not a file QuickTime understands". This particular ES was generated using the MainConcepts encoder using Main Profile 4.0.

This program ... Bigasoft's "Total Video Converter" supposedly handles most any codec in/out situation. I asked if anyone on the PersonalView forums (LARGE forum run by a Russian dude who's created the 'hacks' for GH3's and a few other video cams) had used it ... and got a few positive responses, and also one who noted there's a free command-line ffmbc based program ... but I'm not a huge fan of studying all the quips/quotes/terms you need to know to really use command-line programs.
http://www.bigasoft.com/articles/convert-video-to-prores-4444-and-422.htmlhttp://
Neil

Changing Project Format from DSLR H.264 to ProRes

Hello...
I started a project using raw H.264 video on the timeline from a DSLR.
I got half way through the project and encountered problems with the raw
H.264 footage. (Editing in FCP7)
To resolve the problem I used Mpeg Streamclip to convert all of the clips
to ProRes. Now all of the clips are in ProRes
I was able to edit a large part of the Sequence with the DSLR H.264 formated clips..
Now half of the project is finished with the H.264 clips and I do not want to
loose my work and start over.
Is there a way to recreate or convert the project keeping all edits (and timelines) and
replacing the existing H.264 clips with newly created identical clips
in ProRes?
-Mat

If the file names of the converted clips are identical to the original clips, and you media manage an "offline" prorres version, you should be able to reconnect to your prores clips. If this isn't clear or you have problems, post back and I'll try and make this clearer.

URGENT- h.264 to ProRes issues

A client sent me a series of .mts videos that Compressor wasn't able to recognise. I used an MTS converter a friend recommended, which was only capable of converting to h.264. These videos look fine and I was confident that I could just convert them to ProRes and begin editing.
However, when I looked at the resulting ProRes videos, they look really "laggy" and kind of like they are being played in slow motion. It's really choppy and horrible. I figured it was something like wrong frame rate but everything I've checked seems to match the original video.
I'm absolutely stumped, I've tried pretty much every combination of settings in Compressor but can't work it out.
I can't edit in h.264, but the ProRes files look like garbage.
Please help, this is quite urgent.
Many thanks
Ryan

Converting h.264 footage for my 1080i60 timeline...

Hi all...
I've got some footage from a GoPro Hero cam (H.264, 1920x1080) that I would like to add to my current sequence (HDV-1080i60) which is set up for footage my Canon XHA1S (captured as HDV Apple ProRes 422). The end result for all of this footage is for broadcast in HD on TV...
I'm using FCP 7. I used MPEG Streamclip to convert the H.264 footage, but I was unsure about a few of the settings for doing so:
1: I chose the option "Export to QT" & for the Compression I chose 'Apple ProRes 422' assuming this would be the best option since my other footage uses the same. Someone please correct me here if that's not so...
2: The Frame Rate is blank & I'm wondering if I should leave it blank or adjust it to 29.97, again to match footage from my Canon.
3. Frame Size. I'm really at a loss here. First I was thinking I should adjust it to 1440x1080 to match the Canon footage, but then I'm worried about the quality of the footage & wonder if it's even necessary to change it from 1920x1080? AND then, if I do leave it @ 1920x1080, I have 3 options: '16:9', 'unscaled', or 'HDTV 1080i'.
4: (and last, I hope) "Interlaced Scaling" is checked & "Deinterlace Video" is unchecked. I'm not sure if this is Progressive or Interlaced footage. Anyone know how to find out & what the correct settings for those are?
THANK YOU : )

Funny that you sent me those links, I actually read them both a few hours ago & that was what led me to use Streamclip for that footage in the first place. Certainly makes me feel better to have these settings confirmed by the original author (just realized that)! Small world : )
And in regards to the Reinterlace Chroma, since this footage came out nicely, I'm guessing the others will too since they are all from the same source (probably similar to your cam for the motorcycles). But what exactly does that setting do?

Convert h.264 to prores

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