Pro Res PAL Interlaced - Compressor sees as progressive

This is a conundrum. I am capturing some material as ProRes PAL Standard Definition (just to save on hard drive space) and I have made a new Preset - and have gone into Advanced and ticked Interlaced and Upper Field as I know that's what the material is.
However when I then drag the completed capture to Compressor it sometimes shows as Progressive, sometimes Upper, sometimes lower
I seem to remember reading somewhere that this was Compressor "guessing" the field order and if i knew the order it would all be fine

My first impression is you're trying to make this too hard...
You have a high quality timeline which is downconverted to 1080, no problem. Once rendered, SmoothCam
should not represent a problem. If anything, SmoothCam will reduce the sudden movement that can cause problems. Any scenes where you have a high rate of change per frame (like in an explosion or a background of leaves flapping in the wind) should be marked with compression markers.
Export as a QT movie using sequence settings (include markers for DVDSP) so you have a completed source file for compression. I'm not aware of anything that will improve the quality beyond what is in the timeline, so current sequence settings are fine. Test this for playback issues.
If you are having playback problems with the sequence after export and compression, the most probable cause is excessively high bandwidth requirements. Try using the DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes preset. It generally produces a very good quality product. Any attempt to increase the quality will likely increase the bandwidth requirements that are the probable cause of the skipping.
While Sony is a big name, their DVD substrate is only mediocre. If you think the substrate is a problem, switch to Verbatim or JVC/Taiyo-Yuden.
If you are dissatisfied with the quality of the Compressor output, look into the Cinema Craft encoding products.
Hope this helps.

Similar Messages

FCP Pro Res Super 16mm -- Compressor -- DVD Studio Pro (Nightmare Workflow Critique)

Hello,
I figured I post here rather than the DVD Studio Pro forum; I've posted on Creative Cow as well but haven't gotten any responses yet.
Before I mention my problem, I'd like to mention that I've tried several types of compression methods and bitrates and unfortunately, my disk still freezes in my player, generally around the same area.
(I have two, minute long clips with Smoothcam there).
I'll try to be as specific about my work-flow as I can and I've posted the photos of my FCP and Compressor settings below.
30 Minutes. Super 16mm.
2K DPX Scans -- > Graded In Color --> Pro Res 4444 23.976 --> Sent To Compressor --> Mpeg 2 + AC3 --> Build & Format With DVD Studio Pro
I set blue compression markers at the start of each Smoothcam clip.
I've recompressed my footage without Smoothcam as well - with the same end result.
I've sent my timeline to Compressor and used both the 5.5-7 VBR setting and the 6.5 CBR settings (with everything under Frame Controls set to the highest quality).
(I've also used the 6.2-7.7 built in settings with the ninety-minute high quality preset).
I am using Sony DVD-R disks. 16X/1X. When I play them in my PS3, the film freezes at different points in the first two-three minutes - then skips ahead exactly to the same point in my film - about halfway.
I've set Chapter markers and it skips to the halfway one; from there it plays fine.
1. I wanted to ask if I should maybe export my entire sequence first through FCP (an .mov file) and try Compressing that?
(I've done this and the result is still the same)
2. Should I set it to Pro Res 422 HQ first?
(I've done this and the result is still the same)
3. Perhaps I should just try to Compressor with the 90Min-HQ setting without changing anything?
(I've done this and the result is still the same)
4. Should I remove the Smoothcam?
I'm currently compressing the entire sequence void of all Smoothcam.
When I bring the files into DVD Studio Pro, I see under preferences that Studio Pro also has VBR settings. Do those have any effect on my DVD encode? There is no CBR there - only VBR set from 5.5-7.
5. Is there anything I'm doing wrong with regards to my workflow? There are several options that may be causing this; I'm not sure if its the progressive footage to interlaced standard definition disk, or modifying field dominance, gop structure, etc.
Any help would be greatly (that's greatly) appreciated.
Thanks!
-Boris

My first impression is you're trying to make this too hard...
You have a high quality timeline which is downconverted to 1080, no problem. Once rendered, SmoothCam
should not represent a problem. If anything, SmoothCam will reduce the sudden movement that can cause problems. Any scenes where you have a high rate of change per frame (like in an explosion or a background of leaves flapping in the wind) should be marked with compression markers.
Export as a QT movie using sequence settings (include markers for DVDSP) so you have a completed source file for compression. I'm not aware of anything that will improve the quality beyond what is in the timeline, so current sequence settings are fine. Test this for playback issues.
If you are having playback problems with the sequence after export and compression, the most probable cause is excessively high bandwidth requirements. Try using the DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes preset. It generally produces a very good quality product. Any attempt to increase the quality will likely increase the bandwidth requirements that are the probable cause of the skipping.
While Sony is a big name, their DVD substrate is only mediocre. If you think the substrate is a problem, switch to Verbatim or JVC/Taiyo-Yuden.
If you are dissatisfied with the quality of the Compressor output, look into the Cinema Craft encoding products.
Hope this helps.

How to downconvert 2K 2048 to Pro Res 1920 in Compressor?

Help! I'm hoping someone can give me a step-by-step how-to on converting the 2K 2048 DPX footage I have to ProRes 422, in 1920 x 1080.
I've been told this can be done in Compressor, but have yet to find out how.
Thanks!

Welcome to the Forums!
LCD is the display type. LED is the backlight (versus cold cathode fluorescent lamp, CCFL). So, your profile will show LCD no matter what (i.e. you have an LCD display backlit by an LED light). LED's are "instant-on", CCFL's need to warm up a bit, so that's one way to tell them apart. But, if you have a new 17" high res, it's LED-backlit.
1920 x 1200 is the high-res (the standard res is 1680x1050).
Glossy vs. matte doesn't show up in the profile either - it's just a coating. You can tell glossy by looking for reflections with the display off - if there's reflection, it's glossy, if there are only muted, diffuse reflections or none (depending on lighting conditions), it's matte. (Mine is matte; with the display off, I can only see a fuzzy, diffuse shadow of myself, not a reflection.)
So, overall it certainly sounds like you got what you ordered.
Hope this helps...

Speed of conversion into Pro Res 422

Has anyone done a test to check the speed of a conversion from HD to Pro Res 422 using compressor?
example 1- a 10 minute clip in HD converted to Pro Res 422 using compressor takes . . .
example 2- a 10 minute clip in HDV conveted to Pro Res 422 using compressor takes . . .
also, does the meta data come across during the recompress (ie the timecode)?

Ok, at least one of them:
I converted a HDV "reference" export of 7 minutes to ProRes 422 HQ and it took about 16 minutes on a G5 Quad, 4GB memory using the second internal drive for source and results.
I did it a couple of ways: using the smart defaults, and then tweaking it a bit to get rid of "jaggies" on all edges. I can't make them go away when viewing the resulting ProRes 422 HQ movie in Quicktime: tried changing QT to deinterlace, HIgh Quality, and all other known variants: no dice. It actually looks like what compressor 2 would do when down converting HDV to SD directly without the Bonzai workaround. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong.
I was at the FCS 2 seminar in San Francisco on Tuesday, and their ProRes stuff looked great, so I don't know if it's because I started with HDV or what, but my HDV video in Quicktimes look MUCH better than my ProRess 422 HQ.
The PR422 file size is and data rate are big enough; 220mb/s data rate and 10.6GB file. Hmmmmmmm.
Anyone got a clue?
Ed

Pro Res 442

I am using a FS4 HD to record media then using DVFilm to make it 24p. The files are huge and wanted to take advantage of the new pro res 442. What would be the best way to convert the HD files I have now to the new file format? Thanks.

I don't have FCS2 yet, but my guess would just to use Compressor as there is probably an option to transcode the footage to Pro Res. Also, compressor would allow you to queue all you footage and if you have Xgrid enabled, to send files to other computers to transcode.
-Brian

ARRI AMIRA PRO RES FOOTAGE - this is supposed to play natively but i'm getting the dreaded red line.

I have legit pro res software installed (compressor) so i am assuming premiere should be able to play this fine - help!
FCP plays it without buffering - even space baring the file from finder plays it.
also I can't find the LUT to toggle between log and preset

Try adjusting things with /Applications/Utilities/AudioMIDI Setup - that sets the global audio parameters for all input and output devices.
There are utilities like Jack and SoundFlower for PPC Mac's that allow you to 'manage' audio better but I don't think any are Universal Binary (Intel) yet.

Apple Pro RES and DVD Studio Pro for burning DVDS

I have a FCP file, shot in HD, 5.5 min long, in apple pro res. It needs to be in a format to send to various people to play on a commercial DVD player as well on apple and pc computers. So far I have made a H264, as well as a MPEG 2 on a "-" dvd and both will play only on my mac computer, not on a playstation 3, nor a pc, nor a commercial DVD player. What should I do?

so sorry I sounded curt....must be the heat.
I have zero experience. Someone was helping me compress my final cut pro movie which was apple pro res, then , in compressor we tried H.264, then MPEG 2, using "-", but neither of these would play on anything other than my mac.
I need them to be in a format that I can send to people who may be using a pc, mac or commericial DVD player.
It's very nice of you to reply....

After burning a successful DVD in iDVD out of FCPX, how can I see the settings it used? So I finally burned a DVD out of a Apple Pro Res file into iDVD in PAL format. My question now is how can I find out what the exact burn properties were so that I ca

After burning a successful DVD in iDVD out of FCPX, how can I see the settings it used?
So I finally burned a DVD out of a Apple Pro Res file into iDVD in PAL format. My question now is how can I find out what the exact burn properties were so that I can apply the same burn properties to a project in Compressor 4?
Is it possible to see what iDVD did?

I don't know any way you can interrogate iDVD to reveal settings to the extent that you can in a Compressor project. What you could do is open up the show's VOB in MPEG STreamclip, go to File and Reveal Stream Information; that will at least give you some rudimentary info like average bit rate. Perhaps someone, with more iDVD experience, can chime in here.
The broader question is why use Compressor at all if your current workflow is doing the job to your satisfaction?
The value of Compressor is that it gives you control over the many parameters that affect size quality. and playability. The Compressor presets can give you a starting point for DVD delivery, Web, etc. From those presets, people typically experiment by adjusting the parameters until they get the desired results for their specific show. It's a little bit science and a little bit art. After experimenting, you may be able to get slightly better quality for the project you've successfully burned in iDVD by using Compressor and something likeToast…or maybe not.
Good luck.
Russ

Exporting a DV PAL Timeline as Apple Pro Res 422.......Any Advantages????

Hello
Apart from the file space you save are there any quality advantages in exporting a DV PAL sequence to Pro Res 422? Some of my students are convinced that it looks better and plays better on their monitors.
I'm thinking that their final output will be DVD so will DVD Studio Pro allow you to import Pro Res 422? Is there any point being that the final sequence is going to be re-encoded to MPEG?
I'm yet to test things myself so any pointer would be great.
One particular student says that their QT sequence looks grainy in QT player where as Pro Res looks GREAT!!!
Thanks
Til

Til
One particular student says that their QT sequence looks grainy in QT player where as Pro Res looks GREAT!!!
QT plays DV files at low quality by default. You can change it to high quality playback in movie properties: Apple + J.
You will not *add quality* transcoding the movie from one format to another. For DVD use you'll get the most of the quality exporting to MPEG2 using Compressor directly from your timeline with any extra transcoding in the middle.
Hope that helps !
Alberto

PAL DVCAM to Pro Res HQ 1080p 23.98

I want to convert SD PAL DVCAM to Pro Res HQ 1080p 23.98. Is compressor the best way to do this? I dont care how long it takes I just want the best possible quality. Should I just do it in one step? I did a test and it seemed to come out ok, any advice appreciated...

Does anyone have an opinion?

Pro Res 422 Project Stalls Compressor & Matrox

Gurus, stuck on this one. FCP7.0.3 project with a series of clips edited into a 18 tracks from 90-seconds to 8/9-minutes. No big - just cleaned them up. The Inspector shows the clips to be "Apple Pro Res 422, 12800x720, 60fps, 141.86 MB/sec (lovely HD TV) and the Browser confirms (although the data rate does not show), and Pixel Aspect is Square. Dense, but good.
When sent to Compressor 3.5.3 to encode to Best Quality (2-pass) DVD, Compressor wants an probhibitively long amount of time, like two days. This on a MacPro eight-core. More specifically, a 90-second track would take Compressor better than an hour.
When sent to Compressor using the Matrox MX02 with MAX H.264 hardware accelerator the same thing occured. It wanted 18+ hours to encode on the Mac Pro 8-core.
It feels like there is a hidden process occuring -- some sort of other conversion that I just do not see. Adivce?

Michael amd Shane, using Michael's advice to Export as a self-contained movie, I took a 1:53 1280 x 720, 60fps track in the Project and it made a nice 1.85 GB clip, which I then brought onto Compressor. I applied the Best quality DVD 2-pass, and it made the m2V file in elapsed time of 1:35 on the whiz bang MacBook Pro 4 core. Have not tried H264 yet. But here's an unusual thing I've discovered -- most likely the cuase of this hang-up:
I went back to the FCP Project and transferred this same 1:53 track my usual way -- highlight the Sequence in the Browser, Control-Click, Send To Compressor -- and when it arrived in Compressor, the timing or the time code in the Preview screen hs a start time of 16:00:00:00 and an end time of 23:23:20:03 showing a duration of 07:23:20:04 on the same 1-minute-53-second clip. I have no idea why. Any guesses?

Final Cut Pro Compressor: Pro Res to H.264

Hi, I'm a business / startup guy ramping up a knowledge base of all things digital video. We'll be receiving a good number of Pro Res files, all of which we'll need to compress to H.264. My question is about time. I'm looking at the Mac Pro four core. Here are my thoughts:
1. How long should it take to compress a two hour film from Pro Res to H.264 (high)
2. If we were to run four instances of Compressor, one for each core, would there be an increase in compression time
That's all, thanks in advance

The first question is one with too many variables for a single answer. Here is an article that discusses H.264 compression speeds on a MP compared to an iMac and which takes into account some of those variables.
To the second question,again, it all depends. Here is an article by the same author on that subject as well as an Apple support doc. that should be helpful.
Russ

New sequence from clip does not apply the Pro Res Compressor...

I wanted to test Premiere to see if it could handle Pro Res videos (which after some initial research, I read that it can). So to see for myself, I imported a Pro Res 422 video, right clicked the clip and selected "New Sequence From Clip"... But it does not seem to apply the Pro Res 422 compressor...
The video is originally HDV and I converted in Compressor to 422...
I know it may be pointless to convert HDV to Pro Res (not to mention that the HD clips weights 45 MB and the converted 205 MB, although in FCP the pro res is less taxing on the system as opposed to HDV, not sure if the same applies with Premiere)... But I will be receiving from pro res files soon, and I want to make sure they work properly in Premiere.
Thanks

Being a recent FCP devotee I will see if I can interpret what this person expected.
By dropping a Prores 422 clip on the Make Sequence button, I will hazard a guess that he expected to see a Prores 422 sequence created. In the FCP workflow that is the desire sequnce to play that clip in. What he is seeing in the second image (the sequence settings) is an AVCHD 1080 anamorphic sequence. And hes not sure why its not Prores.
Im sure once he reads the links Todd provided he will understand he is not in Appleland anymore and that there is a different workflow with PrP.
How did I do? ;-)

Hello I have a question about Converting 60 23.98 Cannon Mark III footage. In cinema tools, my footage stays grayed out. Both when I try my Compressor pro-res footage,

Hello I have a question about Converting 60>23.98 Cannon Mark III footage.
In cinema tools, my footage stays grayed out. Both when I try my Compressor pro-res footage, & original footage from cam.
When I convert from 60>23.98 in the Gopro app, it works fine.
Does anyone know if there is any quality loss in this app?
Also does anyone know another free software tht works great to convert markIII 60>23.98 footage?
Thank u thank u thank u !!!!

Questions about Cinema Tools should be asked in the Final Cut Studio forum.
Russ

Trouble with flickering after converting AVCHD files to Apple Pro Res 22

Hi guys.
I have figured out that Apple Pro res 22 is the best format for my AVCHD files.
But I am having trouble with the files after converting them to this format.
Every 60 frames I have a blurred frame.
This results in a flickering effect when watching the clip.
The original MP4 clip (AVCHD) plays fine on the Mac but when I convert is it flickers.
I have captured a still shot of the frame here
http://www.willpower.net.au/DOWNLOADS/FrameError.jpeg
Here are the settings I am using for the conversion
http://www.willpower.net.au/DOWNLOADS/Error.JPG
Here is the converted file in Apple Pro Res 22 format with the flickering
http://www.willpower.net.au/DOWNLOADS/SANY0007.mov
I'd appreciate any help that you can offer.

Actually I think I might have found the answer.
After diggin deaper into the camera manual I have discovered that the setting I had it on "Full HD" actually is interlaced not progressive. Even though tha badging on the camera says Progressive"
So I think something got lost when converting the files to apple pro res.
I just shot a 10 sec clip on "Full HR" which is the progressive function and it converted nicely.
I'll come back to this post after shooting and making a little test movie today.
Thanks for your help.
PS. I wonder what codec it actually shoots in. Apparently it is not AVCHD but MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression (I thought that was AVCHD)

Pro Res PAL Interlaced - Compressor sees as progressive

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