Best QuickTime Inport Format?

Stuart Robinson wrote on 11/6/2007, 11:13 AM

I have a client who is going to export and supply some source footage in QuickTime format. I'm not 100% familiar with the various QuickTime options so wondered which would be the best, I'd like the video to have as little generation loss as possible for import into VP8.

Comments

rs170a wrote on 11/6/2007, 11:32 AM

Stuart, I can't tell you what QT format it was but I regularly get files from an FCP editor and, using MacDrive, I have no problems loading the clips.
The one thing I have found is that QT uses the full 0-255 range while DV-AVI is only 16-235. Using the Computer RGB to Studio RGB preset in the Secondary Color Corrector takes care of that issue for me.

Mike

Stuart Robinson wrote on 11/6/2007, 12:07 PM

Thanks Mike. I think what we need is some idea of what export settings and CODEC to use in order to avoid a lossy compression - if such a thing is possible.

I'll watch out for the computer RGB colour space, as most of this footage will end up on the web as Flash, I probably won't need to convert but it's good to know if we do end up with a DVD.

rs170a wrote on 11/6/2007, 12:17 PM

Stuart, in the situations I'm referring to (awards banquets, graduation ceremonies, etc.), he used FCP on a laptop as the front end so I'm assuming (dangerous to do, I know) it would be whatever the FCP default is for DV 720 x 480 video.
All I know is that it looked OK to me.

Mike

Stuart Robinson wrote on 11/6/2007, 1:13 PM

Problem I have is that my client is exporting clips from Pro Tools (I think) on a Mac and he really isn't familiar with video manipulation - he works with audio. QuickTime seems to be the default option and that's what he's comfortable with, so it's a case of guiding him through the best export settings.

Coursedesign wrote on 11/6/2007, 2:17 PM

QuickTime is just a wrapper.

What's in the wrapper?

I.e what format is the source video?

SD, HD, HDV, AVC, DV, DV50, or any of hundreds of codecs?

rs170a wrote on 11/6/2007, 2:49 PM

Problem I have is that my client is exporting clips from Pro Tools (I think) on a Mac and he really isn't familiar with video manipulation...

That throws a rather large monkey wrench into things as I'm sure Pro Tools doesn't have the render options that FCP would.
Anyway, I looked at one QT MOV file from a recent shoot and here's all the details I could find on the Info tab. Hope it helps.

Format: Apple DV, 720x480 (640x480), Millions, 16-bit Integer (Big Endian), Stereo (L R), 48.002 kHz
Movie FPS: 29.97
Data Size: Unknown
Data Rate: 3.61 MB

Mike