HDCAM SR Light vs. DNxHD and Prores?

cliff_622 wrote on 9/25/2013, 7:11 AM
I work allot with DNxHD and Prores but never HDCAM SR light.

I was wondering, how does HDCAM SR light (220MBp/s) compare to DNxHD and Prores at the same bitrate? (quality and CODEC durability when grading)

Would HDCAM SR light be a good replacement for the other two CODECS?

Also, now that we are moving into XAVC, would that make a good mastering CODEC? (HD resolution XAVC Intra)

CT

Comments

NormanPCN wrote on 9/26/2013, 10:34 AM
I would not expect any visual differences between the intermediate formats you mentioned at a similar bitrate.

I don't have much use for high bitrate codecs but I have used DNxHD as an inter from Vegas and input to Handbrake. I used the 140Mbps format.

I tried to pass HDCAM SR (lite) to HB but ffmpeg and therefore handbrake did not accept the format. I did find HDCAM SR faster to encode than DNxHD in Vegas.

I do not know how you can encode Prores from within Vegas, so I personally do not care about the format.
musicvid10 wrote on 9/26/2013, 11:06 AM
DNxHD and ProRes both use intraframe compression, which should withstand multiple generations of renders better than HDCAM, which uses MPEG-4 Part 2 SP (interframe) compression.

Cineform is another good lossless (wavelet) compressor you didn't mention.

If you will be doing less then five linear generations of renders, it is unlikely you will see much difference in quality between any of them.

You should be able to find PSNR / SSIM tools to make objective comparisons if you want to dig that deep.
NormanPCN wrote on 9/26/2013, 11:27 AM
I believe HDCAM SR (aka Sstp) is intra-frame.

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-camerascineproduction/resource.latest.bbsccms-assets-cat-camcineprod-latest-SRMASTERFamilyProductGroupPage.shtml
musicvid10 wrote on 9/26/2013, 11:53 AM
SRMASTER (your link) is a different, and more recent version than SR / Lite (2003).

I thought that SR Lite used predictive to get all the additional compression, but I welcome being corrected if my memory is faulty. I only worked with HDCAM tape on one project, and that was a long time ago . . .
NormanPCN wrote on 9/26/2013, 1:44 PM
SRMASTER is a product line and not a codec. The codec used by SRMASTER products is MPEG-4 Sstp, Simple Studio Profile. SRMASTER being the first products to support the newer lower bitrate version SR-Lite (according to the link).

While Sstp is the codec (simple studio profile), which is a generic definition. Sony defines and restricts the bitrate and color subsampling to only a few compatible options. All using the same codec.

I take Sony at their word that Sstp is Intra-frame.

No way I am reading the mpeg standard as I am not that curious. My curiosity extends to that which is, what is the fastest intermediate to pass to Handbrake.
musicvid10 wrote on 9/26/2013, 3:43 PM
Sorry, I don't see where the OP mentioned Handbrake at all, or SRMASTER for that matter.
I'm guessing he is capable of taking both our responses "fwiw" and doing his own research.
Right or wrong, I'm hoping he will post back with his findings wrt his purpose.
But honestly, it's been so long since I used HDCAM, I'll just leave it to you experts to figure out.
Best.