What is a fast codec to render to for a rough cut

Cooldraft wrote on 9/17/2010, 5:50 AM

I need to close caption this spot. But the video can change (tweak further), but, to get a head start on timecoding, I need a quick visual, I won't change the audio so the final match up.

Comments

Jeff9329 wrote on 9/17/2010, 7:49 AM

MXF

Laurence wrote on 9/17/2010, 8:02 AM

Another vote for MXF, but make sure you view them with the free MXF player from Sony. The MXF files will also play in VLC, but with the MXF player they look just fantastic. After you install the player you need to go into the preferences and enable the GPU acceleration for the full effect. This player will give you the best on the fly deinterlacing I've seen from a computer and will rescale from sRGB to cRGB so the colors will really pop. Playback with this player is really light on the CPU since the graphics processor is doing a lot of the work.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 9/17/2010, 8:05 AM

Jeff may be correct.

On the other hand, if you add anything to the original image/file, it will need to be re-rendered. In that case, I don't know that one codec would be faster than another.

If your original footage is MXF and if all you do is an rough edit, no FX or color grading, then there will be "no recompression required."

TheHappyFriar wrote on 9/17/2010, 10:55 AM

I'd say that if you can avoid rerendering, that's the best way. IE if the source of DV AVI, render to that. If it's HDV, render to that.

John_Cline wrote on 9/17/2010, 12:00 PM

How about providing a link to this magical MXF player?

Jay Gladwell wrote on 9/17/2010, 12:09 PM

I presummed Laurence was referring to the Sony XDCAM Viewer. But I didn't know it did all that!

jabloomf1230 wrote on 9/17/2010, 1:04 PM

https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/sony-software-model-PDZVX10.aspx

The most recent version of the XDCAM Viewer for Windows is 2.30. BTW, the thread title is a bit misleading, as MXF is a wrapper. There are a variety of Vegas Pro rendering options which use the MXF wrapper combined with the MPEG2 codec, but the best quality is HD422 1920x1080 50 Mbps.

Laurence wrote on 9/17/2010, 1:27 PM

Yeah that's the one. It's fantastic. Don't forget to turn on the GPU acceleration to see the magic though. Don't worry about deinterlacing or sRGB to cRGB color correction. The player does all that on the fly incredibly well.

As far as quick renders go, if you a working with HDV, Cineform or DV, you can disable any filters and smart-render into the same format as your source footage. If you are using AVCHD though, MXF is your best option.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 9/17/2010, 1:33 PM

" Don't forget to turn on the GPU acceleration..."

Where...?

Laurence wrote on 9/17/2010, 2:01 PM

Go to Tools / Options and check the "use alternate renderer" tab. It makes a world of difference. It defaults with this tab unchecked because not everyone has a compatible GPU card.

rmack350 wrote on 9/17/2010, 3:43 PM

I happen to be doing a set of timed text subtitles for flash playback right at this moment. The final renders were mp4 files but I need something else to use in the subtitler (VisualSubSync).

The movie files don't get affected in this case. No rerendering required. I happen to be using the Matrox AVI files that the editor had to output from PPro before creating mp4 files, but DV.avi would have worked just fine, as would a half rez low bitrate WMV file. You just need to see the the video and hear the audio. The subtitle is carried in a separate XML file that can be translated for different locales later on. It never gets embedded into the video file.

From the sounds of it, the OP is in a similar position. Rendering a low res intermediate probably isn't an issue if it'll just get thrown away later.

Rob