DNxHD (Avid LE 2.3.8).

Cineform is huge.

You Might also install the DNxHD codec or the Matrox series all free. The DNxHD is accepted by my PBS station for broadcast, in fact encouraged by the head engineer.

The OP does not say what they want the codec to accomplish.
If you want an intermediate for compositing with long-form video, the Cineform codec is a great one between best quality and trade-off in disc requirements. Also very easy on the VegasPro Timeline.

If you need the highest quality in short-form (perhaps animation) the Quicktime Animation Codec or the Lagarith AVI codec come to mind.

If you are talking raw video capture over SDI or some similar, then the ProRes can be read on the timeline, but another alternative to capture is the Avid DNXHD.

At least in my experience a couple of years back, colorspace in Cineform did not necessarily survive the round trip to FCP and back as one would hope. DNxHD, in addition to its efficiency, seems to be bulletproof in the colorspace/gamma dept.

Canopus HQ /HQX. 4:2:2 and free

+1 for Avid DNxHD

> "The DNxHD is accepted by my PBS station for broadcast, in fact encouraged by the head engineer."

Which PBS station is that? Our PBS affiliate won't accept any files at all and requires us to make HDCAM tapes which is getting very expensive. I'd like to at least be able to point them to a PBS station that is accepting files.

~jr

JR,

We are still putting out a lot of HDCams as well, mainly because of the CC required. We aren't set up to CC HD files. But we are also getting more and more stations accepting files.

Dave T2

Can you render to DNxHD within Vegas?

The goal is for us to capture in Apple Prores HQ, because that seems to be the standard in file based recorders, although, since Apple abandoned their professional users, DNxHD is now being supportd on some hardware.

Since we are capturing in a near master quality format, I would like to preserve that quality for the Archive.

The reason I prefer a free codec is because it's more like to work years from now, where a paid codec might not even be able to be installed if the company goes out of business.

The purposes:
1. Archive worthy file
2. Master quality from which all distribution media can be created - web, DVD, Blu-Ray, iPod, iPad, etc.

Requirements:
1. Must be as good as ProRes HQ
2. Must be easy to play on any computer- multi-platform, readily available free playback codec.
3. file size should be no larger than the ProRes HQ.

Does Avid meet that requirement?

Not a requirement, but in an ideal world, I would like to be able to work in Vegas.

thanks,
~Jay

UNLESS you are doing severe cuts and wanting to eliminate camera shooting ratio percentages - YOUR best archive is the ProRes originals- all other options are compromises to the value of an archive.

Jay,
DnxHD is not an end-user delivery / playback codec, nor is Apple ProRes.
Neither were intended as such, nor do I recommend either for such purposes.

Not sure what you're after here; all appearances were that you were looking for a bilateral cross-platform intermediate, which ProRes is not. Sorry if I missed something between the lines.

Avid LE is a free download, installs on both Windows and Mac systems, and is exposed in Vegas as a MOV custom render. It is compared favorably to ProRes in quality, size, speed, and raw specs. I wouldn't have suggested it otherwise. There are also plenty of comparison articles on the internet for you to explore. It is also worth noting that DNxHD 444 was developed specifically for capture from Arri Alexa.

http://www.avid.com/US/industries/workflow/DNxHD-Codec

As far as the rest of your questions, you are encouraged to download it and try it for yourself. Best of luck.

"The goal is for us to capture in Apple Prores HQ, because that seems to be the standard in file based recorders, although, since Apple abandoned their professional users, DNxHD is now being supportd on some hardware."

There's not much hardware left that doesn't support recording to DNxHD.
I just upgraded our Samurais so they can record DNxHD, the upgrade is now free.
Probably the love for DNxHD is it is a SMPTE standard and that ensures the licensing fees are standard for all vendors so there's none of this mess with ProRes where Apple will not allow it to be encoded outside of their PCs.

I've not done any tests comparing ProRes and DNxHD however from my reading elsewhere I've yet to read anyone claiming ProRes is superior to DNxHD and some saying DNxHD is superior.
DNxHD has worked just fine for me in Vegas and After Effects going both ways.

Bob.

OK, here's a question for you acquisition freaks. Will Vegas work with MXF OP1 formats?

"Will Vegas work with MXF OP1 formats? "

It may play it but not correctly.

Operational Patterns such as OP1a seem to include in and out points and as far as I can seen from using Sony'S Clipbrowser to export MXF from XDCAM EX footage Vegas completely ignores everything. If that is the only issue, it may be good enough.

Beyond that I really cannot help you much other than to point you to a free MXF Analyser from IRT: http://ftp.irt.de/IRT/mxf/tools/analyzer/index.php

Bob.