What ProRes for AVCHD 28Mbps 1080p 60p?

Just as the title states, what ProRes should I be using for AVCHD 28Mbps 1080p 60progressive off of a Canon HF G30. I have read a couple pages regarding this and there seems to be some debate. It seems like ProRes 422 is ideal as per some but should I be upgrading to 422 HQ or downgrading to 422 LT. What are the pros/cons? Or should I stay at normal 422. If anyone could elaborate or add some input it would be appreciated! Thanks

It really depends on what you are trying to do by transcoding. What do you want to do with the ProRes files?

Seamusvfx wrote: It really depends on what you are trying to do by transcoding. What do you want to do with the ProRes files?

Nothing too fancy. I film outdoor fishing and hunting, although I do loveee quality. I feel like I pay attention to definition/quality 100x more than the average person. I've yet to export in anything else besides 422 so I haven't been able to look for differences in quality.

The codec you are referring to is 8-bit with a 4:2:0 color space.

If this is purely for editing, ProRes LT will be perfect. If you really want to you can use ProRes 422, but besides making your files bigger this won't make any difference. Anything higher than 422 is purely a waste of drive space for this, there is no debate about this.

I wish I could show you the excellent webinar Philip Hodgetts has made about the different flavors of ProRes. You would absolutely be stunned how little difference there is, both in quality and in lossiness, between these three codecs. Even ProRes Proxy preserves stunning quality in the tests he has done. And Philipp certainly knows what he is talking about.

Only when you need to send clips back and forth for heavy external high-end VFX work will it be better to use the top-end ProRes codecs such as 44444 and QX. But if you need to do high-end VFX I suppose you would shoot in a much higher format than AVCHD to start with.


- Ronny

ronny courtens wrote: The codec you are referring to is 8-bit with a 4:2:0 color space.

If this is purely for editing, ProRes LT will be perfect. If you really want to you can use ProRes 422, but besides making your files bigger this won't make any difference. Anything higher than 422 is purely a waste of drive space for this, there is no debate about this.

I wish I could show you the excellent webinar Philip Hodgetts has made about the different flavors of ProRes. You would absolutely be stunned how little difference there is, both in quality and in lossiness, between these three codecs. Even ProRes Proxy preserves stunning quality in the tests he has done. And Philipp certainly knows what he is talking about.

Only when you need to send clips back and forth for heavy external high-end VFX work will it be better to use the top-end ProRes codecs such as 44444 and QX. But if you need to do high-end VFX I suppose you would shoot in a much higher format than AVCHD to start with.


- Ronny

Thanks!, Is there any way I could view this webinar online? I'd be interested in seeing it.

I should have been more clear. I should have said what is your goal in transferring to prores, is it for delivery, is it for editing, is it for effects? Just to support to what Ronny said, you probably don't need to transcode at all. You can edit in avchd and deliver h264 if it's for the web. There's no right or wrong answer with this stuff, it's just using the right codec for the right job, and that comes with understanding the sort of things that Ronny has explained

Seamusvfx wrote: I should have been more clear. I should have said what is your goal in transferring to prores, is it for delivery, is it for editing, is it for effects? Just to support to what Ronny said, you probably don't need to transcode at all. You can edit in avchd and deliver h264 if it's for the web. There's no right or wrong answer with this stuff, it's just using the right codec for the right job, and that comes with understanding the sort of things that Ronny has explained

Oh ok. Basically, I import into final cut pro using automatic setting and it uses 422. I edit my film, and when I export I continue to choose Source - 422. My Goal when I export is to achieve the highest quality possible. Im not concerned about file size. I have a 4TB external hard drive. So ultimately, I guess the question boils down to, does the quality look better with 422 over H.264? What is the best for quality?

It doesn't really matter a great deal what you choose on import. It only uses that for editing playback. I would go for LT in your case as it will have no really noticeable quality drop.

Choosing a export codec is a bit different. Technically maximum quality will be uncompressed 10bit, but that would be ludicrous as the file would be massive and probably wouldn't be able to playback of your hard drive . Prores422 will technically be higher quality than LT, which in turn will be higher than h264. H264 will give you the best playback experience though, which is actually more important. Try all three and then give yourself a blind test and see if you can honestly spot the difference. If you can't, go for h264.

Seamus is correct. You can edit in your native AVCHD format and export to any format you wish. Converting to ProRes prior to editing is only required when you see that your system is lagging when you edit natively. In that case you can import your AVCHD footage and create optimized media, which will convert all the clips to proRes 422.

BTW here's the link to the webinar about proRes: moviola.com/webinars/demystifying-apples-prores-codec/

You may have to register at their website to be able to watch the seminar, but registration is free.

- Ronny

This thread was very helpful to let me know the difference between those Prores codec. Thx guys !

For what it's worth, I alway edit in AVCHD (from my Sony FS700) directly. Somethimes when doing multicam of more than maybe 4-5 angles I need to convert to Proxy files. But that is for computer/harddrive reasons. Other than that I don't think there's anything to gain in quality by converrting to ProRes. Very minimal.
If you got an external recorder that recorded directly in ProRes (you'd still get 8-bit but in 10-bit wrapper and 4.2.2) you would get files that in most cases would only look slightly better but would hold up better if lots of grading etc is done.

Well, this depends on what you use your video for. And if you want to load them into edit software, I think the prores 422 will be enough. But the converted video with prores 422 will much larger than the original one about its size.