Adobe Community: Do we need intermediate codec to export XDCAM EX files from Premier Pro

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Jan 27, 2006

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1. Jon-M-Spear,

Jul 20, 2012 3:32 AM in reply to Puneet Malhotra

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It depends what and why you are wantng to archive.

I do not archive the master edit per se, as I don't see the need. In my view, archiving the edited master (for corporate work) harks back to days of tape when it was costly to re-digitize the rushes for a re-edit. At least, with an edited master, there was a starting point, even though we were going down a generation.

With hard drives so inexpensive, I archive the entire project - and that includes the native MP4 rushes from my EX1R together with all output formats that the clients have requested.

In this way the rushes remain unchanged and the project is ready at a moment's notice to re-output in any format that may be required.

If you must archive, an uncompressed format, such as uncompressed avi is good unless you want to use 3rd party codecs such as Cineform

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2. Puneet Malhotra,

Jul 20, 2012 3:47 AM in reply to Jon-M-Spear

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hello Jon-M-Spear, what you are saying is correct , but this way I have to keep not only camera footage but also cache files, other graphic files etc. which I have used.

My project was an event shot with 5 camera set up , and of around 4 hour duration , so this way I will have keep 20 hrs of footage for a final of 4 hrs of event.

please explain any other way out,

And as you suggested uncompressed avi, but there is no option of uncompressed avi as I am working on MAC ,,,,

need advice seriously....

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3. Jon-M-Spear,

Jul 20, 2012 3:56 AM in reply to Puneet Malhotra

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Mac has equivalent uncompressed codecs: Quicktime or Pro-res spring to mind.

You could always trim the project in Project Manager (leaving sufficient handles for a good tweak in the future) and archive the project, keeping only the material used in the edit.

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4. Puneet Malhotra,

Jul 20, 2012 4:11 AM in reply to Jon-M-Spear

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i was also planning for project manager, but what you suggest as a second option, geting a .mov file with applying codec such as Avid DNxHD, pro res or as my footage

is XDCAM EX3, so applying XDCAM EX3 (35mbps). So 3 options , which is accepted cross platforms, more robust and edit friendly in future....

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5. Jim Simon,

Jul 20, 2012 8:12 PM in reply to Puneet Malhotra

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UT is a free and lossless codec that works on both Macs and Windows machines. It also works very well with Adobe software. It's a good choice for a Master export.

http://umezawa.dyndns.info/archive/utvideo/

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6. Puneet Malhotra,

Jul 21, 2012 4:30 AM in reply to Jim Simon

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Hello Jim, thanks for your reply , I am not getting the download option for MAC. One thing more to ask, I have not heard much for this codec .

One thing more, as we are discussing for exporting XDCAM EX footage out of Premier CS5 , do we also need to apply any intermideate codec when we import such footage into premier.

Please throw some light on this also....

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7. Jon-M-Spear,

Jul 21, 2012 6:03 AM in reply to Puneet Malhotra

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No!

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8. Jim Simon,

Jul 21, 2012 9:11 PM in reply to Puneet Malhotra

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I am not getting the download option for MAC.

It's there at the bottom (newest).

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9. ComputerNovice25,

Jul 21, 2012 9:34 PM in reply to Puneet Malhotra

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No you don't need a intermediate. Basically with mastering you basically have 4 main choices IMO if you want it to work well on both PC and MAC and not lose picture info. (mostly)

You could use UT, DNxHD,CineForm, or ProRes

Keep in mind though that DNxHD, ProRes and CineForm aren't lossless, they are however visually lossless. However they take up less space than UT does.

So it's all really a trade off.

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10. Jim Simon,

Jul 22, 2012 11:05 AM in reply to ComputerNovice25

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Also keep in mind that writing ProRes is difficult if not impossible under Windows. And Cineform isn't free.

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11. Puneet Malhotra,

Jul 25, 2012 2:19 AM in reply to Jim Simon

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As you people have said, about using DNxHD, Prores, Cineform etc. but aren't these are also intermediate codes. When we don't need them at time

of import XDCAM EX3 footage then why are these required for export. I have studied various artilcle also on different forums but have not understood them.

Please explain.....

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12. ComputerNovice25,

Jul 25, 2012 4:07 PM in reply to Jim Simon

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Cineform is actually free now. But you're correct about ProRes on PC. You can use Cineform for free by downloading the free version of Cineform GoPro studio which in turn allows you to access and use the Cineform codec for free from premiere pro's media encoder. The only restriction when using the now free cineform codec is that you can't do anything bigger than 1920x1080.

(Which for my current workflow doesn't bother me at all.)

To answer the OP's question though you need visually lossless and lossless codecs like the ones mentioned in certain cases.

For instance if I want to save a full quality copy of a edited project but I don't want to keep all my source files, then I make a high quality master using either Lagarith, DNxHD, UT, ProRes,Cineform etc.

Also if I want to edit a promo that I will use again in multiple TV shows and the people I work with will also need this specific promo for when they require this promo to edit with, then in this case I would also

export it in one of these formats I have mentioned above. Because I don't want the file to lose quality but I also need a way to be able to let other people and myself use this file.

Another reason you would use these file types is because if a specific animation is really graphic intesive and requires a lot of rendering to preview properly it is extremely handy to export you animation

then import it and it requires much less cpu/gpu power to process because it's only playing a video now instead of playing tons of layers and effects etc. That is why these types of codecs are necessary

because you need them around unless you want to lose quality in the situations I have mentioned above. I'm sure I have probably left out several scenarios but now you should get the idea.

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13. Jim Simon,

Jul 25, 2012 4:05 PM in reply to Puneet Malhotra

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why are these required for export.

They're not "required" at all. The codecs mentioned here are simply more options for you to choose from.

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Do we need intermediate codec to export XDCAM EX files from Premier Pro

Jul 20, 2012 3:13 AM

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