Export HDV 1080i50 to Quicktime Animation

I am having to export HDV edits to Quicktime Animation (1440 x 1080) which seems fine but the files play a bit labored. I have a mac pro duel 3 ghz with 4 gb RAM and the latest quick time player and am exporting using Quicktime conversion. Could there be problems? Cheers Phil UK

Probably not, no. Animation is a run-length-encoded 8-bit RGB format, which means it does fairly well for extremely simple graphics, but when you convert live-action footage to it, the data rates skyrocket.

Remember two of those things I said: Animation is 8-bit, and it's RGB. Now, the 8-bit thing is less of an issue for you because you're starting with HDV, an 8-bit format itself. But going from YUV to RGB and then back will most likely cause gamma and dynamic-range shifts. Animation is almost never the format you want to use for live-action material. There are specific workflow exceptions, but they're so few and far-between that you're unlikely to be in the middle of one.

If I knew anything at all about your workflow, I could make some kind of recommendation.

>but the files play a bit labored.

When you encoded the Animation files, did you check on the keyframe options? That should be set to either "none" or "all".



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Thanks guys, I have always dealt with Animation codec straight from After effects and not live action footage. Strange but that is what has been asked of me. Cheers as always Phil

Yeah, that happens sometimes, particularly when moving between Mac systems and non-Mac systems. There was a time, not that long ago, when Quicktime support on Discreet editing and compositing systems was so rudimentary that your only practical option was the ancient 8-bit RGB "none" format. Most everybody used image sequences instead.

To be honest, I'm really not sure if that situation has improved any in the past few years.

But regardless of whether you're going from Mac to Mac or Mac to Windows, remember that as long as your recipient has a recent version of Quicktime installed ? I think it's anything since version 7.5.5, but I'm not positive about that ? they already have the ProRes 422 decoder component on their system. They can't create ProRes Quicktimes unless they're on a Final Cut Studio 2 system, but they can open ProRes Quicktimes, load them in After Effects, convert them to other formats, whatever. For live-action material, ProRes beats the pants off Animation because it's smaller, requires a lower data rate at all resolutions, and doesn't impose a YUV-to-RGB conversion.

[I'm really not sure if that situation has improved any in the past few years. ]

I don't think it has; image sequences from PNG or TFF exports from 3D Studio Max is still popular. That's how the design team in my "Anatomy of an Open" got 3D versions of their designs for the CBS Evening News graphic open.

BTW, that's the original Katie Couric open, not the new one, which IMHO isn't nearly as good.

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