FCP TO AVID -- What codec?

Going from the latest FCP to an AVID - What is the best uncompressed codec?

Thanks!!

What is your source?



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Pro Res 720p24

Export an EDL and recapture?



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Use Automatic Duck Pro Export 4.0 to convert the sequence and media to Avid MXF files. Make a sequence with ALL the media, then export. Then go to bed as it does the conversion.

www.automaticduck.com

[lfhd.net]


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Will Apple Pro Res 422HQ work?

Nope. ProRes is an Apple codec. Avid uses its own codec. You'll probably use DNxHD.



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I can't seem to DL the DNXHD plugin - I DL and then when it open all I have is License agreements. I can't find the plugin

Can I use 8 or 20 bit uncompressed?

What Shane said. Don't even bother sending Quicktimes over; they'll have to be converted for use in the Avid anyway. The Duck will let you convert your media to MXF at the same time you're converting your timeline to AAF. Just make sure you check the "create externally linked files" box when you export.

Choose the "1:1 10-bit" option for "compression." This will turn your ProRes media into 10-bit uncompressed MXF files that can be loaded into the Avid Media Files folder on the Avid and used directly without conversion.

Double check that you really want uncompressed, though. Uncompressed 720p is obviously easier to work with than uncompressed 1080p, but it still requires a non-trivial amount of storage and bandwidth. Your Avid guy might want DNxHD 90 instead, or some such.

Over my paygrade - there has to be something easier, I hope

No, there isn't. That's why Pro Export exists: because it's not otherwise possible to move a project from a Final Cut system to an Avid.

If you're under the impression that you can just ship them a bunch of Quicktime movies as long as you get the right codec, unfortunately you're mistaken. Avid doesn't work that way.

You can either use Pro Export, which is dead cheap for what it does by the way, or you can send over an EDL and a stack of tapes. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the EDL-and-stack-of-tapes method. It's worked reliably for years. It's just that Pro Export is easier, faster and less hands-on.

>Over my paygrade

If Automatic Duck is over your price range, the other option is EDLs. It's helluva lot more troublesome than Automatic Duck, it's helluva lot an old (and perhaps obsolete) workflow, but it does bring your sequence over to an Avid, provided you keep within the EDL restrictions. I'm not sure how well it works with tapeless media as it does with tape.

There's nuthin' like good ol' EDL in a floppy disk and a good ol' stack of 3/4" tapes.



www.strypesinpost.com

If you give them QTs compressed as DNxHD QTs, Avid will import those, but convert them AGAIN to MXF. So that's three levels of compression. Initial capture, conversion to DNxHD QT, conversion to MXF. With Automatic Duck, that is only two levels. Capture, then conversion to MXF.

As everyone says, if you don't want to go the Duck route, then the EDL/Master tape option is the only other way.


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>but convert them AGAIN to MXF

Hey Shane, is this an actual honest to goodness decompression/recompression or is it a rewrap of the DNxHD QT into a DNxHD MXF? Last time I worked an Avid they were still counting on the old numbering system and DNxHD was still just a glint in the engineers eye so my knowledge is way out of date.
Cheers
Andy

It's a conversion from DNxHD to DNxHD. Basically a RECOMPRESSION. Like exporting via QT conversion to the same codec, or if you check RECOMPRESS in the QT movie export option.


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Thanks Shane, sucks, but thanks.
Andy

On the DNX Codec, what setting would I use?

I'm in a 720p24 timeline - should I use that as my resolution?

DNxHD 145 is good.


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