DVCPRO HD Compression to H264

Hi All,

Excuse me for this newbie question but i have been tasked with a project at work that involves video capture using the DVCPRO HD1080i50 codec (115Mbs). I have lots of 3 hour footage (180Gb) that i need to keep but would like to compress it down to a more manageable size without losing quality (holy grail i know).

I have tried using the Elgato H264HD turbo stick and had some reasonable results but was hoping there was another better quality solution.

My Camera is a Panasonic AW-HE50s and i use a AJA KONA 3G card in a Mac Book Pro with Final Cut 6.06 to capture. No actual editing is required only HD playback on Mac Book Pro's and then out to a 103" Panasonic Plasma screen via DVI to HDMI connection.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

> would like to compress it down to a more manageable size without losing quality

Impossible. Any time you're "compressing", you're losing quality. Especially if you're looking to reduce file sizes substantially.

You're already on a pretty compressed, relatively light codec, DVCPro HD. ProRes will not save you much space. ProRes LT might save you more space. H.264 is a wildly variable choice -- you have to experiment with bit rate, multipass options and frame size to see if you can get usable results. Too high a bit rate on H.264 and you could have playback problems, which are even worse than degraded video sharpness and colour.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks for the reply,

Is there a maximum bit rate when using H264?.

Would you advise on using a different codec to capture the footage with?

To give you an idea of what i am filming, I am capturing a sporting event from the camera with lots of fast movement from a distance that takes in the whole football pitch.
Many Thanks

I would have to add that converting your footage to H.264 will cripple your editing system. I would seriously recommend buying more external drives, just don't buy LaCie. it's way cheaper and easier to keep your all your footage on an external hard drive than to try to convert it to a really bad H.264 version.

> I would have to add that converting your footage to H.264 will cripple your editing system.

He's not editing.

>> "No actual editing is required only HD playback on MacBook Pros"


www.derekmok.com

derekmok Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > I would have to add that converting your footage
> to H.264 will cripple your editing system.
>
> He's not editing.
>
> >> "No actual editing is required only HD playback
> on MacBook Pros"

Thanks! I missed that detail. Are you trying to archive the footage? Long term storage? What do you want to do with it when you are done. I agree DVC PRO HD is 100 megabit. It's not a good idea to cross convert footage if you don't have to.

Sorry it's been a while to reply, i am looking at long term storage, but i have to keep in mind that the footage can be reviewed at anytime on large HD screens and so needs to still look the business.
The footage will mainly be played back through a mac onto a large Plasma or LCD screen.

Thanks again for your replies