Best video codec for 11?

[Kasper]

My video playback does not look good in 11.
It plays fine, but it looks bad, washed out, lacking contrast.

I usually recompress everything I get to Prores, but that's looking bad in 11.

What's the best codec for the new video engine in 11?

Thanks,
kasper

[Chief Technician]

Which video interface are you using?

I have used Avid DNxHD with my MacBook Pro's built-in display without a problem. ProRes should work fine. How does your ProRes footage look when played on the same display from a different application?

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by Chief Technician

Which video interface are you using?

I have used Avid DNxHD with my MacBook Pro's built-in display without a problem. ProRes should work fine. How does your ProRes footage look when played on the same display from a different application?

Built-in as well.

Same session in 10 looks fine, in 11 video is bad regardless of quality settings.

Looks fine in any other app.

I'll try DNxHD.


Thanks,
kasper

BTW: why did this get moved to post, this is specific to PT 11, will get more traffic there.

[Kasper]

I tried various setting in DNXHD.

Without even bringing it into PT, it looks like crap.
Compression artifacts are terrible. It's very pixilated/blotchy.
Has much higher file size. (over 2x the size of ProRes) Is limited to only 1080 or 720 output size.

What's the advantage here?
Surely I'm doing something wrong.


kasper

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by Kasper

Surely I'm doing something wrong.

The only way to figure out what that something is would be for you to post explicit instructions on how this file is being created, converted, and imported. Can you post the file (or a sample) to Dropbox or some other service where we can hopefully see what you see?

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by Chief Technician

The only way to figure out what that something is would be for you to post explicit instructions on how this file is being created, converted, and imported. Can you post the file (or a sample) to Dropbox or some other service where we can hopefully see what you see?

I can't post something before it's been released to the public.

Perhaps I can find time to export another clip.... but it's pretty straight forward -
The same video in PT 10 looks fine. In 11, crappy.

I export from QT player.
I've tried 3 dif settings of DNXHD, they all look bad.

What other codecs are optimized/accelerated by the new engine in PT 11?

Thanks for you help,
kasper

[Chief Technician]

Blackmagic Design Video Cards

I would hope that list is for any video playback and not just playback via a Blackmagic Design video card. I would also hope this list to apply to v11. I know the document only mentions v10.

I can speak from experience that H.264 should be in the "at your own risk" category. Yes, you can import it. Yes, it will playback. No, your system will not be stable if you work with H.264.

[Kasper]

Thanks but I'm looking for what specifically is optimized for the new video engine in 11. Hopefully something is.

It's very different from 10 and so far, not good.

Anyone know ???

Thanks,
kasper

(I always avoid inter frame codecs)

[Chief Technician]

It would be embarrassing to Avid if DNxHD was not optimized for v11, so hopefully it is optimized.

[tom_lowe]

Originally Posted by Kasper

I can't post something before it's been released to the public.

Perhaps I can find time to export another clip.... but it's pretty straight forward -
The same video in PT 10 looks fine. In 11, crappy.

I export from QT player.
I've tried 3 dif settings of DNXHD, they all look bad.

What other codecs are optimized/accelerated by the new engine in PT 11?

Thanks for you help,
kasper

Nothing will be accelerated without additional hardware and I think only some in the Nitris range have acceleration but I think that's for AVC100 only.
The Avid Media Engine will work better with DNxHD than ProRes as they were designed to work together.

The datarate of DNxHD220 is the same as ProRes 422HQ, but it's not variable, so is always 220Mbps for NTSC or 185Mbps for PAL. ProRes may be smaller as it can go to lower rates, but there's not much in it. Also having it wrapped as an MXF may be advantageous as then QuickTime won't come in to it at all.
They both use very similar compression methods.