where i work, i provide shots in quicktime using the prores422 codec. as an intermediate from blender, however, i usually export a quicktime using the animation codec. its lossless and is the only codec i know of that can preserve the alpha channel for work in after effects, etc. now i’m doing 1080p stuff for north american broadcast, so it might be pretty different for you.
what i’ve learned is to simply ask the person you’re delivering to what they need. failing that, if you’re just doing standard definition PAL, maybe do your final export using the dvcpro pal codec. at very least most places should be able to at least open a dv format even if they need to convert it to something else.
Quicktime seams to be the best format to me, if they can open, cool!
I’ll remember about DVCPRO Pal Codec, that seems to be the standard
option, on programs, such as: DV PAL Standard ?
Whats the diference between giving them .AVI vs .MOV format ?
Macs use QT, PCs use AVI. I use image sequences instead. Best way is asking conforming editor what they prefer and check if they want HD too. It has bigger res so longer render times but the footage will have a beter life (longevity).
A Targa sequence of frames allows you an alpha channel and the abiltiy to render to a folder and terminate the process without ruining the whole job. This can happen if you are making a single QT or AVI file. If youreally need to make a single file you can make thisin the sequencer as it will compile seq of stills for you, then resave it in format of choice.
If the station(s) you’re delivering to use(s) Final Cut Pro (~80% chance of that) a QuickTime file would be just fine. QT can hold uncompressed stills or stills with lossless compression – so you could deliver TIFFs and your audio tracks all wrapped up in a QuickTime bundle which would import directly into Final CUt. That method gives you the highest quality – and huge file sizes. (A typical music video should fit on a data DVD.)
The prores422(HQ) codec is a very high quality “lossy” codec – use that and you’ll get some very tiny reductions in picture quality and a much smaller file size. It’ll still easily be broadcast quality.
Most stations should be happy with either of these. But really, just ask: “I can deliver a DVD with (blah, blah, blah) – is that what you want?” They won’t get mad.
Most tv stations broadcast digital files (mpeg 2) through an automated playlist.
Here in New Zealand we have to deliver broadcast-ready files to an digital distribution company. They clean up files and make them broadcast-safe (right colours, legal whites, title safe checking, audio levels etc)
And as for AVI vs Quicktime…
Quicktime is the industry-standard because of the vast formats/codecs it supports and great alpha support too. Quicktime is completely cross-platform and not proprietary to Macs (even tho it is originally an Apple technology).
My background is music production, audio mixing, mastering, etc.
I wish I could learn to use the vectorscope/wave form, etc to deliver my stuff “mastered” the best
possible.
What I’ve been doing is, burn my work on dvd, and test in diferent televisions, but I supose there’s better ways, to use other videos as references and “equalize” our video to the nearest values possible to the reference.
I wouldn’t deliver in any DV codec, it’s still pretty compressed, and its really designed for live action footage rather than animation. Due to the chroma subsampling (colours are compressed more heavily than brightness information) large areas of colour can look nasty. Disk space prevailing, I’d use Animation codec at 100% quality or a PNG/TGA sequence. Animation codec at 100% is similar to PNG, it’s compressed, but lossless. It also supports alpha information too.
Well, Animation codec is a quicktime codec, so yeah it goes in a .mov container. Generally when we deliver stuff, it’s to an intermediate agency so we generally don’t do any broadcast safety colour clamping etc. Perhaps you can just check with the client whether they need it broadcast ready or if they have people on-site that are going to fix/re-encode it for you anyway.
cough cough, try creating & editing v210 on linux. ffmpeg won’t touch it and blender won’t compile with libquicktime which does support v210. Do Apple provide Quicktime encoder for linux? Totally cross platform?
ffmpeg won’t touch it and blender won’t compile with libquicktime which does support v210. Do Apple provide Quicktime encoder for linux? Totally cross platform?