ProRes Converter Software

[mcnallym]

Used to use Elgato for my TV Recorder however with that seeming to go nowhere and lack of external tuner support then moved to TVMosaic and now HDHomeRun.

Previous Workflow I used to use the Export feature in Elgato to export in ProRes and then import into FCP X.

Reading on the web then struggling to find unbiased reviews of software to do the ProRes conversion.

So basically looking to convert .ts and .mpg recording into ProRes format for importing into FCP X.

Can anyone recommend a good one.

Will be used on effectively an iMac 2019 27", ie i9900K, 32Gb RAM, RX580 8Gb GPU.

Thank you for your advice.

 

[ColdCase]

I've been using Bigasoft ProRes Converter for several years. Does a nice job, especially with OTA video. I like how you can tweak values to compensate for less than ideal OTA signals. Where video from other converters routinely fall out of audio sync, this seems to hold its own. Cost like $30, there is a free trial.

I routinely run my homerun generated video through prores before importing into FCP. Most of the time its overkill, but saves a ton of time for that one out of 50 challenging video clip. So I just run everything through it.

I also have some trail cameras that record in AVI formats that Apple no longer supports. ProRes converts these nicely.

I have an older Mac and OS I use for capturing video and conversion. Dunno how compatible ProPres is with Catalina.... but there is a free trail at least.

 

[mcnallym]

Thanks for the suggestion, Have contacted them as website mentions Nothing later then 10.11. Even handbrake only supports from 10.11 these days.

 

[Gwendolini]

Since a 2019 iMac will be fast enough to decode MPEG2 video (.ts and .mpg point to that), why go the way via ProRes, which will probably take five to ten times as much storage without better quality?
Have you tried using QuickTime Player and its Export feature? It makes a .mov file using H.264, smaller size, but still the same visual quality. And the iMac from 2019 will still be able to decode H.264 fast enough during editing.

 

[ColdCase]

Good point, but OTA video is not prestine. It will usually have hiccups/dropouts severe enough that stall or crash QT and other free software (or result in badly out of sync video). Bigasoft's software gives you the GUI to tailor the ffmpeg conversion parameters, if needed to minimize problems. If you are inclined to use command line, you could just use ffmpeg directly (the so called conversion software simply provides GUI to ffmpeg).

Although storage is cheap now days, I generally edit the cleaned up ProRes and then export using h.264. I throw away the ProRes source.

By the way, I think the problem with more recent MacOSs is they are dropping many of the ffmpeg libraries. But these can be re-installed, several how tos show up on a duckduckgo search. It also looks like uniconverter for Mac GUI can do the job on Catalina without the need to understand command line.

https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-all.html contains ffmpeg documentation if interested.