Super 8mm to .AVI or .MOV

[Freis968]

I just dropped off some reels today to have them converted to either format. Since the job won't be done for two weeks I need to get back to the person doing it as to what format the files should be saved as for editing in FCPX. He told me that .AVI is the way to go.

What do you all think?

 

[cgbier]

What do you all think?

I need a beer.

As you are editing on a Mac with Mac software, I'd suggest that you have your stuff converted to a Mac container - mov

While AVI generally works, I had already the one or the other surprise...

 

[Freis968]

Thank you for the reply.

 

[lighthouse_man]

Exactly get a quicktime. But that's just the container, if the guy making you the video has got the equipment, then you should have the best codec you can get. Try a ProRes instead of standard DV. Super 8 is still film and the depth of information can be handled better in a superior codec.

 

[Freis968]

Try a ProRes instead of standard DV.

Can you give me the exact question I should ask him?

 

[sperdynamite]

Who is doing your transfer? It's easiest to go into a prores mov file. If you're going to work in final cut it's going to end up being prores anyways right? So I'd just stick with that. When I work with Pro8mm they give me Prores, when I work with Frame Discreet they give me Cineform which I transfer to a 2K prores HQ file.

 

[senseless]

I had mine recorded on DV tape, so I could easily xfer them to Final Cut Express. It was about $100 per hour.

Home movies should be archived on the web, categorized by location and year. There's a wealth of history in those old reels.

 

[cgbier]

Can you give me the exact question I should ask him?

Can you give me a 4:2:2 ProRes file?
Can you give me a 4:4:4:4 ProRes file?

(The latter will most likely be overkill)

 

[ppc_michael]

You should get a Quicktime MOV. The codec depends really if you're going to be color grading it or not.

If you are...

For HD it's usually ProRes 422 HQ that's best
For SD I would probably ask for uncompressed 10-bit

Keep in mind that most labs charge more for HD than SD. And I've never really been able to tolerate super 8mm above 720p, although of course it depends on the ASA of the film and whatnot.

 

[vidkiddnvr]

The biggest difference in quality comes from how the film is transferred.
The cheapest route is a film chain. the film is run through a projector aimed at a screen or camera. This is very low quality. outputting to ProRez will not help it. Do a search for scan super 8mm film. Find a company that uses a film scanner to transfer. If scanning = 100% quality, Projector = 20%. it is that big a difference. Request output on a hard drive if you want prorez. If it gets compressed. you have less opportunity to color grade.

Dan

 

[mrbash]

Cineform is more compatable

I would recommend Cineform rather than ProRes. I have had better luck with Cineform on Windows than ProRes. On the Mac Cineform and ProRes are about the same in ease of use.

 

[aarond12]

What we're all assuming is that this film transfer facility is Mac-based, or at least Mac-friendly.

If they must give you the files in AVI, you will need to convert them (a lossy process) to another file format. While there are several ways to do this, it's time- and disk space-consuming.

If they can convert your old movies to a digital camcorder format (e.g., Mini DV, AVCHD, etc.), then you can import the files/media directly into FCPX.

When my wedding was videotaped, they did such a horrible job of editing the footage, I asked for the raw footage on DVD-ROMs. (It was so bad that my wife burst into tears upon seeing it -- not tears of joy, either.) Then I imported those files into Final Cut Express and make a good wedding video. You should be able to do the same thing with digital camcorder footage from the film transfer house.

 

[LethalWolfe]

For HD it's usually ProRes 422 HQ that's best
For SD I would probably ask for uncompressed 10-bit

Why not ProRes for SD as well?


Lethal

 

[cgbier]

If they can convert your old movies to a digital camcorder format (e.g., Mini DV, AVCHD, etc.), then you can import the files/media directly into FCPX.

Those are highly compressed transport formats, never really meant for editing. ProRes gives you a decent quality with (somewhat) compact file sizes.

 

[ppc_michael]

Why not ProRes for SD as well?


Lethal

Oh, sure! I didn't know how efficient ProRes is with SD compression.

 

[cgbier]

Oh, sure! I didn't know how efficient ProRes is with SD compression.

Beautifully so! I have yet to see any difference (footage from Canon XL1s)