{"id":336,"date":"2016-03-12T04:23:22","date_gmt":"2016-03-12T04:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.editspecialists.com\/blog\/?p=336"},"modified":"2016-05-19T03:13:03","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T03:13:03","slug":"codec-wrapper-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editspecialists.com\/blog\/index.php\/codec-wrapper-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"Performance Grid: Codecs, Platforms, Wrappers, Quicktime, MXF"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_pdf\"<\/a>\"image_print\"<\/a><\/div>

I had an aha-moment recently after switching from\u00a0a QuickTime based project on Premiere, to C300>native MXF. The system was all of a sudden snappy, no stalls, a lot more realtime performance and super fast renders and exports.
\nMy system must have\u00a0been struggling with something…
\nA codec that works with low CPU load on a Mac might have a high CPU load on PC.\u202c On Mac QuickTime uses the 64-bit AV Foundations framework but on PC Premiere still uses the deprecated 32-bit QTkit framework.<\/a> Adobe\u00a0finally wrote an unofficial white paper March 2016<\/a> about performance.\u00a0ProRes is not supported for export on Windows<\/a>.
\nI try to remove QuickTime as much as possible from my PC\/Windows workflows. But\u00a0don’t take my word for it, do\u00a0your own\u00a0performance tests!
\n<\/a>I think\u00a0MXF combined with PC friendly codec is the\u00a0authoring format of\u00a0the future.<\/a>
\nPlease chime in\u00a0using the Google form\u00a0below.<\/a>
\n\"mi-smile\"
\n<\/a>Mike<\/a><\/p>\n

My\u00a0thoughts:<\/strong>
\nBelow\u00a0is my (imperfect, incomplete) performance grid that shows what\u00a0platform and software I try to use\u00a0with each codec.\u00a0I usually work on a standalone system.\u00a0On any kind of collaborative project I recommend transcoding to native Avid media and using their\u00a0ISIS storage.<\/a>\u00a0There is still no match for Avid’s\u00a0media management especially when collaborating in realtime on a deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
QuickTime MOV most codecs<\/td>\nProRes<\/p>\n

Arri Alexa<\/td>\n

RED<\/td>\nDSLR AVCHD H264 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 H265 in MP4 container. Like GH4<\/td>\nCollaborate with Native Avid Media DNxHD DNxHR<\/td>\nNative Sony XDCAM-EX\u00a0XDCAM-HD XDCAM-HD422<\/td>\nBlackmagic<\/td>\nCanon Native C500 C300 C100 5DM2 5DM3 7D<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"ICO_apple\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_premiere\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_resolve\"\"ICO_fcpx\"<\/td>\n\"ICO_apple\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_premiere\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_resolve\"\"ICO_fcpx\"<\/td>\n\"ICO_apple\"<\/a>\"ICO_win\"<\/a>\"ICO_fcpx\"\u00a0\"ICO_resolve\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_premiere\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"ICO_win\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_resolve\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_premiere\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"ICO_win\"<\/a>\"ICO_avid\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"ICO_win\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_resolve\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_premiere\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"ICO_apple\"<\/a>\"ICO_fcpx\"\u00a0\"ICO_resolve\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_premiere\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"ICO_apple\"<\/a>\"ICO_win\"<\/a>\"ICO_fcpx\"\u00a0\"ICO_resolve\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ICO_premiere\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Most cameras record in non-Quicktime formats like MP4 or MXF, some are more PC friendly, others work better on Mac. The Alexa can record in\u00a0two compression types\/file formats: either you can record as a ProRes compressed Quicktime *.mov or as an MXF-wrapped DNxHD compressed file. Hopefully, the next generation of external recorders will follow suit.\u00a0One MXF recorder already exists: A laptop with BM-mini\u00a0Recorder<\/a>\u00a0running Avid Or Premiere!<\/p>\n

Apple research:<\/strong>
\n-I love ProRes on Mac, I think it’s a great looking, very easy too use codec.
\nIt works in 64 bit.<\/a> If a production uses ProRes, I fight for editing on Mac.
\n-Most people seem to agree that Macs are build for Apple’s own software,<\/a> not the competition’s.
\n\u2013QuickTime is deprecated? What does that mean in practice?
\n<\/a>\u2013What is Apple doing with QuickTime?<\/a>
\n-The big loser on the Mac platform is Premiere. Adobe has made strides in improving the performance of their applications, but it still doesn’t compare to what Apple has achieved with FCPX.
\n–There is an incompatibility between Premiere and\u00a0Open-GL and\u00a0AMD.<\/a>
\n-The winner is FCPX.\u00a0Software and hardware\u00a0are\u00a0tuned to each other for maximum performance. It takes advantage of modern hardware, as it’s 64-bit (uses all your RAM), OpenCL GPU-accelerated<\/a> (uses your graphics card for playback, render and export), and supports Grand Central Dispatch (uses all of your CPUs and cores).<\/p>\n

PC\/Windows research:<\/strong>
\nWhen I work with QuickTime and most codecs on PC, I’m constantly experiencing mini crashes (white screen lockup) and slow\u00a0export times. I’m forced to restart\u00a0every hour because pagefile.sys<\/a> and QT32 processes running in the background bog the system down. I think the white screen lockup is the pagefile.sys<\/a>\u00a0being written or read by Windows from the slow internal HD! (takes about\u00a030sec)
\nThere is no 64-bit version of QuickTime, primarily because Apple has ceased development of QuickTime<\/a> on Windows (except for security and minor updates). QuickTime has been 7.x for 10 years now, and 8.0 does not seem to be anywhere in the distance. Avid,\u00a0Adobe and Resolve work great with non-Quicktime media or Avid’s own media (MXF).
\nThe QT-32\u00a0process on PC runs\u00a0in a 4 GB memory space, even when lots of memory is installed. To keep up with playback, the system has to\u00a0keep\u00a0swapping\u00a0banks of memory (pagefile.sys<\/a>) to\u00a0the hard-drive instead of using all installed memory causing severe performance degradation.\u00a0The other drawback is the very limited threading capability, causing a far from efficient use of all the logical cores in the system.
\nMXF is a much better container format<\/a>, as it is just a container, unlike QuickTime, which is a full multimedia framework<\/a>.
\nMXF requires no installation (and hence never needs updating); doesn’t launch a process when used, so 32- and 64-bit matter not;\u00a0and it has no bugs or odd quirks – it just holds the video, audio and metadata.
\n-I avoid Quicktime on PC. Any codec! > I use native camera media,\u00a0MXF,\u00a0MP4 or native Avid Media Files\u00a0(which are MXF).
\n-I don’t use ProRes on PC, with any of the NLEs, even though\u00a0they say it works. It is just too\u00a0much trouble, glitchy and slow.
\n-ProRes inside MXF on Avid is a joke. Their glossy brochures talk about compatibility, but I can’t make it work. I only use AMA to transcode to Avid media, not for editing.
\n-In Premiere> QuickTime for Windows cannot export H.264<\/a> on computers that have more than 16 CPU cores due to a problem in the Apple H.264 compressor component.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Multi-Cam:
\n<\/strong>-If possible I do Multi-Cam on Avid with transcoded DNxHD36\u00a0media if\u00a0more than 4 angles for the offline. For online relink to native media.
\n-Next\u00a0best is Premiere with the same DNxHD36 media if more than 4 angles and native media with <4 angles.<\/p>\n

Delivery:<\/strong>
\nYou can edit without QuickTime but deliver in Quicktime.\u00a0When a client asks for QuickTime & certain codec, I give them what they want. This means keeping a Mac around somehow for ProRes delivery.
\n<\/a>Saving MXF clips to MXF container<\/a>\u00a0in Premiere
\nAVID – Fast Import Apple ProRes .mov to AVID Pro Res .mxf Workflow
\n<\/a>Arri Alexa bypassing Quicktime using\u00a0MXF instead<\/a><\/p>\n

Interoperability\u00a0with DAM systems:
\n<\/strong>Dalet supports import\/ingest\/export in MXF
\n<\/a>-you have to test and update your workflow company wide to make use of this.
\n–Delivery of MXF<\/a> with Closed captioning<\/p>\n

Uninstall QuickTime<\/strong> to avoid all kinds of conflicts with your NLE.
\nIt forces your NLE to use their workarounds for\u00a0play back Quicktime codecs.
\nDon’t worry, you can always put it back, the NLE usually has it’s own process to playback QuickTime sources. Premiere works fine on Windows without QuickTime installed.
\nIt is a great trouble shooting step to try to improve the realtime capabilities of your system.<\/p>\n

Uninstall QuickTime on Mac:<\/strong>
\n\"mac-qt-library\"<\/a>
\n1.\u00a0Internal HD>Library>Quicktime
\n2. Remove all or just the components you are trouble shooting, out of this folder.
\n3. restart apps using QuickTime.<\/p>\n

Uninstall Quicktime on PC\/Windows:<\/strong>
\n1.\u00a0Control Panel>Add\/Remove Software
\n2. Restart Computer.
\n3.\u00a0click here<\/a> to download latest version from Apple.<\/p>\n

Resources:
\n<\/strong>–Security\u00a0Alert uninstall Quicktime
\n<\/a>-Avid’s take on Quicktime<\/a>
\n<\/strong>–Do your own\u00a0performance tests.
\n<\/a>–How do I speed up rendering, exporting, or encoding?
\n<\/a>–PREMIERE PRO AND MULTIPLE GPUS
\n<\/a>-Adobe’s\u00a0smart rendering\u00a0w<\/a>orkflow
\n–Good article about how video codecs work
\n\u2013<\/a>QuickTime is deprecated? What does that mean in practice?
\n<\/a>\u2013<\/a>What is Apple doing with QuickTime?
\n<\/a>-Adobe says it buried on a support page: ProRes is not supported on Windows!<\/a>
\n<\/a>–A Guide to Common Video Formats: Containers, Compression, and Codecs
\n<\/a>–Build a balanced system
\n<\/a>–GPU vs CPU how is the work shared?<\/a>
\n–Free Resolve-12:<\/a>\u00a0Great basic editor, fantastic color corrector\u00a0>\u00a0the standard for most TV & Film. Also has one\u00a0feature no other NLE’S have: Export files from timeline as individual files!
\n–Free Red CINE-X:<\/a>\u00a0Transcodes any Red file into an editable format: even\u00a0Quicktime ProRes on Mac and PC!
\n