ProRes HQ actually not lossless: it creates video banding

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ProRes HQ actually not lossless: it creates video banding

Hi, I discovered today that Apple ProRes HQ, which is presented as "visually lossless" is actually not in my use case. It's a problem for me as I was a big user of ProRes HQ, because it was the most efficient codec on my iMac Pro. However, it looks like I cannot depend on it anymore.

Please see below for an example.

This is the original in XAVC QFHD, shot by a Sony FX9.

I compressed twice using two different encoding softwares: Adobe Media Encoder and Sony Catalyst Browse in Apple ProRes 422 HQ.

In both cases, the transcode introduces noticeable banding in the sky:

Is there a way I could solve this issue? I would love to be able to edit in ProRes again.

I'm running Catalina 10.15.7 on 2.3 GHz 18-Core Intel Xeon and using Media Encoder 2022.

Thanks for your help.

iMac Pro, macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 8, 2022 4:26 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Feb 23, 2022 5:40 PM in response to sylvain23

Ran your clip through Compressor v4.5.4 using the ProResHQ preset and did not see any banding in the resulting file. (Using a MacBook Pro 16" 8 core intel i9 w/64gb RAM running under OS X 10.15.7-Catalina)

Compressor is not very expensive and I find it does a better job than Adobe's Media Encoder - though ME is generally much faster. I use ME for quick edit stuff I'm throwing up on Vimeo or other places where it will be recompressed again anyway but Compressor for things where looks count.

Good luck,

x

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Answer 2

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Feb 16, 2022 5:32 PM in response to sylvain23

It could also be an issue with Adobe Media Encoder.

What happens if you use Apple Compressor to convert?

x

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Answer 3

sylvain23 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 16, 2022 7:20 PM in response to Studio X

Hi Studio X. Thanks for helping with this. Unfortunately, I don't own Apple Compressor, so I am unable to test that.

However, I tested again with a second software, Sony Catalyst Browse, and got some banding in the sky as well, which seems to indicate it isn't an encoding software issue. (See below)

But if you own Compressor, and would be interested to do a test encode, I am providing here a link to a test clip. I would be very curious to see the result.

https://f.io/OqV-IONT

Thanks!

XAVC:

Transcoded with Catalyst Browse:

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ProRes HQ actually not lossless: it creates video banding

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