ME: *However, there are really good reasons--not necessarily associated with the actual editing--to convert widely disparate video formats into a single format.*
You:
Eric Bolt wrote:
Well this is probably stupid - but why?
Let's say I'm combining AVCHD, H.264 and HDV into a single program. Wouldn't I retain the maximum quality as captured by each camera by NOT converting to an intermediate format before I edit?
The output format is the only thing that matters in that case and everything will be transcoded to the sequence setting. That's what happens in Premiere, too; the movie that Premiere spits out does not switch between codecs. If you transcode the files before editing you have total control over each clip and its codec's features and abilities. If you let the timeline do the transcoding, you accept the defaults of a rendering operation, which is much different from transcoding, and, if you're applying effects, you're not only rendering, you're transcoding before the render can take place.
But I was addressing non-editing issues. The most important function of transcoding is archiving your footage for retrieval later. This is not the same as storing your original footage. The analogy is your family's photo albums. Regardless of the type of film (color or mono, 35mm or 4x6cm) or camera (Brownie, Hasselblad, or Canon), the important stuff all exists as prints and you can see them whenever you want to. (Any analogy has limits; you can't get too picky here by arguing about prints from slides or who has the negatives.)
In our digital asset management system, Cumulus really doesn't really care what format the files are in. But being able to play the files quickly is more important than maintaining the originals. Although most of the originals are stored elsewhere. tons of our historical footage is on 3/4" that can no longer be played because the oxide is falling off the base. I'm really glad most of it was copied to VHS, it's not as good as the original (odd to hear me say that these days) but that it exists at all is a blessing. Copying the VHS to DVD (or in many cases digitizing to DV) has been an interesting exercise but I wonder about the long term viability. VHS has been around for 30 years and still has legs.
Ooops, sorry, got off on a tangent.
bogiesan