Questions about which codec to use

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Level 1

8 points

Questions about which codec to use

At my new job, there is a server full of RAW video files that I will need to use in the future. These were all imported with an iMac through iMovie and are in .mov format with ICOD codec. I have found that PCs can't read ICOD codec, and there is no way around that. I just discovered Compressor on this iMac and was thinking that I could change the codec into something a PC can read.

What codec would be the best choice for me? This is all high definition video, and I would like to retain the quality of the originals. File size doesn't matter.

Compressor

Posted on Jan 15, 2013 10:00 AM

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Answer 1

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Jan 15, 2013 10:56 AM in response to MikeyBeee

I believe that ICOD is just another descriptor for Apple Intermediate Codec. That's obviously proprietary to APple and is sort of obsolete – used in FCE, for HD material. (I didn't realize it was still used by iMovie.)

Pro Res is a better codec for editing and is virtually lossless. If the PC folks have (or download) the Pro Res QT

Decoder they could play it. But PR files are very, very large.

If you edit these files into something finished in whatever NLE you want to work in, you could always export as AIC and convert in Compressor. I imagine the PC would be perfectly happy playing an h.264 MP4. It should look good and the file sizes will be much more reasonable.

Try a short test to verify.

Good luck.

Russ

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Answer 2

MikeyBeee Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 15, 2013 1:48 PM in response to Russ H

I'm sure it's an older iMac, and that's maybe why it is still exporting in ICOD. I have successfully converted one of the files to Apple's ProRes422 codec, but I still can't view it on the PC. It is playing audio, but no video, same as the ICOD files.

I tried downloading the ProRes QT decoder, but it stops me in the middle of installation and says that I already have a newer version of it installed.

EDIT: Ok, I'm an idiot. The ProRes codec does work on my PC. For some reason, the .mov was defaulted to be opened with Windows Media Player. It does play video/audio in Quicktime, BUT the video is very, very jumpy. Seems like it is dropping a lot of frames.

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Answer 3

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Jan 15, 2013 2:07 PM in response to MikeyBeee

It may be that the machine can't handle the high data rate of PR.

Take your AIC file into Compressor and in the Preview window, mark a short representative section with in and out points. Encode that as either an h.264 QuickTime or an h.264 MP4. Don't change the frame rate or resolution and let Compressor set the bit rate automatically.

Should play well.

Russ

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Answer 4

MikeyBeee Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 15, 2013 2:22 PM in response to Russ H

I can't imagine that my PC couldn't handle it. It's a Dell XPS Studio laptop, 6gb ram with a 1gb video card. It's only a 3-second video that I'm working with.

I have exported it to H264 QT and H264 MP4 as well. They are definitely a lot better on the file sizes, but it looks like there is a little loss of quality. To clarify, I am trying to get these videos from a Mac to my PC so I can edit the videos on Premiere Pro CS6. (My laptop is temporary until my work PC comes in)

Is H264 good for editing, or has it been compressed too much already?

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Answer 5

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Jan 15, 2013 2:53 PM in response to MikeyBeee

MikeyBeee wrote:

To clarify, I am trying to get these videos from a Mac to my PC so I can edit the videos on Premiere Pro CS6. (My laptop is temporary until my work PC comes in)

Is H264 good for editing, or has it been compressed too much already?

Oh. I thought you wanted playback.

No. H.264 is not ideal. Yes, it's compressed, but I'm surprised you see the quality hit.

I just checked the Premier Pro forum over at Creative COW and the Adobe rep says Pro Res can be edited on a PC. So if you can cope with the playback problems, you shold be able to get it done.

Russ

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Answer 6

MikeyBeee Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 15, 2013 2:55 PM in response to Russ H

So, even though I'm dropping frames in playback with ProRes, once I finish and export the finished video, it should look fine?

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