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Will Compressor 4 accept Avid DNxHD files?

Will Compressor 4 accept Avid DNxHD files in a QuickTime wrapper?

Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on May 8, 2013 7:16 AM

23 replies

May 13, 2013 7:10 AM in response to darbypsnm

Thank you for the suggestion about Streamclip.

What I'm trying to do is go from Avid Media Composer to Blu-Ray. I have Toast 11 Pro but it's unreliable and bug-ridden. Compressor is better, but I don't want to export from Avid DNxHD 145 to H.264 and then have Compressor go from H.264 to H.264. Since the camera shoots in H.264, it seems crazy to transcode to DNxHD 145 for editing, then transcode back to H.264 for export, then "transcode" again to H.264. I'm trying to eliminate a transcoding step by going from DNxHD right to Compressor 4. Since Compressor appears not to accept DNxHD, I suppose the remaining Mac-based alternative is to buy Adobe Production Suite and use its Media Encoder plus Encore.

Alfred

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

May 13, 2013 8:25 AM in response to Alfred Guzzetti

Alfred Guzzetti wrote:

Thank you for the suggestion about Streamclip.

I suppose the remaining Mac-based alternative is to buy Adobe Production Suite and use its Media Encoder plus Encore.

Before you buy…

If you only need this capability occasionally, check out the month-to-month option for the Creative Cloud version of Production Premium. I think the cost is $30 for a single month.

Russ

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

May 13, 2013 8:45 AM in response to Alfred Guzzetti

An interesting development: out of curiosity I just submitted a short DNxHD selection to C4 with Blu Ray settings… and it completed successfully. Then I tried the same file to Pro Res 422 (one of the settings I'd previously tested unsuccessfully)…and it completed as well.

The only thing I can think of that is different between today's test and earlier tests is that I had trashed my preferences yesterday for unrelated reasons.

So as a proof of concept, it seems both C4 (and C3.5) should be able to accomplish what you want. Trash preferences usingthis app to see whether you have better luck.

Russ

darbypsnm

Level 3

730 points

May 13, 2013 9:39 AM in response to Alfred Guzzetti

Export natively from Avid (whatever the codec of your sequence is). Convert the Avid file to PR 422 with QT or Streamclip and then convert and/or burn to Blu-Ray in Compressor. It is an xtra step but PR422 is a way better interim codec than H264 for what you are doing.

Compressor and Toast are going to give you very limited authoring options similar to a DVD burner. In Compressor you can add a background and title buttons but that is about it.

I have used Media Encoder and like it a lot but I have heard mixed reviews on Encore. For basic BR play only authoring it is fine but for projects with mutiple menus, tracks, etc. it can be buggy.

May 14, 2013 8:28 AM in response to Russ H

I tried trashing preferences but unfortunately this didn't work. I'm going to try one more thing. I've just discovered that there is a later version of the Avid QT downloads, 2.3.8. I originally found only 2.3.7. I'll see if this does the trick and report back.

Alfred

May 16, 2013 7:35 AM in response to Alfred Guzzetti

Thanks to everyone's suggestions, this is what I worked out: export a QT DNxHD 145 file from Avid Media Composer 6.5, use Streamclip to convert it to ProRes422(HQ), bring the ProRes file into Compressor 4.0.7 and have Compressor prepare a Blu-Ray stream (average bit rate 15, maximum 25), save this as a disk image, then use Disk Utility to burn the BD. Yes, this is the mother of all workarounds, but it does work and the results are good. I failed in all my attempts to get Compressor to see the DNxHD 145 QT file.

Jul 27, 2013 11:37 PM in response to Alfred Guzzetti

I know it's been a while but I wanted to chime in here. Instead of doing the DNX Export and conversion to ProRes, there is a much simpler way because the Avid I'm assuming you have already working in DNX format for editing...

Export a Quicktime Reference movie instead of the DNX. This is just a Quicktime wrapper that points to the Avid Media. If the sequence is extremely complicated you can do a mixdown of an export sequence in the Avid and then Export that sequence as a reference movie...

In Compressor 4, start a Bluray Encode using the Template and then dragging the Quicktime Reference movie. This at least cuts out the extra round of encoding to ProRes.

Jul 28, 2013 6:48 AM in response to Ron Rauch

Thanks so much for your suggestion. From the beginning I've been exporting Avid DNxHD 145 as a QT movie. The problem is that Compressor 4 doesn't recognize the codec even though it is installed on my computer. Oddly, QT Player recognizes it and will play the exported file. Exporting as a QT movie, then using Clipstream to convert it to ProRes 422 and bringing this into Compressor worked and produced a good-quality Blu-Ray, but I've given up on this complex workflow. I bought Encore and bring the exported DNxHD 145 QT into it. Encore recognizes it and does a good job of encoding it and burning Blu-Rays.

Will Compressor 4 accept Avid DNxHD files?