Transcoding T2i/550D Footage w/ Apple Photo JPEG - 45Mbps to 147 Mbps

[Flynn]

Hi all,

So for the past year I've been transcoding the raw files from my 550D into Apple Photo JPEG .mov using MPEG Streamclip. Most tutorials I've seen recommend Avid DNxHD but whenever I try to it, my output video stutters horribly or has no video feed. It just doesn't work for me.

I've been using Apple Photo JPEG for about a year now and I've had no problems with it apart from the increased file size.

I did a little tinkering and found the large file size was due to the high bit rate of the transcoded files. I've set the sliders to 100% to retain maximum quality, but for the sake of saving space I tried out 85%, which gave me an output file with around 43 Mbps bit rate, which is close to the 550D's raw file bit rate of about 45 Mbps. At a glance, I'm seeing no noticeable difference between the 85% and 100% quality transcodes.

So my questions are:

- Is it worth putting the slider all the way to 100%? I'm not an expert when it comes to the technicalities behind video files, but if the original bit rate of the raw file is only around 45 Mbps, does pumping it up to around 147 Mbps make sense?

- Are there any drawbacks I'm unaware of with using Apple Photo JPEG to transcode my footage?

Much thanks in advance Feel free to ask me anything for clarification.

[racer-x]

MotionJpeg is a low quality intermediate codec, if you must use it, you should only use 100 % quality.

I edit all my t2i .MOVs directly in Vegas pro 9 and never transcode. That would be the preferred method. But if you need to transcode, then I would look into using UTVideo suite or Cineform.

[Flynn]

MotionJpeg is a low quality intermediate codec, if you must use it, you should only use 100 % quality.

I edit all my t2i .MOVs directly in Vegas pro 9 and never transcode. That would be the preferred method. But if you need to transcode, then I would look into using UTVideo suite or Cineform.

Thanks for your reply. I transcode because that's what I've been taught to do since the first time I started working with T2i footage, but the main reason is because I also downscale my footage from 1080p to 720p to edit in After Effects. My hardware isn't top notch and I don't see the need for full HD so might as well use 720p.

I will look into those programs you mentioned. Can you recommend what kind of export settings I would be looking at to transcode my 1080p T2i footage to 720p that can be easily edited in After Effects?

[poisondeathray]

MotionJpeg is a low quality intermediate codec, if you must use it, you should only use 100 % quality.

I edit all my t2i .MOVs directly in Vegas pro 9 and never transcode. That would be the preferred method. But if you need to transcode, then I would look into using UTVideo suite or Cineform.

Thanks for your reply. I transcode because that's what I've been taught to do since the first time I started working with T2i footage, but the main reason is because I also downscale my footage from 1080p to 720p to edit in After Effects. My hardware isn't top notch and I don't see the need for full HD so might as well use 720p.

I will look into those programs you mentioned. Can you recommend what kind of export settings I would be looking at to transcode my 1080p T2i footage to 720p that can be easily edited in After Effects?

I hope you don't mean editing as in non linear edits. AE is not an editing program, you will find anything "easily edited" compared to a real editor. It's interface and controls are for layering , compositing, effects, not non linear editing . Although you can do editing in it, it doesn't mean you should. A real editor will easily be 10x faster in workflow. This also might be why you are seeing "stuttering" - everything is meant to be ram previewed in AE - it's not optimized for playback or editing

[Flynn]

I hope you don't mean editing as in non linear edits. AE is not an editing program, you will find anything "easily edited" compared to a real editor. It's interface and controls are for layering , compositing, effects, not non linear editing . Although you can do editing in it, it doesn't mean you should. A real editor will easily be 10x faster in workflow. This also might be why you are seeing "stuttering" - everything is meant to be ram previewed in AE - it's not optimized for playback or editing

Oh don't worry I know that. I should've clarified when I meant editing in AE I meant doing stuff like visual effects compositing/motion graphics. Those finished clips are then edited in Sony Vegas.

Basically I'm looking for a good way to transcode my footage to a more editing-friendly format, because to my understanding the native H.264 from the T2i/550D encodes fast, but decodes slow, so it's not optimal for editing/compositing.

Since racer-x tells me Photo JPEG is a low quality intermediate codec, I believe DNxHD is my best option. I actually just did some more tests and found that it's not stuttering any more. In fact, it never actually did. For some weird reason, it only stutters when I play it in VLC. Importing the DNxHD into Vegas or AE is fine - no stuttering.

I am wondering though why does it stutter when played back in VLC? I usually use VLC to quickly preview my footage to make sure I've got the right clip and it's not an outtake or something. The stuttering is rather annoying.

[poisondeathray]

Basically I'm looking for a good way to transcode my footage to a more editing-friendly format, because to my understanding the native H.264 from the T2i/550D encodes fast, but decodes slow, so it's not optimal for editing/compositing.

That's one reason, most types of h.264 aren't edit friendly because they're so compressed (you can get less compressed variants of h.264 like avc-intra, or intra frame encoding) . That's why editing intermediates like cineform, dnxhd, prores (on a mac) are often 5-10x larger - because they are less compressed so editing performance is faster (faster decode speed, lower latency)

The other reasons are to avoid the quicktime decoder (lower quality, noisier, gamma issues) , and do a better upsample the chroma than what AE would do with 4:2:0 material (better compositing result, less "blocky" colors)

Many people choose not to edit native DSLR footage for those reasons as well (even though they can)

I am wondering though why does it stutter when played back in VLC? I usually use VLC to quickly preview my footage to make sure I've got the right clip and it's not an outtake or something. The stuttering is rather annoying.

Not sure, sometimes a release of VLC is buggy. You might try a different version , it's updated rather frequently and sometimes they break things that are fixed in the next release

[Flynn]

Is it a good idea to use "Export to AVI" instead of "Export to Quicktime" when transcoding to DNxHD via MPEG Streamclip? I read somewhere MPEG Streamclip is not very good for producing .AVI files. I just did a test and the stuttering from VLC is gone with the .AVI format, still there with .MOV.

[poisondeathray]

Is it a good idea to use "Export to AVI" instead of "Export to Quicktime" when transcoding to DNxHD via MPEG Streamclip? I read somewhere MPEG Streamclip is not very good for producing .AVI files. I just did a test and the stuttering from VLC is gone with the .AVI format, still there with .MOV.

DNxHD is incompatible in AVI, so you must have chosen a different compression format. AVI is just a container like MOV - it can hold dozens of different types of compression formats

If you can't remember what you chose, you can use mediainfo (view=>text) on a video for more info
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/MediaInfo

[Flynn]

Alright so I've gone to using DNxHD in .MOV. Downloaded a nightly build of VLC and the stuttering is gone so it was definitely a problem with VLC.

Thanks for the help everyone, really appreciate it