Standards Conversion: Nattress vs Compressor

[Seany Day]

Hey Guys,

I'm new to the field but I was sort of baptized by fire at work and now I need to be able to convert video files NTSC <--> PAL.

I am in the TV business so we deal with all sorts of codecs and we need minimal quality loss to keep the broadcasters off our ass.

I read that Nattress' plug in for Final Cut Pro 7 was the best available, but the people we used to outsource to vouched for Final Cut X with Compressor.


Which do you think is better and why? We will have a new dedicated iMac computer to run these conversions, so quality and speed are the two most important features.

[Cornucopia]

Having experienced Compressor, and looking at the demo for Nattress, I would say I'm underwhelmed by both, afa standards conversion. Give me AVISynth over those any day (both quality and speed).

Scott

[Seany Day]

Really? It seems to be script based.

Is there a steep learning curve on this one? Or perhaps a wiki or pdf guide?

The short end of it is that I will need to take files (generally .mov Apple ProRes files) of HD & SD episodes, and run them through the program for a basic standards conversion. This does that?

[DB83]

So one topic is not enough for you ?

And since you are using a mac you really should be asking these questions on the dedicated mac forum.

[smrpix]

So one topic is not enough for you ?

I think after saying, "broadcast," "the best," and "money is no object." in his last thread -- and getting a good answer that met those criteria, he's had it walk it back.

Seany, Avisynth isn't too hard to learn, but you're going to need parallels to run it on a mac.

[lordsmurf]

Compressor is fine for progressive sources, but crap for interlaced.
Indeed, Avisynth is better.

[Seany Day]

Thanks guys! I appreciate all the input, and it sounds like I'll be going with Avisynth.

I'm off to the land of wiki's and script memorization. Joy.

[Cornucopia]

Remember, AVISynth is a Windows app, so you will need a separate PC box, or your Mac running Parallels, etc for it to work.

Scott