With the release of Premiere Pro CS5 earlier this year, the topic of native editing, and more specifically, native DSLR editing has been a big one…worldwide. From literally every country I’ve visited, people are discovering the power of DSLR video and leveraging it to it’s fullest. But the questions I’m continually asked are, “Why does Final Cut Pro/Avid Media Composer force you to transcode? Why don’t you transcode in Premiere?”
This is generally followed by, “Surely, transcoding to an intermediate codec leads to better/more accurate color grading, higher bit depths, faster performance, etc…right?”
Well, the short is answer is: No. There are many misconceptions about transcoding, largely stemming from its long-standing traditional use. But as Dylan once sang, “The times, they are a-changin’…” and the same can be said for the way we work in our NLEs specifically, Premiere Pro CS5.
So, I decided to record a short (less than 9 minute) tutorial on ‘Staying Native or Going Intermediate’ to try and clarify some of these misconceptions, and educate users as to when, how, and why you might/might not stay native or move to an intermediate codec.
As mentioned in the video, this is not meant in any way to ’slam’ or ‘cut down’ on anyone’s personal choices for editing/workflow, nor am I stating that there’s no place for transcoding~there most definitely are great benefits in certain workflows. These are simple truths that I hope will provide some clarification.
What Adobe doesn’t seem to understand is that no serious editor will transfer from FCP/AVID cause at the editing part, not the capturing Premiere is horrible. The interface, the tools, trim mode, they’re all horrible.
And please, this doesn’t play back at real-time, he couldn’t even play it at 1/4 quality. And Screen Flow doesn’t mater. Premiere crashes all the time, it even crashed at one of Adobe presentation.
Instead of trashing FCP maybe try harder next time with CS6
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/10 at 03:42 PM
I’m a serious editor, and I transfered to Premiere from Avid. I also haven’t had any crashes with Premiere CS5 yet, and it DOES play back in realtime. I’ve had multiple streams of REDcode and 5D h264 playing seamlessly together with effects and without GPU acceleration.
I think it’s interesting that people, particularly FCP users, are starting to lump Avid and FCP together as the “pro” NLEs, when a few years ago many considered Premiere and Avid the old-fashioned clunkers to FCP’s innovative future. Ironically, Avid is actually the odd one out, since FCP and Premiere have always have roughly the same interface, scarily similar feature sets, and originally the same lead developer and source code.
Posted by Isaac on 08/10 at 08:58 PM
Hey - I would just like to put my voice in to say please write articles, don’t make video articles.
It’s just so much harder to find relevant information in a video - especially later, for reference purposes.
Hope my two cents finds an ear…
Posted by Charles Angus on 08/10 at 09:36 PM
Good video with valid examples germane to the discussion of editing work-flows. It is a foregone conclusion that the FCP faithful will get defensive on you. First rule of the “Cool Kids Club” - dare not speak critical of Apple.
I’ve used most all of the so called Pro and amateur NLE’s over the past 10 years - from iMovie to Windows Movie Maker to multiple flavors of Avid to FCP (every number) to Vegas, Edius, Pinnacle, Ulead and more -
- PPro - CS5 - is my hands down favorite to date. Is it perfect? No. Is anything? No.
From my perspective FCP is the Fischer Price of NLE’s - Apple’s approach to electronic gadgetry in general is the equivalent to the McDonald’s cash register - a big, colorful, picture of a Big Mac for those who are challenged by numbers and or thinking.
Posted by Jim Hines on 08/11 at 06:59 AM
I’ve used FCP for years but with the arrival of CS5 I’m finding myself opening Premiere more and more. I work with a lot of DSLR, P2 and AVCHD footage and Premiere just flat does a better job. And this is coming from a huge Mac/Apple fanboy!
Now if Singular software would come out with PluralEyes for Premiere on a Mac, it would really make my transition much easier.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/11 at 12:21 PM
First off, I use CS5 on a PC and I’m very happy with it. However, the video comparison is a bit unfair. What’s not shown is the indexing and audio conforming that happens when you import video clips into a Premiere project. When he switches to Premiere, the video clips are already imported into the media browser bin, so we never see the indexing and conforming. I know that it is still quicker than transcoding, but the clips are not instantly ready as the video would have you believe.
Posted by Ritchm on 08/12 at 04:35 PM
What I thought was missing from this demo was playback from the timeline. There was a big fat red line over some of the clips. In FCP that means render or no real-time-playback. Does it mean the same thing in PPro? Also, what about transitions such as a dissolve or dip-to-color between clips ... do they play in real time without rendering?
As soon as he switched to PPro he started talking real fast ... like a used car salesman. I think the idea was to make PPro sound fast but to me it made me question what he was glossing over.
I would really like to switch off of FCP and even off the Mac platform so I’m really interested in PPro. I’d love to read some independent reviews that answer the above questions. If anybody knows of some, please post links here.
Thanks,
Rob:-]
Posted by Rob on 08/16 at 12:19 AM
The red line has a different meaning in Premiere Pro - the best definition is that things POSSIBLY may need rendering. You will never see a “NOT RENDERED” screen come up in Premiere Pro. Red-barred areas of the timeline will often play back at full frame rate and full res, depending on the hardware of the system. If you are laying your timeline to tape, it’s recommended to render these sections by pressing the ENTER key on the keyboard, but for simple review, you typically don’t need to render.
What I typically do, as a Premiere Pro Editor, is leave the red-barred areas alone, unless I know for sure it’s not playing back at a reasonable frame rate. If it needs rendering, I’ll render it.
Also, keep in mind that on a desktop system, with a recommended Nvidia graphics card, almost all of what Jason is showing in the video will not turn red. The video card handles functions like scaling, size, opacity, blending modes, color effects, 3D effects, and even effects like “dip to white” or dissolves. Those are always real-time, and don’t require rendering.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/17 at 11:21 AM
I suppose it all comes to sheer possibility of realtime playback. How many people were transcoding from HDV and how many do it now? HDV is almost as editable now as DV. People shoot in XDCAM EX, rewrap into MXF and edit away. Some of them think that they edit in a nice intermediate codec and they are happy, while in fact they edit long-GOP MPEG-2 directly from the camera! Same when shooting in MOV container on the new JVC cams. Some might think that the camera records into ProRes or something, while it is the same MPEG-2, only in yet another container.
I think if editing native clips is a breeze, then people will not even ask about transcoding. Um, no, another reason for transcoding is pulldown removal. But—finally!—this becomes a thing of the past.
I did not watch the video. I agree with Charles: write articles, not shoot them.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/19 at 10:04 AM
I like the video but I’d like a transcript too. Some blogs do that. You can get transcrips done for $0.75 per minute here: http://castingwords.com/
So this video would cost you about $7.
The transcript makes the video content more reachable/searchable which should attract more first-time readers.
NOTE: This comment software is some of the most unprofessional of any I’ve used. Why does it have fields for my name, email, etc. and then refuse to submit the post unless I’m logged in.
Also of the 138 blogs I follow this site has the worst RSS feed of all. I’ve written emails many time to Scott but I guess having popup ads is more important than software that works well.
So video/no video is the least of your worries here.
Posted by Rob on 08/19 at 10:19 AM
