5DtoRGB for GH2 - advantages vs disadvantages?

Bueller

@itimjim Will do, thanks

shian

@johnnym no it cuts off halfway. The 2nd file hangs up, and has to be cancelled, thereby deleting the the .mov. (i'm still using the free beta, is this fixed in the paid version?)

Rarevision

There have been several bug fixes since 1.5.3b (that's the free version). I've been waiting to update 5DtoRGB Lite until all of the bugs have been worked out with 5DtoRGB Batch. 5DtoRGB for Windows is pretty recent, however. You might try that on Windows if you have a chance. That's probably closer to 5DtoRGB Batch in terms of bug fixes.

shian

Thanks man, cuz I love the no gamma setting on 444....so much smoother than raw mts and baked 422 prores from FCP.

Rarevision

I've spent a lot of time getting the color rendering as close as possible to the Adobe CS5.5 suite. You can pretty much cut footage transcoded with 5DtoRGB along with native CS5.5 footage and have it look perfect. This is without any gamma flagging options, since I got rid of them starting with version 1.5.6. You can still adjust gamma during transcoding using a shader.

rozroz

i need clarification:
if i use Avid to import the .mts to DNxHD 175 (pc)
i DO NOT necessarily need 5DtoRGB for better color rendering?
am i right?

danyyyel

Rarevision I downloaded the latest beta for windows with the proress output, but there is no more gama change and can't find the shadder in the settings.

whynot

@ Shian

Have you managed to get the spanned files transcoded successfully? I have a similar issue shooting HBR 25P (unhacked due to duration) but the shots are 3.5 hrs long. They hang when it comes to the end of the first file (Where the spanning should occur). I have even tried re wrapping the file in clipwrap as a .mov so that the 3.5 hr take is one file and transcoding to ProRes 422 in 5DtoRGB but after 21 hours of transcoding it freezes on the last few frames. Would love to know if the paid version does not have this bug? If not I will have to use clipwrap to transcode although am reluctant as the shots have a lot of red in them.

shian

No, I had to do it in FCP. Ask Rarevision, I believe it's his creation.

whynot

Rarevision any suggestion for work around 5DtoRGB hanging at the end of spanned files. Thought I could get lucky by re wrapping them in clipwrap as a single movie first then transcode to Pro res 422 in 5DtoRGB but no luck. More details 2 posts up (did not want to double post).
Shooting 25p HBR
3,5 hr long single take

Thanks Shian

tak

I use and love 5DtoRGB with the GH2. The new batch version works great. I have noticed that once you use 5dtorgb you can not use log and transfer to import the clips, you need to just drag them into FCP. Otherwise you get the error
"Contains unsupported media or has an invalid directory structure. Please choose a folder whose directory structure matches supported media."
It seems to be missing some file structure that was on the card.
at least according to this Ross Shane workflow...
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/ross_shane/tapeless-workflow_fcp-7/video-tutorial

I was thinking this missing information (or not using log and transfer) was a reason I was having trouble with conforming xml in Resolve and why I have not been able to use reconnect offline Prores proxi files.

Since so many people use 5DtoRGB what is the way to retain the TC info that seems to disappear?

kholi

5DtoRGB doesn't mess with any metadata at all during conversion. Your FCP preferences might be messed up.

GH2 footage doesn't have Timecode, or at least I don't think you can use timecode.

If you're going from XML to resolve then you need to make sure that your online files match the names of the offline files in your XML data. There shouldn't be any issue with timecode when conforming in Resolve if you're using the TC from the FCP Timeline to move to DPX or you're working with PR4444 in Resolve.

tak

Thanks. I understood the metadata not to be in the file, but elsewhere in the file structure of the card's folder structure, I have read about others not being able to reconnect offline clips into FCP unless log and transfer was used. I dont get why however.
I saw there is a program to add timecode, but not sure if that would be useful.
http://www.videotoolshed.com/product/42/qtchange

cbrandin

Has anybody compared 5DtoRGB to NEOScene? I have NEOScene from GH1 days. It also converts 4:2:0 to a higher color profile through some custom interpolation scheme. In addition it can convert clips to all I frames. It seems to me if you keep re-coding clips to/from various GOP configurations there would be image degradation much like re-coding JPEG images degrades image quality. I know people (like me) got it for pull-down removal, but I was wondering how useful it might be even if you don't need pull-down removal.

kholi

They're doing something terribly wrong: XML doesn't discriminate between file names, you should be able to use whatever you'd like. Also, if you offline with 5DtoRGB files and try to online L&T, or vice versa, you're not going to be able to reconnnect files.

5DtoRGB won't mess with the folder structure, either. But, actually, maybe it does in the batch? That wouldn't make much sense... try contacting Thomas over at Rarevision directly for an answer.

tak

Thanks kholi I will.
So I guess there is no easy way to work with (re conform) offline prores proxi files?
My system is sluggish because I produced prores HQ , I may just re transcode the 1.5 terra of .MTS files to normal prores and not bother working offline. Either way I see a week of catching up before starting to edit.

Clermond

I am new to this, sorry if this question is too simple: is there a recommendation for GH2 settings?
Manual says "Generally speaking, BT.709 is for HD material and BT.601 is for SD. Canon HDSLRs use the BT.601 matrix" what about GH2? Do you use the 1.8 Gamma or sth else? Thanks!

kholi

What you want to do is this, if you have a sluggish system:

1. (This is the Ghetto Edit method) Create a Sequence that reflects your Online. So a 1080/2K FCP sequence, 23.98.
Offline 480 or 720 files in LT flavor of ProRes.
Cut the 480 or 720 in that sequence and either resize your material or do not.
Cut and Complete the project

2. Create a sequence that reflects your online. 1080/2k FCP
Export 1080 ProRes LT
Cut and Complete Project

Then you can either -

a. Save the project (on a different drive), creating a duplicate, then reconnect to the 1080/2k ProRes 4444 or HQ files. Everything that you did will immediate take effect.

b. Export an XML that's just the file names, cuts, no transitions, and FCP timecode. Then import that back into whatever you're going to offline in.

2 is the easiest to do, you won't run into any weird issues. Right now, the important thing is figuring out a randomization of names so that the NLE won't get confused later on in large projects.

I also highly suggest breaking up longform projects into 8 minute Project files.

kholi

@clermond

www.campcomet.com -- check out the post on 5DtoRGB that will explain some things. Let me know if you have any questions, post on the blog or here.

tak

Thanks, I did try the 1st method, but with smaller prores proxi files. the offline set up worked, but the online would not let me reconnect the media, same TC reel problems.
8 min project files for a 90 min film ?

kholi

You'd refer to them as "reels", so 8 - 10 minute reels. It'll help you out in the long run, especially when going to do audio for your ninety minute project. FCP gets overloaded on long projects, trust. I've done way too many long shows and after my first feature, I will definitely never push it all into one project file again.

dkitsov

Even though GH2 .mts files have no timecode CineForm Neoscene manages to embed the timecode during the conversion. I figure it reads time created and uses it as a first timecode value for the clip.

kholi

@dkitsov

That's pretty interesting. So it's using Time Of Day as a source for the reference. Hmm... perhaps that would be great for 5DtoRGB to have in the future if it already doesn't.

Clermond

@kholi
many thanks, that was very helpful!

tak

@kholi
I can understand 10 min sequences or are you speaking about clips? no, you did say project files.... that means you have 10 fcp projects to join together at the end. I never heard about that, or did I miss something here?

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