RED compressor to use with Adobe's Mercury

[Emi Stefanach]

Hello,

In my company we do a lot of computer renders from NTSC to 4K.
In general our renders are EXR, or DPX due to bit depth
But our online preferred codec for distribution (delivery to client), storage and reel editing (show reel) is Quicktime JPG2000

This brings in a extremely lousy feedback in playback and editing.

In the other hand we use a lot of RED footage in realtime thanks to Premiere CS5, Mercury playback and a decent system (i7, 64bit OS, 8 gb Ram, GTX 285)

It plays like a charm.

So, why just I can´t use RED instead of QT JPG2000 ?
(even RED supposedly is some kind of JPG2000 internally)

Because I can´t compress in RED codec, it´s not made for that as far as I now. It´s not possible.

I have this need, that I didn´t hear nor found anything about, to have a complete RED CODEC available (no just decompress, but to compress as well)

Any idea or suggestions? It would open a wide new world in computer graphics, at least the way I can see it.

Thanks for reading
emi

animalada animation studios
www.animalada.com

 

[Rudi Herbert]

It does not exist, period. Only RED can write to r3d, nobody else can and I don't think that will change anytime in the near future. R3D is a proprietary format of RED and they don't want to use it as a distribution format outside of RED originated material, so don't waste time researching this, it's just not possible, and it's not going to be possible any time soon. If you want an excellent codec that's intra frame just like REDCODE and can be written from a PC, use Cineform.

 

[Emi Stefanach]

It does not exist, period. Only RED can write to r3d, nobody else can and I don't think that will change anytime in the near future. R3D is a proprietary format of RED and they don't want to use it as a distribution format outside of RED originated material, so don't waste time researching this, it's just not possible, and it's not going to be possible any time soon. If you want an excellent codec that's intra frame just like REDCODE and can be written from a PC, use Cineform.

Rudi, thanks for the reply.
I understand and almost see why this is like you say.
Anyway I somebody will agree with me that´s a pity

I just want to put together my R3D footage along with some renders with the same codec, so the Mercury playback can take advantage of it.

Cineform can be a solution but I am staying away from non-standards.
Since one day or another they change and my complete library (reel work) falls and recompression is not an option. Interoperability is required too (mac-PC) ... anyhow thanks for the suggestion, will take a look.

 

[Steven Caesare]

REDCODE is a RAW format that contains Bayer-pattern sensor data. It is not a suitable distribution format, in that a RGB-to-Bayer conversion not only doesn't (practically) exist, it would be a clumsy compromise to attempt to do so. It doesn't really make sense.

Red has a distribution codec planned (in conjunction with the Red4K plaback decks), that might very well be applicable her ein the future, but we don't know much about it yet.

-sc

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

I vote for Cineform.. Works on Premiere, FCP, and Avid in realtime.. And goes up to 4k. Cannot ask for more than that.

Jay

 

[Frank Glencairn]

Yeah +1 for Cineform.

It is actually JPEG2000 (Wavelet compression with some additional tricks for real time) and not more or less a "non-standard" than the RED codec.

Even if - god forbid - Cineform goes belly up, you still can use the codec. It´s not gonna disappear from you system. Also every mac and PC user can download a free decoder.

my ct2, Frank

 

[Mohammed El Sharqawy]

Well, this is an interesting subject..

proprietary and usability are two important sides..
proprietary: you really can't use the RED codec.. not becouse of anything technical,
on the usability side: you can can use the cineform codec to record RAW compressed with wavelet compression.. in a similar fashion to the DNG format from adobe mostly in stills worlds.. and you can convert other proprietry original RAW material to the Cineform RAW.. this is actually wonderful as you can also convert DNG format itself (the motion version mainly) to Cineform RAW and vice versa..

the question rises: can't REDCODE be converted to Cineform RAW? or Vice versa?
I remember a tool cineform posted one day on their website that does this trick , but, suddenly it disappeared, I remember RED wasn't happy about that...
on the other hand RED have spoke about RED Distribution Format which may have lots of advantages as it may rule over DCP systems..

in this world.. we still don't have a decent enough motion formats, that can solve most problems.. we can exclude some codecs that does a great job someway like Cineform RAW, JPEG2000 and to add REDCODE mostly for its performance..

I think if we took Cineform, added Cuda integration in encoding and decoding, some nice color math, it can be the optimum codec for a standard RAW motion picture format..