QuickTime quality setting in RedCine -- lossless DNxHD?

[Sean]

I see that there is a drop down list to choose Quality when outputting QuickTimes from RedCine. If I'm going to be outputting DNxHD QuickTime files, I wonder what the various quality settings (Lossless, High, Low, etc.) really mean. Because in Avid I've never heard of a Lossless DNxHD or High Quality DNxHD. I've heard of Lossless QuickTime Animation files and such. But there's only DNxHD 115 or DNxHD 175, etc., that I know of. Not a "lossless" DNxHD. Does anyone know how changing the quality setting change the kind of DNxHD I'm getting from RedCine? Maybe I'm misinformed.

 

[Bruce Allen]

There is no lossless DNxHD.

This must be a bug. Red will fix it in their own sweet time because they are only officially supporting FCP and Scratch right now.

Hopefully this will change sooner rather than later because then I can recommend my friends' Red cameras to producers more often.

I'm sure this is a major factor driving down rental rates. Most producers I talk to do a double-take when they hear about the current Avid situation.

I know you can make things work using hacks, or get a nice workflow going using Scratch, but if you're going to have to go out of house to get dailies, most producers simply choose to shoot on film, or another digital format that is less of a pain to get into Avid.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[Sean]

Thanks Bruce. That's what I suspected. I'm happy with the quality of the RedCine conversion to DNxHD, but it is a bit painfully slow. And I'm not sure which DNxHD it's giving me. I recall MichaelP mentioning on these boards that RedCine is only giving us DNxHD115, rather than offering options for DNxHD 175 or 175X.

I'm just an Avid guy through and through. So I will continue to find workarounds. Just got financing for another project, which I will shoot with Red and cut in Avid at 1080p DNxHD (hopefully DNxHD 175).