Did Peter Jackson use RED codec?

[N. Keller]

Pro Res is great for broadcast, but I jus tfinished a project where it was adding a considerable amount of noise to the exports from Redcine. We tested DPX and they were perfect (as they should be), then we tested UC 10-bit and it wasn't as good as the DPX, but good enough for what was being done. Moral of the story, use DPX when it really counts.

Question, though... I've read now several threads here people saying DPX is great for broadcast/HD out, better than Pro Res. But what kind of DPX exactly? Could you go into your specific settings and how you output these DPXs? I assume it's not the same as if you were outputting for a film out?

Thanks!

 

[Stephen Gentle]

But if the original material is already compressed Redcode (i assume its the only codec red does) how will exporting in no res DPX do anything different for the film transfer? why not edit prores then export as from the original redcode?

You can't go back - Redcode isn't really a video codec, it's a compression scheme for the RAW sensor data. You have to process it into some other format to use it (or use the REDCODE Quicktime wrapper that converts it on the fly). An uncompressed format like DPX will give you the best quality transfer, and I think it is one of the most universally accepted formats for film transfer companies.

 

[Dj Joofa]

Don't want to sound too nitpicking, but since it is a public forum read all over the world, I want to correct some inaccuracies in your post.

Redcode isn't really a video codec, it's a compression scheme for the RAW sensor data.

It appears RedCode satisfies the basic definition of a codec (COmpressor-DECompressor), i.e., one can compress Raw->RedCode (which I believe is JPEG 2K derived compression based upon the inspection of r3d file data), and then decompress RedCode back to what ever you want it to be. Hence, imo it satisfies the definition of a codec.

An uncompressed format like DPX ...

DPX data is typically log based and hence compressed; though not in the spatio-temporal way you might be expecting. However, log is a form of compression of data. Several audio codecs use log for compression for e.g., A-law and u-law codecs.

 

[John Tissavary]

Question, though... I've read now several threads here people saying DPX is great for broadcast/HD out, better than Pro Res. But what kind of DPX exactly? Could you go into your specific settings and how you output these DPXs? I assume it's not the same as if you were outputting for a film out?

Thanks!

10bit DPX. Simple as that. Now what colorspace you're going to output to and which lut is baked in (or not) is entirely dependent on your delivery medium, and different for just about every one out there.

cheers,

jt