ProRes Encoding on PC?

[Dave Cox]

So I have been watching the Mac Pro situation for a while, and am always looking at better ways to do the same job. Being able to replace a Mac Pro with a rack-mountable PC with 7 PCI slots and some kind of 6-core CPU seems like a really good option for the next generation of loading stations.

One thing that people request a lot though is ProRes encoding for dailies. Is there any way, hardware or software, to render to ProRes on a windows workstation? Given that I'm already saving the cost of a PCI expansion chassis with a PC, a hardware-based solution is not out of the question if it can get the job done.

Anyone know the answer to this? I've been googling for about a half hour and I'm getting curious!

Thanks!

[L. Langer]

There is now an open-source ProRes encoder through FFMPEG that is coming along nicely. Several RedUser members are using it with Linux and report that it is significantly better than the Apple product, but I have no idea how it performs under Windows.

[Christoffer Glans]

I personally think DNxHD is better, especially now with DNxHD 444. Apple is also moving away from ProRes with it's A/V Foundation. Does FFMPEG actually encode ProRes or just decode?

[M Most]

Both. But the decoder is a bit further along than the encoder at this point.

[Christoffer Glans]

Is it a freeware or what it is it? Where can I download it? What type of ProRes can it handle? All the way up to ProRes 4444?

[M Most]

Is it a freeware or what it is it? Where can I download it? What type of ProRes can it handle? All the way up to ProRes 4444?

ffmpeg is and always has been an open source project. All you have to do is google "ffmpeg prores" and you'll get all the information you want. Fair warning: if you're looking for a custom built, gui driven, do-it-yourself-even-if-you-know-nothing-about-it prebuilt application, you're not going to find that because that's not what it's about.

[Subhadip Sen]

ProRes encoding works great on Windows, and yes, a lot faster than the Apple's OS X encoder. It will be even faster once they optimize multithreading. Grab the latest Zeranoe build, insert these in your ffmpeg frontend: "-vcodec prores -acodec" between the input and output strings - that's all to get started. The default is ProRes 422 HQ. Only restriction for encoding so far is ProRes 4444 is missing - but should be available in a future build. As far as I know, none of ffmpeg's GUI frontends integrate ProRes natively, but that is just a matter of time.

Decoding has been around for months and is extremely fast and stable.

[Dave Cox]

Awesome, this is really helpful. I will definitely be looking into this possibility. Thanks!

[Brian Iannone]

I agree with Christoffer; I prefer DNxHD. However, I believe that right now, it doesn't support 4K. I haven't tried it before, but can anyone verify this?

[Tony Lorentzen]

Can anyone either confirm or deny whether or not Resolve for Windows can export to ProRes? That would be super nice (though I don't have high hopes for it) :-)

[M Most]

Can anyone either confirm or deny whether or not Resolve for Windows can export to ProRes? That would be super nice (though I don't have high hopes for it) :-)

At this point the answer is no. Read, yes. Write, no.

[Elsie N]

Awesome, this is really helpful. I will definitely be looking into this possibility. Thanks!
They've posted a new major release just yesterday, dec 11th.

[Tim Sutherland]

They've posted a new major release just yesterday, dec 11th.

No luck finding it in a quick search, do you have a link handy?

Tim

[Subhadip Sen]

No luck finding it in a quick search, do you have a link handy?

Tim

FFmpeg.org. It's a major release. Not sure if the ProRes encoder gets any improvements - quite likely though.

[Elsie N]

No luck finding it in a quick search, do you have a link handy?

Tim
Like Subhadip said, http://ffmpeg.org/

[Tony Lorentzen]

At this point the answer is no. Read, yes. Write, no.

You're right ;-) Just found that Blackmagic Design has a list of supported codecs in all of the Resolve versions: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/media/2588311/davinci_resolve_8.2_supported_codec_list.pdf

Looks like I'm going to have to develop a small batch conversion tool using ffmpeg for those jobs if and when my Mac Pro isn't available for the job.

[Priit Poldmaa]

I have a parallel patch processing GUI for ffmpeg, ffmbc etc.
Download here: AnotherGUI (http://www.stuudio.ee/anothergui)

It doesn't have ProRes preset included now but it is very easy to create yourself.
I will add it later tomorrow.

Only some presets are included in download.
You can download more presets from Presets page.

It is freeware. Its portable.

Regards
Priit

EDIT: 4 presets for ProRes are now included in basic download pakage.

[Tom.Wong]

u could always just have a mac on standby with a copy of resolve and throw the dongle on that to write to pro res, you can have a shared database. render times are slower, but the performance on the system is usually more important for real time color than the final output.

[Marco Materassi]

Hey guys I just found out about this ffmpeg ant anothereGUI but it doesn't seem to be able to encode from r3d files or even proxies....Am I missing something?

[Priit Poldmaa]

Actually it is possible to convert Red files using Avisynth and Gabor's plugin.
Homepage here (http://arenafilm.hu/alsog/avisynthr3d/). Old thread here (http://www.reduser.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-25398.html)
ffmpeg is able to process Avisynth AVS files.
The problem is that Avisynth is 8-bit only.
We make files for offline using Gabor's plugin.

I have a batch R3D -> AVS creator.
Let me know you if like to have this.

Priit

[Marco Materassi]

Actually it is possible to convert Red files using Avisynth and Gabor's plugin.
Homepage here (http://arenafilm.hu/alsog/avisynthr3d/). Old thread here (http://www.reduser.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-25398.html)
ffmpeg is able to process Avisynth AVS files.
The problem is that Avisynth is 8-bit only.
We make files for offline using Gabor's plugin.

I have a batch R3D -> AVS creator.
Let me know you if like to have this.

Priit
I would love to have it thank you, can you send it to me in PM? Can you perform also like 1/2 or 1/4 debayering and resolution change? I just need to convert a bunch of r3ds for offline edit...Thank you

[Priit Poldmaa]

Link to R3D2AVS.zip (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43638030/R3D2AVS.zip)
Unfortunatelly lost most presets I created.
Just today we need a preset with TimeCode burned in.
When I find or recreate it I will notice.

Priit

[Priit Poldmaa]

Found preset with burned in Timecodes.
Replaced the R3D2AVS.ZIP
It contains 3 sample presets.

Priit

[Marco Materassi]

thank you very much. I have a problem that i I can't figure out why it's happening. when I opened your .exe it asked me to point to my r3dsource.dll in the avisyth plugin folder and I did. I created 1 .avs file using the r3d2avs.exe (how do I use presets?, I put just in the same folder?). after that I open the .avs file in AnothereGUI, which is linked to ffmpeg to encode prores. I get instantly an error saying: impossible to load r3dsource.dll from avisynth folder...What am I missing? thank you very much, I'm very new to this avisynth world....

[Priit Poldmaa]

MediaPlayer or VLC player should play those AVS files.
So you will see are the AVS files correct.

Avisynt or is it RED SDK doesn't like local non US characters.
Check your folder names.

Also had issues with AVS files on 64-bit Windows.

Priit

[Marco Materassi]

mediaplayer plays the file correctly no issues at all... I don't understand what's wrong.
the error I'm gettin is exactly this:

[Priit Poldmaa]

Hmm????
No idea here.
May be it is wort to download new ffmpeg.
We use 32-bit ffmpeg even on 64-bit Windows as 64-bit ffmpeg has more problems.

Priit

PS.Just made a AVS file from Red clip and converted with 32-bit ffmpeg on Win7 64-bit computer. Worked.

[Marco Materassi]

Thank you, now it works perfectly, the only thing is that cpu used is only about 30%...anyway to speed it up? maybe using avisynth 64 bit?
thanks again

[Priit Poldmaa]

32-bit Avisynth v258
32-bit ffmpeg static binary
64-bit Win7
4 physical cores with HT
Getting constanntly 98-99% with 8 threads coding R3D -> AVS -> ProRes 185

Priit

[Nils Ruinet]

Hi, just found this very interesting thread.
So, is there any way to export to Prores from Redcine X (pro or not) on a windows PC ?

[Angelo Lorenzo]

Hi, just found this very interesting thread.
So, is there any way to export to Prores from Redcine X (pro or not) on a windows PC ?

Nils, I found a slightly complicated way of doing it by feeding files to FFMPEG which can actually encode ProRes. A little tricky to set up, but at least it'll run at the same time as your Redcine X batch. http://www.fallenempiredigital.com/blog/2012/06/06/encoding-apple-prores-on-a-windows-pc-with-redcine-x-pro-and-ffmpeg/

It's a different approach from AVS.

To answer your question directly: no, there is no proper way to encode ProRes from Redcine X on Windows.

[Bradley Stuckel]

Is there any form of an Hardware based encoder. Something that you can pass data through that will encode to a storage device. I am thinking of something similar to an external recorder... but rather than connecting to the camera directly, it connects to a computer system that passes data through it???

All of this aside from the fact that: you could output from your PC through and IO card such as the Decklink to a recorder that records to prores (playback capture would most liely not work very well)... but that would not work... I don't think??? But something similar in concept outputting data rather than actual video signal.

I don't know... but there needs to be a PC based solution for ProRes encoding... and if it could realtime record/encode or utilize the Red Rocket... that would be so helpful!!!!

On another note... what file system are you guys using for clients whom are editing on mac... or mac and windows? Macdrive? Fat 32 does not seem to work due to the 4 Gb limit, and I find it to be a limitation at one point or another.

[John Tissavary]

I have a parallel patch processing GUI for ffmpeg, ffmbc etc.
Download here: AnotherGUI (http://www.stuudio.ee/anothergui)

It doesn't have ProRes preset included now but it is very easy to create yourself.
I will add it later tomorrow.

Only some presets are included in download.
You can download more presets from Presets page.

It is freeware. Its portable.

Regards
Priit

EDIT: 4 presets for ProRes are now included in basic download pakage.

I love your utility - thanks very much for sharing it! I wonder... would it be possible to set it up with a 'watch folders' capability? That way any file rendered to a specific folder would automatically get converted to the preset. This would be a huge timesaver...

thanks,

John T.

[AFX]

Give this a shot! ProRes 4444 for Windows.

http://www.authorityfx.com/encoding-videos-in-prores-4444-on-windows/

Best,

Ryan

[Phil Holland]

Hi Prit, I've been playing with this for a couple days and doing some audio tests to append to DPX sequences. I can append a new input via "-i" using an external 48000 .wav, however, for whatever reason it switches from proRes422 to h.264.

Is there a way to add audio if we are using image sequences?

[Priit Poldmaa]

There is no elegant way.
You have multiple sources so you should have multiple -i with source filename folowing.
One source you have to hardcode into preset:-(
If source filename or path contains spaces the whole name sould be in quation marks.
After all preset add also -newaudio

-i "<SourceFileName>" -i "D:\my folder\my audio.wav" -vcodec prores -profile 3 -acodec pcm_s16le -ar 48000 -ac 2 "<OutputPath><OutputFileName>.mov" -newaudio
It is not tested but you get the idea.

Priit

PS. New version 1.5 is almost ready.
Need to test/correct the sample presets coming with it
because ffmpeg syntacs is changing all the time.

[Phil Holland]

Yep. It appears on where that new input goes it seems to cause an issue. I've got it working. Thanks for the help.

I've also been testing the 4444 with ffmbc.

It should be noted here that if you are looking to create 23.98 material out of DPX frames you'll need to add "-r 24000/1001" before your input, otherwise id defaults to 25fps.

[AFX]

Hi Phil,

We have the -i tag set to 23.976 in our AnotherGUI Image Sequence preset.

Also, we've added a video tutorial for the process for those interested. Apple Pro Res 4444 for Windows tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BD2AqF_VnY&feature=youtu.be&hd=1)

[Matthias Aderhold]

On a side-note:
You can export ProRes 422 directly out of Premiere (+ AE and Media Encoder) or Scratch on Windows, using Drastics MediaReactor Workstation Plugin:
http://drastic.tv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58:mediareactorworkstation&catid=40&Itemid=80


The ProRes codec in that package is not an Apple one, but rather a selfwritten codec.
Although it is still being in development, you can already use it very well.
The two advantages of the plugin are:
- multithreaded ProRes Encode
- native 64 bit ProRes decode (original Quicktime is still 32 bit and makes some interface-writing necessary for every software
developer to integrate the 32 bit Quicktime into a modern 64 bit application).

MediaReactor is a read and write plugin for the named applications^^.
You can download a watermarked trial on the website above.


Guess, this could be interesting for some people here ;-) .



Best,
Mazze

[Joel Arvidsson]

On a side-note:
You can export ProRes 422 directly out of Premiere (+ AE and Media Encoder) or Scratch on Windows, using Drastics MediaReactor Workstation Plugin:
http://drastic.tv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58:mediareactorworkstation&catid=40&Itemid=80


The ProRes codec in that package is not an Apple one, but rather a selfwritten codec.
Although it is still being in development, you can already use it very well.
The two advantages of the plugin are:
- multithreaded ProRes Encode
- native 64 bit ProRes decode (original Quicktime is still 32 bit and makes some interface-writing necessary for every software
developer to integrate the 32 bit Quicktime into a modern 64 bit application).

MediaReactor is a read and write plugin for the named applications^^.
You can download a watermarked trial on the website above.


Guess, this could be interesting for some people here ;-) .



Best,
Mazze

Did any Reduser try this encoder yet?

[Bryan Cua]

Sorry if this was already mentioned,

But does ffmbc support timecode encode?