Hene1 Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 Do you know any H.265 -> ProRes conversion software for Mac, that doesn't change luminance levels from 0-255 to 16-235? I've been using RockyMountains converter on PC, but I don't like how flat the material looks after conversion. If there is no such program, do you know if there is an easy way in Final Cut Pro X to change luminance level from 16-235 back to 0-255? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 Don't know if I understand your question. You had problems with luminance levels whilst transcoding (camera-)mpeg4 to ProRes? Then it's because the levels were misinterpreted. We had this issue discussed before. Different cameras record at different levels. Those are embedded in the metadata of the camera card files. Makes no sense to change those because aside from a milky or too contrasty look you will introduce banding. Quote ... to change luminance level from 16-235 back to 0-255? Back? I see. You want to color correct with full range, not just an arbitrarily limited range. But by baking a falsely interpreted range into the ProRes file, you actually introduce shifts and other problems. In DSLR history, there were famous bugs. In the beginning, Quicktime didn't correctly interpret the 5D's H.264 RGB. That was when? 2007? With the popular 5D2RGB-transcoder, you could change the levels at will, resulting in this phenomenon. But don't take my word for it. 5D2RGB has a free version. Transcode your clips with full range, import them in FCP X and watch what has happened in the waveform monitor. Tell me if the chances to recover highlights or shadows have become better or worse compared to original range. Clipwrap (which also optionally transcodes to ProRes), on the other hand, will correctly read the metadata. FCP X does it all per default. It automatically rewraps the original clips if you imported directly from a card or camera archive (always use camera archives! If a camera archive exists on your Mac, clips never can go offline again, even if you imported optimized or proxy media and accidentally moved or deleted them) and doesn't change anything. It transcodes AVCHD/XAVC to ProRes in the background if you chose that, and it reliably reads the correct levels, So I have no idea why anybody would prefer to transcode his/her clips in advance. I used to warn people not to orphanize their clips by moving them out of the card structure (i.e. by only keeping the STREAM or CLIP folder), and I still do for different reasons (spanned clips!), but I've never experienced wrong levels within FCP X, even if I just imported naked .mts-, .mov- or .MP4 - files (because someone gave them to me). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Carter Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 I've got no idea if there are any cameras other than the NX1 that shoot in H265; as for the NX1, the folder structure doesn't matter. It's a pile of clips - not an AVCHD situation. There's no "card structure" or benefits, other than the H265 files are very small, so it's no issue to archive the raw shots along with your edit and effect renders and so on. When I use the NX1, I copy the card to my drives and transcode to prores immediately after a shoot (I feel better when my backup runs each night and I don't erase the card until I have two copies - on the raid and on my backup drive). My work goes faster with Prores from the start. And I've got Prores handy of I have to send any media off to anyone who wants prores (believe me, nobody asks for H265). I render my final edits to Prores and use that as a master for web and H264 and MP4 and so on. That's me - for now I'm a Prores shop and I see no reason to work from the H265 files. To me they're a shooting format and not an editing format - they're being transcoded somewhere in the pipeline after all - I just prefer to do it once, and at the beginning. Maybe when computing horsepower picks up… but then, I tend to buy a new system every three or four years. As far as the OP - try EditReady. It's a great buy for the money - great conversion, batch processing, frame rate interpretation, etc. And instant support, and reasonably fast. But I'd shoot at the luminance level you intend to edit with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Oh, sorry, I missed the "5" in H.265 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidzrevil Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Cliptoolz on pc is one way to do it and they allow to select the files original luma range before transcoding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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