MLV RAW with Sound direct to ProRes 422 HQ

[jcs]

Drop an MLV on the application and you can view the MLV with sound in real-time. Press E to encode to ProRes HQ (10-bit 422): http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=9560.0 (no GUI- all keyboard commands).

 

I've been using ACR and AE with other workflows (mlvbrowsesharp etc.) resulting in a 175Mbit/s 10-bit 422 DNxHD file for editing. The final quality has been excellent, however the workflow was cumbersome.

 

mlvrawviewer uses the AMaZE algorithm to deBayer with excellent results (paused and when exporting to ProRes: live playback with bilinear on GPU is also decent). While there's no Bayer sharpening or denoising options in this workflow vs ACR or Resolve 10, I am impressed with the quality and time to process files directly to ProRes HQ (tested so far on my MBP laptop- will work well for on set processing).

 

As the 14-bit ML RAW tools improve, the 5D3 is indeed becoming a baby Alexa  B). Great job everyone involved!

 

[QuickHitRecord]

Pretty neat. Reading the thread, it looks like there is a new version right around the corner.

 

I've been using an older converter (with the recursive0.4.command file) to convert to DNGs. It applies "vertical stripe correction", which I assume removes some of the fixed noise pattern that can appear at higher ISOs. Do you know if this one does anything like that?

[jcs]

It is surprisingly clean in testing so far. It also looks decent without having to adjust white balance or colors- looks very similar to what LiveView showed during recording.

 

mlvbrowsesharp had issues with >4GB option enabled (exFat formatted CF cards). Testing a 23.6GB file right now (4m:30s). In the viewer, the audio cut out around frame 1500, however the extracted .wav file is 100% OK. Converting to ProRes now: it seems a bit slower than the initial test with a smaller file. On this quad core laptop (late 2013 MBP (fastest)), ffmpeg is using ~143% CPU and 97% for the host process. Ideally it would sum to 400% (100% CPU utilization); running two copies at once should work...

 

Took about 50minutes to process 4m30s; a little more than 1/2 as slow as my 12-core MacPro using ACR+AE (1/4 real-time). Audio in the MOV stopped at 1:50. The initial, fully extracted .wav file was OK (full 4:30), so was able to line up and test in PPro (was fine). Will try pressing 'E' with the viewer stopped at the first frame (last time pressed 'E' after a second or so from playback start).

 

Reading his TODO list, looks like adding vertical stripe removal is on the list. That said, so far the shadow noise in my tests doesn't look too bad: it actually looks worse in ACR before using NR. Interestingly, on super high contrast edges, the AMaZE deBayer looks much better than ACR (doesn't have unnatural hard edge with color artifacts).

 

Tested so far on OSX (latest). I didn't have to install anything else (such as python or ffmpeg)- using the DMG download everything worked as is.

[odie]

 might be the top affordable digital (video) camera of 2014 (with ML)

[jcs]

5D3 + ML = definitely a good value! As the RAW workflow improves, value goes up.

 

I A/B compared AMaZE against ACR (which has sharpening at 25 on by default) and a small amount of ACR NR. AMaZE looks very similar and high contrast edges weren't as bad as first thought for ACR. Since ACR is one of the top deBayer tools, that's good news.

 

After further testing, this tool could use some help with WB and colorspace processing. ACR on default settings (along with correct WB) produces more accurate colors and saturation levels. This MLV tool outputs very low saturation color (almost sepia-like in my lowish-light tests (indoor, natural tungsten lighting (no added studio lighting)).

 

Processing time with AE set to render multiple frames (4 core MBP) was about the same vs the ML RAW tool (which doesn't use full CPU cores). The ML RAW tool is great for watching RAW clip in real-time (still some bugs with audio cutting short). Future updates should address these issues.

[maxotics]

I did a lot of experimentation with debayering algos on ML RAW on the EOS-M, which has a lot of line-skipping, therefore moire, in non-crop mode.  Nothing fixed it, but AMaZE was definitely the best.  

 

You're so right JCS about the workflow.  Unfortunately, you get bit in the butt no matter where you turn.  Even though i've gotten the hang of Resolve enough to basic-grade output my clips to anything, I'd like to just shoot some ProRes on my BMPCC and edit in Vegas Studio 12 Pro.  But I can't.  For some reason, ProRes doesn't view in my Vegas 64bit because, I think, there are no 64bit Apple Windows drivers for Proress 422 HQ.

 

I don't know.  Like you say, it's all in the workflow! :)

[jcs]

I used Vegas to edit stereoscopic 3D footage a few years ago (9, 10, 11). For simple edits it was OK but for anything more than that it was quite buggy and unstable. It was also a bit slow. I figured both issues were related to the use of MS C# and all the dynamic dependices and updates.

For $30 a month you can now get all Adobe's tools. Premiere CC is pretty solid and very fast on both Windows and Mac.

You could also use ffmpeg and or something like Handbrake to batch convert ProRes HQ to DNxHD 10-bit 422.

[nahua]

I've tried to use MLV with the recent February builds but I get the sensor pattern lines even at ISO 100.  I thought they fixed that issue last year?  It's been very hard to find the correct info on builds for MLV.  Also getting it converted to CDNGs is not very fluid.  I like the new updated interface though, but until I can get reliable video I'll stick with last year's stable version.

[QuickHitRecord]

I've tried to use MLV with the recent February builds but I get the sensor pattern lines even at ISO 100.  I thought they fixed that issue last year?

 

I think that you have to use conversion software with "vertical stripe correction". Not all of them have it.

[maxotics]

I used Vegas to edit stereoscopic 3D footage a few years ago (9, 10, 11). For simple edits it was OK but for anything more than that it was quite buggy and unstable. It was also a bit slow.

 

Oh yeah, and somehow I kept paying $60 for new version.  Starting with 11 or 12 Vega improved dramatically.  It is very stable now.  I have Vegas Pro (which B&H Photo gave for free with, ironically, the BMPCC!).  

 

I signed up for Adobe cloud and it was hard to decide between the $30/month and $10/month photo only.  I went with the latter.  I know what I need to do, all this money!  :(  It doesn't look like Sony is going to put in ProRes any time soon.  Although it is stable, TIFFs make it slow.  Or maybe I'll just learn Resolve, it gets better and better and I don't need complex stuff.  But I did like how quickly I could add audio and sub-titles with Vegas, etc.  

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Okay, just bit the bullet and modified one of my VBS programs that will batch create DNxHD files from ProRes.  Here is the syntax.  If anyone has better, or for ffmpeg, please let me know.

 

ffmbc.exe -i BMPCC_1_2014-03-02_0319_C0000.mov -vcodec dnxhd -b 185M -strict experimental F:Files2014_RawFootage20140302DNxHDBMPCC_1_2014-03-02_0319_C0000.mov

 

In Vegas a little increase in saturation and offset, under color correction, makes for very nice video, though not fancy graded ;)