ProRes in Windows

[Jimmy Jib]

Does anybody know how "windows friendly" ProRes .mov files are? Heard other people say ProRes is more suited for Final cut Pro on Macs and Avid systems on Windows.

Using Premiere and After Effects here ( and looking to get into DaVinci Resolve soon )

[Satsuki Murashige]

Mr. Jib, as I'm sure you know, this is a real names forum. Please contact forum administrator Tim Tyler to make the necessary changes. Thank you.

 

http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showuser=1

[Phil Rhodes]

What he said.

 

I've never had a problem either creating or using ProRes under windows. Recently I delivered some ProRes 4444 clips for something that needed alpha channel, even, and it was fine.

 

P

[Landon D. Parks]

The best luck I have had working in Premiere is with DNxHD/HR codec. My camera (GH4) does not give me ProRes, but I did attempt to edit Prores on a documentary I edited a few months back, and it caused a few hiccups in my computer... My computer is not exactly old either, running an 8-core FX processor, 64GB Ram, and a Radeon R9 390x. I shoot all my stuff in C4k or UHD on the GH4, and then down-rez to 2k/1080p for better color sub-sampling, and I always encode to DNx, usually DNxHR 2k RGB 4:4:4.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Landon D. Parks

[Karl Eklund]

I have "huge" problems with large prores files in windows. I edit highlights for golf tournaments now and then and when working with prores files that are larger, i.e. 80-200 GB each, then windows more or less goes crazy while trying to cache the files for preview (so I have to turn off in Windows not to preview files I click). The files themselves plays back fine nowdays in premiere pro or VLC, its just that when they are caching (no idea why windows gets so fooled by the file) it drains 100% of the RAM (I got 32GB ram...). Basically a 100GB file can lock up my computer for 20-30 min... Can't move mouse or anything really...

 

So I would advice caution if working with large files, smaller files aren't an issue, like 2-10 GB... Also, I myself haven't been able to export out reliable prores files from windows, I can make some that shows all the same encoding stats as a prores made in an AJA Ki Pro, but still won't play back in an AJA, and that have issues with broadcasting houses. So just don't bother with prores anymore, unless I'm given it by a client.

[Phil Rhodes]

Do you have anything installed that would try to produce extra information on the files when they're listed in a directory?

 

Sometimes, tools to do things like produce thumbnails, read timecode, etc. can have strange side-effects because of that. Particularly, this happens with timecode, as it's often at the end of camera-original files.

 

Since Windows doesn't know how to read ProRes by default, you may find it's Quicktime or VLC causing the problem.

 

P

[Karl Eklund]

Do you have anything installed that would try to produce extra information on the files when they're listed in a directory?

 

Sometimes, tools to do things like produce thumbnails, read timecode, etc. can have strange side-effects because of that. Particularly, this happens with timecode, as it's often at the end of camera-original files.

 

Since Windows doesn't know how to read ProRes by default, you may find it's Quicktime or VLC causing the problem.

 

P

I have had the same problem on win 7, 8 and 10. I don't remember if I tried it on a new installation with no QT or Vlc. The thing is that windows use all its resources for it, like a RAM-leak, writing huge pagefiles (which is on fast SSD seperate from OS). I had hoped that win 10 couldn't be so overpowered by RAM-leak.

[Max Field]

Worked with 422 on a windows PC (with well above average specs) and it runs just about as smooth as DSLR footage, if not smoother. Obviously easier to alter in post as well in contrast to a DSLR.

[Phil Rhodes]

ProRes isn't particularly hard work to play back - that's sort of the idea. Technologically it's almost identical to DNxHD and very similar to motion-JPEG.

 

All of these things are just another compromise between quality, bitrate and CPU horsepower. ProRes is designed to prioritise minimal CPU horsepower and reasonably high quality, requiring reasonably high bitrate to do so.

 

P

[Freya Black]

So I would advice caution if working with large files, smaller files aren't an issue, like 2-10 GB... Also, I myself haven't been able to export out reliable prores files from windows, I can make some that shows all the same encoding stats as a prores made in an AJA Ki Pro, but still won't play back in an AJA, and that have issues with broadcasting houses. So just don't bother with prores anymore, unless I'm given it by a client.

 

 

Is this on a FAT32 file system or similar? Maybe EX-FAT?

[Adrian Sierkowski]

If it was FAT32 you couldn't get over 4gb files. . . Might be ExFat, though; but I'd bet NTFS.

 

 

As for ProRes, it's been fine on my laptop with files, up to about 30GB. I can't write it, but it reads fine. Generally I find I have to originate ProRes for most things on cameras, but works fine for me (and worked fine for me when I had premier- as I don't actually edit much I typically just do things in Resolve 12 now, which suits my purposes just fine)

[Jonathan Tinsley]

The only problem I have concerning Windows and ProRes is the inability to decode and encode to ProRes. Other than that, ProRes seems to work just fine when I bring it to my Windows computer at home.

[Phil Rhodes]

You can do it with free tools. If there's any interest, I can make up a sticky (or a post I can hope someone will sticky) about this.

[Perry Paolantonio]

The only problem I have concerning Windows and ProRes is the inability to decode and encode to ProRes. Other than that, ProRes seems to work just fine when I bring it to my Windows computer at home.

 

Decoding works fine, all you need is Quicktime, which is free. Encoding is trickier, but as Phil points out there are ways to do it. There are some tools out there that can do it natively (grading and compositing systems), as well as things like MTI Cortex, and a few other applications as well.

[Jonathan Tinsley]

Oh really? Every time I have looked around about that it has just led me to some dead ends. I will definitely have to start looking deeper. Thanks.

[Phil Rhodes]

Short version: get ffmpeg from here. If in doubt, get the 64-bit static version.

 

Put the following into a file called "convert to prores.bat" somewhere convenient:

ffmpeg -probesize 5000000 -i %1 -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 3 -qscale:v 11 -vendor ap10 -c:a pcm_s16le -pix_fmt yuv422p10le -chunk_duration 500000 prores_output.mov

Put the ffmpeg executable alongside this file.

 

Drop any of a wide variety of files onto the converter icon to have them converted.

 

Alter the number after "-profile:v" for different ProRes versions:

0 - Proxy

1 - LT

2 - SQ

3 - HQ

4444 - Self-explanatory, but also change "yuv422p10le" to "yuva444p10le"

A few assumptions are made but for basic stuff this will be fine.

P