Announcement: Changes to QuickTime DNxHD support in Premiere Pro 22.3

[caroline_edits]

In the latest release of Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Media Encoder, we have updated the way we create QuickTime DNxHD files. Here is a brief overview of those changes, as well as a history of updates to DNxHR files.

In the fall of 2020, we made significant changes to our support for DNx media. These changes included bug fixes and additional functionality, such as support for 12-bit DNxHR 444, and brought us up-to-date with the latest DNx specification from Avid.

The downside to doing this was that DNxHR media that was made in this new version of our apps could not be used with older versions. At the time, we were able to avoid making similar changes to DNxHD, and DNxHD files created with new versions still worked with old versions.

But... (you knew there was a "but" coming, right?)

After we made the changes, our friends at Avid told us that there were problems with the files we were creating – our DNxHD output was not working properly in the current version of Avid Media Composer. To fix that, we needed to make some more changes. Unfortunately, those changes affect the DNxHD workflow that we hoped to leave untouched.

So here's the scoop on DNxHD files starting in the v22.3 release of Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Media Encoder.

1.  QuickTime DNxHD media generated in v22.3 or later will not be compatible with previous versions of our products – those files will be imported as audio-only.
2. DNxHD SQ Thin Raster and DNxHD LB can no longer be exported with an alpha channel
3.  The way we create alpha channel information has changed, so the interface has changed. QuickTime DNx alpha options are now "None" and "Compressed"
4. We fixed a bug where some Avid DNx media generated by newer versions of Avid Media Composer would import into our products as audio-only. If your DNx media from Avid imports as audio-only, please message me here on the Community or reach out to us on Twitter.com/adobecare 
5. DNxHD output from the 22.3 release and later will no longer work in the older versions of Avid Media Composer. We recommend either updating your version of Avid Media Composer or moving to a DNxHR workflow.

Hope this information helps you keep track of your workflow. Any feedback left in this thread will be brought directly to the formats team! 

[R Neil Haugen]

Caroline,

Thanks for the direct data. Even if not all is as we would hope.

Quick question, run this by Lars (we've talked about it before). That's what data range DNx files are in for the DNx 444 RGB ?

Neil

[Baffy19]

Neil, you have received a reply from Caroline? Clarify the situation in DNxHD/HR and QuickTime.

[R Neil Haugen]

No, I have not received a response from Caroline on this. Unfortunately.

@caroline_edits  ... how about checking that video-level/data-(full)-levels question for DNx in the "regular" forms, and the DNx in 4444 RGB with Lars?

Neil

[Baffy19]

An amazing woman ) I wrote and forgot.

[caroline_edits]

Hey Neil & Baffy!

We forwarded these questions to the engineers you specified but haven't gotten a response. Everyone's been super busy recently! I'll send this out to the broader team and see if someone has some free time on their hands to reply here. I'll be honest, this topic is a little above my head so I'm learning as I go! 

Thanks for your patience,

Caroline

[R Neil Haugen]

Thanks, Caroline ...

Neil

[Baffy19]

you 're welcome )

[joepavlo1]

Can you add a legacy DNxHD option in the output modules that would be compatable with older Avid versions please?

[thnord]

I can submit that as a feature request for you. You may also want to do the same on our User Voice: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com

[Dan Rickard]

This is a desperately needed feature. As of 22.3, exported Avid DnX Quicktime files no longer work in most industry standard software packages, including fairly recent versions of Avid. It seems suprising that this is now considered to be "correct" behaviour. Avid DNxHD Quicktimes have been the standard VFX offline format on every major feature film production that I have ever worked on.

[Matt Boardman]

I'm right there with you.  I've been forced back to 22.2.1 for some time now because all Avid DNxHD Quicktimes starting with 22.3-22.5 render out black and the productions I'm on can't use them.  Maybe I'm doing something wrong here.  If so, it would be nice so I can continue to update to the latest version of AE.

[KrisK4]

Checking back on this thread. Were you able to submit this feature request, and has there been any progress on the Adobe end? The productions I've worked on are still unable to import DNxHD QT exports from recent versions of AE. I have no way to confirm whether newer versions of Avid are able to import these QTs, but editorial teams are not going to update their software or workflow for us, so I'm stuck using AE 22.2.1 until this is fixed.

[R Neil Haugen]

Thomas listed that UserVoice request in his post ... you could click on that link and upvote of course, and sometimes the UserVoice requests do include a note that the item is in-process.

Neil

[KrisK4]

Sorry, but which link are you referring to? The link in the post I replied to just seems to take me to the UserVoice homepage with no specific request that I can upvote.

[R Neil Haugen]

Correct!

@thnord ... what's going on with this issue? It is rather difficult for a number of users.

Neil

[JohnColombo]

Hi all,

I've created a feature request for legacy DNxHD output in After Effects here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-ideas/add-a-legacy-dnxhd-output-option-that-would-be-co.... Please upvote it to help us gauge the interest in this feature.

Cheers,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team 

[mesee3d]

I was just researching this issue and yes, this is a MAJOR issue if we want to use the newer versions of After Effects. 

[Multipasser]

I can't even comprehend this. Why and who on earth dares to mess with this format as you know 10.000's of users are reliant on those formats on a daily bases! Sometimes I really think adobe is trolling.  This is soo bad :((

[JimmyTagg]

Hey

Does this effect DNX .MXFs?  Its my personal go to format and have 1000's of files.

Will old 'verisons' of the codec still work in the latest release?

J

[thnord]

No, this only applied to QuickTime DNx files. 

[Steve Griffiths]

Caroline, I think the answer is yes but can you confirm that previously recorded DNx Quicktime media generated in earlier versions of Premiere pro will still work in 22.3 and later. 

[thnord]

I can confirm that to be true. 

[AlEdRTE]

Hi Caroline, 

This needs to be fixed, it's too big of a loose end for such a common industry workflow - After Effects -> Avid. Only a few will get to the bottom of this and find this thread, the rest will be throwing their monitors against the wall in frustration.

Please, please convey to the team it needs to be fixed.

Thank you,

Alan.

[Matt Boardman]

Just adding to the requests here that there needs to be some sort of workflow that allows us to render DNxHR files like we used to be prior to v22.3.  I'm stuck on v22.2.1 because of this "fix" which sadly doesn't seem to be a fix at all.  The productions that I've been on have all had issues with my Avid QTs when I send them after I try to upgrade.  I then have to roll back to 22.2.1 in order to get renders correctly.  Unless I'm missing something in the procedure.  But, I know that the Nuke users on the productions I've worked on don't have this issue.