AVI versus MOV

[pamagar]

Hey there everyone!

Hope this post finds you well during those strange times that we are immersed in. My name is Pablo and I just joined the community so please receive my salute here to all of you!

My question is pretty basic and straight forward: I'm currently editing a project that I've been filming through the years using MiniDV. At the beginning of it I used to capture the clips on a Windows computer in .avi format. Then I changed and moved on to Mac and started capturing the clips under .mov format. 

My question is: should I do something especial with the .avi / .mov clips to kind of level them? In other words, will the diversity of formats affect the final export clip? 

Thanks in advance!

Regards, 

Pablo

[John V Knowles]

Hi Pablo, and welcome!

Can you still open/import the AVI clips in Premiere? In later versions of MacOS it's not always possible to open AVI files. You don't need to change them BUT for future-proofing if you plan on going back to those DV clips in the future then I would transcode them all to a format like ProRes 422. 

JVK

[pamagar]

Hey! Thanks both for your help. So this happened: I upgraded to the latest version of Adobe Premiere and Adobe doesn't let me import those clips. Now I'm clueless. I've read that I will have to reconvert them to other formats and that's a pain in the ass... I currently have 2 GB of avi footage that I have to work with yes or yes. Re-capturing them and going through all the tapes and. capturing manually is not an option for time purposes. 

Any help? How can I make those files "readable" by Adobe without losing quality? Would be fast to do it?

Thanks!

Regards, 

Pablo

[Michael Grenadier]

the important question is "did you capture with device control?"  If so, you should be able to recapture with frame accuracy .  If not, if your media drive crashes, you'll be s.o.l.   So if you haven't, make sure you have multiple backups.    And apple in all it's wisdom has removed the capacity to capture dv material via firewire in the latest os's.   so if your computer dies and you need to buy a new one, you probaby won't be able to capture from your camera or dv deck via firewire.  forewarned is forearmed..

[Byron Cortez]

Did you tried to transcode them with HandBrake?

[pamagar]

Hey! No, I didn't. Should I? Been following other recommendations posted here (compressing to Apple ProRes). 

[Byron Cortez]

Have it got your clips extremly very good quality or resolution? If not or if you don't going to make multi generations I think that with a good MP4/H.264 you gonna be ok. If you can transcode to Apple ProRes will be fantastic, but if you can't, use HandBrake.

[pamagar]

Hey Byron!

Been using and transcoding them using internal apple tools and converting them to .mov using the Apple ProRes code. The only "bad" thing that I've found is that files are a bit heavy and my computer struggles when previewing them (video gets lagged).

Is this something common?

Thanks so much and hope you are good 🙂

[Michael Grenadier]

Apple's compressor looks like it will covert to prores quicktime at least on my system which is running high sierra.  You'll have to buy compressor but it's a very handy conversion tool and will allow you to customize a preset and batch process files.  You may find prores files to large for your uses.  There are certainly alternatives that will use less drive space (but may put more of a strain on your system)

[pamagar]

Hey there, thanks for getting back to me. Been checking the compression through Mac system. Basically, I'm allowed to compress following this: "Setting" - between 480p, 720p, 1080p, Audio only and Apple ProRes) and "Encode for" - between greater compatibility or high quality. While encoding as Apple ProRes the audio seem to be uncompressed (does this affect to the clips) and the files get lagged when I try to play them with Quicktime (is that normal?). In addition to that and following the initial question; should I do something special adjusting colors and curves or some short of technical thing after the encoding?

And in a more wide way, what would be the best way to encode those files? Handbrake? just using my Apple? I'm clueles... 

Thanks! Hope to hear back from you soon.