Can't read DVCPro HD file from Mac

smhontz wrote on 4/28/2013, 1:22 PM
I was given a file recorded using the QuickTime DVCPro HD codec on a Mac using a Blackmagic Decklink Extreme capture card at 1080i59.94. VLC will play it on my PC, but Vegas 12 doesn't open the video stream. I do get the audio, though.

What am I missing? I can't find any windows DVCPro codecs except for a Raylight one that you have to pay for. Is that the only option?

Comments

rmack350 wrote on 4/29/2013, 12:14 AM
I use the Raylight decoder for DVCPro HD. DVCPro HDis a variant of Panasonic's DV codec and is not the same thing as their AVC codec. Typically, DVCPro HD comes from a tape source rather than a solid state camera, and the file is a .mov file. Is that what you're trying to use in Vegas?

I don't use VLC so I can't say that I've ever seen it play my files.

Rob
smhontz wrote on 4/29/2013, 11:41 AM
The back story is I'm trying to help out a local theater that purchased a 3-camera remote control switching system that feeds to a BlackMagic Decklink Extreme 3d card on a Mac. They got the system, but no one told them how to use it, so I volunteered to try to figure it out (even though I'm a PC person, not really a Mac person).

The default codecs that the Mac could record with were all uncompressed which created huge files. So, I did some research and downloaded some compression codecs on the Mac, which included QuickTime DVCPro HD and ProRes 422. My reading indicated that DVCPro HD was a format readily understood by various NLE platforms (at least on the Mac) so that's what I choose to record with.

Then I found out that format is not understood on the PC, at least by Vegas. I downloaded the Raylight trial and then I was able to open the file in Vegas. So, that was a possibility (at a cost of $49 for the codec).

Ultimately, however, I did a second recording, and choose ProRes 422 HD LT, which both the Mac and the PC (in Vegas) seem to understand without any fiddling. So, that's what I'm going with for now.
rmack350 wrote on 4/29/2013, 3:34 PM
If you have control over it then ProRes is the better choice. DVCProHD is s specific to tape based Panasonic cameras. In some markets this is a very common file type and if you have to read it then the Raylight Decoder is more than worth the money. But ProRes should give you better images since it's not anamorphic, as far as I know.

Rob