Neoscene page
Make the .mts files into ProRes
After we're done shooting with the Panasonic GH1 we use the Neoscene
program to turn the MPEG Transfer Stream (.mts) video files into ProRes 422 (SQ) Quicktime movie files which we can edit in Final Cut Pro with. in Neoscene.
We use Neoscene to turn the .mts files into ProRes422 (SQ) Quicktime movie files.
Below are screen grabs with the "Processing" and "Settings" tabs set correctly for our needs.
Here's the steps and settings:
- in the "output" tab make sure the quality is "high"
- then switch over to the "processing" tab and make sure that "pulldown" is turned off, (as the pull-down is already done in the camera (with the hack) we do not need to select "pull-down removal")
- switch back to the "output" tab. Set the "output format" dropdown menu to select ProRes422 (SQ). Note that "SQ" is Neoscene-speak for "standard quality", meaning "regular" ProRes422. Also note that you seemingly have to set the "quality", switch tabs, and then come back to be able to use the dropdown menu in "output". I have no idea why.
Note a couple other things about the settings in the "processing" tab:
- we are using the "fix chroma for GH1" switch
- The "audio gain" is just at "1.00" meaning "do nothing" in Neoscene-speak.
- Finally you can hit the "Convert" button and a window will open for you to select the folder you want the new Quicktime movies placed in. The output is a folder called "pro res files" on the edit drive. Each day goes in its own folder, just like with the camera original files.
The transcode process takes a really long time. Like 10-seconds/frame long time. So if you have an hour of material, it'll take almost 3 hours to do the transcode, even with a fast computer. The transcode is a nice "overnight" job for the computer.
I can't wait until this Neoscene step is obsolete. Allegedly one day new version of Final Cut Pro will read the .mts files directly. That day is not today (May 13, 2011). I'll tell ya, it's fantastically annoying that a Windows machine will read .mts files natively and we have to convert for days on a Mac to use the footage.
Here's a Neoscene screen. Notice that we're set to high quality (you have to set to high quality first, and then wait a bit) and then ProRes SQ is selected.
Here in the Mac Finder you can see the way the ProRes files are set in their own folders for each day of shooting.