Common presets [VC 21.3 GEN]

It is not always straightforward to construct a transcode preset that result in output with the desired format. Here are some guidelines for some of the most common formats.

H.264

The codec element should be set to h264. The default profile is Baseline. This can be overridden using the preset element. The following values are accepted:

baseline
ipod
main
high

There are also AVC-Intra specific profiles, see below.

Example

An MP4 using the Main profile:

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <format>mp4</format>
  <audio>
    <codec>mp3</codec>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>44100</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <channel>0</channel>
    <channel>1</channel>
    <stream>2</stream>
  </audio>
  <video>
    <scaling>
      <width>1280</width>
      <height>720</height>
    </scaling>
    <codec>h264</codec>
    <bitrate>3000000</bitrate>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>25</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <preset>main</preset>
  </video>
</TranscodePresetDocument>

New in version 5.0.

Depending on your license key Vidispine will use the H.264 encoder library from either MainConcept or Nablet. If your license allows for both, the Nablet version will be picked when using the h264 codec tag. You can override this by using the vendor specific codec tags: nablet_h264 and mc_h264.

AVC-Intra

To produce AVC-Intra output, the preset element should be set to intra50 or intra100 depending on desired output. Also add a setting of codecTagString to further specify the variant of AVC-Intra. The possible values are:

ai5p – 50M 720p24/p30/p60
ai5q – 50M 720p25/p50
ai56 – 50M 1080i60
ai55 – 50M 1080i50
ai53 – 50M 1080p24/p30
ai52 – 50M 1080p25
ai1p – 100M 720p24/p30/p60
ai1q – 100M 720p25/p50
ai16 – 100M 1080i60
ai15 – 100M 1080i50
ai13 – 100M 1080p24/p30
ai12 – 100M 1080p25

Example

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <format>mov</format>
  <audio>
    <codec>pcm_s16le</codec>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>48000</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <channel>0</channel>
    <channel>1</channel>
    <stream>2</stream>
  </audio>
  <video>
    <scaling>
      <width>1920</width>
      <height>1080</height>
    </scaling>
    <codec>h264</codec>
    <bitrate>100000000</bitrate>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>25</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <gopSize>0</gopSize>
    <pixelFormat>yuv422p</pixelFormat>
    <preset>intra100</preset>
    <profile>CBR</profile>
    <setting>
      <key>codecTagString</key>
      <value>ai12</value>
    </setting>
  </video>
</TranscodePresetDocument>

ProRes

Set the codec element to prores. The preset element must also be set to one of the following values:

PR422HQ – ProRes HQ
PR422 – ProRes 422
PR422LT – ProRes LT
PR422Proxy – ProRes Proxy
PR4444 – ProRes 4444
PR4444XQ – ProRes 4444 XQ

The ProRes encoder will use the field-order information that Vidispine can read from the input file. In the case that Vidispine has the wrong information, you can override it by adding a setting key-value to the video element in the TranscodePresetDocument. The key should be interlace_flag and value one of:

progressive
top_first
bottom_first

Example

ProRes 422 LT:

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <format>mov</format>
  <audio>
    <codec>pcm_s16le</codec>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>48000</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <channel>0</channel>
    <channel>1</channel>
    <stream>2</stream>
  </audio>
  <video>
    <scaling>
      <width>1920</width>
      <height>1080</height>
    </scaling>
    <codec>prores</codec>
    <bitrate>85000000</bitrate>
    <preset>PR422LT</preset>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>25</denominator>
    </framerate>
  </video>
</TranscodePresetDocument>

With interlace_flag set to top_first:

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <format>mov</format>
  <audio>
    <codec>pcm_s16le</codec>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>48000</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <channel>0</channel>
    <channel>1</channel>
    <stream>2</stream>
  </audio>
  <video>
    <scaling>
      <width>1920</width>
      <height>1080</height>
    </scaling>
    <codec>prores</codec>
    <bitrate>85000000</bitrate>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>25</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <preset>PR422LT</preset>
    <setting>
      <key>interlace_flag</key>
      <value>top_first</value>
    </setting>
  </video>
</TranscodePresetDocument>

XDCAM IMX-30/40/50

The preset element must be set to imx30, imx40 or imx50 depending on desired output. Also, a setting must be added specifying codecTagString. Accepted values are:

mx5p – IMX-50
mx4p – IMX-40
mx3p – IMX-30

NTSC

To get NTSC output, there are a few changes that need to be made.

The framerate should have a numerator of 1001 and a denominator of 30000.
The scaling element should have a height of 518.
Exchange the last letter of the codedTagString from p to n (i.e. mx5p to mx5n)

Example

IMX-50:

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <format>mxf_d10</format>
  <audio>
    <codec>pcm_s24le</codec>
    <channel>0</channel>
    <channel>1</channel>
    <channel>2</channel>
    <channel>3</channel>
    <stream>4</stream>
  </audio>
  <video>
    <scaling>
      <width>720</width>
      <height>608</height>
      <top>-32</top>
    </scaling>
    <codec>mpeg2video</codec>
    <bitrate>50000000</bitrate>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>25</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <displayWidth>
      <numerator>720</numerator>
      <denominator>1</denominator>
    </displayWidth>
    <displayHeight>
      <numerator>576</numerator>
      <denominator>1</denominator>
    </displayHeight>
    <displayXOffset>
      <numerator>0</numerator>
      <denominator>1</denominator>
    </displayXOffset>
    <displayYOffset>
      <numerator>32</numerator>
      <denominator>1</denominator>
    </displayYOffset>
    <containerSAR>
      <horizontal>64</horizontal>
      <vertical>45</vertical>
    </containerSAR>
    <gopSize>0</gopSize>
    <pixelFormat>yuv422p</pixelFormat>
    <preset>imx50</preset>
    <setting>
      <key>codecTagString</key>
      <value>mx5p</value>
    </setting>
  </video>
</TranscodePresetDocument>

XDCAM HD422

The format element must be set to mxf_ffmpeg. There are also some settings that must be added, see example below. The codecTagString setting should be one of the following values:

xd54 – 720p24 50Mb/s CBR
xd55 – 720p25 50Mb/s CBR
xd59 – 720p60 50Mb/s CBR
xd5a – 720p50 50Mb/s CBR
xd5b – 1080i60 50Mb/s CBR
xd5c – 1080i50 50Mb/s CBR
xd5d – 1080p24 50Mb/s CBR
xd5e – 1080p25 50Mb/s CBR
xd5f – 1080p30 50Mb/s CBR

NTSC

To get NTSC output, set the framerate to have a numerator of 1001 and a denominator of 30000, and use the appropriate codecTagString from the list above.

Example

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <format>mxf_ffmpeg</format>
  <audio>
    <codec>pcm_s24le</codec>
    <channel>0</channel>
    <channel>1</channel>
    <channel>2</channel>
    <channel>3</channel>
    <stream>1</stream>
    <stream>1</stream>
    <stream>1</stream>
    <stream>1</stream>
  </audio>
  <video>
    <scaling>
      <width>1920</width>
      <height>1080</height>
    </scaling>
    <codec>mpeg2video</codec>
    <bitrate>50000000</bitrate>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>25</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <pixelFormat>yuv422p</pixelFormat>
    <setting>
      <key>flags</key>
      <value>+ildct+ilme</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>top</key>
      <value>1</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>dc</key>
      <value>10</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>qmin</key>
      <value>1</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>lmin</key>
      <value>1*QP2LAMBDA</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>rc_max_vbv_use</key>
      <value>1</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>rc_min_vbv_use</key>
      <value>1</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>minrate</key>
      <value>50000k</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>maxrate</key>
      <value>50000k</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>bufsize</key>
      <value>36408333</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>bf</key>
      <value>2</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>codecTagString</key>
      <value>xd5c</value>
    </setting>
  </video>
</TranscodePresetDocument>

New in version 5.0.

Depending on your license key Vidispine will use the XDCamHD encoder library from either MainConcept or Nablet. If your license allows for both, the Nablet version will be picked when using the mpeg2video codec tag. You can override this by using the vendor specific codec tags: nablet_mpeg2video and mc_mpeg2video.

Valid preset tags to use in the shape-tags are, final XDCamHD profile will be determined of input framerate:

xdcam_ex_1920
xdcam_ex_1440
xdcam_ex_1280
xdcam_hd_420_1440
xdcam_hd_420_1280
xdcam_hd_422_1920
xdcam_hd_422_1280

DV

For DVCAM, DVCPRO and DVCPRO50, codec should be set to dvvideo, for DVCPRO HD, it should be dv_100. To get 16x9 aspect ratio, targetDAR must be set (see example below). The value of pixelFormat determines whether the output will be DV, DVCPRO or DVCPRO50.

Pixel format	Output
`yuv420p`	DVCAM
`yuv411p`	DVCPRO
`yuv422p`	DVCPRO50

NTSC

To get NTSC output the following changes should be made.

The framerate should have a numerator of 1001 and a denominator of 30000.
The scaling should have a height of 480.
codecTagString should have a value of dvpn.

Example

16x9 DVCPRO:

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <format>avi</format>
  <audio>
    <codec>pcm_s16le</codec>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>48000</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <channel>0</channel>
    <channel>1</channel>
    <stream>2</stream>
  </audio>
  <video>
    <scaling>
      <width>720</width>
      <height>576</height>
      <targetDAR>
        <horizontal>16</horizontal>
        <vertical>9</vertical>
      </targetDAR>
    </scaling>
    <codec>dvvideo</codec>
    <bitrate>25000000</bitrate>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>25</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <gopSize>0</gopSize>
    <pixelFormat>yuv411p</pixelFormat>
    <profile>CBR</profile>
    <setting>
      <key>codecTagString</key>
      <value>dvpp</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>dtsmode</key>
      <value>pts</value>
    </setting>
  </video>
</TranscodePresetDocument>

DNxHD

The codec should be set to dnxhd.

Avid DNxHR/DNxHD

In version 4.13, the MainConcept codec is available for DNxHD encoding. Set codec to mc_vc3. Set the preset element to one of the following values.

preset	width	height	interlace_flag	quality	Avid profile	Id
`VC3_SQ_720p_TR`	960	720	progressive	medium	Avid DNxHD 100	1258
`VC3_SQ_720p`	1280	720	progressive	medium	Avid DNxHD 145	1252
`VC3_HQ_720p`	1280	720	progressive	high	Avid DNxHD 220	1251
`VC3_HQX_720p`	1280	720	progressive	high extended	Avid DNxHD 220x	1250
`VC3_LB_1080p`	1920	1080	progressive	low	Avid DNxHD 36	1253
`VC3_SQ_1080p_TR`	1440	1080	progressive	medium	Avid DNxHD 100	1259
`VC3_SQ_1080p`	1920	1080	progressive	medium	Avid DNxHD 145	1237
`VC3_HQ_1080p`	1920	1080	progressive	high	Avid DNxHD 220	1238
`VC3_HQX_1080p`	1920	1080	progressive	high extended	Avid DNxHD 220x	1236
`VC3_444_1080p`	1920	1080	progressive	RGB 4:4:4	Avid DNxHD 444	1256
`VC3_SQ_1080i_TR`	1440	1080	top_first	medium	Avid DNxHD 100	1243
`VC3_SQ_1080i`	1920	1080	top_first	medium	Avid DNxHD 145	1244
`VC3_HQ_1080i`	1920	1080	top_first	high	Avid DNxHD 220	1242
`VC3_HQX_1080i`	1920	1080	top_first	high extended	Avid DNxHD 220x	1241
`VC3_HQ_DCI_2K`	2048	1080	progressive	high		1272
`VC3_HQX_DCI_2K`	2048	1080	progressive	high extended		1271
`VC3_444_DCI_2K`	2048	1080	progressive	RGB 4:4:4		1270
`VC3_HQ_DCI_4K`	4096	2160	progressive	high		1272
`VC3_HQX_DCI_4K`	4096	2160	progressive	high extended		1271
`VC3_444_DCI_4K`	4096	2160	progressive	RGB 4:4:4		1270
`VC3_LB`	any	any	progressive	low	Avid DNxHR LB	1274
`VC3_SQ`	any	any	progressive	medium	Avid DNxHR SQ	1273
`VC3_HQ`	any	any	progressive	high	Avid DNxHR HQ	1272
`VC3_HQX`	any	any	progressive	high extended	Avid DNxHR HQX	1271
`VC3_444`	any	any	progressive	RGB 4:4:4	Avid DNxHR 444	1270

Example:

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument>
  <format>mxf</format>
  <audio>
      ...
  </audio>
  <video>
    <codec>mc_vc3</codec>
    <preset>VC3_HQ_1080p</preset>
    <setting>
        <key>interlace_flag</key>
        <value>progressive</value>
    </setting>
    <scaling>
        <width>1920</width>
        <height>1080</height>
    </scaling>
  </video>
</TranscodePresetDocument>

RED

Vidispine support RED as an input format so there is no special shape-tag settings that needs to be made. However, there are a few limitations and things to keep in mind.

Local file access

The transcoder needs to be able to read the RED file locally. Transcoder and Middleware needs to be running at the same machine.

Choosing an appropriate quality

Demuxing of RED material is a very computational demanding task. Normal RED footage has a resolution of 4K or 5K. Decoding such a frame in full resolution and quality is sometimes a bit overkill. That is, when creating a lowres file in 640x360 resolution you can save a lot of time by decoding the RED footage in a lower resolution.

You can specify what decoding/demuxing quality the transcoder should use by setting the demuxerSetting element in your shape-tag:

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <format>mp4</format>
  <audio>
      ...
  </audio>
  <video>
    ...
  </video>
  <demuxerSetting>
    <key>r3d_demuxer_quality</key>
    <value>full_premium</value>
  </demuxerSetting>
</TranscodePresetDocument>

Valid values for r3d_demuxer_quality is:

full_premium - Full resolution and the best quality
half_premium - Half of the width and height of the original resolution and the best quality
half_good - Half of the width and height of the original resolution with good quality
quarter_good - Quarter of the width and height of the original resolution with good quality
eight_good - An eight of the width and height of the original resolution with good quality
sixteenth_good - A sixteenth of the width and height of the original resolution with good quality

Multi-file RED clips

In case of multi-file RED clip the naming of the clips will be crucial. They should already be named (which they are as default):

PYTHON

<filename><index>.R3D

To preserve the filename of a RED file you can add a filename script to the storage where the RED files will be imported. For example:

NONE

PUT /API/storage/<storage-id>/metadata/filenameScript HTTP/1.1
Content-Type:text/plain

if (context.getExtension() != null && (context.getExtension() == "R3D" || context.getExtension() == "r3d"))
    "VX-" + context.getOriginalFilename();
else
    context.getFileId() + "." + context.getExtension();

Then you need to import the clips into an placeholder, this way there will only be one transcoded file instead of X (X being the number of clips). For example:

NONE

POST /API/import/placeholder?container=0&video=2
Content-Type: application/xml

<MetadataDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <timespan start="-INF" end="+INF">
    <field>
      <name>title</name>
      <value>My placeholder for RED files</value>
    </field>
  </timespan>
</MetadataDocument>

NONE

POST /API/import/placeholder/<placeholder-id>/video?uri=file:/REDTEST_001.R3D&tag=mp4
Content-Type: application/xml

<MetadataDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <timespan start="-INF" end="+INF">
  </timespan>
</MetadataDocument>

NONE

POST /API/import/placeholder/<placeholder-id>/video?uri=file:/REDTEST_002.R3D&tag=mp4
Content-Type: application/xml

MetadataDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <timespan start="-INF" end="+INF">
  </timespan>
</MetadataDocument>

AAC using Nablet

New in version 5.0.

The codec element should be set to nablet_aac and the encoder has support for up to 8 channels. The default profile is Low Complexity (LC). This can be overridden using the settings element with key AAC_PROFILE. The following values are accepted:

AAC_MAIN
AAC_LC
AAC_SSR
AAC_LTP

The stereo mode can be set using the settings element with the key AAC_STEREO_MODE. The following values are accepted, default is: AAC_LR_STEREO:

AAC_MONO
AAC_LR_STEREO
AAC_MS_STEREO
AAC_JOINT_STEREO

Depending on how you want to mux the output stream you can use two different output formats. The default is ADIF, which normally is used for MP4/MOV muxing. For MPEG transport stream muxing it is preferred to use the ADTS format. Use the settings element with the key AAC_OUTPUT_FORMAT. The following values are accepted:

AF_ADIF
AF_ADTS

Example

An MP4 using the Main profile:

HTML/XML

<TranscodePresetDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <format>mp4</format>
  <audio>
    <codec>nablet_aac</codec>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>44100</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <channel>0</channel>
    <channel>1</channel>
    <stream>2</stream>
    <setting>
      <key>AAC_OUTPUT_FORMAT</key>
      <value>AF_ADIF</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>AAC_PROFILE</key>
      <value>AAC_MAIN</value>
    </setting>
    <setting>
      <key>AAC_STEREO_MODE</key>
      <value>AAC_JOINT_STEREO</value>
    </setting>
  </audio>
  <video>
    <scaling>
      <width>1280</width>
      <height>720</height>
    </scaling>
    <codec>h264</codec>
    <bitrate>3000000</bitrate>
    <framerate>
      <numerator>1</numerator>
      <denominator>25</denominator>
    </framerate>
    <preset>main</preset>
  </video>
</TranscodePresetDocument>