Codec for Fast Hard Drives

[Strikermed]

Forgive me if this is in the wrong place, but I thought it was most relevant.

 

I'm hoping that someone can point me in the right direction for a good codec that utilizes fast hard disks (1 - 2 gigabyte per second read and write speeds) that I can use with 4k footage that is at at least 12bit color and has 422 and 444 flavors and the option to include alpha.  Ideally this codec would provide good timeline performance and not tax the processor nearly as much.

 

I'm running windows 10 on my editing PC, and I have a intel i7 3930k which has 6 cores (12 hyperthreaded).  I've been doing tons of research and tests, but I haven't been able to find a codec that doesn't drop frames in Adobe premiere pro.  I've tested every flavor of DNxHR and even DNxHD, I've tried every flavor under quicktime including Cineform.  Cineform has everything I want but it taxes the CPU like crazy with 4K footage (I'm not quite sure how Linus's team edits with it using so much CPU power).  I've tried uncompressed AVI (which can't support 4k for some reason) and I've tried quicktime uncompressed.  I'm looking for a codec that will utilized my server's disk speeds and 10gigabit connection.  I have all this horsepower, but everything that is compressed tends to tax my cpu too much.

 

Client PC:

Intel i7 3930K

DDR3 32GB RAM

512GB Samsung 840 Pro for OS

WD ssd for cache files (going to update soon due to SATA 2)

Sabertooth x79 motherboard

Windows 10

Intel 540 10GbE Network card

EVGA GTX 1080 SC

GTX750TI (used for physex)

 

Server:

Windows 10

intel i7 3930K

p9x79 motherboard

DDR 32GB RAM

960GB Sandisk SSD (For OS)

LSI 9266- 8i RAID card

Intel RAID expander

5 6TB WD Black in RAID 6 (Media Backup)

4 2TB WD Black in RAID 5 (Currently used for random use.  Backs up RAID 6 at times, can be used for projects, etc.)

4 512/480 GB Samsung 850pro & Crucial m100/200 SSD respectively.  (This is a new test platform for my working drive.  Projects are backed up daily on my RAID 6 array.  Provides 2GB/s read and 1.5GB/s write)

intel 540 10GbE network card

 

 

My plan is to set up a proper SSD RAID once I find a proper workflow.  Currently I can't find anything that will utilize my disk drives more than my CPU.  I have seen as high as 200MB/s usage, and at the same time I either see 100 cpu usage for compressed codecs like cineform or I see like 40% on other codecs, but I still see dropped frames.  I really don't know what I'm doing wrong here.  If someone could please provide me with a solid workflow, and how they are encoding media that would be great.  I've watched Linus's videos and they are great, but they really don't break the knitty gritty stuff down that would help me trouble shoot the issues I'm seeing. 

 

I'm also curious how everyone is setting up their sequence settings.  Previews in particular.  Are you using particular codecs for your preview files, is there something I should know more about other than choosing a fast drive for your preview files and exports?

 

Oh and before everyone screams about Prores please consider I'm on a windows platform so I can't encode in Prores, so that option is out.  The only mac item I have is a mac book pro which is going to my wife very soon, and is definitely not suitable for mass encoding quickly.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[skimmilk5]

If you're really confident of the read speeds, then I would probably use the older GoPro CineForm (it's baked into Adobe Media Encoder), but if you're not too confident, then one of the most efficient is the H.264 codec, but the problem with H.264 and even the newer H.265 is that it compresses like crazy (which is okay if you're posting to the YouTube with game streams and the like, but terrible for feature films and similar high-end film).

My personal workflow for web content (where the gritty details don't really matter): copy raw files to a raw folder, then encode to H.264 in AME, then edit, then export to H.264 in AME and upload.

My personal workflow for bit-rate sensitive content: copy raw files to raw folder, encode to Cineform, edit in Premiere Pro (the key factor is to constantly render after a drastic change like rate adjust), export to H.264 in AME and distribute.

I'm fairly familiar with these concepts, so if you have any questions, or I'm not very clear (which is entirely possible ;)) please ask me.

[skimmilk5]

And in regards to your other question about previews, I don't use particular codecs for this (other than the initial encode), and typically like to preview in low-bitrate H.264 (NOT H.265), and I typically find that storage isn't the bottleneck; it's CPU power. GPUs are natively terrible at encoding tasks (although we all wish that they were great for this)...

[Strikermed]

6 minutes ago, kimsejin5 said:

If you're really confident of the read speeds, then I would probably use the older GoPro CineForm (it's baked into Adobe Media Encoder), but if you're not too confident, then one of the most efficient is the H.264 codec, but the problem with H.264 and even the newer H.265 is that it compresses like crazy (which is okay if you're posting to the YouTube with game streams and the like, but terrible for feature films and similar high-end film).

My personal workflow for web content (where the gritty details don't really matter): copy raw files to a raw folder, then encode to H.264 in AME, then edit, then export to H.264 in AME and upload.

My personal workflow for bit-rate sensitive content: copy raw files to raw folder, encode to Cineform, edit in Premiere Pro (the key factor is to constantly render after a drastic change like rate adjust), export to H.264 in AME and distribute.

I'm fairly familiar with these concepts, so if you have any questions, or I'm not very clear (which is entirely possible ;)) please ask me.

Hi Kimsejin5, thanks for the reply!

 

Could you help me out with a link to the older cineform codec?  I've done some downloading from the gopro cineform website.  I've installed things like gopro studio, and also installed the cineform codec from the cineform.com website.  I guess with gopro acquiring cineform they really haven't made the website super friendly to find what you need.

 

I'm very confident with my drive speeds as I've done frivolous testing to ensure I have not only the raw speeds, but transfer speeds locally and atleast 1GB/s speeds over the network. 

 

I think my biggest issues is ensuring I have the proper workflow with cineform.  It just seems to run my CPU at 100% when playing 4K 59.94 footage.  It works better than XAVC-I from my Sony FS7, but not entirely better.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Strikermed

[skimmilk5]

Keep in mind that CineForm has been retired by GoPro...

I'll post some pictures of AME and the associated settings.

[Strikermed]

Just now, kimsejin5 said:

Keep in mind that CineForm has been retired by GoPro...

I'll post some pictures of AME and the associated settings.

That would be great.  Hmmm, I thought Cineform just became a broadcasting standard.  What's happening with it now?  Do you know if it will continue to be updated?

 

Thanks!

[skimmilk5]

Please note, I am on OS X right now (trying to get a Windows license)...most everything should be applicable though. In the first photo, that just shows the CineForm codec I have developed for my use; everything may not be applicable to you. In the second one, you can probably use the CineForm RGB 12-bit Quicktime (and I know, you're gonna scream at me "but I can't do QuickTime"). For QuickTime, download the player from Apple and it should also insert that compatibility into Premiere and AME, if that isn't there already.

[skimmilk5]

10 minutes ago, Strikermed said:

That would be great.  Hmmm, I thought Cineform just became a broadcasting standard.  What's happening with it now?  Do you know if it will continue to be updated?

 

Thanks!

GoPro and the CineForm dev team will no longer support or actively develop the codec, so it's stuck where it's at (which is already pretty stable). One thing (and I'm not sure how you have this set up) is to make sure to encode fully as CineForm QuickTime, then import that ENCODED file into Premiere. It is gaining foothold in the broadcast industry, and hopefully (crossing fingers here), GoPro or the dev team will pick CineForm back up and actively support it again, although I wouldn't hold my breath...

 

I think one of the reasons (and don't quote me on this) that it's gaining foothold is because the technology has advanced to the point where high-bitrate content is now becoming available to the masses; people are realizing that resolution is just a number, and they want good looking 1080p or 4K, not shoddy looking, low-bitrate 4K or 6K. CineForm is one of those special codecs that can deliver such an image while maintaining a remotely small size (I mean, we're not talking RAW sizes here, but it's still significantly smaller)

[skimmilk5]

Also, since you did post that you use the Sony FS7 (nice!), then I do have the H.264 codec for full 4K. You'll have to import it into AME to use it, but it's there.

H.264 29.97FPS 4K.epr

 

ALSO, also, XAVC-I is just not a very good codec IMHO, although YMMV. I personally also hate AVCHD, and I always break those files apart in AME after I finish a shoot on an AVCHD recording camera.

[Strikermed]

2 minutes ago, kimsejin5 said:

GoPro and the CineForm dev team will no longer support or actively develop the codec, so it's stuck where it's at (which is already pretty stable). One thing (and I'm not sure how you have this set up) is to make sure to encode fully as CineForm QuickTime, then import that ENCODED file into Premiere. It is gaining foothold in the broadcast industry, and hopefully (crossing fingers here), GoPro or the dev team will pick CineForm back up and actively support it again, although I wouldn't hold my breath...

1 minute ago, kimsejin5 said:

GoPro and the CineForm dev team will no longer support or actively develop the codec, so it's stuck where it's at (which is already pretty stable). One thing (and I'm not sure how you have this set up) is to make sure to encode fully as CineForm QuickTime, then import that ENCODED file into Premiere. It is gaining foothold in the broadcast industry, and hopefully (crossing fingers here), GoPro or the dev team will pick CineForm back up and actively support it again, although I wouldn't hold my breath...

Right, so I have the same options available.  So I have the proper codec installed and proper options. I've tested all those formats and they tax the CPU pretty heavily at 4K 59.94.  I also tested at 29.97 to see if I would get a decrease, and I got similar results. 

 

To give you an idea on how my testing these files, here is my workflow:

 

I've taken 3-4 clips and dropped them on a timeline by dragging them to the new sequence button.  This way sequence settings are automatically set.  I then export them using the process you explained above.  I then add them to the render queue.  I do several different settings naming each file with the different settings applied.  When I import the newly exported files I do the same process adding each individually to a new sequence via the button so the settings are applied automatically.  I then test the srubbing ability and then let the clip play out.  There are a few options that just drop a few frames like 5 - 6, and then there are some (usually the higher bit depth files) that drop 200 and above frames.

 

Any thoughts on this?

[skimmilk5]

So just to clarify, we're essentially taking the raw camera file, encoding it into CineForm, importing to Premiere and trying to play back, and this is where we're running into some sort of bottleneck, when we try to playback the CineForm files in Premiere...

 

[edit]

I do know that encoding in CineForm is difficult...the encode takes a while, but I haven't seen much problem in Premiere. There are some "nice" codecs that I found that play well with Premiere; H.264 and CineForm are two such codecs. You might want to just try a raw encode straight to Premiere, then scrub through the timeline to see if she complains.

 

I have to go now, but I'll try to check up on this post thread later if you have any new info. Hope I helped...

Edited September 7, 2016 by kimsejin5

[Strikermed]

2 hours ago, kimsejin5 said:

So just to clarify, we're essentially taking the raw camera file, encoding it into CineForm, importing to Premiere and trying to play back, and this is where we're running into some sort of bottleneck, when we try to playback the CineForm files in Premiere...

 

[edit]

I do know that encoding in CineForm is difficult...the encode takes a while, but I haven't seen much problem in Premiere. There are some "nice" codecs that I found that play well with Premiere; H.264 and CineForm are two such codecs. You might want to just try a raw encode straight to Premiere, then scrub through the timeline to see if she complains.

 

I have to go now, but I'll try to check up on this post thread later if you have any new info. Hope I helped...

Yes, I'll give raw encoding a try and see if I get better results.  Thanks for the help!  I'll report back with my findings.

[skimmilk5]

5 hours ago, Strikermed said:

Yes, I'll give raw encoding a try and see if I get better results.  Thanks for the help!  I'll report back with my findings.

I also want to clarify (if this wasn't clear) that we're using CineForm as a mezzanine codec, but the final export will be in something more attainable to the typical content consumer, as CineForm is intensive to view, and I'm not expecting everyone to have Core i5s and Core i7s in their systems, so the final export will typically be to H.264 (and besides, it's what YouTube, Vessel, Vimeo and any other web streaming site will support).

[ALwin]

Ok, tell me if I'm wrong.  You want a NLE like Premiere to rely on the performance of the drives and network speeds instead of the CPU to decode the video files when playing/previewing them?

 

I don't know about you but I have a setup where I can play back 4K 10-bit 422 files just fine when editing.  I'll write down my setup below...

 

RAID NAS on a single 1gb connection:

Synology 12-bay box with 6TB WD Red drives.

 

Workstation:

i7 4790k

32gb

SSD for OS and applications

Titan X and Quadro M4000

[Strikermed]

19 hours ago, ALwin said:

Ok, tell me if I'm wrong.  You want a NLE like Premiere to rely on the performance of the drives and network speeds instead of the CPU to decode the video files when playing/previewing them?

 

I don't know about you but I have a setup where I can play back 4K 10-bit 422 files just fine when editing.  I'll write down my setup below...

 

RAID NAS on a single 1gb connection:

Synology 12-bay box with 6TB WD Red drives.

 

Workstation:

i7 4790k

32gb

SSD for OS and applications

Titan X and Quadro M4000

You have nailed it on the head.  I want to be able to use high end codecs or even uncompressed content with a high color depth (12 bit 444 ideally) and edit fluidly on a timeline.

 

It's awesome you can edit with 4k 10bit content.  What codec are you using?  Are you editing in full resolution?  And are you editing with a mezzanine codec or are you editing with your RAW footage?

 

My issue is I have 4K XAVC-I footage shot at 12bit 59.94 frames per second.  I've transcoded this footage to a large number of formats.  I came to the conclusion that Quicktime Cineform or DNxHD/DNxHR are my best two options with the available codecs I have and know about.  I've found that I can work with the following settings without dropping frames or get stuttery playback:

Cineform RGB 12 Bit w/alpha 1080p 29.97

Cineform YUV 10 bit 1080 29.97

DNxHR HQX 4K 29.97

DNxHR HQ 4K 29.97

DNxHQX 1080 29.97

DNX RGB 444 1080 29.97

DNxHQX 1080 59.94

CDNG (tested via magic lantern RAW footage 24p 1080, scrubbing is impossible on the timeline though.  you need to move the playhead and hit play to get a preview of the playhead position)

 

I'm curious if you have any dropped frames, stuttery playback or issues with responsiveness on your timeline.  My main issue with my RAW 4k Footage is that it seems like my system can't handle 59.94 data rates.  It seems that currently my processor is the bottleneck in most situations, although I have a pretty beefy processor on the consumer side right now.  I would really like to take advantage of my disk speeds as I have the throughput to do so.  I just can't find a codec that will actually use more than 2 gigabits of my pipe.  Even then, my processor still maxes out at times, or I have dropped frames and choppy playback for reasons I can't come to the conclusion over.  The CPU would be at like 40% and I would have less than a gigabit of network usage at the time and I would get stuttery playback and dropped frames.  I know my SSD RAID array is supplying constant performance, so I don't know what other factor there is that would cause this issue.  It should work, I'm just not seeing it happen.

[ALwin]

1 hour ago, Strikermed said:

It's awesome you can edit with 4k 10bit content.  What codec are you using?  Are you editing in full resolution?  And are you editing with a mezzanine codec or are you editing with your RAW footage?

I'm working with the original files that come straight out of the camera, XAVC-I with a bit rate of around 500-600 Mbps at full resolution.  Obviously the CPU usage on my setup goes up to around 70% but this is a given as the CPU has to be doing the work.

 

Which version of Premiere do you have?

[imaginfinity]

I think expecting to playback 4K footage at 59.94 fps, regardless of the flavor of lossless codec, at full resolution is a tall order. 

 

We've got a 3930k rig very similar to your server config and recently added a new workstation with a Xeon E5-2687w with 64 gigs of ram and a local 3 SSD Raid 0 for staging media. We work with 4K and 5.4K cineform files at 59.94 fps and while we can't playback at full resolution on either machine, both machines do an equally great job playing back those beefy cineforms at 1/2 and 1/4 resolution without dropping frames in Premiere CC 2015.

 

Perhaps consider why you need to work in full res 4K? Even 1/4 you'd be at 1080p, allowing you to meaningfully edit. Also consider that even if you did get full res 4K going at 59.94fps, after adding a few layers of effects and grading on top, you'd probably need to down res to maintain playback performance. 

[Evanair]

One thing I've noticed, other than a basic brushover on the topic, is your CPU usage on file transfer outside of Premeire. Linus did multiple videos on 10Gb Ethernet, discussing the pros (speed) and cons (massive CPU usage along with lots of network tweaks required on all connected systems and switched).  What does your network look like transferring files between systems?  How do your systems manage large packets?  Are you using a commercial switch or a consumer switch or are you patched directly?

 

Seeing as you're using Windows, your issue could be far more complex than just a Codec. 
 

 

[Strikermed]

7 hours ago, ALwin said:

I'm working with the original files that come straight out of the camera, XAVC-I with a bit rate of around 500-600 Mbps at full resolution.  Obviously the CPU usage on my setup goes up to around 70% but this is a given as the CPU has to be doing the work.

 

Which version of Premiere do you have?

I have the latest version of CC.  I keep it up to date when new releases come out, hoping to benefit from the latest efficiency improvements. 

 

Are you using 29.97 frame rates, and have you tested 59.94 frame rates?  When I slow the XAVC-I footage down to 50% (59.94 fps footage) I get good playback.  I'm considered that my system is just good enough for 29.97fps 4k footage, and 59.94 can only be achieved via upgrades.

[ALwin]

Just now, Strikermed said:

I have the latest version of CC.  I keep it up to date when new releases come out, hoping to benefit from the latest efficiency improvements. 

 

Are you using 29.97 frame rates, and have you tested 59.94 frame rates?  When I slow the XAVC-I footage down to 50% (59.94 fps footage) I get good playback.  I'm considered that my system is just good enough for 29.97fps 4k footage, and 59.94 can only be achieved via upgrades.

I film from 23.97 to 60fps videos and all of them play smoothly.

[Strikermed]

4 hours ago, imaginfinity said:

I think expecting to playback 4K footage at 59.94 fps, regardless of the flavor of lossless codec, at full resolution is a tall order. 

 

We've got a 3930k rig very similar to your server config and recently added a new workstation with a Xeon E5-2687w with 64 gigs of ram and a local 3 SSD Raid 0 for staging media. We work with 4K and 5.4K cineform files at 59.94 fps and while we can't playback at full resolution on either machine, both machines do an equally great job playing back those beefy cineforms at 1/2 and 1/4 resolution without dropping frames in Premiere CC 2015.

 

Perhaps consider why you need to work in full res 4K? Even 1/4 you'd be at 1080p, allowing you to meaningfully edit. Also consider that even if you did get full res 4K going at 59.94fps, after adding a few layers of effects and grading on top, you'd probably need to down res to maintain playback performance. 

Reasons for wanting to edit at full res - flexibility to see changes in full res without rendering.  The other reason, and funny enough the more important one for me, my boss likes to view the content and asks for changes immediately.  Many times this leads me to have to play in full res.  The other issue is when using the full,1/2,1/4, etc resolution drop down menu is that the video quality drops and to my boss that bothers him more than stuttery playback.

 

It's interesting though, I haven't done extensive testing using the different resolution options.  I'll work with that and see if I can get acceptable quality and playback with 1/2 and 1/4.

 

Thanks for your experience on this!

 

 

[Strikermed]

30 minutes ago, Evanair said:

One thing I've noticed, other than a basic brushover on the topic, is your CPU usage on file transfer outside of Premeire. Linus did multiple videos on 10Gb Ethernet, discussing the pros (speed) and cons (massive CPU usage along with lots of network tweaks required on all connected systems and switched).  What does your network look like transferring files between systems?  How do your systems manage large packets?  Are you using a commercial switch or a consumer switch or are you patched directly?

 

Seeing as you're using Windows, your issue could be far more complex than just a Codec. 
 

 

Hey thanks for your input.  I actually closely follow linus's builds for 10GbE. 

 

I'm using windows 10 which has SMB3 shares.

 

I'm connected directly to my server via intel x540 network cards. 

 

When I transfer RAM drive to RAM drive I get the full 10gigabit speeds.  Using my RAID 6 array I get plus and minus 540-580MB/s.  Using RAID 0 SSD array I get around 1GB/s

 

So I have the throughput.  It's interesting that you say 10GbE is processor intensive.  I can run tests on the server with Adobe and see if I get better performance.  This would avoice using 10GbE.  If I see better results, I'll be a little upset.  At this point I only have one client, but potentially I have more in the future.  I also like that I can run processes like back ups on the server PC without it bogging down my client PC.

 

I'll get back to you on my results in the next coming days.

[Strikermed]

Ok, so I've finally got around to testing the different flavors of cineform and DNxHD and DNxHR.  

 

My tests included using a 10GbE connection with a RAID0 array of 4 SSD's (2xSamsung 850 pro and 2xcrucial m100/m200) with 2GB/s throughput (limited to 1GB/s via 10gigabit ethernet).

 

My workstation:

intel i7 3930K

Asus Sabertooth x79 motherboard

32GB RAM

EVGA 1080 SC

EVGA 750ti

Samsung 840 Pro 512GB for OS

10 gigabit Ethernet NIC

 

Test Prcedure:

Encoded a single 59 second clip into each flavor of the codecs below.  I tested each clip in their own sequence and played it from beginning to end.  I recorded the dropped frames in each resolution setting.

 

In 4K:

FS7 Native 4k footage - XAVC-I 59.94 - doesn't play without dropping frames at all levels of resolution.  Even at 29.97 I get dropped frames in 1/4 resolution.

 

DNxHR RGB 10bit 444 4K 29.97 - I got workable playback but frames dropping at 1/4 resolution (I would use this only if I truly need 10bit 444 color space)

 

DNxHR HQX 10bit 4K 29.97 - I ran at full resolution and got no drop frames.  This looks like my codec.  Unfortunately it doesn't have good scrubbing performance.

 

DNxHR HQX 10bit 4K 59.94 - This ran at full resolution dropping a lot of frames.  At 1/2 resolution and 1/4 I got no drop frames

 

DNxHR HQ 8bit 4k 29.97 - I got no drop frames at Full Resolution

 

DNxHR HQ 8bit 4K 59.94 - at Full res I dropped 313 frames and at 1/2 res I got 2 dropped frames

 

DNxHR HQ 4K 29.97 - I got no dropped frames at full resolution

 

Cineform YUV 10bit 4K 59.94 - I got a lot of droppe dframes at full resoltuion and 1/2.  I got no dropped frames at 1/4.  Not ideal for video editing for me.

 

Cineform YUV 10bit 4K 29.94 - I got over 400 dropped frames and no dropped frames at 1/2 resolution

 

Cineform RGB 12bit with alpha 4K 59.94 - Terrible performance all the way down to 1/8 resolution

 

Cineform RGB 12bit with alpha 4K 29.97 - I got no dropped frames at 1/8.  Ideally this would be ideal for my XAVC-I footage as it's 12bit, but this just doesn't cut it for performance.

 

 

In HD:

DNX RGB 444 10bit 1080p 29.97 - Full res had no dropped frames

 

DNX HQX 10bit 1080p 59.94 - Full res had no dropped frames

 

DNX HQX 10bit 1080p 29.97 - Full resolution had no dropped frames

 

Cineform YUV 10bit 1080p 29.97 - Full res I got no dropped frames

 

Cineform YUV 10bit 1080p 59.94 - At full res I had about 105 dropped frames and 1/2 res I had no dropped frames

 

Cineform RGB 12bit with alpha 1080p 59.94 - At full resoltuion I got almost 800 dropped frames, and at 1/2 res I got 6 dropped frames, and at 1/4 I got no dropped frames

 

Cineform RGB 12bit with alpha 1080p 29.97 - At full resoltuion I have 31 dropped frames, and at 1/2 res I had no dropped frames.

 

 

Conclusion:

I can work with several options that will allow for fluid playback.  In most cases using a frame rate of 59.94 is mostly impossible with my equipment.  The frame rate essentially doubles the bit rate and the need to decode compressed footage twice as fast.  I'll continue testing with my RAID 6 array to test playback and latency issues.  

 

DNxHR RGB 10bit 444 4K 29.97 - only if I need 444 color space.  It's more than likely not going to be used unless for rare cases.

 

DNxHR HQX 10bit 4K 29.97 - This will most likely be my main codec after further testing using multiple streams

 

DNxHR HQ 8bit 4K 59.94 - I'll use this only if I have 4k footage at 59.94 frame rate

 

DNxHR HQ 8bit 4K 29.97 - This is the codec I'll use for 8bit content

 

DNX RGB 10bit 444 1080p 29.97 - I'll use this for when I need to edit 12bit footage.  In fact I'll most likely use this for all my fs7 footage.  My station doesn't need 4k footage as they air in 720p, but it would be nice to have a full HD version to work with.  This will be my primary codec for this.

 

DNX HQX 10bit 1080p 59.94 - As above, if I need slow motion or need to deliver in 59.94 I'll use this codec for HD projects or converting for my station's use.

 

DNX HQX 10bit 1080 29.97 - This is another version of this codec that I'll consider, but the above 2 would be best for color grading and maintaining the original content that is shot.  Ideally I would like to sustain the 12bit 59.94 content, but I'll test stacking layers to see if the above can sustain playback.  If not this will fill that hole I hope.

 

Cineform YUV 10bit 1080p 29.97 - This could work for a codec, but it sure uses a lot of processor power.  I tested all the flavors and this is the only version that doesn't drop frames at full resolution.  

 

 

Why Cineform is everyone's favorite codec doesn't quite add up to me.  If someone can fill me in why it works best for you that would be great!