I'm new to open source non-linear editing and I'm trying to do some research in codec options. I've been reading up on the supported codecs in ffmpeg and I see that there is an 8-bit version of DNxHD. Being that I'm used to editing in Final Cut with ProRes 422 DNxHD looks promising. My standards are basically: 1920x1080, 24p, 125 mbps, descent color space. I'm looking for a codec that can support these things. I've heard from folks that the DNxHD is not that great as it is not entirely the codec as Avid provides. The most notable issue being that it's color space is not what it's supposed to be.

I want to avoid intensive codecs that lossless. I don't really have the rendering power nor the storage to handle that considering how much footage I produce on a weekly basis. ProRes and DNx are great because they are intermediate. They superior to ones like AVCHD and H.264 but they are not as heavy duty as those lossless codecs. It's just right.

So, I ask, what does everyone here use? Do you use DNxHD? How does it fair? Does anyone use Schrödinger or others? Or do people just edit from source material format like H.264 etc?

Thanks!

Do you need special pre-processing before editing in kdenlive?

Otherwise it's recommended for most cases to use the original files. At least it's woth a try - in real situations the actual computer ressources could be a bigger problem than the support of a special codec.

Well, I prefer working in a codec with the profile that I mentioned because it has a lot of benefits. These intermediate codecs offer things that make them optimal for editing. It's been my experience that editing in the source material format isn't always a good idea. In fact, I always hear from industry folks that you almost never do that. For example H.264 is not great for color grading nor is HDV these formats are not really meant for editing. You CAN edit in them but there are issues like dropped frames, limited color space, poor chroma keying etc. My typical workflow is H.264 from DSLR to Apple ProRes 422 and a final product back in H.264. I've tried to edit in H.264 just to see what the difference is and ProRes and DNxHD are leaps and bounds better to use for editing.

What format do you edit in?