ProRes or Mov/PhotoJpeg?

What do buyers want in 2023? ProRes or Mov/PhotoJpeg? 24p, 30p, 48p or 60p?

Apparently, buyers don't want anything in 2023, but that's not what you asked.

ProRes is usually in a "mov" container. Maybe always. So is PJPEG. But .. ProRes 422 is better than PJPEG.

If there were buyers, there would be some that would be fine with h.264. That can be in a .mov file. Or it could be .mpg.

Fun fact: If you have an antique system or program that insists on .mov files and all you have is a .mpg ... change the extension from .mov to .mpg and it will likely work. Vice-versa as well. No conversion/transcode required.

As far as frame rates, I think I'm starting to understand why buyers might want clips in a frame rate evenly divisible in relation to their project. So ... a 24p buyer's project would have no trouble ingesting a 48p or a 96p file, and doing whatever with it. But a 29.97p buyer's project might have trouble with such (for instance if you're not careful in Resolve, and mix frame rates on a single timeline, you can end up with ugly duplicated or skipped frames, depending on your settings ... I learned this the stupid dumbass way.)

Be interesting to hear if there's a new "standard" of preference. I've always used 29.97 ... very occasionally 24. (I don't like shooting at 24) If something was intended to be slowmo, I presented it as such, wondering all the while if the buyer really wanted the original 120 or 240fps clip. Those get pretty big, fast, as you know. Not sure about 25/50, etc. As a US person, it's interesting wondering why P5 reprices our clips if sold in the UK, for instance. Plenty of UK and Euro stock success stories in 25, etc., so one does have to wonder.

Rendering the 29.97 or 23.?? seems silly these days. Is TV still a thing? Rendering animations is easy at 24/25/30 even numbers, but I can output the decimal variants too. Not sure. Would love info.

I am currently using Davinci (free) with a GH6 .... I know that if I upload Mov / 420/ H.264/ 8 bit, the clip can be used in any editor. But if I upload the cream of the crop Prores/ 422/ 10bit I know that some editors cannot handle that file .... as an example my Davinci (free) does not edit Mov / 422. I would like to upload all my new files at 59.94p so that the buyer can have some cinematic slow motion if he wants but I do not know if buyers would buy those files. Does P5 have a statistic of which frame rate sells the most?

Hmmm. Your post made me curious, so I checked. You are wrong in that Resolve does not edit ProRes 422. I imported a ProRes 422 clip I made onto my wife's computer with the free Resolve. No problem. It just does not RENDER a ProRes file on a Windows machine. But it's easier to run it than h.264. I think even Avid can work with ProRes. There is a reason it is an industry standard.

It is possible that some buyers might have an issue with ProRes ... but, for instance, were a buyer not to be able to afford a one-time $299 fee for a lifetime license of Resolve (even if that were a limitation) they are not likely to be much of a buyer ... most likely starting out, no budget, and lots to learn, using crap programs. We were all there once. (I still am)

Always rendering 60P is a waste for the most part, I think. Your reasoning is sound, but ONLY if there is action in the scene worth slow-moing. Some verb, huh? I seriously doubt a buyer would look at the frame rate first and the actual content second. If in doubt, render two: One at 60p and one at half that, but with the slowmo applied. Hell, render THREE .. one real-time 29.97, another real-time 60p, and another at 29.97 slowmo. I've thought of doing such things, but, since I never know what will sell at all, my time, when doing stock rendering/uploading, is better spent doing more various clips. Unless something strikes my creative fancy, then I waste hours or days on a single clip. Sometimes it's not a waste ...

If Pond5 has data as to which frame rate sells best, they are not sharing here. Ask support! Maybe they would be able to parse the sales data and filter by subject. Except by looking at the clips at the top ranking (as seen in an empty search). Maybe you could guess based on that?

"You are wrong in that Resolve does not edit ProRes 422." I did not say ProRes 422 I said Mov/422 .... I just re-check and my Davinci 18 Free only sees the audio and not the video.

".mov" is not a codec. It's a container. Mov files host a vast array of codecs. There's no limitation I know of in the free Resolve that would prevent you playing the file. Even if you had the worst computer with the slowest drive, you'd at least see the video if you weren't able to actually play it without caching.

Something is fishy here. Are you sure the clip is good? (play it in MPC-HC, and check info ... if it doesn't play in that, or VLC, it's likely very suspicious ... some strange codec, or just corrupt.)

A thought/query: Is this "mov/422" clip something you rendered from Resolve? If so, what are your settings and codec choice? Something vague in the back of my porous and addled mind tells me similar has happened (video "plays" but nothing but black screen) in Resolve, but played fine in a media player. It was a long while ago. Don't render to THAT setting, whatever it is.

OK .,. here it is. THe info you gave "I'm using a GH6 .... " and something was making me wonder more than I needed to ... here's what you are alluding to ... h.265 from the GH5 is not working in Resolve. Kudos to you for shooting 10 bit .. but you need to transcode. It does NOT mean at all that you should render to 8-bit "just because" ... if you can render to DNxHR 10 bit some clients might love that. Or get Intertake and transcode your Resolve Uncompressed output to ProRes. I think Intertake might handle your 10 bit h.265 files too .. so you can edit them in Resolve.

https://www.acrok.com/edit-lumix-gh6-h265-in-davinci-resolve/

I think ... this thread is going the wrong way ... I asked a simple question that was primarily directed to buyers .... for me buyers include all the spectrum including those low budget productions in universities, schools, places like Youtube etc ... Knowing what kind of files ALL or most buyers prefer in 2023 would be helpful since I am returning to this activity after a long period of not uploading as I did before 2020.

@cinecameratv "I asked a simple question that was primarily directed to buyers"

That would be interesting data if some number of buyers would choose to chime in.

The caveat is that it would likely be way too small a sample size to draw any solid conclusions.

What would be really useful is if P5 would parse their sales data to provide metrics to help contributors. What percentage of sales by codec, frame rate, resolution, etc. Maybe an annual synopsis.

Data like the above would help alleviate contributor doubts & hand-wringing regarding what buyers have been favoring.

Of course content is king. Maybe footage tech/quality specs doesn't matter a great deal with regards to sales - as long as P5's published footage quality guidance is followed.