Out of nowhere, Apple just announced that the future versions of MacOS wouldn’t support various video formats. Let’s see how it can affect filmmakers. In a recent support note, Apple announced that future versions of MacOS would not support “legacy formats” anymore. What are legacy formats? According to Apple, Sony HDCAM-SR cameras, footage from GoPro cameras recorded in the CineForm format, video files in the Avid DNxHD/DNxHR format created with software, footage shot with many other older cameras, or files modified with older software. At the moment, it’s not precise. We can only assume that they want to move to an all-64-bit workflow, only supporting 64-bit codecs in the future. However, as 64-bit versions of many of these codecs are not available yet, and some of them might never be upgraded. That would leave millions of existing projects around the world stranded, with people unable to continue working on them. Future Unsupported Formats Let’s break down the simple support note from Apple : Sony HDCAM-SR cameras, alright, not a lot of people use them anymore, or they already transcode the footages to some flavor of ProRes. Footage from GoPro cameras recorded in the CineForm format. It starts to become complicated, but you can record in other video formats on these cameras. Nevertheless, upsetting because you won’t be able to open said existing footage anymore on a Mac. Video files in the Avid DNxHD/DNxHR format created with software. The critical part of this sentence here is “created with software.” It means that...
Published By: CineD - Wednesday, 21 November, 2018