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DNxHD converter – Manual

A simple frontend for ffmpeg to transcode video files to DNxHD

In Post-Production, AVC(h.264) and other codec are often chosen for file exchange because of their small storage footprint. These codecs use a long-GOP strategy, which result in a small file size but can have poor performance in media editing applications. The goal of this app is to transcode any video to intra-frame VC-3 (DNxHD/DNxHR) with an easy, set-and-forget workflow. Ideally, after you found your preferred settings, simply throw any new file onto the Dock app icon to process automatically in the background to your desired target folder.

BEFORE you can start converting, DNxHD_convert expects the ffmpeg & ffprobe executables in the standard unix path usr/local/bin. In Settings, you can specify any other path to the executables in the app Settings. If you don’t have the executables, you can download them here: https://evermeet.cx/ffmpeg/

Converted files are stored in the same folder as the the original by default, but you can also select a custom destination folder.
Default conversion result is a DNxHD 36 encoded .mov file scaled to HD resolution (1920×1080), with Audio converted to 2-channel PCM 48kHz/16bit if audio is present. For other options see below.

Conversion

To start a new conversion, you can:
1. Drag’n’drop a file onto the app icon.
2. Drag’n’drop a file onto an app alias or the dock icon.
3. Right click a file and select ‘Open with DNxHD_converter’.

Destination options include:
– Format: .mxf or .mov
– Codec: DNxHD 36, DNxHR LB (720), DNxHR LB (1080)
– Sound: PCM 16 bit, PCM 24 bit, AAC 256 bit/s, copy source, no audio
– Sample rates 44.1, 48 kHz
– Location: same folder as source or custom folder

  • optional auto-start
  • if the app is running and a destination folder is set, it will be used for any dropped source file until the app is closed.
  • optional default destination folder: Press the Home button to set a destination folder for any subsequent file.
  • only one file per drop action.

There can be only one conversion at a time.(Batch conversion cue is planned for the future)

Settings

  • File name suffix: Default suffix is the target codec, e.g. “_DNxHD36” but you can choose your own.
  • Send notifications when done: Send a message with macOS Notification Center when done.
  • Convert in background: CPU processing priority option. Conversion is either at full speed or using idle CPU power.
  • ffmpeg & ffprobe executable location and version display.

Log

Press the log icon to see the current log. Copy any portions of the text if needed.

The log contains only the current conversion at the moment and is not stored)

note:
The codec DNx profiles ‘DNxHD 36’ and ‘DNxHR LB’ result in the same bitrate and quality (approx. 36 Mb/s @ 25 fps). ‘DNxHR LB’ also supports a single HD (1280×720) resolution, which DNxHD does not.

a word of caution:
if the app is killed or crashes, the ffmpeg conversion process may continue to run in the background. In this case, quit the ffmpeg process from your Mac’s ActivityMonitor.app, if neccesary

Copyrights:

This App
Copyright (c) 2023 Felix Rost – https://felixrost.de

ffmpeg / ffprobe
Copyright (c) 2000-2023 the FFmpeg developers – https://ffmpeg.org

orchetect/TimecodeKit
Copyright (c) 2018 Steffan Andrews – https://github.com/orchetect

SwiftUI-Shimmer (modifier)
Copyright (c) 2021 Vikram Kriplaney

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