The Flexxity suite of software applications (dailies, playout and archive) from DFT Digital Film Technology is claimed to be the first software on the Linux operating system with native support for ProRes files, writes David Fox.
Flexxity ingests and reads ProRes files directly, without the need for transcoding, which means that there are none of the workflow slowdowns that are regularly caused by transcoding delays.
The software runs on Linux, for stability, performance, and high-throughput post production. Linux also offers scale-up flexibility from single-user seats to multi-user workgroups, tailored to different ways of working.
The Flexxity on-set and post-production Dailies application with ProRes codec support maintains the highest quality compressed video and lets users achieve realtime dailies processing. ProRes files coming directly from an Arri Alexa (or other digital cameras) can be ingested or placed directly onto the timeline in Flexxity Dailies for immediate viewing.
In post, Flexxity Dailies is used to deliver graded dailies and provides a collaborative toolset for a number of parallel activities including: audio ingest, image ingest, audio/video synchronization, metadata logging, grading, and playout/file generation. Files can also be preserved in the ProRes format for the downstream workflow all the way to the finished product.
The Flexxity suite offers realtime playback, quality control, colour correction, scaling, sound synchronization and more. It is resolution-independent, handles all kinds of source formats on the same timeline, and outputs a large variety of file formats and video streams in parallel.
ProRes is an intra-frame codec that retains consistent quality in every frame, which speeds up editing and grading. It also requires less disk space compared to uncompressed video. In addition, the ProRes format provides an effective workflow for projects involving multiple acquisition formats when users want to standardize on a single codec.
Beside ProRes, Flexxity can also natively read and debayer Arriraw files, Red raw R3D files and many other formats in its timeline. The applications are available as software only, or as turnkey systems including workstation, interfaces, storage, and grading panels.
