The main reasons to transcode are to convert to a codec for editing purposes, and if you need to deliver in a specific codec iPhone, WMV, etc).
For editing, capture from tape creates few problems. But the rise of video-to-disc systems means most camera manufacturers record in codecs that that are highly compressed and not designed for editing.
Which means that a lot of times you could end up with video that doesn’t play so well in your Final Cut Pro and Avid editing systems.
So after coming across the article To Transcode and Not to Transcode? I started thinking that using Premier sounds pretty sweet.
For those of us not using Premier I recommend using Streamclip, which has a feature I find very handy – File>Show Stream Info (cmd, i) will give you all kinds of useful information for import, such as frame size, and kbps.
What is your workflow, do you transcode before editing? Will Premier capture a bigger market share because it’s so handy to edit using native file formats?
