10.0.8 Update is Out

[Oliver Peters]

[Erik Lindahl] “So in theory the same could be applied to Sony och Canon footage?”

Yes, but Sony or Canon have to supply the info.

[Erik Lindahl] “Just did a grade in “good old” Color with Sony LogS and it was hard to find a LUT for it. That said it wasn’t particularly hard getting a good grade with out it. For the editorial however a which in the app would be terrific.”

There are no real secrets to this. I grade Log C, S-Log and Canon log by eye all the time without LUTs. If you want a perfect match for what you saw on set, then using a LUT is the correct approach. But generally you go for a “better” look in grading and so getting there by eye is just as good if you know what you are doing. When I’ve used LUTs, it’s really only for offline editing to reassure the client.

[Erik Lindahl] “That they still haven’t come to terms with video output is a bit shocking though. “

I’m not sure what you mean. I run with a Decklink card and generally it’s very responsive. There are some issues, but I think that’s because the OS is handling the communication to the card and not the application specifically.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Erik Lindahl]

Regarding Log to Rec correction – good.

The video out problems I see now that have seen in every version of FCPX are:

1. Lag on play / pause.
I hit play and there is a delay of about 1 second before the clip actually plays back. This isn’t an issue as long as I disable A/V output. This is both on a 2008 MacPro with a Kona 3 and SAS RAID-5 as well as a 2012 iMac 27″ “maxed out” with a BM Ultra Studio.

2. Frame jumps.
When I hit pause with video A/V enabled there more or less always is a “frame jump”. I.e. I pause on frame 10 where after maybe 0.5 seconds it jumps back to frame 9. I can verify if this issue is still on the MacPro / Kona system but it is on the iMac / BM.

Using PremierPro CS6 on the iMac I get zero delay and zero frame-jumping on the iMac. With or without hardware mercury playback enabled and with one three-way CC on the same media as used in FCPX. Hence technically it’s fully possible.

I guess we’ll have to wait for FCPX 10.1 or similar for a “new” A/V output engine or something.

[T. Payton]

FYI, I had a bunch of Arri test clips, I think from Blackmagic for the sample footage for Resolve. I reimported 8 of them and just one gave the Log option. Here is what the option looks like:

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Erik Lindahl]

I can add that I noticed the exact same issue with video out at the AJA booth during IBC last fall. They noted “you’re not the first to comment that”. I guess they where using 10.0.6 back then.

[Oliver Peters]

[Erik Lindahl] “I hit play and there is a delay of about 1 second before the clip actually plays back. “

Agreed. I see that, too. It seems better if you use JKL instead of the space bar. It seems to be worse with projects that crossed over version updates and were updated. With the Quadro 4000 installed, it is definitely worse than with the ATI 5870 on the machines I’ve tested.

[Erik Lindahl] “When I hit pause with video A/V enabled there more or less always is a “frame jump”. I.e. I pause on frame 10 where after maybe 0.5 seconds it jumps back to frame 9.”

Yes. I’ve seen that, too. Also skimming/scrubbing has terrible updating of the video output while you are doing that.

[Erik Lindahl] “Using PremierPro CS6 on the iMac I get zero delay and zero frame-jumping on the iMac. “

Agreed. However, I see other things with CS6 and the Decklink. For example, if your timeline has mixed codecs or sizes, the video card’s output often displays a completely wonky aspect ratio on some clips. I frequently start a project and don’t get any audio. Closing and re-launching fixes it.

So far (on the same Mac Pro and Decklink) I’ve had the best results with Media Composer 6.5.2. In general, the best I’ve seen with FCP X is a decked out, new iMac with a Promise RAID and the AJA IoXT.

It’s quite possible some of this might be improved, now that 10.8.3 and 10.0.8 are out in the wild. Might take a bit for some driver updates to come out that may help.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Oliver Peters]

I had to actually go into the “edit metadata” panel and add the Log Processing button to the Settings view. The processing was occurring automatically, so this button lets you toggle it off/on. I think it is also dependent on the camera firmware used when the files were originally recorded, since it’s looking for embedded metadata.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Erik Lindahl]

Yeah, 10.8.3 did some things to graphics drivers so maybe they fixed other underpinnings. Also it did take Adobe three releases to get decent video output (at least on the Mac). CS5 and 5.5 where shockingly poor via a video card. People tried to motivate why and such still not good enough IMO for a professional editor.

FCPX in it’s current state is far better but still not great when using the video output. Skipping that makes it really responsive on the 2012 iMac. Might be better with an AJA IoXT – could try at some point.

Starting a new project, was going to use FCPX but now I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll give PrPro another shot.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Oliver Peters] “I had to actually go into the “edit metadata” panel and add the Log Processing button to the Settings view. The processing was occurring automatically, so this button lets you toggle it off/on. I think it is also dependent on the camera firmware used when the files were originally recorded, since it’s looking for embedded metadata.”

I added it to my custom “Arri” view and put it on top.

I wish you could assign kb shortcuts to metadata views.

[Nate Weaver]

I have a gift certificate for anybody who can figure out a way to enable this for Sony S-Log2 footage.

I’m very, very bummed that the way it’s implemented is to be footage-agnostic, codec agnostic but in practice it’s locked out even to advanced users.

I use the Alexa Log-C LUTs all the time on S-Log2 footage. It’s a little too extreme most of the time, but I know how to take care of that.

Nate Weaver
Director/D.P., Los Angeles
https://www.nateweaver.net

[Chris Kenny]

[Nate Weaver] “I have a gift certificate for anybody who can figure out a way to enable this for Sony S-Log2 footage.”

Someone really just needs to make a plug-in that allows arbitrary LUTs in common formats (.cube, etc.) to be applied to clips. Or, better yet, this should just be built-in. I’m a little baffled that none of the major NLEs supports this yet. Why should everything have to be special-cased?

—
Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve.

You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read our blog.