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Creating, using multi-track sequences and exporting sequences to create EDL’s
We have been running catdv for about two months now and really like the potential that it offers for improvement in our production processes. We are a mixed mac and PC environment. We are in the process of cataloging our 40,000+ still images, our xdcam footage and some of our audio assets.
I hope to see improvement in our workflow through the use of catdv sequences. Has any one done much work with single or multi-track sequences?
Building a single track VA1 sequence (on the mac platform) is fairly straight forward and seems to work fairly well. Building sequences on a PC does not work efficiently unless you turn off the video output to the sequence viewer (in preferences , advanced media handling.. check the use dummy place holder option). But then you cannot see the complete sequence video in the sequence viewer. So we tend to work with macs for this process.
However, when I try to go beyond a single VA1 track problems start of occur.
If I add a VA2 track, the track width (is narrow) like an A2 or V2 track. The video thumbnails do not show up on the VA2 track. The VA1 track video becomes muted and the VA2 track video plays in a 1/3 sized area in the upper left part of the sequence viewer. The VA2 track video flashes in the 1/3 sized area in the sequence window when it plays.
Realizing that this is a rough cuts only sequence editor, my ideal would be to have a VA1 track (for primary video with audio), a V2 track (for video scenics no audio or still images), an A2 track (for prerecorded wave or mp3 voice overs to play under the scenics and stills) and an A3 track (for music beds).
Has anyone else ever tried this or is this even possible at this time. I have not been successful. Multitrack sequences with multiple video tracks do not seem to work well. Multitrack sequences that contain only audio tracks seem to work better.
Also has anyone been successful exporting sequences for use with Avid DS systems. What is the best approach to do this? Is it possible to get ALE files into the DS system? Or do I have to use something like cmx?
Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks,
Greg Praniewicz
RBC Ministries
Radio/TV Enginering -
6 Replies
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You are singing my song…I work a ton in reality TV and we’ve cried for multicam for years.
The short answer is, “it’s harder than it looks”. Apparently the code to keep it all together is pretty heavy or it’d be done by now. (we are years into the dev cycle of CatDV )
I would say, from my time around this thing, that it’s not likely to be added anytime soon but I’d like to hear it from Rolf et al.
The good news is that both Avid and FCP are cheap enough now that you can give your producers a copy and have them work that way. That’s what we do in our TV clients. CatDV is for logging and search and then they go into the Avid to create the multicam sequences to pass to the editors.
The last system that I heard of that did multicam was as expensive as buying Avids for everyone. Ouch.
bryson
bryson “at” hidefcowboy.com
hidefcowboy.com
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I can appreciate the difficulty making multitrack sequences work.
Can anyone respond to the question about exporting sequences to avid DS.
Has anyone been successful exporting sequences for use with Avid DS systems. What is the best approach to do this? Is it possible to get ALE files into the DS system? Or do I have to use something like cmx?
Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks,
Greg Praniewicz
RBC Ministries
Radio/TV Enginering -
Sorry about forgetting the second half.
There is something coming that’s pretty amazing. I can’t talk about it myself but maybe some of the other guys here can speak directly to this?
bryson
bryson “at” hidefcowboy.com
hidefcowboy.com
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Hi Greg
you can contact me off-list I think I can help you but I don`t want to announce new products in the Cow until they are finished…Kevin
Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME -
Kevin…anxiously awaiting as I want to shout it from the roof tops 😉
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com -
You have to remember that CatDV doesn’t set out to be an editor or claim to fully support multi-track editing. The multi-track features are primarily there to support voice over tracks, and to represent multi-track sequences that you might have imported from elsewhere (eg. Final Cut, from an OMF or EDL file, etc.). You can create a basic sequence with one video track and multiple audio tracks but can’t sensibly do much with a sequence with multiple video tracks beause CatDV doesn’t support transitions or composition effects.
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