FCS3: The REAL Game Changer is….

[Andrew Kimery]

The new ProRes are very cool and I can’t wait to see how they perform. It’s a shame that I won’t be seeing it anytime soon ’cause we have lots of G5s at work that won’t get replaced until next year. 🙁

-A

3.2GHz 8-core, FCP 6.0.4, 10.5.5
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (6.8.1)

[Tom Wolsky]

I have to agree with Mark. I don’t see this as a breakthrough at all. It’s a fine new codec. There has been OfflineRT since v3 or something, maybe earlier. DV is a pretty good offline format for high res formats. I’m not sure I’m that ready to put my faith in the once again, new, improved, everything’s fixed media manager, which hasn’t been tested on a user base.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[John Schaub]

Actually the game changer is Final Cut Server…. all the real proxy innovation requires FCS. Watch the video…

https://www.apple.com/finalcutserver/whats-new.html

Wish this was included with FCS3.

[Trevor Ward]

I’m using the new AVCHD format. Currently, in FCP6, my only choice is to Log and Transfer into AIC or ProRes. That means there is no Offline option. That is, unless I have something like the MXO2 or an AJA that will transcode for me. But that means more equipment.

Is P2 the same? Is there only one or two options for Log and Transfer?

So for me, having an Offline solution is a huge benefit. Very likely will upgrade at $300.

Let’s say I’m in India in 2 weeks. I’m traveling with my camera and some equipment. I also have my MBP. I also have a new CalDigit mini raid which is bus powered. I can not only copy the files to the hard drive, but I can transfer them to ProRes Proxy files and work with all the footage in the airport.

-trevor ward
Red Eye Film Co.
http://www.redeyefilmco.com
orlando, fl

[Shane Ross]

[Trevor Ward] “Is P2 the same? Is there only one or two options for Log and Transfer? “

DVCPRO HD from P2 only has the DVCPRO HD option. AVCIntra has all the ProRes options at it’s disposal it seems. Why can’t we offline DVCPRO HD P2 as Proxie?

The big thing here is FULL RASTER. Like Mark said, OFFLINE RT was the offline codec for FCP, but the issue was twofold…1) 320×240, so all of the graphics and subtitles you did had to be scaled and futzed with in the online, and 2) no playback on an external monitor via firewire…with a capture card you could (I think). But now with a full raster offline codec like that…nice.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Steve Oakley]

well for me, the lack of alpha channel support in the standard and HQ modes, means…. I don’t care too much. if the proxy mode does something for you, great. however, not having alpha channel in anything except the 4444 codec stinks. they left in hints of alpha support because they left it as an option, but to not have it now…

I’d also like to know if they fixed the premult with black render errors that are all over the place. that would be worth the upgrade alone… I pay for a bug fix.

Steve Oakley
DP • Editor • VFX Artist
http://www.practicali.com

[Erik Lindahl]

The new 4:4:4 ProRes codec is 330 mbit with-out alpha, roughly the same bitrate as SD over SDI. HD-SDI would easily have more than enough bandwidth.

As a new recording format this could be interesting, as a professional finishing codec I fear it will be as big of a let down as ProRes was. Where are the updated uncompressed formats? Where are the uncompressed formats with alpha support? Where are the greater range of RGB codecs? Why not introduce an uncompressed 4:4:4 codec similar to that of ProRes?

This update leaves me with so many questions and I fear we’ll have to wait another 2 years for say background rendering…

Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Communication
————————

[Elijah Lynn]

Still beats using Animation codec.

[Russell Lasson]

[Shane Ross] “The big thing here is FULL RASTER. Like Mark said, OFFLINE RT was the offline codec for FCP, but the issue was twofold…1) 320×240, so all of the graphics and subtitles you did had to be scaled and futzed with in the online, and 2) no playback on an external monitor via firewire…with a capture card you could (I think). But now with a full raster offline codec like that…nice. “

EXACTLY!!! An offline 320×240 file was a big turn off for me. It think that people are really thinking that this ProRes Proxy will look like crap. It won’t! It’s going generally take a trained eye and a good monitor to even distinguish it from the other ProRes flavors. Clients will hardly know the difference.

What’s to be determined is how easy it is to online to a higher ProRes from the Proxy version. Should be something like the Batch Transfer that can be used with RED files currently.

-Russ

Russell Lasson
Colorist/Digital Cinema Specialist
Color Mill
Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.colormill.net

[Russell Lasson]

[Trevor Ward] “I’m using the new AVCHD format.”

I might suggest using ProRes LT instead. It probably has more than enough latitude to keep all the information that AVCHD has. And it will be much smaller than HQ, SQ, or 4444444444444.

-Russ

Russell Lasson
Colorist/Digital Cinema Specialist
Color Mill
Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.colormill.net