FCS3: The REAL Game Changer is….

[Russell Lasson]

[Erik Lindahl] “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?”

ProRes 4444444 is superior to the uncompressed formats as it is a 12-bit codec with an alpha channel. We should be even able to do ProRes 4444 at 4K, though it won’t play with realtime fx in fcp. I’ll have to play with that.

-Russ

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

[Damian O’neill]

Russ / Mark.

Thanks for your replies.

Mark, I possibly didn’t make myself clear.

Whilst I knew about the offline RT workflow, the advent of formats such as XDCAMHD422 and the fact that Avid had offline support for the XDCAM proxy files meant that you were forced down the Avid route if a client wanted to avoid huge digitising bills.

This new codec alone sounds like a good reason to bring out a new version of FCP.

[Russell Lasson]

[Damian O’Neill] “This new codec alone sounds like a good reason to bring out a new version of FCP. “

The new codecs alone are worth at least $1000! I would have paid much more. $300 is a steal!!!

-Russ

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

[Erik Lindahl]

8-bit codecs beat 10-bit codecs in a lot of situations so that statement doesn’t always hold water. Higher bit-depth isn’t always better quality esp. comparing uncompressed vs compressed format. And given I’m not that good at compression technologies, but adding 2-bits of color data be color channel will eat bandwidth. Any lossy format has it’s drawback how ever good it may be.

Formats aside, looking at FCP’s internal rendering engine it’s 32-bpp but far to many times I’m forced to go down to 8-bit rendering due to rendering bugs in higher bit-depths. Then you can claim “Final Cut isn’t a compositor” but it is very efficient doing some composition jobbs in the editor if possible.

But i hope I’m wrong and the new ProRes 4444 codec actually is a viable online format. It worries me what Apple wrote aboute rendering to PAL though, might render the codec useless for Europe.

Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Communication
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[Michael Neuman]

Sure it’s a game changer if you care..

Unfortunately many of us don’t care.. I don’t use pro res and I don’t really care that there is a new pro res.. maybe I will in the future.. but for right now my clients want their media in HQ on Blu-Ray.. and as of right now I am unable to deliver if I use DVD Studio pro..

Maybe you’ve forgotten that DVD Studio Pro hasn’t seen a (real) update since FCS 1.

I’ve been eyeing Adobe’s offerings for a while because it actually seems like they give a crap about what they are offering to their customers. However I don’t wish to change my whole workflow that I have dedicated myself to (or spend the extra cash) to switch.

On top of that my performance actually decreased in FCP.. what used to playback well un-rendered now requires me to render before I can even see it.

[Russell Lasson]

[Michael Neuman] “Sure it’s a game changer if you care.. “

It’s apparent that you’re not thrilled about the upgrade.

[Michael Neuman] “I’ve been eyeing Adobe’s offerings for a while because it actually seems like they give a crap about what they are offering to their customers. However I don’t wish to change my whole workflow that I have dedicated myself to (or spend the extra cash) to switch. “

Who said anything about needing to switch? All you need is a program to author Blu-ray. FCS3 will easily fit into any other program that you want to use for it.

DoStudio sounds like a great option. Just run it in Bootcamp on your current mac.

Also, how have you satisfied your clients’ Blu-ray needs in the past? Also, are you delivering Blu-ray for mass duplication or just so your clients can watch it on a Blu-ray player for a presentation or something?

I’ll agree with you that it would have been really cool if we would have seen Blu-ray Studio Pro in this last update. But my guess is that the way that Apple has implemented Blu-ray and DVD burning from Compressor and FCP will satisfy more than 90% of the discs FCP owners need to burn.

-Russ

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

[Shane Ross]

[Michael Neuman] “I don’t use pro res and I don’t really care that there is a new pro res.. maybe I will in the future.. but for right now my clients want their media in HQ on Blu-Ray.. and as of right now I am unable to deliver if I use DVD Studio pro..”

Then you are using the wrong tool. You chose the wrong tool from the start if this is what your clients needed. You have a bag a nails and you are trying to get them into the wood with a screw driver. The screw driver won’t work, and you don’t seem to want to buy the hammer that will do the job…you want them to update the screwdriver to do it for you. You also won’t go buy some smaller hammer (additional BluRay authoring software that isn’t part of a huge NLE) to do it as well. Walter Biscardi has mentioned time and time again what he uses and what works. Yet you will continue to not take any advice and just bemoan that what you have doesn’t work.

[Michael Neuman] “Maybe you’ve forgotten that DVD Studio Pro hasn’t seen a (real) update since FCS 1. “

Nope….no one has forgotten. Steve Jobs even addressed that himself.

[Michael Neuman] “I’ve been eyeing Adobe’s offerings for a while because it actually seems like they give a crap about what they are offering to their customers”

CERTAIN customers. Again, not ever NLE is designed for every workflow. Adobe products address certain workflows that many people need…one that you might need filled. But they certainly do not address what I need in an NLE, not a lot of people. ProRes wasn’t something you needed…but it was a HUGE advancement. DNxHD was huge for Avid, but it didn’t address what you needed. It doesn’t mean that it was a meaningless advancement and that those are not professional NLEs. HARDLY. In broadcast television everything is edited with Avid and FCP…very TV show out there. Premiere? Nope. But that isn’t the market for Adobe…it is aimed at other markets, including people who need to make BluRay.

If the tool you have doesn’t do what you need…get the one that does. Or get the smaller additional tool that does the specific task you need.

If BluRay support came along…I wouldn’t care. I don’t use it…not required to deliver it, nor do I own a player. Doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be a huge advancement.

Shane

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