Michael Slowe
Forum Replies Created
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Sorry Jeff, I’m afraid I always assume all editors are on Macs! Principle’s the same though, computer downscale as late as possible in the process.
Michael Slowe
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Vic, I have very strong views on this, based on past experience.
Most in camera downscales are poor compared to computer software, even with good cameras such as the Sony EX range. It is far better to wait until you encode for DVD. I shoot HD (1920 X 1080i actually) and edit in ProRes422 HQ. Then, with the final timeline I export to a QT .mov (still in ProRes) and use BitVice to do not only the encode but also the downscale, which it does brilliantly. My DVd’s are really good, I’ve seen them projected on some big screens, even cinemas. No artifacts either. Blu-Ray is of course, even better, particularly on a good HD TV screen.
Michael Slowe
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Not wishing to sound smug (heaven forbid!) but here in the UK I can get my EX 1 upgraded within the hour and at a cost considerably lower than the one mentioned. Why is it that our tech guys are so much more helpful than yours? I notice this time and again from plaintive posts, yet the US technical skills are second to none.
Michael Slowe
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Daniel, you’re right but also, so am I. I’ll explain. My editing system these last fifteen years has been Media 100, both for SD and HD, and for PAL Media 100 codec the correct field setting is Upper. It is the same for 1080i 25fps. Oddly, for NTSC Media 100 codec the field setting is Lower.
Sorry to have confused everyone but I’ve only ever edited in Media 100 so was under the impression that all DV was Upper field.
Michael Slowe
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Well, I’m surprised at what you say about advise received on this matter. I encode my PAL DVD’s in BitVice and have always chosen Upper Field First for all my material whether it’s DV or ProRes. Perfect results.
Michael Slowe
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Thanks Michael, understood. I suppose if one really needed 50mbps the EX replacement, the PMW 200 would be the camera to go for. Recording to a Convergent Design box is too cumbersome for documentary work.
Michael Slowe
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Hey Bill, I didn’t know they did an upgrade for 50mbps shooting, do they do one for the EX 1, well worth it if they do.
Michael Slowe
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Well, as far as burners go, you will have to connect a stand alone burner to your MacPro, I use the Lacie but I’m sure any of the others will do. As to speed, I don’t think we can have any control over that but there may be a commercial set up in a production house that can do it faster.
I use Titanium Toast Pro 11 to encode and burn my BD’s and they’re great. I presume that you have your film as a QT .mov file and I just drag the file into Toast. Burning 100 DVD’s though – wow, don’t you want them pressed and duplicated?
Michael Slowe
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I have generally found that a simple K3300 setting gives pretty good night pictures over a fairly large range of colours. As long as you are consistent with your Kelvin setting the footage should look fine. If the light source is from daylight balanced lighting then of course the situation is different.
Michael Slowe
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Daniel, I appreciate that I’m only encoding for straight viewing of a production, no menus or fancy graphics. For me Toast is fine but I do know that there are better, more commercially versatile programmes.
Michael Slowe