[Alan Okey]

[Jeremy Garchow] “I think it’s worse and you learn less when someone runs it through a preset program and said “I graded this”, which really means, I bought the $50 plugin and picked a preset.”

That describes the majority of videos one can see on the web lately. Magic Bullet Looks? Check. Obligatory tilt-shift filter? Check. Vignetting? Check. Forced shallow depth of field in every shot, just to prove it’s cinematic? Check. Coherent script, great dialogue, good acting? (crickets…)

[Alan Okey]

[Victor Fernando Pagan] “I had tried the Quicktime conversion setting dv ntsc, also the Quicktime export as a self contained, and not self contained.”

Don’t use the Quicktime conversion method, as it adds an unnecessary generation of compression. You can simply change your sequence codec to ProRes 422, then use the export Quicktime movie method, either self-contained or not.

Try bumping up the average bitrate in BitVice, keeping the maximum no higher than 8.3 or so. I’m not sure how high you’ll be able to go and still manage to fit on a single layer DVD, but BitVice will show some improvement with a higher average bitrate, especially with interlaced footage. See if you can go up to 5.5 without going over your size limit. I have on occasion had to bump up the average bitrate to 6.5 on problematic footage, but you probably won’t be able to set it that high and still fit on a single layer DVD. BitVice is much better than Compressor at medium to low bitrates, so you may just be encountering the limits of what can be done given the nature of your source footage.

You might also investigate Innobits’ Video Purifier to see it it helps with artifacts in the blacks. There are also some noise reduction filters in BitVice that might be of use. You could always export a small sample of you sequence and do some test encodings using different filters and settings.

Good luck, and let us know how you make out.

[Alan Okey]

[Jamie Franklin] “The FCX corrector blows. I can’t even believe they were serious with releasing it as a replacement. It boggles the mind…”

It’s clear that Apple felt that the traditional color wheel-based UI paradigm used in virtually every CC filter and dedicated grading system was far too complex for the average user that they are targeting with FCP X. The result is the “color board.”

I personally don’t care for it, but if it turns out that it’s easier to use for the majority of the new users that Apple is trying to cultivate, then I suppose they’ve succeeded at democratizing the tools.

That’s really a statement you could make about FCP X as a whole, not just the CC tools. Apple is willing to risk offending the relatively small number of high-end (film/broadcast) pros who use their products in order to make a brand new product that lowers the financial and intellectual barriers of entry to anyone who wants to edit video and perform a basic level of finishing. In doing so, they believe that they will expand their user base (and profits) exponentially. It’s just business.

[Alan Okey]

[Victor Fernando Pagan] “I have exported the seq using Compressor 3.5.3, and BitVice to Mpeg2 and AC3 audio.”

As was suggested, changing your FCP sequence codec to ProRes 422 will be much kinder on any graphics or text than staying in a DV sequence.

Just to clarify – how are you exporting from FCP? Are you using “export Quicktime movie” to create either a self-contained or reference Quicktime? And you’re using Compressor to create the .ac3 and BitVice to create the .m2v assets, correct? Just making sure there’s no extra compression step happening between FCP and BitVice.

What are your BitVice settings (average and maximum bitrate)? What bit depth is selected for IntraDC? BitVIce is a great encoder, so it’s doubtful that it’s the weak link in the chain.

Can you describe in greater detail the artifacts that you’re seeing from DVD playback? On what devices are you viewing the DVD?

[Alan Okey]

Regarding color correction, how are you able to perform critical broadcast monitoring out of FCP X? Until a solution for that has been introduced, I don’t think that a meaningful comparison of color correction capabilities can be made between FCP7/Color and FCP X. I’m not saying it won’t happen, just that it’s not here yet.

[Alan Okey]

I’m unsure of Squeeze’s ability to fully utilize multiple cores, but in the case of FCP, you will likely see better performance from 8 faster cores vs. 12 slower cores because FCP 7 and earlier don’t fully take advantage of multicore machines.

You may also want to consider the 6-core 3.33GHz Mac Pro if you can find one. It performs admirably in these tests posted on Bare Feats:

https://www.barefeats.com/wst10c2.html

[Alan Okey]

Hi Greg,

I’m in a similar situation as you – long time FCP user, not interested in FCP X, buying Avid MC and digging in as soon as possible. I picked up this training DVD a few weeks ago and I can’t recommend it highly enough:

https://www.classondemand.net/media/avid-training/mcforfcp.aspx

Yes, it’s $100, but trust me, it’s money well spent. Unlike other training materials I’ve seen, this one doesn’t treat you like an idiot, and assumes that you already know how to edit. It really concentrates on the differences between FCP and Avid, and is extremely well put together. I’m not an employee of the company and I don’t get commission for plugging the product – I just think it’s a really fine training disc, and I’d recommend it to anyone who is coming to MC from FCP.

Good luck!

[Alan Okey]

Look for a Mac Pro, not a G5. The G5 was PowerPC, the Mac Pro is Intel.

Benefits of a Mac Pro over an iMac or Mac Mini are:

– expandability via PCIe slots (video I/O cards, eSATA, Fibre Channel, etc.)

– four internal drive bays

– more cores available for applications that can make full use of multiple cores (Compressor, After Effects, etc.)

– higher RAM capacity

– more graphics/display options

If your main concern is rendering speed in FCP 7 or earlier, then a Mac Pro won’t necessarily be an advantage over a new iMac due to FCP’s resource utilization limitations. For anything else, especially for multicore-aware applications like AE or Compressor, the Mac Pro will stomp the iMac and Mac Mini.

[Alan Okey]

As Walter suggested, try adding slate, bars & tone in Avid, then export a reference .mov and bring it into Compressor directly, bypassing FCP completely. One less potential failure point in the chain…

[Alan Okey]

I don’t have an answer for why it’s happening, but as an experiment you might try exporting a self-contained .mov form the Avid instead of an reference .mov just to see if it has any effect on the problem.