[Alan Okey]

[Juan Morales] “I’m sorry to have a different opinion than yours Alan. But… Just look at the non-verbal communication happening here. It’s fascinating to say the least.”

No need for you to apologize, mature adults can have differing opinions. I don’t have time to watch the entire video right now, but I just wanted to voice my support of Alex. His primarily focus is VFX, not necessarily broadcast editing, so his opinion may reflect that.

To be clear, I’m not defending FCP X. I dislike the magnetic timeline and other aspects of the application, and it’s not currently a tool that would be useful for many editors in a broadcast-centric postproduction environment. It may prove to be a valuable tool to many other users, but it’s not something that meets my needs. I strongly disagree with how Apple has handled the transition, but it won’t do me any good to rant about it endlessly when it’s obvious that I’m not the kind of customer that Apple wants or needs. I’ll keep using FCP 7, and eventually transition to Avid.

[Alan Okey]

[Juan Morales] “How much are these guys being paid to do this video? “

Alex Lindsay is beyond reproach. He’s a gifted digital artist and educator. If he’s bullish on FCP X, it’s because he genuinely likes it, not because he’s a paid shill.

[Alan Okey]

Motion 5 and Final Cut Pro X do not have support for video I/O hardware at this time.

[Alan Okey]

[Craig Seeman] “It seems Autodesk still does fine with Smoke and Flame despite, Cinestream, Edit*, Combustion, Cleaner, all popular and dead ended.”

Autodesk is a huge conglomerate, every bit the “software black hole” that Marco Solorio has described Apple as being. It’s an interesting comparison, however, because Autodesk Media & Entertainment has gone in the exact opposite direction of Apple. They’ve killed off all of their low-cost low-end products and focused on high end solutions.

There has been much ink devoted to speculation about the end of big iron systems, but despite everyone predicting the end of the dinosaurs, Flame and Smoke are still going strong after more than a decade. They have dropped in price, but are still actively being developed and improved.

[Alan Okey]

[zeke meginsky] “I’m assuming you were thinking of After Effects for the table “comp”..”

You could do it pretty easily in Motion as well. You could build a simple 3D comp and animate a camera move over the “table.”

[Alan Okey]

[Andrew Johnson] “What was surprising was that the DVCproHD camera was owned and operated by a professional cameraman, whereas the EX1 was just a secondary camera with standard lens, yet the image quality and key results were far superior.
“

Wow, thats very surprising. Well, I guess the moral of the story is to trust your eyes and go with whatever works! Good luck.

[Alan Okey]

[Andrew Johnson] “I’m editing a green screen studio shoot with 2 cameras – one is an XDCAM camera and one is DVCproHD.”

Is the XDCAM camera recording XDCAM EX, or XDCAM HD?

[Alan Okey]

[Andrew Johnson] “The question is: Is the grainy, blurry image quality the result of poor camerawork, or is this inherent to DVCPRO HD?”

There are several factors at play. DVCPRO HD is a 4:2:2 codec, while XDCAM EX is only 4:2:0, so technically, DVCPRO HD has better color sampling. However, DVCPRO HD is a “thin raster” format, which means that 1080i/1080p footage is recorded as 1280×1080 (versus full-raster 1920×1080), and 720p footage is recorded as 960×720 (vs. full-raster 1280×720). XDCAM EX cameras like the Sony EX1 or EX3 record a full-raster 1080i/1080p/720p signal, but at 4:2:0 color sampling.

It’s difficult to judge by only comparing specs on paper. One might be tempted to surmise that DVCPRO HD at 4:2:2 would provide better results when chromakeying, but in practice that’s not always the case because of other factors at play. Many people have found that XDCAM EX keys fairly well despite its 4:2:0 color sampling, and this may be in part due to it being a full-raster codec.

What camera was used to shoot the DVCPRO HD footage? The original HVX200 is a noisier camera than the HPX170 or the newer HVX200A, so it may not hold up as well against newer XDCAM EX cameras like the EX1/EX1R/EX3.

In short, there’s more to the story than just what codec the camera is recording to. The camera’s lens, image sensor and video processing electronics also have a lot to do with the end result, not to mention the skill of the operator and the quality of the lighting. I wouldn’t rush to judgement about DVCPRO HD based on this experience alone.

[Alan Okey]

Cost of buying FCP X…

$299

Cost of buying tools to extend the capabilities of FXP X to match those of FCP 7…

$???

Being told by a 14-year old how to arrange iMovie windows to look more like FCP X “for more professional editing skills”…

Priceless.

[Alan Okey]

(moved to new thread)