[Alan Okey]

First NLE: Adobe Premiere running on an SGI (Silicon Graphics) O2, 1998

First FCP: v3, 2002

[Alan Okey]

Nest the tracks and apply the fade to the nest.

[Alan Okey]

Easy. Tell your producer to buy his own cards instead of renting. Problem solved.

[Alan Okey]

[Chris Borjis] “what about just finding an original MXO? that should work just fine for $ 250”

Good luck finding one that cheap. They’re going for four times that on eBay because people know it’s the only way to get a an HD broadcast preview feed out of an iMac.

[Alan Okey]

[Shane Ross] “Then there is the Decklink Intensity Pro…”

I would recommend against the Intensity Pro. It does one thing satisfactorily – output HD video formats via HDMI or analog component – but its downconversion to SD (which you’ll need if your monitor isn’t HD) is nowhere near as good or as flexible as the AJA Kona cards. We have two in the office where I work and they’re terrible – we just replaced one with a Kona LHi and it’s a world of difference better. You get what you pay for.

[Alan Okey]

[Dave LaRonde] “Isn’t there a 4-1-1 chroma smoothing effect in FCP?”

Yes, that’s what I was referring to, although I didn’t make it explicit that it was an FCP filter.

[Alan Okey]

This is not a configuration problem, it’s simply a case of subject matter that highlights the failings of the DV codec.

It’s glaringly obvious from your screenshot that you shot on DV. The visible stairstepping is not a result of incorrect capture settings, it’s simply that you have footage that is the worst possible subject matter for the DV codec – in this case, highly saturated reds on a black background. What you are seeing is the 4:1:1 chroma sampling of DV compression, which in this case is manifested as highly visible vertical blocking in the reds. DV’s chroma resolution (U and V) is only one quarter that of its luma resolution (Y). That’s what 4:1:1 means – in YUV video, for every 4 samples in the Y (luma) channel, you only get one sample in the U and V (chroma) channels. This is precisely why DV is such a poor choice for greenscreen work.

More details here:

https://www.neopics.com/bluescreen/

Ignore the second part of the article, it’s out of date.

You can mitigate the jagged chroma subsampling artifacts to some extent by editing in a ProRes 422 sequence and applying a 4:1:1 chroma smoothing filter to your footage, but if you export back to DV tape you’ll see the same thing all over again.

[Alan Okey]

I can certainly vouch for CalDigit.

I’ve purchased three arrays from them over the past two years – An HDPro for my personal system, and an HDPro and HDElement for other facilities where I worked. All have been great, reliable performers. Customer service has been stellar. Last time I was in L.A. I stopped by their facility in Placentia and they gave me a quick tour (and a cool tee shirt to boot!).

My HDPro has been a solid workhorse, with no problems whatsoever. CalDigit has ensured an upgrade path to HDPro owners by designing the HDPro as a modular system. When the HDPro 2 came out, owners of the original HDPro could easily upgrade their existing units by simply swapping out their old RAID controller module with the new model that is used in the HDPro 2. A simple plug-and-play upgrade that doubles performance for a reasonable price is almost unheard of in the word of video tech. Most companies just expect you to ditch the old product and buy a new one. CalDigit recently began offering a rackmount bracket kit for the HDPro as well, which transforms the tower form factor into a rackmountable configuration. The build quality of the rackmount kit is impressive, featuring very heavy-duty machined aluminum brackets that completely replace the stock handles.

CalDigit’s products epitomize smart, beautiful design and very high build quality, and in my experience their customer service has been fantastic.

[Alan Okey]

When capturing a live feed from a camera via SDI, there is no device control. Select non-controllable device.

[Alan Okey]

[Shane Ross] “Use the AJA hardware and totally bypass the horrid LOG GOP XDCAM format and capture direct to ProRes.”

More specifically:

If you have AJA hardware, use the HDSDI output from the EX3 and feed it into the AJA device’s HDSDI input. Don’t use Firewire. Capture in ProRes 422.