[Andra]

[Floh] “…and setting it to “Computer” range on export. This will map your blacks to 0 and your whites to 255.”

Where do you set it to “Computer” range. Do I still use the “Export from Edit Suite” Menu item?

Thanks in advance!

Yours,
Andra

Media 100 i/xr version 8.2.2

System Version: Mac OS X 10.3.9 (7W98)
Kernel Version: Darwin 7.9.0

Machine Model: Power Mac G4
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.3)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 1.42 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 2 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.6.0f1

[Andra]

Glad I could help! Just giving back a bit of what the COW has given me so far 😉

Cheers,
Andra

[Andra]

Hi Randy!

Take a look at this and let me know if it’s what you’re looking for:

https://www.eurovoice.nl/cow/FractalLowerThirds.aep

Look at Wiping fractals 2.
Basically, I’ve used an adjustment layer set to Hard Light with a moving ramp. Placed that over the layer with the fractal noise. To finish things of, I added an adjustment layer with a threshold on it, to have the blocks switch on instead of fading in.

Wiping fractals 1 is something I made because I hadn’t read your post properly the first time. I left it in ’cause I think it makes for an interesting effect none the less.

Yours,
Andra

[Andra]

Dear Sammet,

I don’t know whether FCP or iMovie deinterlace the frames they export, but if you have the choice: do it yourself. It’s a bit more work, but in a lot the cases it’s worth it.

If there’s movement in the shot, you’ll see jagged edges on all (near) vertical lines. That is caused by the interlacing process of video. Under filters>Video> there’s a filter called deinterlace. It basically throws away every other horizontal line and tries to make up what was there, either by duplicating the lines that are left over, or by interpolating between those lines (the second one is the best option, by the way). It does the job, but you tend to loose a lot of detail. And the resolution of video already isn’t much to speak of.

I like to duplicate the layer with the still, so I have two identical layers. Then I run the deinterlace filter on one of them (usually the lower layer, and I’ll assume so for the rest of the description).
Then I choose the upper layer and add a layer mask to it (Layer > Layer Mask > reveal all). In the layers-palette you’ll see a white square next to the thumbnail of the upper layer. Now, make sure the white square is selected instead of the thumbnail (just click on it if you’re not sure). Then take the brush tool and make sure your foreground color is set to BLACK. Then start painting over the areas that are most affected by the jagged-interlacing-edges. What happens is that in the places where you’ve painted the upper layer disappears and reveals the lower layer, which has been deinterlaced. If you make a mistake, paint white over that area and the upper layer will be shown again.
TIP: press D to set your colors to black and white, and press X to switch between the two.

If you turn the visibility of the upper layer on and off, you can see the difference between this method and normal deinterlacing. Your image will appear quite a bit sharper.
This method works especially well if the video-footage was a stationary shot with only one or two moving objects. You only have to deinterlace those objects and leave the rest nice and sharp.

Having said that: there’s your first tip for shooting the material! Try to make stationary shots when you know that shot will also be used as a still. Preferably on a tripod.

Another thing: if you need portraits of people from stills, make sure you have footage of them not talking and not moving (at least not walking). I once had to pull stills from footage where someone was walking while he/she was telling a story. I had dozens of takes to choose from, but almost every frame looked silly either because of posture of facial expression. Same thing goes for people eating, by the way.

Well, my two cents. I hope it helps!

Yours,
Andra

Rotterdam, the Netherlands

[Andra]

Thanks for all your suggestions, but unfortunately it hasn’t helped. I’ll try and get hold of someone at AJA, then. I’ve filled out their “contact support”-form on their website last tuesday, but haven’t had any response yet. How long should this usualy take, do you think?

About the FW-drives: they were connected on the FW800 port, not on either of the 2 FW400 ports. Are all those ports connected to one bus?
We don’t use the FW-drives to capture in Final Cut, only in Media 100i. For Final Cut we’ve been using a SCSI Raid that has enough through-put to handle Uncompressed 10bit.
Thanks again!

Yours,
Andra

[Andra]

I’ve just done so. I hooked the Io up to both the BetaSP and the DigiBeta deck, but I kept getting the following message:
“Unable to initialize video deck. You may still log offline clips or use Capture Now.”

I’ve tried Capture Now, and that works just fine. But of course it isn’t how I’d like to work..
I’ve disconnected all FW harddrives that are usually connected, but that didn’t make a difference, either.
I’ve also just hooked up a DVCAM camera through FireWire instead of the AJA Io, and used it with Final Cut and it worked without a hitch.
Does that rule out Final Cut, or should I start considering a full uninstall and re-install of Final Cut Pro (whining: “I don’t wannaaaa…”).
Is there any way to check the functionality of the AJA Io without the use of Final Cut Pro? The “ControlPanel” gives some information, but nothing on deck-control.

Yours,
Andra

[Andra]

Yes I have done all of that aswell. The RS422 connection is part of a small patch-pannel which could prehaps be faulty on the Io side. It’s probably okay on the DigiBeta side, because deck-control worked fine when hooked it up to the Media 100i set. I should ask my colleague, who built the patch-pannel, to check it out.

I actually think the problem is software side, because at some point I did have deck-control but no image, and then it changed back again.
Thanks again!

Yours,
Andra

[Andra]

Yes I did. That’s what meant to say with: “…and the Io have been shut down and restarted several times“.

I believe at some point I even pulled out the powercord, just to make sure it was really off. ;P

Thanks,
Andra

[Andra]

Could you post a few screenshots? Preferably tiffs or high-quality jpegs or something.
I’m no expert, but I’d like to see the problem for myself and try some possible solutions.

Yours,
Andra

[Andra]

Thanks!

Just out of curiosity: Why Lower, and when do you use upper field first.

At work we have a Media 100i editing system. I’ve been told it uses a different field order than usual, so I’m guessing that’s Upper Field First. But if so, how could it ever interoperate between the different tape machines we’ve got?

By the way: does PAL or NTSC make any difference when it comes to field order. I’m from the Netherlands, so we use PAL.

Thanks again.

Yours,
Andra