[Andy Mees]

Yep, you’re right, my bullet point was too vague ( like Matrox’s surround sound reference! ). Apologies for that.
What I was referring to is the MXO2’s capacity to calibrate its HDMI output for color critical monitoring purposes on a “typical HDMI monitor” (just as the original MXO does for its DVI output)
I’ve added an addendum that to that effect on the other thread.

[Andy Mees]

>The images look ok but on close inspection there are some bad interlacing problems

Liam “on close inspection” where? Do you have a means to check the captured footage on an interlaced broadcast display? If not then you really can’t properly assess interlacing issues or indeed any qualitative issues on these clips. If you captured as HDV using firewire then what you see is what you shot … if there really is an issue with it then it is with the source rather than the capture (Sorry). You note that it gets worse when compressed for and viewed on a DVD … what steps are you currently employing to create these DVD’s? Might be something that is easily resolved with a small change in workflow.

>What is the best capture setting for Sony HDV 1080i?

Well the flavor of the moment is ProRes … and why not, its a superb codec. But realize that in the first instance transcoding your HDV to that codec won’t make the raw source clips better quality, it’ll just make the file sizes bigger. Also bear in mind that you’ll possibly need a beefier storage system to deal with the higher bandwidth requirements of working with the much higher data rate of those clips.

Basically, I think if you offer up a bit more info on your system specs, workflow, and delivery requirements then you might get some pretty spot on advice.

[Andy Mees]

Exactly, Oliver. If your film is finished in DV PAL and the distributor has asked for a BetaSP master then give him a Beta SP PAL master. This will ensure that the source he receives is the best possible quality from which he can generate whatever other copies he needs.

[Andy Mees]

All good points Jeremy and I think No.1’s conclusion is important as in “it does cost more, but it does more.” Alan, last time this discussion came up (on the FCP forum I think) I ended up going off on analogy abut different cars and their usefulness in different driving conditions, this time lets talk about fruit 🙂 Lets say for the analogies sake that the MXO2 is an apple and the IoHD is an “organic” orange. Sure some folks like apples and some like oranges and some will just buy anything as long as its “organic” (ok, thats irrelevant) but if you just need a your daily recommended intake of fruit then either will suffice. However, if you specifically need a lot of vitamin C then you’d definitely want to choose the orange even though its more expensive. Ok enough with the fruit.

Anyway, for Alan and anyone else interested I had a bash at the original question over on the Matrox forum
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/132/857179

Cheers
Andy

PS. Jeremy, respectfully, I will observe that the point about surround monitoring or more specifically “IoHD has only stereo RCA output for monitoring” is perhaps being a little misconstrued (and yeah, I’d agree that the marketing / copywriting speak used is in no small part to blame) … but to my understanding, what its supposed to be is actually a relatively straightforward comparison of the MXO2’s 6 RCA “monitor” outputs as opposed to the Io HD’s 2 RCA “monitor” outputs and really no more than that. Just like an HDCAM deck has only 2 XLR monitor outputs, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have plenty of other audio outputs.

[Andy Mees]

There was a bug in FCP 6.0.2 / OS 10.5 installs that could cause this message
If that describes your setup then you need to update your FCP version to 6.0.3 or above.
Choose Software from the Apple menu to update your software,

[Andy Mees]

LOL. A bit more info would help Oliver!
A Beta SP of what? Something you have already produced or something you are still planning, or.. ?
If its something still in the planning stage then what kind of program is it? Where are you planning to shoot it, US, Europe, … ? What format are you shooting in, HD/SD? Do you have a prefered frame rate? Where will this distributor be distributing your work, US, Europe or Worldwide?
Failing all that as a basis for deciding which format to go with then choose PAL … far nicer than yucky NTSC
Andy

[Andy Mees]

>Now, my outputfilm is much lighter then my edit view monitor

As viewed in FCP or in Quicktime Player? The gamma handling can be different depending on the app. In the Quicktime Player’s preferences window under the General tab you can choose to Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility.

[Andy Mees]

ya, its called SequenceLiner and he announced it very recently
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools/sequenceLiner/

[Andy Mees]

Hey Wayne

>AppleMPEG2Codec.component (dated July 2, 2007) since HDV isn’t at all 422 but 420.

The date and version of the bundle isn’t changed but the bundled elements contained within It are updated nonetheless.

>But I was under the impression from Sony that this isn’t HDV at all now

None of it (except XDCAM HD 25 Mb/s CBR) is HDV … all the XDCAM Codecs are just bundled within that codec component as they are all variations on the same basic format, including XDCAM HD 422.

Andy

[Andy Mees]

Hey Wayne

As far as I know, the codec is not contained with the XDCAM Transfer installer. It’s part or the AppleHDVCodec.component that is updated (or should have been) during the FCP 6.0.3 update. Are Sony now also distributing Apple’s ProApp codecs or is this an issue with a corrupt XDCAM Transfer install just not recognizing the codec when it really is there after all?

Cheers
Andy