[Andy Mees]

A basic titling plugin that allows multiple fonts, styles and colors with live compositing over a preview window should be, in the grand scheme of things, a simple plugin to build using the FxPlug SDK …. I’ll have a bash at it but I fear my programming skills are way below the “grand scheme of things” level

Perhaps Martin Baker / Digital Heaven would be interested in doing this. I’ve a feeling folks would gladly pay for it.

[Andy Mees]

[David Eells] “For the system I’m using at the moment (…) the video is BARELY realtime”

Is this referring to the performance you’re getting with your footage as is in the ProRes422 HQ timeline or within a native XDHD timeline? If the former, how does it fare in the latter?

To be honest, I’m sensing that you’ve kind of already made up your mind on the workflow that you want to use (transcode all your sources to ProRes422 HQ) and are really looking for someone else to confirm that its a good one / the best one? If thats so then go ahead, its a good one. Not what I’d do (I’ve covered that pretty much I think!) but pre processing the footage in order to conform to a single DI codec is a perfectly goo d workflow.

If that is the way you’re headed then I think you’ll need much more storage than you appear to have at present (and this may already be the cause of your primary performance issues). If your native sources already total 2.2 TB and your Burly RAID has only a 2.5 TB capacity then your current storage is running nearly 90% full. You’re not going to be getting the best performance from drives, even a RAID, that is that full. Now take all those low bit rate compressed HD sources and recompress them to a higher bitrate codec such as ProRes422 (HQ or otherwise) and you’re not going to be able to shoe horn all that footage onto your drives. More food for thought perhaps…

[David Eells] “I got called in on the end of an HDV project once, and outputting was a nightmare. “

I feel your pain mate, especially if you had no prior experience of handling such a project or guidance when it happened, but since that time, have you learnt anything new about dealing with HDV projects or would you approach such a beast in exactly the same way as you did last time?

[Andy Mees]

Hi David.
Well what more can I say? As I already noted, for me, pushing XDHD and HDV around in a native XDHD timeline gives me no problems at all. Its fully responsive and everything works in realtime. If something does need to render then it renders quickly as ProRes (ie doesn’t need to conform). With added hardware (Kona, Decklink, MXO) I can output via HD/SDI in realtime. In the box I can output a low quality SD viewing copy via firewire to a DVD burner or whatever in realtime. Or I can export a pristine quality ProRes copy via Export > Quicktime Movie w/ settings set to ProRes, Self-Contained. etc etc I think the real point though is that while all this may work for me or others it doesn’t necessarily mean its your best workflow. I think you need to sit down and run through some workflow tests for yourself in order to satisfy your concerns. In the meantime, what you also need to concern yourself with perhaps is how your EP will view the ad hoc viewing copies you will need to create … if thats a DVD then how will you approach the working format (PAL) to NTSC conversion? and how needing to create NTSC viewing copies may affect your workflow, or more importantly the time needed for that step (or the quality trade off acceptable for making it happen faster)
Andy

[Andy Mees]

Yes Raf, I would upres any lower quality footage (including SD or 720 HD) for my (1080) HD master regardless of the initial broadcast specification.

[Andy Mees]

I not really seeing how that would be a problem David. If you are going to hand them a rendered quicktime movie then you can export the completed edit as ProRes (or another DI) or even Uncompressed. Your working timeline format would not be a barrier to that. If you’re handing them the full project and media, then for you at least the export details are moot. I can tell you that I have occasion to push 1080i50 XDHD (HQ) around all day, in FCP 6 with ProRes rendering and its not an issue. Working with XDHD and HDV only really becomes problematic if you actually want to deliver in that format (and you don’t right?)

[Andy Mees]

Ok, so the majority of footage is XDCAM HD HQ (1080i50) with a bunch of HDV 1080i50 and HDV720p25 as well. Initial rough-cut on a 422ProResHQ timeline with a 25 frame timebase.

I’d start by changing the sequence settings back to the predominant native format, that being XDCAM HD 1080i50 35 Mbs VBR, and setting Sequence Settings > Renders to ProRes

With FCP6 you’ll find XDHD and HDV mix easily in the timeline. Editing should be a breeze, and any effects or work that needs rendering will benefit from the ProRes rendering.

For final output, I’d export a self-contained movie as ProRes or Uncompressed, or layoff my HD master directly to HDCAM tape.

Thats what I’d be taking to a facilities house for standards conversion to NTSC.

[Andy Mees]

just going back to sleep here … move along

[Andy Mees]

try Movie Logger from Digital Heaven .. great program
https://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/movielogger/

[Andy Mees]

specs will vary slightly depending format, broadcaster and region on
that said, here is the BBC’s UK TX specs:

a. Standard for 4:3 delivery.
Action Safe
90% of Active Width
90% of Height
Caption Safe
80% of Active Width
80% of Height

b. Widescreen 16:9 protected
Action Safe
93% of Active Width
93% of Height
Caption Safe
80% of Active Width
90% of Height

c. Widescreen 14:9 protected
Action Safe
80% of Active Width
93% of Height
Caption Safe
70% of Active Width
90% of Height

d. Widescreen 4:3 protected
Action Safe
70% of Active Width
93% of Height
Caption Safe
65% of Active Width
90% of Height

e. Widescreen 14:9 Action, Full 4:3, Delivery Caption protection
Action Safe
80% of Active Width
93% of Height
Caption Safe
60% of Active Width
80% of Height

[Andy Mees]

>get a “wrong Database” error when attempting to open 1.0 after deleting the newer version

did you try deleting the old database ie not the old app
by default i believe it will be in your users ~/Library/Application Support/Sony XDCAM Transfer folder
try deleting(or just moving) that whole directory and then see how you go