[Ben Mullins]

Hi Warren,

Thanks for the response. How does that work though? I mean if the footage is recorded in 8-bit how can you suddenly add the extra information for it to become 10 bit once transcoded to ProRes?

Ben.

[Ben Mullins]

Hi,

Thank you Walter, that explains it very well. I had no idea it was such a contentious issue! And thank you for the presets, they’ll come in very handy. I use GPU acceleration as default so I guess leaving the linear compositing box ticked should be standard and then use opacity keyframes (or your presets) as and when I need to. I don’t use a whole lot of dissolves anyway but I do play with different blend modes regularly, but really I just wanted to know what the check box was for!

Thanks again,

Ben.

[Ben Mullins]

I’ve always liked Larry Jordan, I think he’s an excellent trainer. I saw him speak at the supermeet in London when FCPX was first released and I’ve spent the last 6 or 7 years reading his newsletters (I miss his old ones for FCP7). I have to say though that since X was released he seems a little biased towards it. Not blindly so but I think he initially gambled his reputation somewhat on X ‘succeeding’ so he does have a vested interest in it. If you look at his newsletters the top tips are usually all for X, with a few Adobe ones thrown in. Actually his newsletters are a little more like adverts or flyers now compared to the FCP7 ones he used to do. I still think he’s an excellent trainer (I’ve learned loads from his videos over the years) and he comes across as a really nice guy too so I don’t wish to knock him but he definitely roots for X over anything else, which is a choice he’s certainly entitled to.

[Ben Mullins]

I don’t think there’s many people who ‘needlessly’ upgrade, although there’s always people who just have to have the latest software/hardware regardless. But at some point an upgrade will make your life easier, whether it’s adding a new function (like Premiere-Speedgrade round tripping), or developing improved hardware, or anything in between. Things change and evolve naturally, especially in a tech-based industry.

[Ben Mullins]

I used to work at the Odeon cinema chain in the UK whilst at university and from what I could see the average age of a cinema goer was around 11-18. I suppose it depends on what the film is but I’m sure Apple would be very aware of this age range so you would have to assume that this is their primary target audience (for this campaign).

You could also argue that by simply having an advert before a movie that you align your product with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. You associate your product with that special feeling of going to the movies, subconsciously at least.

I think this is certainly an exercise in brand/product awareness rather than directly trying to sell anything, with a definite halo effect as Walter mentioned.

[Ben Mullins]

Thanks again for all the advice, I’m looking to complete my setup later in the year so I’ll post again to let people know how in went, in case my experience is of any use to anyone else! Cheers!

[Ben Mullins]

Hi Walter,

Thanks for that, loads of really useful info there! Do you have any problems with footage lagging, or any playback issues? Do you need super fast machines to make the workflow useable?

Thanks again,

Ben.

[Ben Mullins]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice. I exported it from Premiere as an H264 .mp4 and it works fine so I’m guessing this is a DNxHD problem. It definitely looks like an issue with the luma values being too high but for me the problem isn’t apparent with the DNxHD .mov master file itself, but rather only when I try to re-encode from that master. I’ve tried re-encoding to a variety of codecs and wrappers and I get the same results each time, green noise in the highlights.

I’ve just switched from a Mac to PC and was going to use DNxHD as a replacement for ProRes when I export my master file. Is this a good idea? Is there a preferred option? Actually didn’t Adobe say that they have included ProRes encoding in CS Next?

Also, how do I check the numerical luma values in Premiere?

Thanks,

Ben.

[Ben Mullins]

The original file exported from Premiere Pro is a DNxHD file, dropped into Encoder and sent out using VBR 2-pass at 25,000kbps with a profile of 5.1.

[Ben Mullins]

I think Adobe has been very clever since the release of FCPX, not only in the development of Premiere but in the way they have marketed themselves. Apple is always criticised for not communicating with their customers whereas Adobe have gone out of their way to do the opposite. They make a big deal of being seen to listen to their customers, implement feedback and generally be open about the direction they’re going in (to a point I think). Hopefully this is not just a marketing strategy and they actually do care because if so I think they’ll iron out the concerns that people have and as Tim says continue their trend towards making great products.

Personally I’d like to see some kind of ‘Right-To-Buy’ option where after a certain number of months you can pay an extra $50-100 or so and download an unrestricted copy of the software (that doesn’t require a membership of any kind). I think this would help with the current ownership issue (after 5 or 10 years subscription I think it’s a bit unfair to own nothing having been such a dedicated user). Perhaps you could even qualify for discounts and/or lower rates once a certain number of months have passed, similar to phone companies offering you discounts when your contract is up for renewal (perhaps if other vendors choose this business model we will see this as a strategy for customer retention).

Generally though I feel a lot more positive with Adobe and am happy to use their products and see where they go. And if it starts to feel like a rip off I will go elsewhere, which hopefully Adobe are smart enough to see from the reaction to FCPX.