[Ben Price]

I can account for two systems. One is in Victoria, Texas (south of Houston) and is used by Agama Advertising. The other is my personal system that I use in Loveland, Colorado.

I’ve been a M100 user since 1997. I’ve used it for everything from commercials to long format programs. And, the final product has aired on the Pentagon Channel, The Maury Show, and QVC (that I know of for sure).

There may not be many of us, but we’re still good company.

———————
MacPro4.1 OS10.6.7
Single 2.66Ghz Quad-core Xeon
3GB RAM
Media100 Suite 2.0.2
Kona LHi

MacPro3.1 OS10.6.7
Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-core Xeon
8GB RAM
Media100 Suite 2.0.2
No input card
———————

[Ben Price]

My system config:

MacPro3.1 OS10.6.7
Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-core Xeon
8GB RAM
Media100 Suite 2.0.2
No input card

[Ben Price]

Marcus,

You’re not alone. Although I’m now based in Fort Collins and have a system of my own, AGAMA Advertising uses M-100 down in Victoria. (south of Houston) We keep the same configuration on both systems and this allows me to edit projects on either system. As I travel between CO and TX, I use portable drives or FTP to transfer media between systems.

Ben

———————
MacPro4.1 OS10.6.7
Single 2.66Ghz Quad-core Xeon
3GB RAM
Media100 Suite 2.0.2
Kona LHi

MacPro3.1 OS10.6.7
Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-core Xeon
8GB RAM
Media100 Suite 2.0.2
No input card
———————

[Ben Price]

Hi, Jay.

I went through something similar with footage I shot on my Canon EOS 60D. I tried to document and post my process for getting the footage successfully into M-100.

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/4/866561

I didn’t notice a difference between the raw and imported shots. Of course, none of it was production quality stuff with critical parameters.

If no one else has additional info to offer, I’m available to help (with my 60D) if needed.

Ben

———————
MacPro4.1 OS10.6.7
Single 2.66Ghz Quad-core Xeon
3GB RAM
Media100 Suite 2.0.2
Kona LHi

MacPro3.1 OS10.6.7
Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-core Xeon
8GB RAM
Media100 Suite 2.0.2
No input card
———————

[Ben Price]

With further experimentation…

The problem appears to be related to the codec that M100 is applying upon import (which I set in the import preferences). I’ve converted a sample file into HDV 1080p30, ProRes422, XDCAM EX1080p30, XDCAM HD422 1080p30, and Media 100 HD (Uncompressed). Of these converted files, after import all but two show their codec in the media bin as DVCProHD 1080i60… and they don’t work well with transitions. Only the ProRes422 and Media 100 HD files work in the timeline (and show ProRes422 and Media 100 HD as their codecs).

I thought that the imported video file would use in Media 100 whatever codec it was converted with in Toast if I did not apply the ‘Import Media to the Media Standard and Codec’ option in M100 (i.e. radio button UN-checked). BUT, M100 did convert the Toast converted files to the DVCProHD 1080i60 codec as shown in the ‘Import Settings’ dialog box.

Knowing that the Toast-converted ProRes file worked inside M100, I set the M100 import dialog codec to ‘Apple ProRes 422’ and then dragged the original Canon media file to the M100 icon. With the ‘Honor File’s Aspect Ratio’ checked, the ‘Media Standard’ set to 1080p 30, the codec showing ‘Apple ProRes 422 40-145 Mbps’, and the ‘Import Media to the Media Standard and Codec’ unchecked, the resulting clip works great in the timeline. The working file size (276MB) is only slightly larger that the DVCProHD one (230MB).

This process was repeated for the other 35 clips (10 min of footage) and it all works!

I’m not sure if this process is applicable to the higher end Canon DSLR’s, but it seems to be working great for me.

I hope this helps someone else!

[Ben Price]

Dave,

Wow… Okay. Yup. That was easy. New program created and video happily placed on timeline. Feeling stupid now, but THANK YOU for helping. Is any of this included in a manual or on-line ‘help’ app somewhere? The last manual we ever received was in 2002 when we upgraded to v8. We didn’t get anything when we purchased this newest version. I’ve even submitted a question or two to M100 support and never received an answer or acknowledgment.

I keep spending large amounts of time fighting issues that used to know where to look and how to fix, but now … not so much.

For example, now that I have the video in a program and can edit it, the video won’t output to my SD monitor (via SD-SDI). All I’m getting is digital noise/static. Luckily, my end deliverable is a movie file that the client can post to YouTube. So, I can just work off of the M100/computer monitor.

FWIW: In my ‘Preferences/Video Output…’, I have the settings at ‘SDI-1: SD’ with the ‘HD to SD’ tab selected. I would expect this to result in a SD output, but it doesn’t. I have tried this with an SD-SDI connection to a DigiBeta deck all the way down to the analog composite outs into a BetaSP deck. No luck through M100. However, if I launch the AJA Control Panel, I can see that M100 is forcing the analog output to 720p under the ‘Primary’ output. And, although there is a ‘Secondary’ output option that I can select, nothing happens when I do, and there doesn’t appear to be an alternative wiring option on the Kona card to access a ‘Secondary’ output. Again, probably missing something simple… but… Arghhh…

Also curious…
Has anyone noticed that the CTI stops working at 12hrs. on the timeline? You can make programs longer than 12 hrs., but the CTI won’t go any further down the timeline than 12 hrs.

Okay, have to get back to work.

Thanks!!!

Ben

———————
MacPro4.1
2.66Ghz Quad-core Xeon
3GB RAM
Media100 Suite 1.6.2
Kona LHi
———————

[Ben Price]

More troubleshooting info…

When I try to load any archived M-100 file off of our (windows-based) server in the Intel Mac, Quicktime just sits there with the twirly ball and effectively locks up. Sometimes it will show ‘Loading Movie…’ in the window, and after a few minutes (less than five), the window size will shrink and move to the center of the screen. It has the size/appearance of what would be expected if you were playing an audio file.

Only after it goes through this process will it give you any information in the movie inspector window. And, all it shows is the file name and size plus a data rate of 0 bit/s and a current size of 20×113 pixels. Nothing else. I’ll see if I can post a file somewhere.

I definitely have something weird going on. Some files that played fine from an archived hard drive (connected via USB) before I posted the original message will not want to play now on this system. They’re still fine on the older computers.

And in the Finder, if the Preview twirly is down with one of these video files, the whole Finder system locks up and I can’t navigate anywhere.

It does seem that, on occasion, if I wait for all of the Finder lock-up mess to run it’s course (15 min. or so), the computer will begin playing the files in the particular folder being browsed. If I navigate to another folder, the process starts over. This is utterly frustrating.

I don’t know if there could be an application conflict somewhere. I suppose it’s possible? I just purchased and loaded Adobe CS5 on it so I could use the media encoder for Flash exports. Other than that, there is really no other software on the system (all Adobe, Apple, and BorisFX) and nothing else has changed.

[Ben Price]

Spent some more time digging through Cow Archives. Looks like I’m SOL and will have to manually locate and isolate each clip.

As I understand it from posts dating back a number of years, in order to get access to the start/stop clips, the client would have had to make a reference movie before handing off the files. As there are no ref files on the disk image, I’m guessing my options are limited.

[Ben Price]

Okay. Thanks guys!

After your comments, our tech dept ordered an AJA LHi card this morning. We should have it in the computer and conduct tests early Thursday. With the M-100 trial version loaded, I should be okay. I’m an old M-100 guy, so this is my comfort zone and fallback if things go poorly. My editor keeps pushing for us to transition over to FCP – he has it on his laptop. I have to admit that it is very tempting. I won’t be around forever, and most new editors and freelancers all have FCP experience. Even a growing number of our clients are familiar with FCP.

We’ll probably try both next week and see what happens.

[Ben Price]

I downloaded the M-100 trial suite last night. The software works fine, but the USB I/O device is not recognized. It’s a consumer POS that records an MPG file. The MPG isn’t natively recognized by M-100 or even QuickTime for playback. You have to go through a rather involved conversion process that leaves multiple files and folders on the computer.

I guess the question I need resolved is about the necessity of additional hardware acceleration. Our IT guys are saying that a new edit system must have at least one – better if two – video cards installed to handle realtime editing, transitions, and eventually HD processing. I thought it would work fine with just the computer, software (M-100, FCP, etc.), and a good I/O device (AJA, MXO2, BlackMajic). Who is correct?