[Bouke Vahl]

[walter biscardi] ”
ProRes or any other 422 codec is better for color enhancement only if you’re going to stay in an uncompressed format for mastering. If you’re going back to DV tape, then no, stay in DV.”

Walter,
I respectfully disagree.
Few reasons:
Probably every project like this ends up on DVD as well.
DV to MpegII is not as good as from a 422 codec.
And having high quality stuff to start with will always yield a better end result.
But i’m about to start drinking my way into the new year and do not feel we’re going to find consensus this year.

So a happy 2010!

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

[walter biscardi] ”
Format doesn’t matter.”

Hmm.
Since DV has half the color resolution of DV50, and the color is weak already, i would say it makes a HUGE difference to use a 422 codec, not?

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

Alvaro,
Subtitles is no problem.
Read below a bit on my comments on textgenerators with shadow.
You’ll find a good subtitle program there, that can generate, export AND import FCP subtitles as well as a lot of other formats.

This way you can easily move your work between various applications.

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

Matt,
RT drop shadow is simple.
If you are talking about text generators:
Don’t use the ‘ drop shadow ‘ in the Motion tab, but use the drop shadow in the Control tab.
Of course you need a Text Generator that supports both shadow and outline.
Digital Heaven has one, that will set you back a whopping twenty euros:
https://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/plugins
Spherico has two, one free and one paid:
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools/textUp/index.html

And i’ve made one, free as well:
https://www.videotoolshed.com/?page=products&pID=17

(but it comes with Subbits, download from here:)
https://www.videotoolshed.com/?page=products&pID=12

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

Marrian,
First, i STRONGLY believe that my app DOES NOT alter the clips in a way they become out of sync.
What can happen is:
If you put 30 FPS material into a 29.97 timeline, FCP will interpret the video as 29.97.
Meaning, each frame in the original clip will get a frame in the timeline.
BUT, the audio will remain at it’s original length, thus you end up with sync problems.
(about 2 frames per minute)

Few observations from your clip:
You have rendered to 30 FPS. (Not 29.97, so i assume you don’t want to go to tape or monitor on a true client monitor)
Then in my application, you did NOT set the application to 30 FPS, but left it in the default 25 FPS.
This is not good…
Then for clip #2, you probably used my application to change the speed.
Do NOT do this, this function is not supported by FCP, funny things happen.
What this function does is stretching the duration of QT tracks, not altering the FPS!

About TC and Reelnames:
TC and Reelnames do NOT travel inside an FCP project. (Well, a little, but read on…)
FCP finds clips based on filename and location. But the TC and Reelinfo is stored inside the QT clips.
So if you change the TC behind FCP’s back (even when FCP is running), FCP will happily display the new TC.
When you alter a reelname or TC inside FCP, it will alter the QT TC track of the original QT on your drive.
So i cannot understand that if you have done so, it won’t stick.
(If you enter a reelname in the bin on a clip, FCP will even tell / warn you that it WILL alter the original clip on disk…)

hth,

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

Stewart,
You’re giving them a bag of hurt.
Chances are big that they end up with a gamma shift and other madness.
It would be best to rent out your deck and let them ingest themselves, saving you some tedious ‘told you’ phonecalls.
(Instead you can rent out your deck again 🙂

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

creating good looking H.264 takes massive processor power.
That’s why it’s hard to do so.
However, you might get lucky using Adobe Media Live encoder.
I use it for live streaming SD material. No idea how it handles HDV, but perhaps a SD downscale from the deck is good enough. In that case, it’ll definitly work.

Best part, it’s free.

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

AUX TC is a second (or third, FCP/QT has two aux) TC track.
You can assign any timecode you see fit to that.
The name is not only for QT TC, but is used even before QT existed.

If you have audio timecode on a sound track, that is also called ‘aux TC’, as it is a second TC track.
(Hence the name of my FCP AUX TC reader, that converts the audio TC to QT aux TC.

More examples:
By default it’s 00:00:00:00, thus it acts as a CTL counter.

You could set it to TOD (while i’m thinking of it, i’ll build that into the QT change app.)
So on a file based multicam shoot when the cams have not recorded the same TC, if their clocks were sync you are saved.

Not only it is handy in some situations to have more than one TC track, for operations like re-capture you MUST keep the original TC track, altering that is most of the time not wise…

If you do a music video with playback of the song, you could use a LTC (audio) TC track on one channel of the song to play back, and record that on the cam.
In post, use that to create an AUX track so all your takes line up without effort.

Makes sense?

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

Marrian,
I’m a bit concerned about my application getting video out sync.
You know it’s in PAL by default?
Perhaps you have to set it to 30 first (use the menu).

The app. will happily put 25 FPS QT TC into a 30 FPS movie, even legal according to QT, it just is annoying if you expect the counter to go up to 29.)
Still, no idea what could happen to the sound.
What steps are you exactly taking?

Can you send me a sample clip or two so i can test what goes wrong where?
(Please one that is original so i can try to break it…)

Use my dropbox if you ain’t got an FTP server:
https://dropbox.yousendit.com/BoukeVahl998172

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

Ty,
Boomrecorder is not an option. (Besides, it’s discontinued.)

The whole idea is to work with cheap cams that do not have TC in / out, and record sound external on a BWF recorder.

This happens a lot around here (Netherlands, Germany)

Trick is to take the TC output of the BWF recorder and feed it to the cam’s audio track, then sync up in post.

Avid can read the audio timecode (if a reelname is assigned to the file), and then sync to the BWF’s

FCP cannot do this, hence my application.

hth,

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s