[Brian Deviteri]

Yeah, I’ve done that before, but here’s what happens…

I open the .AVI file in Audition using the “Open Audio From Video” option (the only way to get audio from an .AVI file into Audition). Make my edits to the audio, then I cannot save the “linked” audio and video file – I am forced to save the audio audio changes as a .WAV file.

Then I go back to Premiere, find the original clip that I used in my timeline… find the in and out marks for that clip… mark the same in and out marks on the audio then add it to my timeline in the exact place the current (unedited) audio is in… then unlink the original audio and video… then mute out the original audio track… relink the new audio to the video… then play and pray.

Just to give you an example, I used a 30 second video clip and did the whole process this way just right now. The media duration of the original AVI with audio and video is 00:00:30:00. The new .WAV from Audition that I import into my project is 00:00:30:01441. Now, expand that out to a whole project and it becomes slightly “tedious” to say the least to match all of these up exactly and accurately.

Is there an improved way to do this? Can’t we just open up the Premiere timeline in Audition, see only the audio there (with maybe a preview monitor), edit the audio in Audition, go back to Premiere, click a button and have all of the changes update? Would be nice…

[Brian Deviteri]

Are you saying it is “fuzzy” from an exported movie file, or from the preview/program monitor in Premiere Pro from the timeline? If the second, you may be viewing you program monitor in a draft mode and not seeing the true resolution of your graphic.

Also, are you rendering at all? Real-time previews will give you a preview a good portion of the time, but often the quality isn’t 100%, especially if the graphic is not rendered.

[Brian Deviteri]

It really is that easy, I do it all the time.

[Brian Deviteri]

Thanks Jan! This is really good news for many of us. A lot of clients will still want to have a miniDV tape handed to them at the end of a shoot (or shortly thereafter) and have gotten used to this practice over the past few years. Until we can get them out of this habit (even though this will not be the source material or source codec for the edit) at least we can hand them a tape that will somehow make them confident and go home happy.

[Brian Deviteri]

Jan,

Thanks for the response. Can the camera “downconvert” to DV (miniDV) from DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, or DVCPRO HD on the P2 cards in a VTR mode?

Brian

[Brian Deviteri]

I found the quote… in the “axio_guide.pdf” it states:

High definition (HD) resolutions and codecs

HD resolutions and frame rates

[Brian Deviteri]

Not that I do not believe you, but the Axio HD specs are below with no mention of DVCPRO HD or DVCPRO 100. Can you provide any other details?

https://www.matrox.com/video/products/axio/key_features.cfm
Matrox Axio HD
Most powerful realtime engine for HD and SD editing

[Brian Deviteri]

Noah,

I’m just trying to clarify the specs that everyone know as of right now. Originally I knew this to be a 16×9 3-chip progressive CCD that was capable of 1080/60i, 1080/24p, 1080/30p and progressive at 720 and 480. I was just checking with everyone to see if this was still the case or not. Since the camera is not really for sale yet (even though you can pre-order it from some retailers), the specs can still change. I was getting really concerned that we weren’t going to get a progressive CCD, but thank you for clarifying this situation.

Brian

[Brian Deviteri]

As I was told by Avid, Xpress Pro HD can edit DVCPRO HD on their PC versions… so I think a PC is capable of editing DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, and DVCPRO HD, as long as the codecs are present.

Until recently, I only knew of MainConcept offering the DVCPRO 25 and DVCPRO 50 codecs and they were $350 to purchase. I downloaded the demo in case I ever had any DVCPRO or DVCPRO 50 material to edit in PPro 1.5 (with the demo it outputed watermarked or something when using it).

But recently, there was a link posted to the Matrox Video for Windows Software codec. I have downloaded this and installed…

https://www.matrox.com/video/support/ds/software/codec/home.cfm
(ftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/video/DigiSuite/End_Users/release71/codecs.exe)

Installing this set of codecs will let you export video as:
Matrox DV/DVCAM
Matrox DVCPRO
Matrox DVCPRO 50
Matrox M-JPEG
Matrox MPEG-2 I-Frame

I am going to test some of these codecs in much more detail next week and see how they respond a little bit more. They seem to work fine right now though. I’ve done test exports with bars/tone and black video. All of them work fine, no watermarks, no test patterns, no demo patterns. They seem to be full-functional working versions.

To use them:
File > Export > Movie
Settings
General > File Type = Microsoft AVI
Video > Compressor = Matrox (choose codec)

I had the MainConcept DVCPRO 25/50 demo codec installed on my computer and after installing this Matrox codec package, the MainConcept DVCPRO codecs have “disappeared” from my system and been replaced with the Matrox versions. No real big deal, but if you paid for the MainConcept versions, you probably do not want to install this.

Using my “Media Info” program that displays codec and other information for media files, Matrox DVCPRO 25 exports shows as “dv25” and Matrox DVCPRO 50 exports shows as “dv50”. I think the codecs are definately working fine.

My thought is that the DVCPRO and DVCPRO 50 codecs are universal with different manufacturers putting the codec out with their name branded on it. It makes sense to me, but if someone could verify this or if you have a different explanation, I’d really love to hear it.

The Matrox DV and DVCPRO codecs are located in the file:
“c:windowssystem32digivcap.dll”

Also worth noting, I was having some problems playing some of the exported clips back in Windows Media Player (no suprise really). I’d get the thumbnail for the preview, but the video would not play back at all, only the audio. However, when I import the files back into the PPro timeline, they play fine and are high quality. DVCPRO and DV/DVCAM plays fine in WMP, no issues at all. If I turn off WMP Video Acceleration (Tools > Options > Performance Tab > Video Acceleration = None) then DVCPRO 50 plays fine… maybe because of the higher data rate? No big deal really to me, I’d only be using this in a timeline anyway, not for mass distribution or e-mailing to any clients.

The video test of bars/tone and black video looks absolutely amazing in DVCPRO 50! No artifact at all. Even the Matrox DV/DVCAM codec looks a little better than the Windows DV AVI export that I did for comparison.

Now, does anyone know how to capture using these codecs? That would really make all of this worth the effort. I can’t really test this in it’s full spectrum without importing digital video as a DVCPRO or DVCPRO 50 file. If anyone has a suggetion, I’d love to hear it.

[Brian Deviteri]

I just installed the Matrox codec set on my Windows XP Pro with SP2 machine. I am running Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5.1 and I now have the following additional Windows AVI movie export options:
Matrox DV/DVCAM
Matrox DVCPRO
Matrox DVCPRO 50
Matrox M-JPEG
Matrox MPEG-2 I-Frame

I had a demo of the MainConcept DVCPPRO 25/50 codec installed previously, but it is no longer in my export options. I believe this Matrox codec has replaced it.

Can anyone answer this question for me though? Is the DVCPRO 25 or DVCPRO 50 codec “universal”? Meaning, if I export a movie as a DVCPRO 50 using the Matrox codec, can someone who has the MainConcept DVCPRO 50 codec play it without issues? Does Panasonic have an “official” codec to install for DVCPRO 25, DVCPRO 50, or DVCPRO HD?