[Brian Deviteri]

Did this in CS5.5 and no differences at all throughout the two renders – watched a minute of solid black. So visually speaking, they are identical, which AE has confirmed.

(FYI, verified those results by intentionally offsetting one comp and there were differences between the two when doing so.)

So the question remains… what is the technical difference in the lower rendered data rate, and why the difference? Any recommendations on who I should contact at Adobe to ask them about it?

[Brian Deviteri]

They don’t offer a plugin as far as I know, so there’s not really a “starting point” to begin with. Unless you want to rename them all and trick FCP into thinking they’re Canon files? That may work, not sure what format the GoPro videos are in, or if they’re close enough to match though…

I’d stick with conversion outside of FCP, unless there’s a better proven workflow for the GoPro videos.

https://gopro.com/support/final-cut-pro-tips/

[Brian Deviteri]

Personally, I have not had any of those issues lately. Back with CS2/CS3 AE would sometimes have issues with the DVCPRO and DVCPRO-HD codecs and what was referred to as a blinking gamma.

I’m on AE CS4 9.0.3.8/OSX 10.5.8/FCP 7.0.3/QT 7.6.6

In AE I render to either Animation or ProRes422 without issues. All renders go to my CalDigit HDPro (not local disk).

[Brian Deviteri]

To do uncompressed in real-time you will need a fully loaded machine:
– a fast RAID, something like a CalDigit HDPro2, or a RAID that supports 10,000k RPM drives – you’ll probably want to configure as RAID-0 for maximum speed, but make sure there are no bottleneck issues holding this down
– fastest processor you can get your hands on (spend the money now, you can’t easily upgrade later)
– maxing out on RAM will only help with your processing and rendering, I’d say 16gb at minimum, but 32gb+ is really where you want to look
– a SSD boot/system drive is ideal
– I’d recommend an AJA Kona3 video I/O card

If money isn’t a factor, an SSD RAID would probably be even better.

[Brian Deviteri]

Tony is spot on.

If you’re looking to simplify the process, you can attempt to do a Final Cut batch convert/conform to process all of your footage into the ProRes422 codec, or use Compressor.

Another option (which many people don’t have access to) is to bring in your HDV footage from a deck through HD-SDI (not Firewire) and then you can digitize directly into your codec of choice.

Generally speaking, when ALL of your material is the same codec/frame rate/frame size/audio setup then your editing process is MUCH smoother. Can it be done other ways? Yes. Is it a headache while editing? For something longer than a few minutes, yes.

[Brian Deviteri]

You should start with ProTools – there is a plugin called X-NOISE that is pretty much phenomenal for eliminating some BG noise. In all honesty, if it’s terrible BG noise and it’s mixing with the frequencies that your “needed” audio is in (assuming vocal) then you’ll be disappointed with the results.

Other tools to consider: Adobe Audition or Adobe Soundbooth. The “heat map” view for EQ is great for eliminating individual frequencies, but I personally find it slightly difficult to do a gradual smoothing sometimes.

For softening, you’re going to have to mix with it and test. It all really depends on the actual recorded audio – no two clips are ever the same it seems…

[Brian Deviteri]

First, you should try a DOF (Depth of Field) calculator:
https://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
https://www.dofmaster.com/charts.html

What you’re looking for is called HYPERFOCAL – too much for me to even attempt to explain here, but try these links for a start at understanding:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance
https://gizmodo.com/#!5736155/54-hyperfocal-photos
https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/hyperfocal-distance.htm

[Brian Deviteri]

“IF” you run into any further issues when capturing, check your tri-level sync settings. That deck’s “freerun” isn’t exactly dependable all the time…

[Brian Deviteri]

Let me say this honestly – if your project is intensive and it’s going to take a lot of time for you to “dumb down” to an old version of AE, it’s going to cost someone (probably the client) money for your time. Have you tried explaining that to them? Unless you want to be paid to do this tedious work, it’s an approach that most cost-savvy clients tend to at least understand… and these days, most (if not all) clients tend to be cost-savvy.

[Brian Deviteri]

Joseph –

I use a CalDigit HDPro (original, version “1”) daily and within Final Cut Pro can get up to 4 streams of 1920×1080 ProRes 422 video playing back in “real-time”. More if you want to play back at 1/2 of the frame rate. My unit is setup as RAID-5. This HDPro easily gets 325+ MB/s write and 430+ MB/s read using the AJA System Test – performance you just can’t get with an external hard drive. I’d highly recommend their products – they outperform expectations and are extremely reliable.

As a side note, if you setup an INTERNAL RAID on a MacPro workstation, pay close attention to the internal temperatures of your system before an after. A few people have had to crack the side door open to “vent” when performing long, overnight renders.