[Brian Tetamore]

$5,000 is way over our budget. I’ve heard lots of good things about Filemaker Pro.

Have you ever heard of Microsoft Expression Media? It has a free trial period. Maybe I’ll give it a whirl too.

thanks
Brian

The Visual Rabbi

[Brian Tetamore]

So, after a couple emails from Episode Tech Support they told me to view the video in the VLC player as I’m on a Mac. Apparently, the Quicktime Player doesn’t do well with Mpeg and WMV. And actually, I did find that both those codecs played much better in the VLC player.

Astonishing. What’s up with Quicktime? Just when you think you’ve spent enough money to get the latest and greatest you find that you still have to spend more.

Thanks for the help guys!

[Brian Tetamore]

Really grateful for your help on this.

I encoded the file using the EP default H264_High Quality and it looks good. So, what can I do to get the Mpeg and WMV versions to look at least as good as the H264 codec?

[Brian Tetamore]

I tried the MPEG-1_High Quality default under Web/Download. It still is stuttering where there is motion in the frame.

The data rate on playback is 1258
Frame Rate – 30
File Size – 35.51
Playback rate is – 30

Is there a different mastering format that would allow EP to compress the motion better? Something besides 8bit uncompressed NTSC.

[Brian Tetamore]

Those settings really didn’t make a difference. The stuttering is not as bad, but it’s still there.

Again, the master is in 8bit NTSC Lower Fields 720×480. It plays out fine.

[Brian Tetamore]

I’ll try your suggestion. I’m playing the compressed video back on my Mac G5 Dual 2.7 (4GB RAM) The compressed version will be played back mostly on PCs, probably varying dramatically in capability. It’s an imperfect world out there for sure, but all of them will be using a presentation software like MediaShout or EasyWorship

[Brian Tetamore]

Mpeg1 (Episode Default MPEG-1_HighQuality – except that I keep aspect at 720×480)
Bandwidth Settings:
Coding Type: bitrate based
Average Type: 1150
GOP Format: IBBPBB

Frame Rate: 30 (fast)

Deinterlace: auto detection
Creating New Flds by Edge Detection

Resize:
720×480
Maintain proportions: none

[Brian Tetamore]

This project will be mastered to SD DVD. What’s the best option to get from HDV to SD?

Secondly, I’m having trouble diging HDV using my Canon XL H1. Is there an issue with FCP 6.0.2? I was able to dig one tape, but can’t get anything else to dig. I keep getting “can’t find timecode” error.

[Brian Tetamore]

I finally read the fact that you had FCP 6.0.2! I upgraded and just successfully digitized the same Apple Pro Res codec with no problems – timecode and all.

thanks for the heads up. I was having a heck of a time with digitizing HDV in 6.0.1. This seems like the way to go for now.

[Brian Tetamore]

TO ADD: Just for testing purposes, I switched the XL H1 to HDV-Downconvert, and by changing my capture settings to DV/NTSC I’m able to capture clips with timecode without any issues.

So, again, why can’t I capture in HDV mode?