Cliff Stephenson
Forum Replies Created
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That’s what’s so frustrating… It works in Premiere with the Kona cards, so if it is in fact an Adobe problem, Aja figured out a fix. So, yes, it’s Adobe’s responsibility to make sure that PP works with with the various i/o cards, but (imo) it’s Blackmagic’s responsibility to make sure it works CORRECTLY. As a DIY producer/editor (where I often have to edit, do graphics work, and final mix on my own), there are reasons that I’m currently really loving Premiere, so switching to AVID isn’t realistic (especially since I’ve just spent the last 6 months getting up to speed on Premiere after Final Cut). We’re not talking about rebuilding the Decklink cards from scratch, simply hunkering down and fixing one of the MAJOR bugs that exists with one of the main editing softwares being used with it right now (They used it for work on The Social Network- This isn’t Final Cut X here). If Blackmagic doesn’t fix it, and soon, I’m probably going to be pulling that card out of my system and the next card I buy will probably be another Aja. They seem to be really agressive right now in rooting out all these little problems and getting fixes made.
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If you have Compressor with the Final Cut Studio Suite, you can run it through there and set your output to XDCAM EX 1080p24 with the output framerate to 23.976 and then set your frame controls ‘on’ to: Deinterlace: Best (motion compensated) and Retiming Control: Best (high quality motion compensated). It might take a bit of time depending on your system and how much footage you have to convert, but you should end up with a final version you’re very happy with. I would definitely run a test of, like, 60 seconds first just so you can see what you’ll get without having to spend all the time on the entire clip- just in case you’re not happy with the result.
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It’s not a flaw in PP 5.x “inherently” because JKL works quite perfectly and fluidly if you use the internal Adobe Playback Engine instead of Blackmagic playback. It also works a bit better if you use an AJA card (although those cards have a different set of issues that I find more disturbing than the BM issues). But there’s definitely something wrong in Blackmagic JKL playback as everyone knows. And with people flocking in droves to Adobe and Avid ever since the FCPX debacle, perfecting playback on Premiere and Avid should be nothing less than a Blackmagic priority right now. It’s been almost exactly two months now and I’d really like to know if it’s something we can expect to see.
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Thanks guys. I was thinking/hoping it was something simple like this. Still getting used to the nuances of Premiere Pro.
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You guys are the best!! Frame by frame audio scrubbing works! It makes a HUUUGE difference.
I’m still having trouble with JKL playback. It seems smooth enough, but only the audio appears to fast forward/rewind. I pulled out a stopwatch and fast forwarding through 10 seconds of footage hitting the “L” key any number of times still takes me 10 seconds to get through, although the audio definitely plays super fast. Not sure if I’m missing a setting or something so that the video keeps up with audio, but it’s still kind of a no-go for me unfortunately. It makes forwarding through clips and the timeline kind of pointless because a minute of footage still takes you a minute to get through.
However, frame by frame audio scrubbing more than makes up for it right now and I can finally get back to work again. You guys saved my weekend!
And I also wanted to say a sincere thank you to you guys at Blackmagic for stepping up to troubleshoot and fix these issues based on our feedback here. I know you guys, just like most of the rest of us, weren’t anticipating the entire editing ecosystem to be thrown up in the air two weeks ago. I, and I’m sure many others here, appreciate the effort you guys are making to get us all back to work.
Cliff
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There’s no such thing as unfounded paranoia when it comes to protecting your livelihood. I’ve been on the precipice of switching over to Premiere Pro since late last year (when I actually bought the software), but was sticking it out because Apple was promising something “amazing.” Not only did they fail to deliver, but they failed in a way that seemed to be intentionally insulting to professional editors. So, yeah, had Final Cut Xpress not been released, I would have switched over nearly a year ago.
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A fantastic post Kevin!
My biggest frustration with FCPX is that it works like it was designed by people who have never edited before. Anyone with even a MODICUM of professional editing experienced would never have designed a program (or “app”) with so many glaring and baffling flaws and omissions. I truly believe, as was stated here already, that Apple is trying to “pro” brand an app that they want to appeal to teenagers and iMovie/Final Cut Express users. Realistically, FCPX is Final Cut Xpress. What I don’t think Apple really predicted was the overwhelming vocal backlash. You know something is a serious disaster when a show like Conan is blasting something as “inside” as a professional editing application during their nationally televised show.
And I don’t think Apple could have predicted just how fast Adobe and Avid could pick up the ball and run with it. Offering upgrade deals to former Final Cut users when they did was genius. I’ve already transitioned all my archived FCP7 projects to Premiere and love it more by the day. It’s really the program FCPX should have been. Adobe and Avid really owe a massive thank you to Apple for essentially handing them both the pro market. It’s ironic that back in April, when Apple previewed FCPX, they commented that Avid and Adobe were in a race for second place. Well, after the release of FCPX, Avid and Adobe are still jockeying for second place, but I don’t think Apple intended to be the #3 on that list.
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FANTASTIC!! Thank you Matt.
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Hey Matt,
Any idea which beta will fix frame by frame audio scrubbing in PP5.5?Thanks,
Cliff -
Alright, another update.
I reinstalled my Blackmagic HD Extreme 2 card this afternoon alongside my AJA LHi.
First thing… I had no issue running both cards simultaneously. I simply used a different HDMI input for Blackmagic than for AJA. Both cards worked wonderfully in the same machine at the same time. The results were interesting.
Blackmagic just released 8.2 beta 2 which is why I was interested in reevaluating that card. Frame by frame audio scrubbing still isn’t functional in this latest beta (hopefully it won’t be too much longer- Matt’s message about the bug being fixed was just yesterday). But here’s what I found, performance-wise, with both cards (this is all cutting with native XDCAM EX 1080p 23.98)-
Blackmagic: MUCH smoother with video scrubbing than the AJA. You could very easily grab your CTI, either in the source window or timeline, and scrub through very fluidly, but without audio. However, when moving through footage backward or forward at higher speed (using either the J or L keys), the Blackmagic seems to choke a bit. The audio scrubs appropriately fast, but the video seems to move at almost real time, making it impossible to to hit “L” a couple of times and move to a specific point in a clip. It’s almost like the video portion can’t keep up with the audio. This behavior is only in Premiere Pro. Final Cut 7 always had smooth video scrubbing at all speeds.
AJA: Much choppier on video scrubbing, but smoother on fast forward or reverse. Dragging the CTI through the timeline or the source window makes it very hard to “scrub search” for a specific place in a clip or edit. It hits basically highlight frames and if you pass something you like and see a great frame (like a slate I scrubbed past this morning) it could take you another minute or two to actually track it down and you really have to do it via either real time playback or fast forward/rewind. The Blackmagic is much better at being able to find that clip just scrubbing back through the video moving the CTI. Audio is REALLY spotty on the AJA though. It doesn’t output when you play a clip about half to a third of the time (especially when moving from source to timeline and you end up having to pause and play to get it to output again). With the Blackmagic, I never had any problems getting the audio output to my monitors. The AJA also has the video funkiness I mentioned earlier where the video briefly drops out when going from source to timeline and back or clip to clip in the source. The Blackmagic video was consistently present with no drop outs.
So overall, having now used both cards on the same machine and being able to switch back and forth, I’d have to say I’m leaning more toward the Blackmagic again. If they can get frame by frame audio scrubbing up and running in the next beta and also improve the power and fluidity of fast forward/reverse, then there’s no reason to not use Blackmagic 100% of the time. But without frame by frame scrubbing, I still can’t use it yet. Amazing how such a simple, often overlooked feature can cripple a card’s ability if it doesn’t work right.