[Craig Seeman]

[Blake Porter] “I decided to try taking the uncompressed, full size prores to AME for creating the mp4.”
That would be a good workflow.

You need to check the resultant bit rate of the file(s) after encoding and see what that is. You may need to change the bit rate.

You may need to consider the speed of your viewers’ internet connections or encode different files for different connections.

[Craig Seeman]

It could be your bit rate relative to the viewer’s internet connection.
It’s also conceivable that there’s an issue on the web backend.

You may want to post a link for someone to check.

Your workflow doesn’t make sense to me.
You should use either Compressor or AME.
Throwing out data after throwing out data is never a good thing.

[Craig Seeman]

Reference files do work as sources for compression but occasionally fail. Personally I don’t find it the most reliable way to work.
Reference files, if they contain a lot of render files, can be nearly as large as self contained.
Can it work? Yes.
Can it fail? Yes, much more so than using a self contained master file.
I’d seriously recommend you getting another hard drive.

Note that Apple doesn’t use that technology any more (not using Quicktime frameworks) in FCPX or Compressor 4.

[Craig Seeman]

File size is data rate times duration.
You know the size you want and you know the duration, solve for data rate.
Quality will also depend on frame size (bit per pixel) and duration.
H.264 is the codec you’d use. Apple’s though has been one of the least efficient.

Compressor 4 supports High Profile CABAC which is nearly as good as X264 (which is best).
You’d have to use HandBrake for that.

[Craig Seeman]

Perhaps HDMI out to a Matrox MonarchHD would help.
https://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/monarch_hd/

You could use Wirecast External Display Output to send to it.
In other words you could hook up an external encoder recorder to Wirecast.
The MonarchHD has its own start/stop button so you wouldn’t have to do that within Wirecast, which could continue to do the ProRes recording.

[Craig Seeman]

[Roy McKenzie] “I was set to 29.97 I can’t get a constant of more then 26fps. I shut off the thumbnails to reduce over head. Are you capturing two movies file like I am?”

That’s low. I’m streaming one or more and recording only one file though.
I’ve done this recently on 2011 15″MBP quad i7, 2008 Octo MacPro, 2013 15″ MPBr Quad i7, 2013 6 core MP Tube. In no case do I get anything less than 29.x and often very close to 29.97.

I suspect the issue is that you’re doing two recordings if that’s the case. I’ve never had a reason to do it and haven’t heard of others in my circle at least.

Generally it’s record ProRes for post workflow and encode for VOD use.

I’m curious why you need to do two recordings at the same time?

[Craig Seeman]

[Roy McKenzie] “What is interesting is the mention of the frame rate variation. That is exactly what I am seeing and it scares me. I want frame accurate pro rez movies and I know this capture device, computer and harddrive configuration can handle that requirement. Yet here I am, it starts out capturing 30FPS then varies.”

I target 29.97 when recording ProRes. I’ll get something close when I look at the record such as 29.89. The average is never under 29. Depending on the computer/job I’m recording to USB3 or Thunderbolt drive at 7200rpm or internal drive on older MacPro, so this isn’t even RAID. The frame rate will vary slightly to avoid dropped frames. Other encoders I’ve seen might result in a locked frame rate but they seem to be duplicating frames (which also creates a judder at those points).

When editing on FCPX (unlike other NLEs) I haven’t had any issues with the slight variation in frame rate. Motion is smooth.

[Craig Seeman]

You want low CPU utilization. That’s the goal for an efficient encoder.
Wirecast is designed to vary the frame rate rather than drop frames so you should really ask for support.

You should be on Wirecast 5.0.3 and using the x264 encoder for best efficiency.

Never record to the system drive since it’s running the OS and Programs.
Don’t record using Quicktime because Quicktime on Windows has problems. That’ll drop frames.

You mention BoinxTV. That would be Mac only. If you’re on Mac you should be recording Apple ProRes with Wirecast. It’s low CPU use and great for post work. I never drop frames and only have very slight frame rate variation.

[Craig Seeman]

[tony west] “I want it to just go into the event that I choose until I’m ready for it to go down there. “

Dare I say there’s a need for an easy way to piece together parts of VO takes much as was possible in SoundTrack Pro.

Even better than dumping them straight into an Event, perhaps an area where takes are layered so they can be pieced together. Sure there are workarounds but, for me, this would be a common function.

I font the “Audition” idea is still geared towards picking the single best take whereas I often want to piece together parts of takes.

One might see it as something like “multicam” for audio only.

[Craig Seeman]

[Andy Neil] “It just seems to me that people are far more willing to eviscerate Apple for doing the same thing as every other software company.”

Although one might understand why that happens. Keep in mind I’m generally happy with Apple’s software and especially FCPX.

At the time FCP legacy was EOL’d, FCPX was not yet an adequate replacement for many people. Given that Apple has mentioned nothing of Photo’s feature set for the Yosemite version, people are concerned about what will come and how long it will take to regain certain features. There’s a lack of confidence in Photo.

I understand that people at WWDC who participating in workshop(s) around Photo or have seen the video of those workshops, have some confidence. Unless one finds that info or hear’s such accounts, one is likely to have some angst. Apple isn’t doing anything to address that beyond the brief PR statement people see on the news sites.

Hearing nothing beyond that and, based on the FCPX release, people are ready to eviscerate Apple. I’m one of those “Apple trusting” folks but I’m sympathetic with those that don’t. Apple’s PR does not instill confidence.

Personally I think Apple might want to more publicly show off the potential that it seems some at WWDC were introduced to (and I’m talking about the Yosemite version, not iOS 8 version).