[Craig Seeman]

For those following this thread go here for solution thus far.

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/232/401

[Craig Seeman]

[BrianT] “So far, I’ve tried the highest default quality setting in the EP presets”

What’s the data rate of the resultant encodes? It may be too high for some computers. Which presets are you using?

MPEG-1_High Quality should play back well on most computers. Avg 1150kbps

WMV9_High Quality should also play back well on most computers. Avg 1200kbps and peak 1600kbps

On the other hand if you’re increasing the frame size you may need higher data rates. Some computers may have issues if the data rate is set higher or peaks are higher than they can handle. If the data rate is too low you’ll also have issues particularly with quality. Alas compression is all about compromises to hit a target.

[Craig Seeman]

After I posted the above I noticed you posted there too. Sorry. Sometimes keeping things in one place make it easier for me (and others?) to keep track of otherwise you can up with two threads and some people missing one or the other and that may well slow collaborative trouble shooting.

See additional comments in the other thread.

[Craig Seeman]

Don said a bunch but here’s a nutshell version.

X7 – shoulder mount, interchangeable lens, records to miniDV tape and CF card.

EX1 – much higher resolution 1/2″ chips, shallower depth of field, great low light, much better codec (xdcam) that handles motion hdv can’t, undercrank/overcrank up to 60p for great slow motion, time lapse recording, HD-SDI 4:2:2 for “studio” work, built in lens but with great manual controls,SxS cards offload at 10x real time to a laptop with Express port, continuous shooting (shoot with one card while the other quickly offloads), files you can hand a client with free Sony Clip Browser (no HDV deck compatibility issues) or burned directly to Blu-ray disc without any further compression.

[Craig Seeman]

Why not post in Cow Episode forum since other Episode users might benefit from anything learned?

https://forums.creativecow.net/viewforum/232

[Craig Seeman]

You don’t mention at all what your Compressor settings are, nor which version you’re using.

I would recommend that you do your final timeline render in 8 or 10 bit uncompressed or ProRes. Export that as self contained and import that into compressor. You can try reference but you’re less likely to bump into issues if the file is self contained.

If you are having issues with specific scenes you might want to add compression markers in those areas in FCP to force I frames.

[Craig Seeman]

On the Mac you’ll want to get Flip4Mac Studio Pro or Studio Pro HD.

Depending on use, you can use WMV9 or WMV9 Advanced (often called VC-1) and use 1 Pass VBR with Quality set to 100. It’s still not “uncompressed” but it’s as close as you’ll get using WMV on the Mac at least.

Again depending on their use and what your sequence codec is, you can output the sequence codec as an AVI file but there are some compatibility variables on that (do they have the codec on their computer for example).

[Craig Seeman]

Nowhere does it show support for Mpeg4v2

See this article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Video

and see this when you scroll down

Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V2 MP42 Video for Windows-based codec. Non-standard MPEG-4 codec incompatible with the later standardized version of MPEG-4.

[Craig Seeman]

[mortimer heathcliff] “eir new XDCam EX format just came out, and while it looks like another good thing, i think they’re going to run into the same roadblock as the P2 crowd: how to cheaply and quickly archive raw footage?”

There are many affordable options. Keep in mind SxS transfers MUCH FASTER than P2.

Possible work flows:

Import to laptop Express port at 10x speed (2.5 minutes for 25 minutes of video) and burn to DL-DVD (8GB) – you now have disc you can give the client (and they can view with free Sony Clip Browser) and a backup on your hard drive (and you can make another disc).

Burn to Blu-ray disc. Sony confirms that if you simply change the .mp4 extenstion to .ts, you can burn that to disc with no further compression. XDCAM 35mbps .ts meets Blu-ray playback spec. The disc you created can be played back on Blu-ray player and PS3. In this case you have a disc you (your client) can screen with consumer gear.

While, like P2, you need to take an archival step, unlike P2, the steps are MUCH simpler and result in something you (your client) can screen easily.

[Craig Seeman]

While I don’t have the camera yet (it’s on order). I’ve tested other people’s clips. FCP 6.0.2 is compatible and with XDCAM Transfer plugin 2.1 I had no problem importing and using EX1 clips. FCP 6.0.2 includes the codec and easy setups for full 1920×1080 clips. Now I haven’t tried mixing it with 1440×1080 XDCAM clips. I’d imagine something would have to be rendered depending on the timeline settings. I’ll ask around since I know some of the people who had pre production versions and ordered it also have F350s.