Dennis Kutchera
Forum Replies Created
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Another possibility for you is to copy the VOB files into a folder named the same as the DVD and (brace yourself), open those VOBs in an Adobe Premiere project. Premiere will play the files natively. I don’t know any other editor that can do this. You can combined them into the entire DVD and edit them as required. Then export from there with Media Encoder to DNxHD or HR for Avid MC.
You can also use the free MPEG Streamclip app to convert the DVD to your choice of codec. I found that some DVDs created by DVD recorders are better processed in MPEG Streamclip. Get it here: https://www.squared5.com/
Dennis Kutchera
Online Editor / Colourist
Halifax – Toronto -
I came to this thread late, from the COW newsletter and have read most of the comments. It seems to me, as our venerable colleague Phillip Hodgetts once said, “We are not in the post business, we are in the business of making money for other people.” When they make succeed, we succeed and we have a client who will come back. You choose the tools best suited for the job at hand. You pick the best talent for the job at hand. Whatever gets the job done on time and on budget is what we need to be concerned about. If a talented picture editor wants to work on Media Composer or FCP X, then that should be accommodated if you want the best cut. If you are working with multiple editors and other artists in a collaborative workflow, you better get the tool that is most robust for that with the best technical support, especially if you are on a tight turnaround.
When you need to push reality through the pipeline, I think your best bang comes from Avid Media Composer with the Symphony option and the Baselight Colour plugin. On shared storage, Avid wins hands down. On huge projects with lots of bins and sources, Avid wins again. The projects open fast and they don’t slow down because bins are separate files from the project, accessible at the Finder or Explorer in the OS. This is the secret to Avid’s project sharing and it eliminates the possibility of a project becoming corrupted and unopenable. You just create a new project and drag your bins into it. Mind you, I cannot recall every having a corrupted project in Avid. If you transcode media (you don’t have to), then media location is consistent and predictable in Avid, there is an active database that doesn’t depend on the OS or need to be rebuilt every time the project is opened. Avid tends to keep you organized because unless you force it otherwise, you can depend on the location of the project and bin files.
If you are doing promos and sizzle reels, Premiere is probably the best choice because of the tight integration with After Effects. FCPX with Motion might satisfy some and Resolve 15 with Fusion integration may eventually kick the others in the a$$. Avid sucks in this department.
If you are doing documentaries. Avid with Phrase Find or FCPX with it’s keywords might be more helpful in keeping track of content.
If you are doing scripted, the clear winner is Avid Media Composer with Script Sync. Script Sync was not available for quite a few Media Composer versions and a lot of people stayed with an older version of Media Composer just to use Script Sync because it makes them do their job better with less stress. It was the right tool for the job. Avid projects are not version dependent, so you can go back and forth from newer to older versions, unlike all competitors.
Also consider when you are done the project and need to archive it with media. Avid MC and Adobe Premiere are far better choices because they will consolidate and trim the media to whatever you used plus handles. Unless something has changes, the only option I recall with FCP X is to store every frame of source media, even if you used 30 frames out of five minutes. That is not at all efficient for archive storage and retrieval, but for some people, they may prefer this.
Editing software is the cheapest part of the post-production equation and should never even be debated, just evaluated for the work at hand. I am a long standing Avid guy who also worked with Final Cut Pro Classic right from version one, but I will also work in Premiere and I have worked with FInal Cut Pro X. Since I focus on colour and finishing more these days, I love working with DaVInci Resolve. For what it is worth, the best round trip into Resolve I ever had was from FCPX and Premiere was the worst. Avid can be flawless or a complete disaster. There are a few protocols you need to follow with Avid and then it is nearly painless.
To say there are people who refuse to change is not at all fair. Change for the sake of change is not helpful. There are productions that won’t even update to a newer version of their weapon of choice because what they are using works and they can’t afford to miss delivery milestones due to new surprises and gotchas. Beta software? Not if you want to meet the delivery.
At the end of the day, did you enjoy your work, were you able to meet the client’s expectations and did both the client and you make money from the job? If so, you are on the right track. If you are trying to force Mac or Windows, FCP X or Premiere down everyone’s throat because of some idealogical or illogical reason, you are making a huge mistake. I’ll use the best tool for the job. I’ve recommended all three of the Big A’s to different projects at different times. You don’t use a Lawnboy to trim the grass on a sports field, even though it cuts grass; you find the right machine fitted to the job.
Dennis Kutchera
Online Editor / Colourist
Halifax – Toronto -
Mimiq is pretty basic bin locking software that is somewhat like Avid Interplay. It just plays traffic cop so two editors can’t write to the same bin or mediafile folder at the same time. It’s fairly crude, but it works. Media Central is replacing Interplay and is much more of an advanced media asset and project management environment.
Dennis Kutchera
Online Editor / Colourist
Halifax, Canada -
It works fine as long as you have an Nvidia card that capable of Cuda Compute 3 or higher. You can reference your graphics card here: https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus
I don’t know the score for AMD video cards in the Mac Pro, but with Nvidia, you can install a PC card, You just won’t see the apple boot screen. Everything comes up once the driver is loaded. Drivers available on Nvidia website.
Dennis
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Relinking in Media Composer is pretty robust with a lot of options. For clips to relink, the most important thing is the time code and one other identifier such as file name, clip name or reel number. The time code can be messed if you transcoded the offline and online files in different apps. Above all, before you try anything else, rebuild all your media file databases so you know media is all properly indexed.
There are also options you need to check such as link to highest quality and choose whether or not to link to media only in this project. A lot of times, media can be sourced from different projects.
If you keep linking back to the DNX 36 media, try hiding that media so Avid can’t see it. You can also try unlinking clips from media before you relink.
I have never seen relink fail unless either the timecode is messed, the file names are duplicated or there is some unexpected thing that was done that creates a change that prevents the linking. But I have really only encountered this with round trips from DaVinci Resolve. You realize that if you have the annual upgrade plan or are on the rental scheme, you get a support call a month. You could call 1-800-800-AVID and they can walk you through this. Sometimes a little Teamviewer or Logmein session is faster than trying to be guided by phone or email.
Dennis
Dennis Kutchera
Online Editor / Colourist
Halifax, Canada -
I highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with SMPTE colour bars and scopes. It is an absolute reference that will tell you precisely what is going on with levels. It is not something you want to be rusty on.
The Arri camera records Prores 4444 XQ, which is 12 bit RGB. The problem you are having is likely due to the RGB or as Avid now calls it, Full levels, being interpreted as REC 709 or in newer Avid speak – Legal Range. So, it is lifting black from 0 to 16 and dropping white from 255 to 235, which is correct for REC 709, but not for RGB. You end up with a lower contrast image than what is correct. This misreading of levels tends to be a Quicktime problem. Using an MXF container instead of Quicktime, I have never seen this misreading of levels occur. If you are linking and transcoding in Avid, go to the source settings for a clip and try changing the GFX-Video Level settings to where you see black and white on the indicated baselines.
If this works, then you can select all the clips in the bin, and do this modification to all of them, and then transcode. This only works when the files are linked, not if they are already transcoded or imported,
If you are importing the shots and not linking, then change the setting in the import options under color levels to whatever one solves the problem, likely “Scale from full range to legal range”
I hope this helps.
Dennis
Dennis Kutchera
Online Editor / Colourist
Halifax, Canada -
So Tobias, what was your solution?
Dennis Kutchera
Online Editor / Colourist
Halifax, Canada -
I know it is a little late, but DNxHR 444 is an RGB codec. All the other DnxHR settings are REC 709. Adobe products are expecting 709 video levels from DNxHR, so it is putting your blacks to 16 and your whites to 235, out of the RGB scale of 0-235. You should be using DNxHR HQX, which is a 10 bit 709 codec. Then all will be good. I thought there was a tool to do this conversion in Premiere, but I don’t see it. In AE, I believe you can change this under “Interpret Footage”.
How did you solve this problem? Your answer would be helpful for others.
Dennis
Dennis Kutchera
Online Editor / Colourist
Halifax, Canada -
Your system specs are incomplete. The hardware is not near as important as the software. Are you using a video input/output device such as a Black Magic Ultrastudio? You might have the wrong driver version. Are you using a version of Mac OS that is Avid certified? You can also run a permissions repair on your system drive and repair disk on your media drives if they are not shared storage. Local drives only. Also rebuild all your media databases.
Most slowdown issues are incompatible combinations of software and drivers or some minor file or software corruption. Also, some antivirus software can cause these kinds of issues.
Media Composer works well when you have an install that meets the correct specs.
Dennis
Dennis Kutchera
Online Editor / Colourist
Halifax, Canada -
Yes. Start with making sure you are not using a newer version of Mac OS than your version of Media Composer says you should use. Second, run a permissions repair on your system drive. I have seen buggy crashy Avids and (in the past) Final Cut Pro 7 systems start to work like a bomb once this is done. Don’t do any Mac OS disk repairs to the Terrablock though. That can be bad news because it is emulating the HFS+ file system on Windows NTFS disks. However, you should be able to rebuilt the media databases on the Facilis Terrablock, but they will only rebuild for MXF folders that your system created. If you are using media folders created by other workstations, you should rebuild them from those workstations. I am 99% sure this is correct if Facilis works like other shared storage. You might want to talk to Facilis support to confirm.
Another thing that is a frequent problem is using the latest Black Magic driver for your Decklink card. I would use the exact version Avid is making available for their DNxIO box (made by Black Magic). You can get it from either Avid or Black Magic. I say this because it will have been rigorously tested by Avid. A newer BMD driver will not have the same level of testing and is often the cause of slowness or crashes in Media Composer. There is usually no advantage to the newest driver.
Dennis
Dennis Kutchera
Online Editor / Colourist
Halifax, Canada