Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
-
[Ronnie James] “You’re using OS 10.4.1?”
I’m using OS 10.4.11, not 10.4.1.
Perhaps it is a leopard thing but I’m sure there are lots of users running the same setup as yourself without issue. You could try trashing the Transfer Tool preference file and then trying another subclip transfer.
You can find the pref. file here:
Macintosh HD>Users>”yourname”>Library>Preferences>com.sony.bprl.xdcamtransfer.plist
Drag that file to the trash and restart the XDCAM Transfer app. and see if that solves it.
– Don
-
[Rob Henry] “Why does exporting with Studio Pro Markers help?”
It helps if you’re using DVD Studio Pro. The markers that get exported are compression markers that will be automatically inserted in the FCP timeline at the beginning and end of every fade and transition. If you’re using iDVD don’t worry about it. Just export your QT movie, drop that into iDVD and that prgram will enocde to fit everything onto your DVD-R.
– Don
-
Probably the most common mistake, and one I was guilty of at first, is to use the default keyframe setting during the export setup. Try setting the keyframes to “every 900 frames” and see how that one turns out.
– Don
-
[Rob Henry] “Do i export it as a DV PAL 720 x 576 file or as a H.264? or do i bring the quality bar down a little? Which keeps it looking best??”
Just export a DV PAL self-contained QT movie using current settings and also choose to export with DVD Studio Pro markers. Bring that into Compressor and adjust your target bit rate until the final output estimation is within the DVD size specification. Encode your audio to the industry standard AC3 file format and don’t use a video encoding peak bit rate that exceeds 6.5 for the best compatability with the most consumer set top DVD players.
– Don
-
[Nelson May] “Was that from me going from Progressive to interlaced during the downrezzZ?”
Do you want your final output to be interlaced? Because by default when you down convert your footage to DV NTSC the clip will be taged as interlaced in the Browser window even if you’ve used something like Compressor to to go from 720p to a prgressive down converted DV NTSC clip.
You can change the field order tag for that particular clip right in the Browser by right or control clicking in the Field Dominance column and choosing “none” from the pop-up menu.
– Don
-
As Craig eluded to, you cannot alter the BPAV folder name in any way, otherwise the Transfer Tool will not see it. Each BPAV folder must reside in a separate folder with a name of your choosing to avoid the first BPAV folder getting overwritten by any subsequent ones.
– Don
-
I’m not having this problem. I can select an in point and an out point in the Transfer Tool viewer window and the program will only import that specific portion.
I’m using XDCAM Transfer Tool v.2.5.1 with OS 10.4.11 and QT v. 7.3.1. on a Mac Pro dual core 3 Ghz. There’s no difference if I use the Transfer program as a stand alone app or from within FCP 6.
– Don
-
Yep. Thanks for the catch, Todd. I did mean to say don’t ever use auto exposure.
Thanks.
– Don
-
[Justin Whitney] “1. What should I have done differently to knock down the highlights while I was shooting “
Set your zebras to 100%. If you see zebras on anything your exposure is too bright and you need to close down the iris until the zebras disappear. Don’t ever use manual exposure because the camera is taking the whole picture into account when it exposes. If most of your picture is dark (like the background of the stage) then the camera opens up the iris to get the whole picture as bright as it can, thus blowing out your dancers. Big time, right? Always expose for your dancers and not the whole scene. 1/3″ chip cameras like the A1 don’t have enough exposure latitude to get detail in the highlights and good detail in the shadows all at the same time. If it did there would be no reason to buy studio cameras costing several hundred thousand dollars each.
With digital video when you’ve reached 100 IRE the information in those areas of the frame are pretty much unrecoverable in post, so always protect your highlights. Later in post you can boost the mids and lows to a certain degree to get back some of the detail lost in the shadows.
[Justin Whitney] “2. What can I do in FC to correct all the blown-out footage?”
Try Captain Mench’s Blowout fixer. It’s a freebie and you “may” be able to recover some of your lost highlight detail, but if it’s really bad don’t get your hopes up too much.
https://pistolerapost.com/pluginz/index.html
-
[James Curran] “One thing that I have read is that an additional video monitor is needed if the picture quality, colour etc is to be as accurate as possible.”
One avenue worth pursuing for most inexpensive solution is the Matrox MXO:
https://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo/
With an Apple 23″ Cinema HD display the MXO will take a computer video signal and convert it to a broadcast signal good enough for colour grading/monitoring. I’m pretty sure you can watch your 24p natively on the 23″ display (through the MXO) in real time as well.
– Don