Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
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[Kaya Hacaloglu] “Could you eloborate on that and enlighten my interest please ? “
The HDV codec records at a constant bit rate (CBR) of 25 Mbits per second. This means that on fast action shots or fast camera moves the HDV codec may not keep up with the action and the picture will become briefly pixelated, etc. This is called “breaking the codec.” The worst offenders of this are the little HDV consumer palmcorders for sale these days.
The XDCAM EX codec records at a variable bit rate (VBR) of 35 Mbits per second. This means that on fast action shots or fast camera moves the codec assigns more bits to those areas, resulting in a much better picture. I haven’t been able to “break” the EX codec so far.
– Don
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[Chris Burns] “Example… set white balance, then exposure then?”
Set exposure first in order to have enough light to get a good white balance lock.
[Chris Burns] “Is the capability of using 60i going to really improve the quality of slow motion shots? “
If you’re shooting with a GL2 then you’re already shooting in 60i, unless you have it on frame mode, which is don’t recommend because that mode lowers the picture resolution somewhat.
Without looking over your shoulder it’s tough to know why you’re having slow mo problems on some shots and not on others. It could be a problem with the way the clip was actually shot or an issue on how your NLE is handling it.
– Don
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If you shot in NTSC then use the DV NTSC Anamorphic sequence preset. If you shot in PAL then use the PAL Anamorphic sequence preset. Make sure the Anamorphic box is checked in the setup window.
– Don
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This phenomenon happened to me just once and it’s exactly as you’ve described; almost like a heat wave distortion right in front of the subject being recorded. I never turned off the camera and the next clip I shot didn’t have this issue. I even have that distortion shot in one of the demo movies at my web site.
Very strange indeed. I really love being an early adopter 🙂
– Don
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[Allen Cavedo] “Has anyone else seen this?”
Yes. To remove duplicates from the Browser select the first clipname by clicking on it. Then MOUSEOVER the second clipname. It will then become highlighted. Hit delete. Or you can command-click the first duplicate filename, mouseover the second one to highlight, continue to hold down the command (Apple) key, click the next clip filename, etc until they’re all highlighted in the Browser. Then hit delete.
Now navigate to the folder where your actual files are stored using the “Import Files” command within FCP. Import and now your files will appear in the Browser with no duplicate names.
– Don
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Michael,
The preceding two posts in this thread both have links to the Sony Transfer Tool software update.
– Don
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Many thanks to Chris Leong from another forum for his (at least) 3 day search on the web for coming up with a possible fix for this issue.
Apparently the combination of a G5, OS 10.4.11 and Quicktime 7.4 stops the Sony Transfer Tool from displaying XDCAM EX media properly, resulting in the “No Media” prompt within the Sony Xfer Tool. The fix is to go back to Quicktime v.7.3.1. Chris has done this successfully on numerous Macs that are used to edit XDCAM EX media.
Since it’s such a pain to go back to an earlier version of QT I’m waiting for Chris to give me the name of a free utility program that will do a direct install of QT v.7.3.1 without having to de-install QT 7.4 first. I don’t know if this will raise a QT conflict or not or if the utility program actually deletes the later version but as soon as I find out the name of this utility I’ll post it here.
Hopefully this will solve your issue, Sarah. In the meantime, you could try to update your QT version from 7.4 to 7.4.1 because this latest version is supposed to fix issues in the first version of QT 7.4. If it works then great but if not you’ll have to go back to v.7.3.1. I know, it’s all very confusing.
– Don
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[soojung kwon] “Or do i have to have all the original (.mov) clips on my hard drive as well in order for the .fcp document to open and work on it? “
You need the original media on your portable drive as well as the project file to do any editing. Hook up your portable drive to the other FCP machine and double click your FCP project icon. Once your project is open you’ll receive a warning that all your media is offline. This is because your project is looking for the media in its original location and doesn’t know you’ve copied everything to your portable. Reconnect everything using the media from your portable drive.
If you’ve done any rendering on your home system those render files will be offline as well. Just re-render using the portable drive as your scratch disc.
– Don
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[Sarah Weinstein] “Are you LA based?”
No, but in the same time zone though, in Vancouver Canada. Make sure you read that recent thread I directed you to then try going to the Apple website directly and checking software updates right from there like Jim Frazer had to do.
If this isn’t resolved by tomorrow nite then on Wed. you should contact the local FCP User Group in your area. They’ll for sure know someone who owns an EX and is editing with a G5/FCP combo.
Don’t despair. Lots of people are using a G5 for editing EX footage. We’ll get this figured out for you.
– Don
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[Sarah Weinstein] “Are you sure it doesn’t have something to do with my basic FCP settings? Either A/V settings or another group of settings I’m overlooking? “
I don’t think so. At least I can’t think of anything that we’ve missed. The workflow I’ve outlined is exactly what I do and it works for me every time. Unless there’s a slight difference between how a G5 handles everything as opposed to a Mac Pro Intel machine which is what I use.
Even though you can’t see them, try selecting all the clips in the Xfer Tool window anyway and import them. If that works they should show up in the Browser afterwards. Double click one of them to load it into the Viewer. Can you see the picture now?
If not then we’ll have to leave it for this evening and perhaps someone else can provide some insight in the morning. In the meantime, quit everything and then run Software Update to make sure everything is current as far as OS 10.4.11 and Quicktime is concerned.
Make sure the Pro Apps Application support and security updates are all up to date as well.
Sorry for not figuring this out. As a last resort you may have to erase your startup drive and re-install everything but I hope it doesn’t come to that. It’s a lot of work.
Please read this recent thread concerning a similar issue such as yours. I thought it may have been a unique problem but maybe your problem can be resolved using Jim’s solution concerning software updating.
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/142/857625
– Don