Enzo Tedeschi
Forum Replies Created
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https://www.avidaustralia.com.au/index.php?sectionID=1&catID=0&articleID=321&view=specifications
This is the source of my confusion – slightly silly to publish system specs against an OS that isn’t supported, for starters…
I’m aware of the official line from Avid, I also know that it wouldn’t be the first time that users have found a workaround for something.
Thanks.
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Thanks, guys. You all rock.
e.
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Good luck with it, Steve. I think you’ll be so blown away by the workflow that you won’t care about the other issues. Every NLE will have it’s quirks and workarounds.
Look forward to seeing you on the COW.
Enzo Tedeschi
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Westbound Sign Productions
Sydney, Australia
http://www.westboundsign.com.au -
That will definitely work.
It would also provide the ability to do multiple format encodes at once (ie spit out a web version at the same time as DVD MPEG2. You could also just use a QT export from FCP.
You might be able to shortcut the process by setting up a FW network between the PC and Mac?
If you use a FW drive, mac format is preferable, as going pc formatting drastically restricts your file sizes.
Anyhow, I would personally love to get to the bottom of the whole Compressor settings thing, so keep an eye on this:
https://www.creativecow.net/forum/read_post.php?postid=111880870832428&forumid=155
Enzo Tedeschi
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Westbound Sign Productions
Sydney, Australia
http://www.westboundsign.com.au -
Mitch,
You are absolutely right on all counts.
Even on our Avid Adrenalines with HW acceleration, I wouldn’t dare play anything to tape without a full render anyway.
As for Compressor, I posted on the COW when I first got my system for advice, and no suggestions I received really solved the quality issues I was having.
I would be over the moon to solve the probs I am having with it, but I have found that encoder quality seems to be such a subjective thing!
Anyhow, in short I think RT hangups should stop anyone from buying into what is essentially a good, solid system….
Enzo Tedeschi
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Westbound Sign Productions
Sydney, Australia
http://www.westboundsign.com.au -
“…can i edit and just mark IN/OUT and then export a MPEG2 file direct from the timeline in the background without having to RENDER everything first?”
The nicest thing about Apple is the workflow. Mark your in/out on the timeline, setup named chapter marks, and export an MPEG2 directly. I have found, though, I get better results if I export a reference file first and encode from that. I recently did a 3 hour concert (in DV), and the reference file only took a couple of minutes to export.
When you import that reference or encode into DVD Studio, it will encode automatically if it needs to, and read the chapter marks – even import the chapter mark names into your menus for you. Very nice little timesaver.
I have found the slo-mo a bit naff, but I wasn’t aware of the clock tool mentioned above, I have just been using the speed setting, which has a terrible inter-field/frame interpolation. Up until now I have been using After Effects for slo-mos. The DVStorm has been one of the best realtime slo-mo systems I have ever used.
As for your encoding options, if you can’t get Compressor up to scratch (I’ll have to give the optical flow setup sugested above another crack), you could always encode on your pc and bring files across – Procoder still has the sharpest and truest MPEG2s I’ve seen (others may disagree). Otherwise there are 3rd party encoders like BitVice for the Mac which will also do a good job. You can download a demo and sample encodes from the Innobits website: http://www.innobits.se
Good to see this as a lively topic!
Enzo Tedeschi
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Westbound Sign Productions
Sydney, Australia
http://www.westboundsign.com.au -
Steve,
Having not worked with HDV, the only thing I can really offer my two cents on is that the one thing that disappointed me coming from a Canopus system over to Apple’s Production Suite was the MPEG2 encoding.
I have tried all sorts of things, but my DVDs just aren’t up to scratch compared to what Canopus’ software was producing. Even at 8mbps, there are sometimes noticeable artifacts, and strong colours have a weird strobing effect I can’r get rid of. I just finished an Army video, where the troops were all wearing camo (ie dark), running around in the dirt and bush (ie bland), but had bright orange tags on their packs. On my DVD, the orange tags stick out like the proverbials because when they move it almost looks like there are no fields or something.
Anyhow – my one gripe.
Enzo Tedeschi
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Westbound Sign Productions
Sydney, Australia
http://www.westboundsign.com.au -
Henrik,
If you are using FCP, I wouldn’t render to anything other than Quicktime.
I have had no issues going from AEPro to FCP using QT files, use no compression (ie Compressor: None), and make sure you get your codec settings (field order etc) right, and that should work.
I have also noticed that for some reason PC created Quicktime Files are fairly big compared to their Mac counterparts.
Hope this helps.
Enzo Tedeschi
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Westbound Sign Productions
Sydney, Australia
http://www.westboundsign.com.au -
I agree with Dave. We use a mixture of Avid Codec or straight QT uncompressed codec, depending on the machine it’s coming from. It often gets downconverted to 2:1 anyway before it goes to air, either way it holds up exceptionally well, and I have found no compatibility issues with QT uncompressed codec in AVID or FCP.
You may want to be careful with field order rendering, though. It has sometimes proved prickly. AVID seems to sometimes see things back to front when it comes to field orders.
Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Westbound Sign Productions
Sydney, Australia
http://www.westboundsign.com.au -
Hey fb,
I may not quite understand what you are describing, but you may get away with doing it “the lazy way” if you place the “video postcards” on the map where you want them, and then pre-compose the whole thing. Then you can do all your scaling and positioning keyframes on the pre-comp.
Hope that helps…
Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Westbound Sign Productions
Sydney, Australia
http://www.westboundsign.com.au