Eric Jurgenson
Forum Replies Created
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This would be really easy if you have After Effects, because AE allows variable H and V softness on masked images. If you have CS2 or CS3, you could use dynamic link, and render (if necessary) in Premiere.
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How about forgetting about relinking. Keep the original clips on the timeline (with audio), and place the AE’d clips (video only) on an upper track?
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Is that a problem? Maybe you should experiment with a different window layout. I have two screens, and I dedicate my right hand monitor to either the bin or the effects control window (tabbed), so I’ve got lots of space for parameters and keyframes. It’s pretty easy to toggle individual effects.
Are you looking for something that toggles all effects on all clips at once? That would be handy, but I don’t think it exists.
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I don’t think that is quite accurate. Matrox hardware (and the GPU, which is used in certain Matrox effects) accelerates rendering of sequences that use Matrox effects (and Premiere effects that Matrox emulates, like motion), and certainly Matrox accelerates MPEG2 exports. These factors can make a huge difference in system performance.
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The mobo is a Supermicro X7DAE+. The RAM is Kingston KVR667D2D4F5K24G, which is a 4G two pack. 8GB cost around $500.
See the other post about storage. Two RAID 0 drives won’t even come close to handling uncompressed HD, or even uncompressed SD (to say nothing about multiple uncompressed streams).
With that setup, you will be limited to compressed video only, and unless you upgrade your storage, you may want to consider an RTX2 card (which only does compressed).
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You need an RS232-RS422 converter cable. A straight 9-pin extension cable won’t work.
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I wonder if you could upgrade to Opteron quadcores and not have to change your motherboard?
Anyway, if you want to switch to quad core Xeons, they seem to work well from my experience. We also have an RTX2 system with a single Core2Quad processor, and it works very well.
One of the cool things is that the Matrox/Adobe/Octocore setup really seems to take maximum advantage of this processing power. When I export MPEG files for DVD and Blu-Ray, the performance graph in task manager shows all 8 cores running over 90%. Combine that with the hardware acceleration on the Matrox card, and the GPU acceleration (if you are using filters or DVE effects), it’s about as fast as things get in early ’08.
Vincent asked about storage. We are using the ProAvio R14HDS array, which is a dual controller SATA/SCSI system with 14 drives. Each controller (7 drives each) is running RAID 5, and both controllers are striped RAID 0 in Windows. This gives us a solid 400 MB/s, which is adequate for dual stream 10-bit uncompressed 1080i. We are using an Atto dual channel SCSI card, which seems to perform better than mobo-based SCSI.
Lately I have been looking into SAS basaed storage, which seems to offer some speed advantages. Check out the Enhance Technologies offerings. I have stayed away from HBA-based RAID controllers (3Ware), because Matrox says these systems can tie up CPU resources, and lower the performance of their systems.
The Enhance-Tech boxes put the RAID controller in the array, so they supposedly don’t have this issue.
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Copy your scene and place it on a track above the original scene (Keep it lined up). Apply a blur effect and turn the opacity down to 50%. This is the classic dream look.
Experiment with the blur amount; applying the blur instead to the original clip; messing with the color of either or both of the clips, etc.
This will probably cut down on the noise, as any blurring tends to filter out noise.
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Yes, the XW4400 has an RS-232 serial port. Hopefully you have a Beta deck with a 9-pin RS-422 remote. Some Beta decks like the UVW 1400 have an RS-232 remote that doesn’t use the same protocol as RS-422, and will not work with Premiere serial device control.
You typically need an RS-232 to RS-422 converter cable (from Pipeline Digital or Addenda; cheaper ones available – Google it).
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No, this system is validated – at least the mobo is. I took a little step out on a limb by going with the just released 5460 processors, but I talked with Supermicro and Matrox tech support first, and we agreed that it was a pretty safe bet that the new processors would work fine. And the system did pass the Matrox validation test that runs when you register the system.
So far (it’s only been a couple of weeks) the system is running great. It’s set up as a dual boot system (XP 32-bit and XP 64-bit), running 3ds max on the 64-bit partition.
It has 8 GB of RAM (for 64-bit apps) and an Nvidia FX 4600 graphics card. We went with this card because of 3ds max; otherwise I would have gone for the ATI x1950 Pro 512 and saved $1,000.
The system appears to be rock stable. What is it about Axio that makes Premiere seem so much more solid? And nothing on this planet works with HDV and XDCAM HD better, or renders MPEG2 files faster IMHO.