[Gary Hazen]

I suspect that DG systems hardware is adding 7.5 to the black level to bring it up from 0 (RGB black levels) to SMPTE levels. If you export a 601 file the black levels would already be at 7.5, add in another 7.5 on DG’s end and you arrive at 15. The other distributer you mentioned might be using a different decoder that doesn’t add 7.5 to the black level.

Regarding using AE as a reference point, there’s a lot that can go wrong with color management. There are color mngmt settings for the workspace, the individual files and the output – It would be relatively easy to interpret the data incorrectly. As Grinner has already said, external scopes are the best bet to ensure accuracy.

[Gary Hazen]

I’m not an expert, but I’m going to say longer previews. AE buffers a frame at a time – the time it takes to buffer each frame is a function of the processor speed not the amount of RAM. My best guess.

[Gary Hazen]

The legal disclaimer laws are set by the individual states – that’s why there’s a range of answers (18 – 22 scan lines). You bring up an interesting point regarding HD. That’s a whole new can of worms that has been opened up – I don’t think the law on political ads has kept up with changing TV technology.

“…how does this play into a commercial where you are doing an HD master with an SD downconvert, either centercut or letterboxed?” – JW

It means if you’re handling the downconvert the scan line count on the SD version needs to meet state the spec.

Scopes are the best way to check the disclaimer text. You only need to measure the disclaimer size once and then you simply use the same font and point size for all the spots.

“Any help or official documents on the subject would be appreciated.” – JW

Official documents will need to come from the state.

[Gary Hazen]

You’re correct Lars. The other option to zoom into a specific region is ctrl – M, this allows you to draw a box around the area you want to zoom into.

[Gary Hazen]

Drop the animatte effect on your clip.
Draw around the portion of the screen you want to highlight
Adjust feathering and transparency to taste.
Keyframe the transparency if necessary.

Note- This approach is similar to using an 8 point garbage matte in FCP. Except Avid doesn’t limit the number of points when you draw the shape.

[Gary Hazen]

Have a look at Future Media Concepts. If you’re going to NAB next month you can catch them at the Post Production World conference to find out if they have a training session that fits the needs of your editor. Most of their training locations are on the East coast, so your editor would still get to enjoy the perks of a trip and a little time away from the edit suite.

I don’t know how FMC stacks up against Sterling Ledet. I haven’t taken an AE class with them so I can’t speak directly to the quality of their AE training. I have attended some Avid sessions conducted by FMC and I was quite pleased with the quality of the instructors.

[Gary Hazen]

Is this for a national spot or a local spot? If it’s for a local spot you can get away with making up your own number. If it’s a national spot have the agency provide the AD id.

[Gary Hazen]

“…his concern was that 8-10 year old analog sets would center cut the image, which to my understanding those sets wouldn’t handle the digital signal anyway without a convertor box, in which case would letterbox the image..”

I don’t think digital converters are limited to letterbox. The user can change the mode to center cut if they want.

my thought is that they are compensating for analog 4×3 sets and now that the country is going digital, this is no longer needed for the US

This compensation is going to continue for longer than you think. There’s a huge misconception that once the DTV rollover is complete that the 4:3 aspect is dead. It’s certainly near the end for 4:3, but it hasn’t been put to sleep yet. Many people will continue to use 4:3 displays and choose to view the material as center cut. Eventually the broadcasters will abandon the old safe title standards and move forward. Some of this is already happening – just watch a little broadcast TV and see how many of the titles get clipped.

From a creative perspective this transition to the DTV era is challenging. Having to design graphics that work in both 16:9 and 4:3 (center cut) is a compromise. It never looks the as good as it would if you designed for 16:9 only. But you have to step out of your box and look at it from the end customers perspective. If you design a cool graphic that’s out of 4:3 title title safe and it gets cropped during broadcast, then the effort that went into creating the graphic is wasted. If the crop cuts off critical information, such as a web address, then you’ve done a disservice to your customer.

“…the master control engineer kicked it back because the titles and logo were not 4×3 title safe…”

This is the bottom line, you have to comply with the standards of the broadcaster. If the spot doesn’t make it to air the advertising isn’t very effective. If the spot gets kicked back for non compliance you could miss a deadline and have a very angry client on your hands. What I’m trying to say is learn to work within the current system instead of fighting it.

[Gary Hazen]

The sort of full scale interactive workflow you’re describing between the NLE and AE doesn’t exist. I think the closest you’ll get is with Automatic Duck (preserving layers, some effects, etc.), even then I don’t know if it works with Vegas.

[Gary Hazen]

Short answer: No.

You’ll need a dedicated box for streaming. Sounds like you need something like NewTek Tricaster Studio. If you already have the video switcher in place you could use a dedicated piece of hardware like Digital Rapids Touchstream, plug in the video and go. There are plenty of streaming hardware solutions on the market – the right tool depends on the specifics needs of the job.