[Gary Hughes]

Blackmagic decklink extreme out to mixer, mixer out to amp. I also have the deck and computer going to the mixer, but I don’t use the computer’s out for anything other than system sounds and iTunes, never for production. I always use the decklink’s out for production, since I monitor on an external TV connected to the decklink.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

I’ve done some pretty cool sparkles with particle emitters, like text reveals similar to the Disney DVD pixie dust stuff, but I havn’t tried it with Motion yet. You can add to Motions particle emitters from https://www.wondertouch.com if you don’t like the ones it comes with. It’s pretty customizable, if that sort of effect is what your looking for.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Via compressor, I output to the default H.264 streamable 300 (forget exactly what it’s called). Then I add the following text to my clients preview page on my site:

***IMPORTANT NOTE TO WINDOWS USERS***

QuickTime 7 videos may not play in your browser. If this is the case for you, simply right click on the link to the video and choose “Save Target As…”, then save the video to your desktop. After download is complete, go to your desktop and double click on the mov file. If you have QuickTime 7 installed, the video will play directly in the QuickTime player.

Videos on this site require Quicktime 7.

I also include a link to the QT download page.

If they have QT, but just won’t upgrade to 7, I output with a sorenson 3 codec.

Worst case scenario, I guess I’ll have to buy flip4mac someday, or I have Squeeze 4 for flash flv, which is beautiful, but slow.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

It would take approx. 3 DVDs to backup an exact copy of your 1 hour DV tape, in a DV codec. If your footage is important enough for you to consider backing it up to begin with, you need to do a DV to DV backup as either Tim or MitchJi has suggested. To back it up as DVD Video in any way would destroy it in most everyone’s opinion, probably even your customer’s.

I have had a tape go bad before, but basically, the precautions that you are considering are way too drastic for me to consider. At my day job, I have almost 3,000 tapes to keep up with, mostly digibeta. And at home, where I run my own business, I have a couple hundred miniDVs and several DV-Cam tapes. I still don’t consider it an option to copy them. I always make more than one copy of a finished master, but raw footage is venerable, but I accept that, and so do my customers. I take every precaution to be sure that a tape is new and has been fast forwarded and rewound before shooting, and I store them properly, and that’s enough for me.

I do take a precaution that most don’t take or suggest though. After finishing a show, when I archive my project, pictures, graphics, music, etc, I also backup the footage that was actually captured and used in the show. This is a fraction of what was actually shot so it’s much more manageable. Everyone I’ve seen post on here would say this is overkill, and it is, but I don’t mind because I bill the customer for a hard drive and do the archive at night, then store the hard drive that has everything on it, plus a DVD-R of all but the footage, for safe keeping.

Larry Jordan has an article on tape life https://larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_videotape.html. You should read it and some of his other articles.

Have fun,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

If you’re getting an error during logging, post the error. If you’re getting it after the clip captures, do what Paul says. You can still mix 32k and 48k audio on a 48k timeline.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

The short answer is -12dB for tone and -6dB for peak on your FCP timeline. If outputing to anything other than a DV based device, I turn the levels of that device down till tone is sitting on -20dB. For DV based devices, leave it at -12dB.

And for the master volume control, go to the Audio Mixer under the Tools menu.

Now for the long version:

Let me start by pointing out some pages from the FCP 5 manual that you should read. If you don’t have FCP 5, you can still download the manual from apples site. https://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Final_Cut_Pro_5_User_Manual.pdf (43.6MB)

Page 54 0dB (Analog) Versus 0dBFS (Digital)
Heres an excerpt:

There are several common digital levels used to correspond to 0 dB on an
analog meter:

[Gary Hughes]

The biggest problems I have found on a video set with a digital still camera are poor auto white balance and noisy pics due to not enough available light. Shoot with the white balance set to tungsten, usually indicated by a light bulb icon, or daylight, usually indicated by a sun icon, depending on your primary set lighting temp. Buy a camera with a very low level of noise at the higher iso settings. The best I know of right now is the new Canon 5D. It looks incredible at high isos even at 3200, so you can usually get by without a tripod, plus you can shoot RAW with it. Also, the 20D will be widely available on the used market and it has better noise levels than the 10D. If you buy a used 20D, they are typically good for about 80,000 shots before needing reworked by Canon.

Having said that, on a much less expensive budget, I have the Canon S2IS. It does not shoot raw, but it does shoot superfine mode jpgs at 5 megapixels, which is more than enough for anything I’ve done. It has the flip out LCD and you can bump over to preview very quickly to zoom in tight to check focus. It has a 12x lens that I think is something like 32mm – 400mmish. It has Canon’s wonderful Optical Image Stabilizer built into the lens, which can really save you in low light or when zoomed in, unless you can shoot at 1600 or 3200 like the 5D. I always shoot in a fixed white balance and in manual exposure so that shot to shot won’t have slight inconsistancies.

Whatever you are considering, a great website for reviews of various cameras is https://www.dpreview.com.

Just a tip, I’ve heard a lot of bad about broken promises with Apple’s new program, Aperture. So, don’t rush out to get it just because you start shooting in RAW. Wait till some bugs are fixed and some good reviews are out there. After that, it looks very VERY sweet. I’ll be a user when it’s at version 2.

BTW, I’ve not used my camera in the way you are proposing either, this is just my 2 cents. I occasionally scout or document a set that I’ve designed for archive or self promotion. Primarilly I shoot product shots for web or that will be “Ken Burnsed” for video. Occasionally, I shoot a still of some static subject to use as cover in videos too.

Hope this helps,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

What you’re dealing with here is a question of standards, not quality.

dBFS stands for dB full scale. It is the digital equivelant of a dB measurement. It simply means all bits on, or all bits off, or somewhere inbetween. All digital audio devices and media support up to 0dBFS and no more, in it’s final stage (more on this later). Therefore, in truth, headroom is not actually required by any digital media. In other words, it is possible to record audio at 0dB on DVD, miniDV, DV-Cam, iPod, etc…, without clipping (distortion). Before I go on, let me say that I don’t advise it in all cases because it isn’t standard. Industry standards say to drop the level of your audio if you are outputing to tape, regardless of format. You should abide by the standards, because that is what keeps us compatible with each other. PLUS, it is what allows a straight dub of a digital tape to an analog tape without worry about overdriving the audio levels (that’s the true reason the standard was invented to begin with). It keeps you backward compatible.

In the case of DVD, it follows the same standards as CD. 0dB is actually the standard for PEAK audio levels on CD or DVD.

A-Pak, Vegas, and other software that allow or suggest normalization during the digital compression stage, are assuming that you do not have your audio properly set to begin with. This is ok if you aren’t an audio person, or don’t understand all of this. They are “dummy-proofing” the audio settings for the users who do not know better. (Please don’t take that personal!) So why so far from 0dB (like -31dBFS)? My guess is that they are using the “RMS” value of audio, which is completely different from “Peak” values, and they really can’t be discussed in the same argument. It’s like saying “my apple is redder than your orange”, “no, my orange is oranger than your apple”. I will say this about RMS, be cautious when using an RMS scale to set the levels of your audio because it is possible for a negative RMS value to end up with a level that tries to exeed 0dB, therefore causing clipping (distortion). That’s why you like -31 better than -27. (If -27 allowed a +1dB level, then it would clip, but at -31 on the same file, it would only be at -3dB, which is safe from clipping.)

Ok, above I said “All digital audio devices and media support up to 0dBFS and no more…” Let me prove this point. We all know that digital signal is made up of ones and zeros and nothing more. 0dB is simply all ones and no zeros. For a tape to require headroom, it would have to be analog. The tape itself can’t know whether it is holding ones or zeros. It doesn’t say “oops, there’s too many ones here”. All digital tape formats can hold all ones without zeros, it’s just that simple. Digital tape can’t clip or distort. For there to be distortion in audio on digital media, the distortion had to be there before the file was copied to the media. The tape, or other media, is simply a container, like a shelf. It holds the bits, like books. No audio is actually being recorded to the tape, just bits of data, and data can’t clip.

So if all this is true, why do we need to be so cautious? Because the preparation of the file is what is so destructive, not the media that it’s on, or the file that contains it. Software that allows manipulation of audio levels will allow you to set the level so that the peak will try to exceed 0dB. FCP, unfortunately doesn’t allow precision metering, so you have to set the level and watch the entire program to be sure it doesn’t clip (not fun). Sound Track Pro will scan the file for the peak level and report it back to you (much more fun), allowing you to know how far from 0dB you really are, so you can set the level accordingly. There is a big “gotcha” with STP though, like FCP, it has a “master volume control”. The setting of the master volume control isn’t taken into consideration when it looks for a the peak value of a file. If you have your master volume control set to anything other than 0dB, you still don’t know how loud the actual level will be, so just be sure it’s at 0dB unless you are in a multiple track project and need to set it to something different.

Here’s my workflow for DVD. I set the levels in FCP to tape standards. Then I export my sequence to an aiff file. Then open the aiff in STP or similar audio sweetening software. Then I use the normalize process and set it to 0dB peak. Make sure the master volume control is set to 0dB. Then I save the aiff and import it into FCP. Then I duplicate my final sequence and label the duplicate as “DVD Final” and open it. Put the aiff on 2 new tracks, mute the other tracks, make sure the master volume control is at 0dB, then, I export using compressor to go to DVD. I do not allow compressor or anything else to touch the audio level after FCP. I know my levels are at 0DB and not going over and all is right with the world.

To sum it all up, keep using your usual standards for tape. Set your audio to 0dB peak, or very close, for DVD. That’s what Hollywood does, so it’s good enough for you too.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

FYI – DVD standards aren’t the same as tape standards. You should set your audio so that the maximum peak is very close to 0dB. In FCP, there’s no way to be precise about this. You can just raise the master slide till you know you are close, but not exceeding 0dB.

The best way to do this is to export your audio as an aiff or mov and open it in an audio application, like Sound Track Pro. Then use the programs “Normalize” process. It’s actually safe to set the normalize process to 0dB peak (not RMS if that’s available to you), but most people, that I know, set it to minus .5 for some reason.

So you can see, by setting your levels to -12, your audio is actually 11.5 to 12 dB lower than most DVDs. Even at -6dB, your’s will still be lower. Go on up to 0dB, or very close to it.

There’s another whole conversation about mastering your audio, or compressing it, to make it appear louder without raising the peak level. This is also done on a lot of pro titles.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

FYI, if you are using CS2 and have a firewire device connected to your TV, in Photoshop, you can go to the “File” menu and choose “Automate” then “Preview on TV”. (I don’t have CS2 on my laptop so I may have the wording wrong.) I don’t know if that will show you the same gamma as FCP, but it does show the file in true NTSC color space that way. I have the Blackmagic card and it corrects the gamma by just dragging the file over to the TV.

Thanks,
Gary