Gordon Gurley
Forum Replies Created
-
OK, here’s another wrinkle. The director is going to output the clips from the timeline back to DV tape though firewire. Of course, she will not manipulate the timeline in any way as to need rendering, recompression. etc. I assume this will be as close to a clone as possible. So the problem of wading through tons of tapes is eliminated. The show does have quite a few graphics and stills to push through, so I think it will benefit from the higher res. And there are some shots that will need heavy color correction.
Can anyone expound on the idea that making new source tape(s) from FCP output is a good idea and won’t take a hit in quality?
Thanks for all the responses.
Gordon Gurley
Director of Operations
Stanford Video -
Ah yes, frame size, didn’t even think of that.
Gordon Gurley
Director of Operations
Stanford Video -
Are you using a Kona card? AJA has a fix for this. Email AJA tech support and they should send you a script that should do the trick.
Gordon Gurley
Director of Operations
Stanford Video -
Also try tweaking the settings in Compressor. The “Highest Quality” mpeg2 preset is not even close to highest quality. But, of course, when you crank those settings up, it takes MUCH longer to compress.
Gordon Gurley
Director of Operations
Stanford Video -
Just guessing here, but FCP probably converts the audio on OMF export. Converting 16bit to 24 is a non-issue, it’s only adding zeros. Converting 44.1 to 48 is a slight issue. Pro Tools may do a better job of this than FCP, but we’re splitting hairs here.
Gordon Gurley
Director of Operations
Stanford Video -
It’s best to use the highest bit rate when you are manipulating the audio (ie mixing, EQing). Even if the original was 16 bit, it’s best to use 24 bit processing. Yes, Digibeta is 20 bit, bit it’s much better to go 24 to 20 than 16 to 20.
Gordon Gurley
Director of Operations
Stanford Video -
In 6 years of editing and supervising FCP projects, I’ve only seen 1 project truly blow up. It seemed to be a combination of media management problems and editor style. The editor was an experienced Avid guy and I convinced him to work in FCP for this project. I believe it was his nesting style that he was so used to in Avid that caused problems in FCP. He would cut a sequence, then drop that into a new timeline and start cutting that. NOT cut/paste but drop the monolithic sequence block into a new timeline. He would go through this process 3 or 4 times to get through his selects. It’s my opinion that FCP doesn’t like to work this way.
But I feel your pain. I too miss the lumbering stability of the Avid. Especially when it came time to master. In the rush to continually add features, Apple ignores the core instabilities that persist.
-
The only thing I can suggest is using a deck with machine control. Do an Edit-to-tape. If it drops a frame an hour in, set a new in point and pick it up from there. Unfortunately, I have to do this a lot more than I would like. It wastes tons of time. Make sure you check your edit. FCP is not always frame accurate.
A way to check if it’s the media that’s corrupt: Set your in-point a minute or so before the suspect clip. Do your print to tape. If it drops at the same clip, probably a media (or render) problem. If it keeps going, then it’s probably something with your disks not keeping up.
-
Have you tried trashing pref’s (FCP, AJA, and Quicktime)? I’ve been getting this a lot lately. Trashing prefs has been fixing it for me. Not sure if it’s a quicktime or AJA problem. Have you upgraded your AJA drivers lately?
-
Are you trying to do HDV?
Gordon Gurley
Director of Operations
Stanford Video