[James Fletcher]

Thanks for the reply, Daniel. I’m totally new to the world of compression.

I plan to do a couple of tests in order to make my final decision.

A related question would be if it’s best to use After Effects to convert 24p to 30i or if a dedicated compressor would work better.

[James Fletcher]

What you probably need to do is just make sure that the Avid system has the same quicktime codec that your FCP system has. I’m assuming that your quicktime file uses the DVCPRO HD codec. If you have a modern, HD capable Avid, then you should have no problem importing HD quicktimes from FCP.

That being said, people who shoot with P2 cards should always save the original MXF files that are created on the card. It gives you a lot more options for your footage.

[James Fletcher]

Thanks for the response, and thanks for the link. It makes a lot of sense.

[James Fletcher]

Since last summer, I’ve done several editing projects with Avid Express Pro using DVCPRO HD MXF files from p2 cards. The only way I found to export to After Effects, do my work, and then reimport to Avid with no noticable image change was to export my source shots as true, uncompressed HD. After doing my work in After Effects and rendering out my movie as an uncompressed quicktime, I would reimport into Avid with no image change.

For your case, I suggest you export your source shots as 720×480 quicktimes with compression set to “none.” Do your work in After Effects, and then render out your movie uncompressed. I think you’ll find that upon import, you’ll have no image loss.

p.s. Why do people always recommend using the Animation Codec for normal footage? It’s designed for animation, i.e., material with large, solid areas of color, you know, like animation is.

[James Fletcher]

How about Avid Express Pro? MXF is a native file format for Avid. No conversion to quicktime is required, you just drag the video and audio files to your media folder and then open them in your project.

[James Fletcher]

Thanks for the advice.

[James Fletcher]

We’ve called our rental house, they’ve called vendors. At the moment, no one seems to know the answer to this, hence, my posting on this forum.

Has anyone else had this problem? How can it be avoided?

[James Fletcher]

Thanks, everyone, for your help.

[James Fletcher]

Thanks Shane. This is good to know.

[James Fletcher]

Thanks, Steve, good to know.

-James