[Jeff Carpenter]

I just checked the HD version of the Apple TV ads on their main page right now. They’re 848×480 in resolution and also H.264 with AAC audio.

As for your “bulkiness” problem you have two things working against you. First is that the ad and the movie trailers are all 24 fps. I’m assuming your HDV footage is 30 fps. So even with all the same settings and same length, your video’s file size will be 125% the size of the movie trailers.

Secondly, everything on there was shot on film or very hi-rez digital format. They also used huge professional lenses. That means their footage is way sharper and way larger than what you’re starting with. That means they can compress it at a VERY high rate and still get good results. Everything’s so sharp and they’re starting with so many pixels they can really run it through the ringer and still get a good image.

You’re starting out with just barely enough pixels to make what you want. Any compression that looks great for them will probably do more damage to your video. So you’ll need a higher bit-rate to match their look.

So you’ll have to compress less than they do AND you have more frames-per-second. You can see the problem.

But don’t give up! With a bit of trial and error I’m sure you’ll get something that looks great. I’ve gotten some great results with just DV footage. Take a look:

http://www.penguintail.com/parrot/

A lot of this stuff is trial-and-error. Just keep trying different things and you’ll find something you like!

[Jeff Carpenter]

How are you exporting? Are you using EXPORT>COMPRESSOR right in Final Cut or are you exporting a Quicktime file and dragging that into Compressor?

Try that first option if you’re not already.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Well, you’re in luck because iTunes is one of the programs that’s a bit more versatile.

Go into the iTunes Preferences, click advanced and click the “change” button. Set the Music folder to whatever folder you like on any drive. So, make a folder on the external drive and call it “Music” or whatever and then pick that. Make sure the two check-boxes below it are checked on as well (“Keep folder organized” and “Copy files to iTunes”).

After you’ve made that change, go to the “Advanced” menu and select “Consolodate Library.”

That should copy all your music to the new drive and everything you import from that point on into the new folder. That folder will be the iTunes folder.

Double check the new folder to make certain everything IS in there and then you can go back to the old files in the home folder and erase the old copies of the music.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I honestly don’t know if you can move the home folder, but I’d suggest leaving it where it is.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t use an external drive in the way you want. Stuff doesn’t have to live in the home folder. I have 2 drives in my Powermac and lots of files live on the 2nd drive. I try to put everything I create on the 2nd drive and that leaves the primary drive free for iTunes and iPhoto to have room on.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Another stray fact…

Here’s an analogy, SAT style:

DV is to DVCAM as
DV LP is to DV SP

DV LP, DV SP, and DVCAM are all exactly the same, video-wise. Once you’ve captured them there’s no way to tell them apart. It’s just that DV SP is safer than DV LP and DVCAM is safer than DV SP. It only has to do with how the magnetic particles are recorded and how much “extra” info is saved on the tape to help fix drop-outs. DVCAM is very safe and DV LP is very un-safe. Normal DV SP is generally “safe enough.”

But quality wise, the video itself is identical. This is different from VHS where each speed setting (SP, LP, SLP) actually affect the quality of the video.

[Jeff Carpenter]

It’s DVCAM tape that’s higher quality. Not only is the video tape better made, it runs faster and records more redundant information. So if you have a drop-out on DV you might get a screen-glitch but on DVCAM tape there’s a good chance the system can recover and fix that with the extra information it recorded on the tape.

But that all has to do with the actual, physical tape and the magnetic particles on it. Once you get the video into the computer…the ones and zeros…DV and DVCAM is identical. So it’s SAFER to use, but the computer can’t even tell the difference between them. They look the same, image-wise.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Well, all hard drives have moving parts. They spin in circles…7,200 times per minute.

But that aside, they can get the job done. Pretty much any firewire hard drive will do the trick. They will require their own power source, but if you’re using an iMac I assume you’ll be near an electrical outlet.

Firewire drives are reasonably safe, but you should only use them for media that is still on tape and can be re-captured. So any graphics, audio files, or Final Cut project files can be transferred home on the drive but should be copied off of it to the iMac when you get home.

In the last 4 years I’ve only had 1 of my 5 firewire drives fail 1 time…that’s a very good percentage, but it’s not perefct. As long as you follow that rule any hard drive failure means you’ll just have to re-capture footage and not re-do work.

[Jeff Carpenter]

The normal answer for mixing footage is to convert the less-used footage to the format of the most-used format and then import the converted version into your project.

This is because using any footage that’s different from your project settings will need to be rendered. Converting ahead of time prevents the need for that.

But THIS is kind of different. You’re using the footage as a PIP effect so it’ll have to be rendered no matter what. I don’t think converting gains you anything except lost time.

Since both formats are the same frame rate I’d suggest capturing each in their native format and then just drop the JVC footage into the timeline and re-size it. It will need to be rendered, but after that I’m pretty sure that will work just fine.

[Jeff Carpenter]

All digital video has 0 setup. Not just DV.

7.5 is for analog video only. Most digital formats will add setup to the analog outputs so the video looks normal on a monitor, but the setup isn’t actually on the video…it’s just that particular output. I’m wondering, Nick, if your IO card is adding setup to your preview monitor. So, you’re looking at that and then the timeline (which has no setup) copies to the DV tape which you then view and conclude that your blacks have been crushed when really nothing’s changed…just your method of viewing the footage.

This is all guesswork on my part but that seems to be the most likely. Start by checking the waveform monitor inside of Final Cut. Does that match what you see coming out of the IO card? If it’s lower then my guess is right and there’s nothing wrong here.

What you need to do in that case is search the DVCAM deck’s menus for a way to add setup to the output. That won’t change the video ITSELF, but it will add setup to the analog output of the deck and then your monitoring of the timeline and your monitoring of the tape will match.

So to recap: Digital video SHOULD have 0 setup but any analog outputs SHOULD be adding 7.5 to the video as it goes to analog monitors. Search your workflow for any places where that doesn’t happen correctly.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I’m not sure if thisw will do it, but it’s what I’d try first:

https://www.squared5.com/

Besides, it’s free, so no harm in trying it.