Jerry Hofmann
Forum Replies Created
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The CBR suggestion really does work when the video has a lot of detail in it. LIke exteriors of forests and grass, etc. Really makes a difference there I’ve found. It also renders in half the time. I use it until I have to cram too much video on a single DVD. I love the way CBR at about 8Mbs looks on stuff under 1 hour long. It’s what Ii’ve used for years now.
Compressor isn’t the best compressing software out there, but it’s still competent I’d say. It’s what most people are using who run the studio.
The pro compression software all does a nicer job of compression in general. Look at Sorenson Squeeze and Episode Pro…
If you search the forum here, there are likely less expensive and free software out there that folks like better than what they get from Compressor.
But make no mistake. SD is a HUGE signal loss from HD. HD is four times the resolution for starters… I’ve used compressor for years, and have used both softwares above, and have been underwhelmed with all compression from HD to SD other than those done with capture cards and other hardware converters. But the pro stuff sure is noticeably better.
And quite frankly, content trumps picture quality every single time. Never the less, Pro Software matters to sharp eyes.
Jerry
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That’s another way to do it, and it’s no better or worse than just rendering to prores don’t think. Same computer code used for the compression AFIK.
But in reality, I’ve found transcoding ANY GOP structured source file to ProRes before I edit is the fastest way to get to the finish line. Just takes more storage of course.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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The format (codec) that the iPhone records isn’t supported directly in FCP 7. You need to transcode it to ProRes first, then import and edit from the prores copies. MPEG streamclip, or Compressor can do this for you.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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IMHO, “properly setup” by a best buy tech isnt’ a bad idea, it’s just not enough… I’ve had this done two times to my home plasmas, and they sure look better, but they still can’t be calibrated with color bars so it’s really just a “near proper” calibration.
You need a monitor with a blue only display cability to set it up to broadcast standards, and to really see exactly what you’re doing.
The only exception to this that I know of is a Matrox box (the MXO 2’s and minis) whose control panel supplies a blue only output. Still better to have the real deal pro HD monitor to use for proper color correction.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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Dunno exactly what’s happening, but seems to me that if you create a new sequence, turn on the option in preferences to ask to conform settings, then copy a single clip to this new sequence accepting the option to match settings, you could copy and paste every clip from the XML import to this new sequence, and you shouldn’t have render unless the filters etc are demanding this.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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Try setting the compression to be CBR. A single pass constant bit rate many times improves the look of the down conversion to SD from HD. The higher the bit rate, the better the picture usually, and there’s a calculator to help you get to the highest bit rate you can and still hold as much as you need to hold on a single DVD. MIght consider dual sided DVD’s for that 1.5 hours… higher bit rate possible that way.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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I think you need a time base corrector between the video tape machine and your capture card. It sounds like that to me any way.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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I think the thing to do is render to prores in an xdcam sequence setting.
Whether you choose LT or not is up to you, but I doubt there will be much difference in the end unless there’s a lot of motion in the video. If there is then up the quality of the ProRes setting.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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You can also type opt+t to reveal an area under the clips which shows a green line for filters applied, and a blue line for motion effects applied.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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I think you need a time base corrector between the video tape machine and your capture card. It sounds like that to me any way.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.