[Jim Blokland]

Neil, did you see my post to your earlier question? Should work for you.

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO

[Jim Blokland]

Hello:

Sorry you haven’t got any better advice so far…I cut a film with the same problem, and there is a way to extract the 24 frames from the 60 — this is from a thread of info I got from the Cow that works:

—
Take your 59.94 clips, drop into a 720 60p sequence.
Export: Using QuickTime Conversion.
OPTION>Setting>Compressor: DVCPRO HD 720p60
Frame Rate: Custom 23.976
(I think if you pick 24 it is the same rate, regardless the info shows it as 23.98 in FCP)

I learned this after many shooters sent me re-encoded clips at 59.94
that the FRC did not like. I avoid 59.94 and the FRC when I can.
—

Unfortunately, this is neither elegant nor quick, but it seems it’s the only way to make this work. I did it reel by reel when I ran into this. Good luck with it.

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO

[Jim Blokland]

Well, after further puttering, I’ve discovered that no, toggling the white/super-white settings does not make any difference. I tried another codec with a twist — the Photo JPEG HD setting, with the pixel size set at 960×720 and with the quality set at 50%, and while the file size got down to 169 MB (from 583 MB — and the picture looks pretty decent), there is still a shift on playback — this time more of a colour shift. I suspect Gary is right, that transcoding to a different colourspace just causes issues that can’t be corrected.

So, if I want to have a cutting version for offline that is DVCPRO HD size, but about 1/3 the data, I could go the Photo JPEG route and live with the colour shenanigans. Or I can just cut with DVCPRO HD selects on my portable drive and call it a day.

Many thanks to all who listened, offered advice, and showed patience with my experimentation!

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO

[Jim Blokland]

Hi guys:

Thanks for the thoughtful responses. First of all, I must apologize — got some of my file size numbers mixed up. Here’s the deal:

When I take a 538 MB (1.5 min) DVCPRO HD clip and transcode to:

Pro Res (normal) 1280 x 720 = 621 MB
Pro Res at 720 x 405 = 398 MB
DV 25 720 x 480 = 285 MB

So you’re right, the DV 25 is the lowest file size. Although, the Pro Res smaller version looks the sharpest — except for the brightness or gamma shift. I don’t get this when I transcode to Pro Res HD 24p, only when I lower the pixel count…

Perhaps I’m causing more trouble than it’s worth and should just stay in DVCPRO HD and leave it at that. It would be sweet though to get the entire feature on one 500 GB drive. I could almost do that if the Pro Res solution worked.

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO

[Jim Blokland]

Hey Jeremy:

Thanks for the response. The reason I’m interested in using Pro Res as an offline codec, is that it actually gives me a file size about one third smaller than a transcode to DV 25 — and it actually plays back off my 3G iPod! — and even though the raster size is technically bigger, the 960 x 720 anamorphic DVCPRO HD frame transcodes perfectly into 1280 x 720 square pixels.

Unfortunately, the range check function was not on. (I’m not sure if the picture is changing on output to my production monitor, because I’ve just been doing these tests on my laptop — and probably will only use this codec as a solution to be portable…otherwise I’ll just edit 720p DVCPRO HD natively on my Dual G5 desktop)

Any other ideas welcome. If there was any way to get this working, it would be pretty cool.

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO

[Jim Blokland]

Hi Shane:

Thanks for your response. The only reason I’m considering a transcode is to have the option to be totally portable — either cutting DV off the internal drive, or maybe even my iPod (at Offline RT res…)

I am also considering the Seritek cardbus SATA adaptor as my RAID arrays are 2 Seritek 2-drive enclosures, so I could definitely just shuttle those around to cut either on the laptop or on my G5/Kona set-up — with no relinking required. And I take your note about relinking not being FCP’s strong suit seriously, believe me.

Thanks again for the advice.

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO

[Jim Blokland]

Thanks for the clarification(s). (gotta check my spelling next time!)

Have either of you got any tips regarding T/C synch between the Deva and a Panasonic HVX200? Does the T/C on the Deva match the P2 T/C?

Thanks again for any advice.

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO

[Jim Blokland]

Hello:

Thanks for your post. I believe it is a pro hard drive recorder (gotta do some web research…). Most likely, it is recording to an AIFF format, uncompressed.

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO

[Jim Blokland]

Yes, I’d be interested in hearing more about heat-related performance in this enclosure. Although, I’ve used some drives in pretty hot enclosures in the past without issue.

And the funny thing is, I’ve worked with LaCie drives on many shows (including an 8x1HR series I just completed) and I’ve never had one fail. But like your story Tom, I’ve certainly read that they can and do fail. In this case, I’m using the drive primarily as a ‘transport bucket’ for a P2 feature I’m cutting. I’ll back-up the rest of the files elsewhere, so if it does fail, I’d be covered.

Anyone else care to chime in?

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO

[Jim Blokland]

Hey Shane:

Thanks for the info. Good to know you can cut DVCPRO HD 720 24p natively with this machine. Wonder how it will perform with FCS 2…

One more question: if I wanted to try to only use the internal drive (so I wouldn’t have to lug around a firewire drive), what codec/filesize would you recommend to downconvert to — I’m assuming re-linking to the hi-rez media would work fine as long as the media file names are the same?

Thanks for any advice in this regard.

Best, JIM.

OSX.4.3
Dual 2.7 G5
3.5 GB RAM
Radeon X800 XT
Kona 2 / K-Box
Seritek 1.2 TB RAID
AVID XPRESS PRO/MOJO