[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

Thank you – thank you – thank you!!!!
Wanting just oneone channel of a stereo field to be placed in the center of the master output is so common – I can’t believe it was so hard to find this answer and is so suttle within P Pro.
I spent a disgusting amount of time trying to read through Adobe’s help files, calling them and searching the web for what used to be a simple operation on my old editing software.
I had tried fill left & right, but didn’t realize that it was “pre-fade”, so I didn’t hear a change.
Thanks again!

Corp. Communications & PR

[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

Ron,
Great insights into the product line and P2. I’ve been coming to the same conclusion around Axio’s advantage via Matrox’s bigger resource commitment to it. Been cruising their support forums. Seems like good CODEC support, decent first level support and modest, if slower, bug fix rate.

BTW, my read on the Sony HDCAM EX is that it will only offer 25MB/s HDV. Hope I’m wrong.
Thanks again,
Jim

[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

Mike,
I believe it…I still use my M100 XS on a G4 running OS9. It’s still a great tool for simple or long format SD pieces coming from Beta or DV. Very weiry of using its old tools, though, to get jobs out to DVD and streaming formats.
On the other hand, its drama-free … more like running a dedicated box when compared to the newer systems based on MS OS.

[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

Ron,
Thanks for your post – it is helpful to understand the rendering issues. Interestingly, I came accross a Matrox PDF on their site last night that announces that the upcoming 3.0 release of RT.X2 (not SD model) will include support for P2 and Sony HDV CODECs. (details and a link below) As far as the Sony support, it seems limited to 1440×1080 and specifically they only mention the HVR-V1 cameras. On the P2 side, it is a little more hazy. They mention the HVX-200 but also comment on support for “Panasonic P2 cameras”, so, maybe all P2 models will be supported.

* of course, who knows when this version will be available….certainly wouldn’t expect it before CS3 is shipped.

So, in light of this, do you still feel that the price difference (Axio LE vs RT.X2) is worth it? I guess there is still some hardware assist in the Axio and of course, the XLR and SDI in/outs are very helpful.

https://www.matrox.com/video/products/pdf/what's_planned_rtx2_3.0.pdf

The RT.X2 3.0 release provides native editing of Panasonic P2 MXF 720p files and Panasonic VariCam 24p and 25p workflows with the Panasonic HVX200 camera via MXF
file transfers.

This allows RT.X2 users to use MXF files created by their Panasonic P2 cameras directly in these applications without having to convert the
files to the traditional AVI file format.

The RT.X2 3.0 release provides seamless realtime native editing in all the HDV resolutions of the Sony HVR-V1 cameras. The RT.X2 3.0 release provides realtime native editing of m2t files that are captured on the hard drive unit. (HVR-DR60)

[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

Tim,
Thanks for that bit of M100 history…I never realized that Premier ran on M100. I do see many workflow improvements (esp. early and late workflow steps)that seem possible with PPRO CS3, so, I’m hopeful. I will miss some of M100’s strong traits – wonderful media management, good, flexible CODEC and stable responsive edit platform. I wish the very best for M100 and hope to edit on them again someday.
Jim

[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

Thanks, Everyone! Appreciate your thoughts.
Does seem that Matrox offers a bigger sweet spot for the CS2/3 solution. Now I hope I can adapt to PPRO from, believe it or not, Media 100! 😉
Althought the price point seems to bump up a lot for relatively small differences, I plan to go with Axio LE to get the added CODEC and format support. Otherwise, RTX2 is a no brainer.

[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

Yes, I’ll just work in DV for this low key project. Wasn’t sure if using an external USB drive would slow down Vegas much or not. Thanks Ed and Gary for the direction!
Jim

[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

Thanks, Ed! Wasn’t sure if your response/post included my second question on the USB drive:

“Also, I’ll need extra drive space and wanted advice on whether a simple USD external 7200RPM drive will do for mostly two track, fade/dissolve editing.”

Thanks for confirming this Q, too.

Corp. Communications & PR

[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

White Powder Ma ,
I have to admit that I think I have been missing an important trick you mention in this post…I often also have to move Media100 videos from my Mac over to PC for Procoder, but, I hate to admit the awkward workflow I’ve been using. (I work in Media 100 ver 7.5) Can you indulge me and please describe, step by step, how you move the M100 file over to the PC and use the iFinish transcoder?

Thanks!
Jim

Corp. Communications & PR

[Jim Wilkinson-ray]

Matt,
I noticed that you have both a G4 Dual 1GHz and a G5 Dual 2.7GHz running Media 100 8.2.2
I wondered if you notice much difference in responsiveness of the M100 application between these two computers. (obviously, rendering speed will be different – just wondering about things like working with clips, changing between active windows, opening bins, working with realtime effects, etc.)
I’m considering buying a used Dual 1.25GHz G4 to avoid the expansion chasis issue and want to balance that with any productivity gain possible under a faster G5.
Thanks for your take on this!