Jon Zanone
Forum Replies Created
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Another way (if your’e not worried about screen animation) is to go to file>save as. In the ‘save as type’ box, scroll down until you get the ‘portable network graphic PNG’ format. select PNG, and Powerpoint will very nicely (who says Bill Gates is evil?)create a folder and put all your new .png slides in the folder.
Open Avid, go to file>import, and voila’ – there you go. Of course, this assumes your slideshow is sized correctly, has broadcast legal colors (no oversaturated colors, particularly red, which is evil in NTSC). If the show was developed from the standard template, you should be good to go. If not, you’ll have to go the PShop route Grin described.
Jon
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It’s the democratization of video. No longer do you need million dollar linear edit suites to put together local car commercials. Now, with any number of desktop editing solutions and a decent camera, people can and are putting together product in their basement. Is this a bad thing? Probably, if you’re still invested in the million dollar suite. Unfortunately, the knowledge level that came with those suites isn’t usually available to the desktop video editor. A good V-scope/WFM combo costs more than the gear producing the show, and you can’t adjust levels on firewire deck anyway. The good thing about this is EVERYONE has a voice – the diversity of thought available on any subject is astounding! The annoying thing is EVERYONE has an opinion, and wading through the flotsam to find meaningful work is becoming more and more difficult. And, it’s only going to get worse. Video iPods, better web delivery, means more and more ‘stuff’ out there to see. Think about this – where did you see the ‘Christmas light house’ – on a commercial or in an email a friend sent? (My wife wants lights that do that next year!) It’s easier and easier to provide content to the masses. And if you are one of those “People don’t want to view poor video signals” people, remember this – ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ become one of the biggest shows on the air showing really crappy VHS and 8mm video.
The main question, as I see it, is not where is the knowledge level. The question is at what point are you letting the technical side impede your creative side? At some point, the lack of technical knowledge is going to cut off the creative message. That’s when you become interested in the technical side. My fourteen year old son is in a video production class in high school. I can’t imagine where I’d be if I had access to that technology in high school (although I had a really cool darkroom!)
The point of this rant? I’ll answer what questions I can to help raise the level of professionalism. Our ‘craft’ is an interesting blend of art and science. When you don’t have an engineer babysitting a million dollar suite to explain IRE, frame rates and why you need to white balance so you don’t have to ‘fix it in post’, it’s really hard to acquire that knowledge. On the flip side, I believe it’s important to seek out the knowledge of others. I like to think of the COW as a virtual engineer! And by the way, those or you who wish you were one of ‘them’ will be in several years. Those of you who are ‘them’ probabaly wish you were one of ‘those’ – it’s an exciting time in video. You just have to choose wether to ride the digital wave, or complain about getting wet from the spray.
My two cents….
Jon Zanone
“So you want to throw out the old you – but the old you is old enough to know it won’t make it better”
Del Amitri – “Make it Better” -
Ahhh, the joys of working for the Government!!!
Company gave us all three days, and in conjunction with the three day weekend, I’ve got SIX days off! I’m trying to keep the dogs from peeing on the presents and the cats from pukin’ under the tree…. WHAT A LIFE!!!!
Jon
“So you want to throw out the old you – but the old you is old enough to know it won’t make it better”
Del Amitri – “Make it Better” -
Are you testing this on the same machine your Avid is installed?
“So you want to throw out the old you – but the old you is old enough to know it won’t make it better”
Del Amitri – “Make it Better” -
No – what I mean is how the GOP is put on tape. Sony & JVC use a different GOP structure. So if you get a hit on the I frame, and your GOP is 7 or 14 frames, you’ve lost a GOP of information. It’s the dirty secret (as the Sony rep put it) of HDV. The Avid, on the other hand, does some voodoo to it so you can do frame accurate edits… I personnally am looking hard at the new Pannie P2/DV camera.
Jon
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Make sure to explain the MPEG GOP problem – if you get a tape hit on one I frame, it’s 15 frames later before you get a usable picture back. That’s the main reason I haven’t gotten an HDV camera. I am VERY interested in Panasonic’s new camera
It’s not HDV, looks like it can do over/under crank (like a Varicam) – all for about $3500.00USD….
Jon
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When you start up Encore, do you bypass the screen where you select wether the project is PAL or NTSC? I seem to remember you can set up the program to automatically go into a new project without selecting your system. Try going into file>preferences and poke around there. Maybe your going straight into an NTSC project without knowing it….
Jon
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Lior –
You shouldn’t get jump cuts if you match frame your footage. It’s a pain (I found this out the hard way – I’ve got a Meridian system I can keyframe motion effects, and it was quite annoying to find out I couldn’t do it in the XPress!).
You should be able to do audio conversions with iTunes. Our network folks (I work at the USAFA) balked at letting me use the software, but once I filled out the ‘proper paperwork’, they gave us permission to use it.
Jon
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Jason –
Try being a little more specific. Are you using the same CPU, or are you transferring your export to another machine? What kind and version is your Avid software? What software are you using to encode, and what software are you using to author your DVD?
Jon
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Miranda makes something like that called the Kalidascope. it’s pretty nifty,and accepts whatever inputs you can throw at it. It might be pricey for your application, but it definitely has the cool factor…
Jon