Leigh Jewell
Forum Replies Created
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I don’t know if this helps or not, but according to the Final Cut manual, if your audio is 16bit, 0db is typically equal to -12. If your audio is 24bit, 0db is typically -18 or -20.
I’m not an audio person so I can’t really explain it.Leigh
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Only a slight correction on checking if your tape is drop frame vs non drop frame. Drop Frame drops the :00 and :01 frames every minute except for the 10 minute marks (ie. you will always see all the zeros at the 1 hr mark, at the 1 hr 10 min mark, etc.) The easiest to check is either the 00:59:00:00 or 01:01:00:00. If you see the the zeros, you are in non-drop. If it goes from 00:58:59:29 to 00:59:00:02, your tape is drop frame.
The other way to tell is if you can see the time code characters from your machine. If the divider between the seconds and the frames is a semi-colon ( ; ), it is drop frame, if it is a colon ( : ), it is non drop frame.Leigh
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Check the file in Photoshop to see if it is in CMYK mode. TV is RGB and the colors are probably being converted. There’s no real good way to convert the colors that I know of, but Photoshop might do a better job of it. In Photoshop, look under Image – Mode. I usually save my files out as PICTs but Targas or TIFs are good too.
Leigh
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Marc,
Final Cut won’t import them as a single file like After Effects and Quicktime – however…
Go to File – User Preferences and select the Editing tab. Change the Still/Freeze Duration to 1 frame (00:00:00:01). Drag the folder that has the Targa Sequence into a bin then drag that whole folder into a sequence. Depending on how long your targa sequence is, you still may want to make a movie from it to avoid possible dropped frames on playback.Leigh Thomas
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ikarus79m,
If you haven’t gotten the problem figured out yet, I do have a photoshop file that has the mask size for making a 1:85 movie. I can e-mail it to you or if you want to e-mail to me a file and possibly your After Effects project, I can check it with the mask generator that we use in our machine room and make sure that you are set-up correctly.As a side note: 16×9 is a generic term and comes in 3 flavors depending on what the film was actually shot for. There is 1:78, 1:85 and 2:35. When I encode for DVD, I have to find out what flavor the movie was shot for, add the mask, then flag the encoder for a 16×9 image.
All video is .9 aspect ratio. The confusion comes in when you are generating computer elements that need to look correct for video. After Effects is nice because you can tell it what a specific file is and it can mix and match. If your composition is set up for going to DVD, it needs to end up at 720×480 and at the.9 aspect ratio. If it is going to end up being a 16×9 image (with whichever mask is required), you will need to set it up to be anamorphic the flag the encoder that it is 16×9.I hope this helps or that you were able to solve the problem.
Let me know if you need my e-mail address or if you want me to e-mail the file to you.Leigh
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Actually, that is exactly what I do if I want to output correct embedded audio. (See my previous post.)
Bars and tone on a tape are what people using the tape after you use to set up the tape to “normal.” If all of your audio is output at the +8db then you may be okay, since the next person setting it up to your bars and tone will lower the playback to the correct level. However, you are assuming (and we all know what that means) that the person playing back your tape will actually bother to set it up to what you (basically, incorrectly) output. I say “incorrectly” because, having been a tape op, when you put in a Digibeta or DV tape in the deck, you shouldn’t have to adjust the audio levels. The playback knobs should be all pushed in and tone and all the rest of the audio should be at the normal -20. If you keep your audio at the +8db, your “ceiling” won’t be -12. Your audio from your program could and probably will be higher and lower than that. Therefore, you run the risk of distorting your audio.
As I said in my previous post, what I normally do, if I have to output using embedded audio, I export the sequence as a movie. Bring that movie back into FCP, lower the audio to the correct db (it will show up as 0 so you want to lower it to -8).
As a last note, I don’t use Final Cut Pro’s bars (or tone). The bars are actually not really correct either. The I and Q are wrong.Leigh
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[JeremyG] “i output -12 bars (which is FCPs default) -12 shows up in FCP -12 shows up on the deck. If I output -20 bars, FCP meters read -20, deck meters read -20. I am running os 10.4.2, QT 7.0.3 and Kona 1.2 drivers and latest firmware (from April 2005). It should be working for you guys, unless there’s some setting in your deck that you’re missing.”
Well, Jeremy, everything on my computer is setup accurately and I have all of the latest updates and drivers. You should know, however, that -12 (FCP’s default) is 8db too hot. “Normal” is -20db on Digibetas and on DV decks. (I can tell you the specific deck if you want.) If that is what you have been outputting, your outputs have been 8db too hot. But you are right, in FCP, the audio setting is set to -12 for bars and that is exactly where it is hitting on the deck.
Leigh
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I agree. I guess I just got used to it because it was a problem with the Cinewave card that I had as well. I was happy when we got the Kona2 card and we could add in a mixer so I could adjust the input and output as needed.
Maybe someday, it will get fixed. I wonder if the Blackmagic card has the same problem?Leigh
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For what it’s worth, I have always had this problem. I work at a post house and have audio coming in from lots of different sources, some of which are at the correct levels, some of which are at the +db level. The levels out that I have on the + side are at +8db even from Final Cut’s bars
To solve this problem and give me a bit more control on sound input and output, we put in a small mixer by Junger.
I used to correct this problem by simply going into Final Cut, making a movie out of the sequence if I needed to, opening that movie in the browser and lowering the audio by 8db.
I don’t know if this helps you or not but you can rest assured that you are not crazy. 🙂BTW, I am running the latest drivers for Kona with Tiger 10.4.4. I just ran a test and on the embedded audio out from Final Cut’s bars, it is still at a +8db.
Leigh
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I’m not completely familiar with DVDSP but I do know a few things about it.
The last two errors are perfectly fine. DVDSP makes these files but they do not belong on a DVD and would make it unplayable so the program is simply letting you know that it didn’t include these in the burn. (I don’t think that this should come up as an “error,” but then they didn’t ask me when they made the program.) Anyway, don’t worry about the last two.
The first one, though, could be a problem. Did you put your loop in the menu or in the track? I believe on DVDSP “First Play,” it goes to the menu. If you did put it in the menu, you will also need to put a short piece of black in the track part. This is a part of the DVD spec.
When you simulate the project, does it seem to work correctly?Leigh