[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Mike,

The price for what you are getting is looking good.
But don’t know if it will do the job.

Issue with Premiere Pro is that Adobe has packed it full of half-developed tools and A.I. extras that you might not need.

On the issue of heat, can you find other ways to cool the DELL, using a fan or aircon?
The money the electricity cost, you’ll have to consider v buying a newer generation.

Memory prices are going up this year. But you should maybe consider getting 2 x 32GB (secondhand?) instead of two more 2 x 16GB. As you need to keep all the memory modules identical, you might later want to put in more. But do check what memory sizes the DELL can handle.

Another alternative is to hire or lease a PC for the duration of the project, which might work out at the same cost. Whilst offering you support and a newer model.

There is no easy solution, sorry.
But giving up is not an option, right?

Atb
Mads

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Mike,

The 750W Liquid cooling would not be my biggest concern for 4K editing. Although it can run hot (Google Search), that is likely to be more to do with gaming than editing video.

Your RTX 3080 Ti graphics card can do 4K gaming, so should be OK for playing back 4K files.

However, I would suggest that you will want to check the speed of your storage, whether HD or SSD?
And 16GB Ram is on the low side; 64GB would be better.
The Intel i9 processor should be OK, depending on what generation it is?

The bottom line is going to be how much money you want to spend v how much time you have?

If you are buying a used machine, maybe ask the owner if you can run an editing test on it?

Atb
Mads

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey AR,

Happy Holidays.

What I find most frustrating is when it comes to the overall workflow of the edit.

Far too often the production and crew have not taken the time to find out, or agree upon what the final deliverables for the project are.

If you don’t know how the final project is going to be used, and where?
The post production process will be challenging.

Atb
Mads

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Paul,

Great to hear that you got it sorted.

If only there was less “painfully simple” solutions, and more straightforwardness when delivering masters.

Blockchain and digital keys making their way into delivery systems to authenticate the author.

Just wait till you have to deal with KDMs and DKDMs – I only learned the process of this recently.
But it does help keep our content safe.

Atb
Mads

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Osmael,

Nothing worse than losing footage due to counterfeit storage, or errors made in manufacturing and software release by manufacturers who should have known better.

I know that it is easy to suggest using a cloud backup whilst in production, as these cost money + you need to have the badwidth to upload files. And, rearely the client don’t want to pay for that.

With regard to Linux, I hear you loud and clear. I many years ago went against the tide and settled for Windows NEL applications. Mainly because all of my corporate clients were PC based and using Windows Media Player. That is less of a “selling point” these days, if anything a PC today running Windows 11 takes me back to the days of bad memories with Microsoft Vista…

You are not the only one who is having problems with Davinci on Linux (recent video – do read the comments section):
https://youtu.be/DYZ6Mj0bNKo?si=4XygRhxH59BS2xTp

I don’t understand Linux, and if I was Blackmagic, I would maybe consider removing it from the line-up if it can not be supported – as in that Linux users could risk that happening if too many people are getting upset about the Linux version.

As with both PC and Mac versions for other NLE software packages not working on a operating system, Adobe comes to mind, one way of checking it. Is by rolling back a couple of software versions until you find a Davinci Resolve version that you know to work on Linux.

With regard to the footage, unless you share it, you’ll find it difficult for anyone to give you advice on it.

If it is because one of the camera sources are a low-res proxy, before doing the grade it is always worth running it through Topaz Video or similar.

Atb
Mads

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[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Mauro,

What a nightmare. Sounds like you have become the involuntary post supervisor.

My advice, as I suspect that action footage is a minor part of the entire film, is to just start editing.

Make notes for the On-Line editor what file or reels in the edit to look out for, and let them recreate it in the OnLine. Make sure to let the production know that this is what you are doing going forward. As they may come back on that if that requires extra time in the online.
And depending on who you are working with, they may even try to deduct that from your pay.

Hence, if you have an email trail that shows that you asked for guidance, then the problem is on their table and not yours.

If they come back and have questions, refer them to the Post-Supervision, which may end up being the editor doing the final master before grade. As in giving you advice.

But you’ve got a big job ahead, and somewhere along the prep for the shoot, the DOP, Director and Producer would have made a concious decision to shoot in different frame-rates. And they would have known why. I’m sure that they will be able to give guidance, or know someone who can.

Keep gooing, you are doing fine.

Atb
Mads

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Osmael,

Dare I ask out of curiosity, why Linux?

I suspect that it might be the formatting of the external drive or a security “blockage” somewhere. There are a fair bit of posts and guides in a variety of places if you search “Linux not writing to external drive” on Google.

But it could also be a bug in the software.

Maybe, if you have the space for it, export a smaller size file just to check that you can export out of Davinci.

On the phone footage, it could be something as simple as the iPhone shooting LOG, in which case try a Color Space Transform (CST) before going crazy on trying to match the shots manually.
There are plenty of posts here on the COW where Mobile Phone has looked rubbish, just because it was not “converted” on import. Some NLE’s are now doing that as standard.

If it is just a rubbish shoot using an old phone, then you will need to match the two sources. Again, many of the NEL’s has that functionality built in.

But if you need something that looks closer at the imaging chip on the “camara”, you might want to look at Cinematch. If nothing else, just to get an idea of what is possible.
https://www.filmconvert.com/plugin/cinematch

Hope this helps?

Atb
mads

filmconvert.com

CineMatch - FilmConvert

For over a decade, FilmConvert has empowered filmmakers to bring the timeless look of analogue film to their digital projects.Built on authentic film stock data and trusted by filmmakers worldwide, our plugins integrate seamlessly with Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and … Continue reading

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Ben,

“Broadcasters are asking for MPEG3 and MP4 and H264 video formats for broadcast.”

Are you sure?

That all depedns on the market that you are working in, and destination.

Maybe AMWA AS-11 (based on MXF) would be a better much format for delivery, but if I reember correctly that would require Compressor.

And, MPeg3 has a long time ago got retired, as it was “merged” into the MPEG-2 codec.

Point is, depending on the broadcaster and what market they are covering, and depending on the kit you use, you are more likely to get clean pass with ProRes out of FCP, than with MP4 or H264.

Just an opinion.

Atb
Mads

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Mauro,

No problem, happy to share the pain of current and past projects.
And on the COW you are never locked into a specific question or answer, as the resolution may never be an obvious one.

On this project You can’t win, as you are locked in and can only deliver 24fps.

And, if you are given the original frame rate for the action scenes, and they are running slow or fast, then that is what you have to work with.

Question to ask the team that will do the conform, as to what they are using and what they are expecting from you?

If they are on AVID, then hopefully it will all fit into the right places if they can take the project file of you.

If not, then it is a questions of how you share your edit – is it EDL or AAF or XML or?

My advice is to ask questions, sooner rather than later.
And even if you are not on the finalising of the film, you should be given a list of deliverables for the Conform/Audio/Grade and VFX. Because there is every chance that they might come back and ask for more footage, even if only in form of timecodes.

As much as it will be the conform dealing with most of that, it is still prudent for you to be in the know – or cetainly for the Post supervisor / producer, to be able to guide you.

Atb
Mads

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Anthony,

You are very welcome.
Always happy to help.

Do come back and let us know if you find out more on why the camera shut down.
I would encourage you to look at diagnostics and firmware too – you may need an upgrade on the software (BIOS), something as camera owner we often forget to check.

And if there is a fan, clean that too, as if you have been working in dusty night club environment that might stick too.

But overall, those cameras are built to withstand anything.

Atb
Mads