Mark Raudonis
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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16 X 9 FHA stands for “FULL HEIGHT ANAMORPHIC”. It’s essentially a “Squeezed” image to fit in a 4 x 3 frame. Untreated, a circle will look like an oval, and everything looks tall and thin. But…. if you shot this way originally (like we do) , then in the hands of an international standards converter you can get a much better up convert/ cross convert than if you started with just plain old 4 x 3. The problems arise when dealing with GRFX. The aspect ratio can be globally changed with a single click… the grfx not quite so easily. So, if you have a GRFX heavy show, like we do, it’s a major pain in the butt having to check and reposition hundreds of lower thirds, etc.
I’m afraid that until SD goes away, and that won’t be anytime soon, we’ll be dealing with these aspect ratio issues.
mark
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Tim,
Here you go. This works for us.
https://www.bittree.com/catalog/detail1.cfm?pageID=994
Combines video, audio and RS 422 all in one unit. Unlike some switchers, this is totally “passive” so it’s really quite foolproof.
And, no it doesn’t bother the four Kona 3’s we have attached.
Mark
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Some of you guys are too quick to dismiss this workflow!
Yes, we’ve used this exact method for a documentary that originated in 4 x 3 SD. We bumped it up to HD for color correction and delivery, but maintained the “pillar box” aspect ratio. When we needed to do a SD delivery we only needed to do a “center punch” downconvert to achieve 4 x 3. No worries about “pan and scan”. On the other hand, when we needed to create an HD master, we went in and repositioned every frame to create a 16 x 9 master.
I deal with more “aspect ratio” issues on a day to day basis than just about any other technical issue. Don’t even ask me about 16 x 9 FHA deliverys for international use!
Mark
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[Jerry Hofmann] “I’ll wager they end up giving up the bottom 90% of the market for good doing this though. That very well may be their plan too.”
Bingo!
Avid is quickly become a “server” company, specializing is large workgroup installations (Newsrooms). The sooner the die hard “media composer” fans recognize this, the less painful it will be.
Mark
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Have you spoken with anyone at Sony?
Their XDCAM proxies are don’t play nice with FCP. Different story with Avid.
Bottom line. You can’t get there from here. At least not easily… and then if not easily, what’s the point in using that workflow?
Mark
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Paulos,
We work in a a shared storage environment where this kind of workflow is standard. We have teams of “digitizers” that do nothing but bring the media into the system. They then organize it and place it on the storage in folders: example (B-roll, Interviews, Scene 5, etc.) Keep in mind that this media has NO PROJECT attached to it.
When an editor begins work, all they do is import these folders into their own project and begin editing. In some cases they don’t even need to bring the media into their project, they just open up a second project. FCP is quite happy to have multiple projects open simultaneously… you don’t need to have all the media live in one big project.
Working this way will keep your project size small which will result is quicker saves and faster timeline performance.
Good luck.
mark
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Dear Mr. Ento,
I’m sure the Apple folks reading these boards would love to know the name of their “reseller” who’s doing a “less than effective” job of promoting their product. Care to post it?
Our experience with X-SAN has also been quite positive. Over the past three years we’ve run two separate X-SAN’s sharing nearly 50 Terrabytes of storage. We’ve used many different resolutions: Off-line RT, DV, IMX50, DVCPro 50, and DVCPro HD. Dropped frames are primariy a bandwidth issue that comes from a poorly thought out or badly engineered system. If you have enough “spindles” to handle your workflow you’ll be happy. However, if you “cheap out” and try to feed too many streams off of too small of a storage pool, you will drop frames.
Bottom line. Do you own research and don’t rely on this reseller. You have to wonder what competing product he’s pushing to speak that way about X-SAN. Having said that, there are other SAN solutions out there that require much less tech knowledge or ongoing admin attention than X-SAN. Perhaps they’re a better choice for you.
Mark
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[Fongaboo] “Basically, I should reframe the argument as: “Why buy an Apple XSAN when we have a perfectly comparable Dell RAID server in the back? OSX is supposed to have support for Windows File Sharing now, so why not?”
“To which I would reply, “Then don’t. Switch to Avid. It’s quite happy on the PC.”
If you’re even asking this question, then you don’t know the world of hurt you’d be in for trying to run FCP off of a windows box. You can either take my word for it or do the requisite research to arrive at the same conclusion: This is a bad idea.
Mark
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[Fongaboo] “want to share with me some specific reasons or examples why FCP off of a Windows fileserver is a no-go.”
How about because it’s not designed for that and you’re just asking for headache?
Reason # 2. “someone not familiar with Mac’s” That’s your IT guy, and he wants to keep your FCPs up and running?
Reason #3. Video is a much different animal than typical IT traffic (email, small files etc.).
I could go on, but this is a very BAD idea.
Mark
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Atari,
You should do some research on this subject ’cause your questions indicate a big misunderstanding of how remote file transfer works. First of all, “Apple Remote desktop” is more of an administrator’s tool for a network of computers rather than a transfer tool. “ARD” does not do what you’re thinking it does.
Frankly, transfering any kind of high resolution media files via the internet can be either an excruciatingly long process or a very expensive endeavor (if you can afford the bandwidth). Most long distance collaboration like you’re referring to is done by sending the media via FED X on a firewire drive, then just sending the project alone via FTP.
Final Cut server also is NOT what you’re looking for. It’s more of a search and catalog enabler.
Investigate FTP sites. Or, something .mac.
Good luck.
Mark