[Mark Spano]

I haven’t had any experience with them, but I can tell you that I have had many assembly parts from Sony Pro Video and have had them meet or exceed specs for wear/head life. Pro Video decks and maintenance is one department where Sony doesn’t mess around.

[Mark Spano]

[david mayer] “The resulting file is squeezed every single time.”

Simplify, using this workflow:

Export from your original anamorphic sequence a Quicktime Movie, Current Settings. This file will be 720×480. That’s fine.
Take this file into Compressor.
Create your MPEG output setting (MPEG-2 I assume), and make sure that in the Geometry tab, you have Output Image Inset (Padding) set to 16×9.
You can check what this will look like when you apply your setting to your source file by looking at the Preview window and clicking the upper right button that says “Make size of window relative to setting’s dimensions and aspect ratio”.
Encode.
You will have a 720×480 resulting file with your 16×9 video as letterbox inside the 4×3 frame.

[Mark Spano]

[James Manisty] “a)why is there no Uncomp 1080p25 project in FCP Compressor 6”

The answer to this is that it’s not super common. It’s not that they don’t like you, it’s just that Apple is a US company and makes generic presets that only the most common US Compressor users will use. Trust me on this – you are better off 99% of the time making your own Compressor presets.

[James Manisty] “why do HD 1080p25 files display field dominance despite being progressive…”

There are four possible places you must check in this process to ensure that you are preserving or not preserving fields. Is it possible that you’re not covering them all? Let’s check them off:

If you’re coming from FCP, make sure your sequence settings are set to Field Dominance=None:

Also, make sure your clips in your sequence are set to “none” field dominance before editing into the sequence:

Export away, then in Compressor, drag your movie to be processed in. Double check ALWAYS that Compressor understands your movie is Progressive in the Inspector BEFORE you attempt to process it:

I have seen tons of definitely progressive movies come in and Compressor thinks they’re upper field. If it misses this, change it here.

In your preset that you’re creating, in the frame controls tab, make sure that your output fields are set to progressive. You could also leave it set to same as source if you’ve covered the above.

I have had 100% success if I remember to check all these places. If you’re getting files from out of house, it’s always going to be a crap shoot. But at least you can say you know what’s going on on your end.

[Mark Spano]

[James A Smith] “Frame size – 1920 X 1080 – HDTV1080i(16:9) ? – not P or psf?”

That drop down menu for frame size has been a misnomer in FCP for years. All it is really supposed to say is “HDTV 1080 (16:9)”. The i is a stupid thing they left in there. When you set your sequence for field dominance=none, you are set for progressive sequence. That’s all you need.

[Mark Spano]

[Adam Pardy] “our finished fcp projects have 2 pairs of stereo audio one original track and one with just soundtrack for overdubbing in foreign markets. I can’t seem to find an option to get this as an output on compressor, logically pass through would do this but it always gives me stereo output”

It is likely your sequence settings in FCP that is giving you the grief to begin with. Sequence settings need to specify four audio outputs. Then any quicktime you export (using current settings) will keep the four outputs intact as audio tracks. Send that into Compressor and use input-passthrough and it will remain four audio tracks.

[Mark Spano]

If you are in a pinch, try QT Sync. It has saved me some time. You can load up a Quicktime, add a TC burn-in (with basic placement and size), and export a ref QT with burn in (no render or save time). Load that up into AJA TV and play out – wheee.

[Mark Spano]

I agree with the other suggestions and wish to add another. JES Deinterlacer might be your friend. It has a specific option for this:

Should be easy enough – and it’s fast.

[Mark Spano]

I work in a broadcast post facility, and often it’s my job to QC tapes and files before they go out to air. Having a Tek scope for tapes is essential – I get all the nice waveform/vector/dBFs meter/phase scope/loudness/etc. so I can pass them. But lots of files come across my desktop before they go out and I’m nowhere near the machine room to check it on the Tek. I trust my ears, but it’s always nice to be able to measure something, especially since some of this happens in the morning and I don’t drink coffee…

[Mark Spano]

Ty,

Thanks for the heads-up. I’ve been using the standard phase metering in the Waves bundle for PT at my workstation, but sometimes if I’m at a non-PT station, I’d like to just check files for channels, bit depth, sample rate, etc., and make sure that they’re true stereo and mono compatible. I can do all of the above with Snapper except for the last one, hence the want for a phase checker. I wish there was an app in the ‘closer-to-free’ range, but Spectra-Foo might have to be sneaked in on next quarter’s budget.

[Mark Spano]

[James Spohn] “I left Project A’s files in the Avid MediaFiles folder and moved Project B’s files to a differently named folder.”

That’s the issue. In order for Avid to understand where media is located, it must be in this structure:

Drive / Avid MediaFiles / MXF / (number)

All files must be in a numbered folder inside the MXF folder. You can still keep them separate, just make one project’s media files in “1” and the other in “2”. Once you have that sorted, open each numbered folder and sort by Kind. Delete anything that’s not an MXF file and then launch MC. It will recreate the databases and indexes, and then your media should come back online.