Martin Phillips
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Apple Final Cut Pro X Coins
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COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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Yes, you are right not to risk it – I was caught this way 3 years back trying to save a double duplication run. Problems galore and we had to send out many replacement (PAL) versions as so many people coudn’t play their DVDs. Fingers burned and lesson learned!
Martin Phillips Freelance Cameraman / Producer / Editor
Chesham, Buckinghamshire, UK. http://www.videodvdmaker.co.uk -
Hi James,
I have to do this kind of thing quite a lot. I’ve found it best to do 2 stages: 1) Downconvert to 25fps PAL ProRes 2) Use this encode to do your MPEG2.
Compressor takes ages to downconvert and do the MPEG2 – and it does not look too good once done.
Downconversion: In Compressor, change video settings to ProRes, 25 fps. Then Frame controls all to best and field to top first. Dimensions / Cropping to PAL CCIR 601 (16:9). Run this encode
You will now have a ProRes Downconversion in 25fps.
MPEG2: Now do the MPEG2 with the ProRes downconverted movie. Frame controls off, cropping off and video format to PAL, 25fps, 16:9. Quality 6.5 CBR works well for most things, I’ve found. This encode should go very quickly. Also do your AC3 encode for the audio (but you probably know this!)
Hope this helps. Martin.
Martin Phillips Freelance Cameraman / Producer / Editor
Chesham, Buckinghamshire, UK. http://www.videodvdmaker.co.uk -
This is a problem that I had with the EX3, inadvertantly over-exposing an interview once, which was a pain to sort out in post.
My solution is to have a card containing footage that I know is 100% correctly exposed / colour balanced (different interview footage in my case with skin tones etc). This has been checked on a broadcast monitor in the studio, so I know it’s spot-on. I always keep this card (in an MxM adapter) in the camera case and before every shoot just play back little bits of the clips on the card and check that everything looks fine. I have also taped up the small adjustment dials on the back of the viewfinder to stop them getting twiddled whilst in the case.
I also have the zebras set to 75% and the histogram on for belt and braces. Yes, I know it probably seems a bit primitive, but it works for me.
Martin Phillips Freelance Cameraman / Producer / Editor
Chesham, Buckinghamshire, UK. http://www.videodvdmaker.co.uk -
Hi Dylan – yes, as others have said, I think that you have dodged a bullet on this one. If this is the way he goes on, no doubt the project will have had its fair share of headaches, not to mention invoicing woes.
Just walk away and be relieved it didn’t go any further. You don’t need the weeks / months of stress of taking it to court – let it go, and it won’t seem so sore by next week.
Anyway, I’m sure that something else will come along next week and you will be glad you didn’t take this job on!
Just my thoughts. Cheers, Martin.
Martin Phillips Freelance Cameraman / Producer / Editor
Chesham, Buckinghamshire, UK. http://www.videodvdmaker.co.uk -
Hi Alex – You were lucky, but will you feel confident using them again on a shoot?
Very easy to do stuff like switch camera off whilst recording. Also to stop / start recording whilst the light is still red (another no no for SDHC). SxS doesn’t seem to mind what you do – it just gets on with it. In over 2 years, no hassles with SxS here.
Martin Phillips Freelance Cameraman / Producer / Editor
Chesham, Buckinghamshire, UK. http://www.videodvdmaker.co.uk -
Hi Robert – I think that a lot of us find ourselves in this situation and there is probably no right or wrong. I am a one-man-band and in days gone by, I did used to answer emails and take / make work calls out of hours or on holiday. About 5 years ago I changed to keeping pretty much office hours and not taking work calls at odd times / weekends / on holidays.
I give regular clients a couple of weeks notice of holiday plans; this contact often results in a friendly response of ‘thanks for the heads up; we will be in touch about another project after you get back’.
Also, I increasingly found that those who contacted me over weekends / at odd times were not great to work for (‘grinders’ as they are known here!), but those who stuck to ‘office hours’ usually worked at sensible and reasonable companies. Also, having ‘down time’ and refreshment helps working time to be more productive and enjoyable in my experience – family time / non-work time is special and I don’t want work interrupting it.
Obviously there are times when deadlines need meeting that this all goes out of the window, but because it only happens a few times a year now, rather than every other week I quite enjoy it – the trick is to not let work dominate your life and most reasonable clients would probably agree with this.
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It sounds like the memory controller has failed. This is what happened to my G5 last year, and it’s a common fault on 4-5 year old G5s I’ve heard. Anyway, I still had my AJA Kona LH plus a few other cards which are PCI-X so didn’t really want to ditch the G5 entirely. Anyway, picked up an identical G5 on Ebay for an absolute bargain, in perfect condition. Swapped all the cards over and re-installed everything and it’s all working well. Of course FCP6 is the latest version you can use on a G5, but as a second system in my case, which I use for downconverting / digitising / dogsbody work it’s terrific.
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All fine here and no issues as yet.
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Hi Jakob,
Not sure I’m missing something, but as you mention,Log and transfer does this easily (and well), converting these AVCHD files to ProRes (which is a much better format for post anyway). You can just do a batch log and transfer of the whole lot at once on a 2nd system or during a lunch break (my method!). No need for any other workarounds.
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There is an open debate on this subject – they work for some people but not for others. The essential problem is that they (the SDHC cards) do not write quite as quickly as the SxS cards which can occasionally cause a glitch.
The EX3 and EX1 now have a firmware update to make it work better. It may be worth trying the Sony or MxM adapters with their approved SDHC cards.
Yes, they (SxS) are expensive …… no way round that apart from seeing it as an investment and charging your clients for ‘media use’ (like in the days of tape).