Michael Hancock
Forum Replies Created
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Thanks for the update. It’s good to know how you fixed the problem in case someone else runs into the same issue.
Michael.
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Ty,
Book came this weekend, read it all immediately. It’s an excellent resource–thanks for writing it. Had a chance to compare your list of suggested equipment to what we have at work–turns out we have some nice stuff!
Your description of the different mics was great–we have a studio mic here that can switch between Omni, Hyper cardioid, and figure eight. I set it up today and can finally understand what they are and when to use them.
Again, great resource and please keep writing them. I’ll keep buying them.
Thanks,
Michael.
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Not sure why this is happening.
With your deadline looming, why don’t you consolidate your final sequence to an external drive, export a quicktime reference to that drive, then plug the drive into your Mac and use the reference files in Color. Test it with a short clip to make sure the qtime reference files maintain their links, but I think it will work.
Can COlor import an EDL and automatically cut your footage up? Check on this too–it would save you a lot of time if it could.
Otherwise, I’m not sure what’s going on. Remember this though–if you’re comparing the Quicktime to the image on your Source/Record monitors in Avid on your computer screen, the Avid is only showing 1 field. Have you looked at this footage on a broadcast monitor to ensure the noise is not actually there, and the quicktime is just displaying a full frame so you notice it? Just a thought.
Good luck.
Michael.
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[Nathan Byrne] “What is the difference between these two anyway?”
Media Composer supports more resolutions, will work with an Adrenaline box, and has more effects. It can also display more information in the Source/Record monitors (two lines and center duration), more lines in the Timecode window, keyframeable timewarps…little things like that.
[Nathan Byrne] “Can you open Meridian Media Composer projects and read media with Avid Xpress Pro? 10:1, 3:1, 2:1 and 1:1 SD?”
Best practice is to make a new project in Xpress with the same name as your Meridien project (so any new media and old are linked to the same project), then transfer only the bins.
Xpress Pro will do 15:1s, DV25, DV50, 1:1. When you get into 24p projects there are different resolutions available, but I’m not familiar with them because I don’t work in anything but 30i. I do know it won’t do 2:1 or 3:1 in any project, and I don’t think it does 10:1 either.
Michael.
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You’ll want to check that the software was never registered, and if you’re buying off ebay–make sure you’re not buying the Academic version.
Avid has recently been offering Media Composer Academic to students and faculty at schools that are Avid Mentor Schools (certain requirements must be met by the schools to qualify). Like everything else on ebay, there are legit copies and Academic copies. The easiest way to tell if it’s a Commercial copy or Academic (besides Academic being printed on the box, I believe) is that the Commercial software comes with third party programs–BorisCC effects, Avid DVD, and Sorenson. If it doesn’t, it’s likely Academic and can’t legally be used for commercial work.
Otherwise, if it’s never been registered, buy it and register it in your name. It’s a good way to avoid the license transfer fee, and as far as I know it’s perfectly legal. Bob probably knows more about this than me–I’m just an editor, he sets these systems up all the time.
Good luck with your new studio.
Michael.
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Bob is mostly right.
If you can find a second hand copy of Avid Media Composer you can buy it and run it as is without worrying about anything. If there’s a point release that’s not paid or reserved for Assurance (support) Contract customers, you can upgrade that for free by downloading it from the CPR site at http://www.avid.com and without registering.
However, if you need to update your dongle and then buy an update to the software (most recent version is 2.8. 2.7 is a paid update from any earlier version, then you download the 2.8 version at http://www.avid.com), you have to transfer the license information with Avid. That’s what Bob is talking about. For Media Composer, the license transfer fee is $500, I think. For Xpress Pro, it’s $100 plus any applicable taxes.
Why Avid has such a premium on a license transfer, I don’t know. $500 for a $5,000 piece of software is 10%! I can understand $20 or even $50 bucks to cover the cost of changing registration in their systems, etc…but $500? Sucks, I know.
If you find a used copy, negotiate the transfer license fee in the purchase price–ask for $500 off the asking price, because I believe Avid only accepts payment from the person who the license is being transferred to. There’s a form on their website you’ll need to fill out, and the original owner (or currently registered owner) will need to fill out. We bought a second hand copy of Xpress Pro and the entire license transfer took about a week, but until it was complete I was still able to use the software.
Michael.
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Here’s how to workaround your problem:
V1 is your background.
V2 is your Key with Spectramatte.
Duplicate the footage on V2 and put it on V3. Change the Spectramatte to show the Matte. V3 is now a black and white image of your key–the matte.Remove the Spectramatte effect on V2 and apply your color correction. Collapse V2 and V3, then apply a Matte Key effect (Don’t Alt+Drag the effect–it will nest it and not do what you want, just drag the effect over the submaster).
This will replace the submaster effect with your matte key effect. The Matte you had on V3 now acts as the alpha for V2 (video only with Color Correction), and it doesn’t effect your background.
That’s how you color correct with Spectramatte without effecting your background!
Michael.
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Good question. I did a google search and looked all over the Avid website–I can’t find anything either.
Is there anyone in town that can repair your cable? It’ll likely be much cheaper than buying a new one. Reattching a BNC connector can’t be that hard, can it?
Call the TV stations and ask for one of their engineers. Most stations cut their own cable, so they should know how to fix this. Worth a shot.
Michael.
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We need to know more about your system. Specifically, what video card, what driver for the card, what OS, what version of the OS (XP Pro 32-bit Service pack 2? OS 10.4?, etc…). What version of quicktime, what kind of processors, how much RAM, what version of Avid, what kind of storage, what kind of video are you cutting, etc…
Without more info, it’s hard to start offering suggestions.
Michael.
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The only thing I can think of is to export all of your bins at text files, tabs delimited.
Open the bins in Excel and use the search function there to look for the word(s) you want. When it highlights it, note what bin it’s in and tab back to your Avid and go to that bin.
Otherwise, there isn’t a search in Bin function (would be nice though).
Michael.