Michael Hancock
Forum Replies Created
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DVCPro HD was not written for the PC–it’s installed when you install FCP. I believe Avid wrote their own codec (DV100) so it could be used on Avid PC systems.
If your Same as Source export (dv100) is showing a white screen on the Mac, the Mac doesn’t have the Avid codecs installed. Get the latest ones here, at the very bottom of the page.
Otherwise, export a Quicktime Reference to your desktop and use Quicktime Pro to reencode it to a common codec between Macs and PCs. Maybe Animation, but expect a huge file.
Otherwise, you could try Raylight, which is supposed to encode to DVCPro HD on Windows. You can download the demo and test a small clip first to see if it works. Find it here:
https://www.dvfilm.com/raylight/EncoderPro/index.htm
Hope this helps some.Michael.
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Can you drag clips to the left? You need to be in segment mode to drag clips. If you’re not, it’s the red and yellow arrows.
When you delete a clip it closes the gap–how are you deleting the clip? If you select it with the yellow arrow and hit delete, it will close the gap. If you select it with the red arrow and hit delete, it leaves the gap.
If you mark the clip with In and Outs and use the Extract key (scissors) it will close the gap. If you mark the clip and use Lift (looks like a man lifting weights over his head) it will leave the gap.
Otherwise, make new user settings. Your might be corrupt.
Michael.
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[Ty Ford] “there’s also a lot of “why and why not”, “when and when not” and “what if.””
That’s exactly the stuff I’m most interested in. It’s great to know I plug A into B, but it’s more important to understand why. Like they say, give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach him to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.
[Ty Ford] “It’s entirely about production and NOT about postproduction.”
Also exactly what I need. When our client’s budget doesn’t cover hiring an audio guy on set, it’s up to me. I can fiddle around in post to do a little fix here and there, but I’ve noticed a huge difference in quality between the audio I capture during a shoot and the audio a real sound pro does. I need to learn more about capturing good audio at the outset–I hate trying to “fix it in post”.
[Ty Ford] “Tell you what. If you absolutely HATE the book, I’ll meet you at NAB and take it back and buy you a drink. (This is a one time offer, good only until the sun sets over the yard arm in Key West. Call right now so you don’t forget.) :)”
If I can convince my boss to send me to NAB, I’ll buy you the drink just to say thanks for the time you put into these forums. Even if I hate the book! 🙂
I’m going to order the book today. Thanks Ty. As soon as I’m done reading it, I’ll make a list of postproduction audio questions so you can write another and I can buy it too.
Michael.
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Well, Premiere Pro is probably used by more people around the world than Avid, FCP, Vegas, Edius, and Media 100 combined. However, the only place I’ve seen it used professionally (on a large scale) is a TV station in the Ukraine. I know lots of others use it for broadcast content, and it’s perfectly capable to, but it’s not generally looked at as a “professional” app (even though it is).
So, that leaves you with FCP or Avid (according to your list). Buy a Mac and install both. Avid can be installed on a Mac or PC, and you’ll do best to learn both programs. Avid is still dominate in the broadcast and film arena, and FCP has a huge following in the indy market (and a huge amount of post shops that work on TV, Film, and commercial work).
If budget is a big deal, FCP is cheaper than Avid. Plus, Avid is supposed to be making a big announcement this month (by Friday), so hold off on buying Avid until they say what they have to say. They might be killing off Xpress Pro (pure speculation on my part), or they might be introducing new hardware (still speculation).
Either program will get the job done–contact a dealer near you for a demo of both to see which you like better. Or keep using Adobe. Their integration is the best I’ve seen, and that counts for a lot if you’re a one-man-band who does graphics, editing, sound, etc…
Regardless, try out all the systems first to see which one you like better. And as far as future proofing–unless one of those companies announces they’re going to shut down in the near future, they’ll keep issuing updates and trying to improve their product. That’ll protect your future a little bit.
Michael.
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If your video isn’t showing up on the PC (is it just showing a white screen?) then your PC is missing the codec. A lot of codecs are not cross platform compatible. Why? Who knows.
If your audio guys are using ProTools you should be able to provide them an OMF from Final Cut, right? If so, go that route.
If your PC guys need video as well (is there compositing work being done? What program?), you need to tell us more information so we can help you out.
What video format/codecs are you editing with on the Mac (SD or HD footage, MiniDV, DVCProHD, Red, ProRes, etc)?
What programs on the PC are they using? Do your PC guys need audio only, or audio and video?
What have you tried so far (besides print to MiniDV)?
Michael.
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It doesn’t answer the original question, but DVCProHD was brought up in the discussion. You can use FCP to convert your HDV footage to DVCProHD, can’t you? If this was done on his schools Mac, and they have FCP, he could convert it to DVCProHD and use Raylight to edit on his PC. Otherwise he’ll have to find another codec that’s cross platform, and I’m not sure what that is. But I know DVCProHD is possible, hence my post.
OT: Does anyone else think it’s a shame that codecs are still made that are not cross platform? Is locking a codec to Apple or PC really going to increase sales on either platform?
Michael.
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If you need to view DVCProHD footage on a PC via Quicktime, you need Raylight.
https://www.dvfilm.com/raylight/index.htm
A friend of mine was given DVCProHD footage to work on in After Effects (he’s on a PC) and it worked flawlessly.
Michael.
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Loop Out is really the only expression I’ve ever used, but I’ve found (like you have) that it only loops that layer for the duration of the comp it’s originally in. In this case, your precomp. That’s why you need to make your precomp longer.
You should just prerender the 4 second spinning record, reimport it, then go to your Interpret Footage settings and set it to loop 50 times. That will make the prerender 200 seconds long, and that should give you enough time for any new comp you drop it in, and your final render will be faster.
Michael.
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Anymore, Macs and PCs are on par with one another, so it’s a personal choice.
If you don’t mind Windows and you know a lot of about systems and can build your own, go with a PC. You can build a very powerful PC for less than anything store bought, and the ability to upgrade it is much greater than with a Mac or most brand name PCs. Plus, if your programs will run under a 64-bit OS, you can get XP Pro 64-bit or Vista 64-bit (I personally wouldn’t go with Vista, but that’s me).
If you like the Mac OS and don’t know how to/want to build your own system, go with the Mac. I personally don’t like OS X, but I love the Mac machines otherwise. Plus, with a Mac you can install Windows via Bootcamp if you need to, so you can run two of the most popular operating systems (we’ll leave Linux out of this) on one machine–something you can’t (legally) do on a PC.
If After Effects starts taking more advantage of the GPU, you might want to consider a PC. Macs are notorious for having a small selection of graphics cards to choose from (I think there are only 3 right now), so unless things change you’ll have more options in that department on the PC. But that’s speculation, and you need the system right now.
Regardless of which system you go with, keep it off the internet. Buy an eMachine if you have to surf the internet while you’re working, but if you’re making money with this machine keep it offline and treat it as a workstation, not a computer. That way you won’t run the risk of viruses, updates running that break something, etc… It’s the smart thing to do.
Good luck! Enjoy whichever new machine you get!
Michael.
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Buy a PS3. It’s BluRay, you can play games on it, upgrade the hard drive if you want/need, and you can use it as a media server (sort of). Plus they’re only $399 now.
Michael.