Michael Kammes
Forum Replies Created
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That’s a loaded question.
Avid v 5.0+ can use AMA to link to almost ANY QT based file, without having to re-import it. Thus, you can export almost any format from FCP, and Avid will see it. The only hitch being there has to be the same codec on both machine.
The safest bet is to skip AMA, and use the old reliable method and import. Best practice to generate a file for fastest import into Avid, and is listed in one of my initial replies to this thread:
https://michaelkammes.com/encoding/avid-is-self-aware-fast-import/
DNxHD is probably your best bet, all Avid’s made in the past 5 years understand it.
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .
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A few things:
For lo/no budget shoots, have the camera / onboard mic into mic jack 1, boom into 2. That way, in your NLE, you have your choice as to what mic worked better.
Since you’re past that, you’re pretty much screwed. You can *try* a technique called ‘upwards expansion’, which creates a larger difference between loudness and softness of a sound. Often it’s used to get rid of background noise during dialogue. The same technique can be utilized to help minimize some of the slapback /reverb / echo your track may have…perhaps enough to add in some background ambience to mask things.
That being said, it’s something that is VERY difficult, and really takes an experienced ear. I’ve been doing post sound for years, and it’s something I can only get to work in very, very small quantities and in very specific circumstances.
Your best bet is ADR, or try and cut around it and use alt takes.
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .
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StorageDNA.
Delta sync, filesum checks, WAN and LAN acceleration (no matter what the transport mechanism) & web page administration.
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .
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I would suggest waiting a few weeks. THEN look into a machine that will run Avid…say, after Feb 15th.
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .
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I would verify what version of Avid DNxHD codec package you have on your system…your codec pack may be older than the ones on his system. Avid has made slight changes to the DNxHD codec over the past few years, that could be the culprit.
https://www.avid.com/US/industries/workflow/DNxHD-Codec
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .
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Good Choice…and you’re almost spot on!
The Kona LHi does not come with a Break-Out Box (B.O.B.). This is an additional cost. It does, however, come with a Break-out Cable (sometimes known as a pigtail) which gives you most of the spigots an LHi BOB does.
https://www.aja.com/products/kona/konalhi/images.php
The benefits of the BOB include having a rack mounted and thus easily accessible “patch” point, unbalanced (RCA) connections for audio monitors, HD SDI jacks instead of patching directly to the back of the card in the CPU, as well as a reference loop.
I believe it is several hundred dollars, but 9 times out of 10, the client buys the BOB.
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .
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Are you using QT 7.6+ or QT X?
With 10.6, QT X is the default QT player – 7.6 needs to be installed manually.
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .
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Unfortunately, no.
https://www.avid.com/US/products/Media-Composer-Software/system-requirements
Use a qualified Windows Laptop or MacBook Pro. Also, make sure you have at least 4GB of RAM if you plan to make a new purchase of MC and a laptop.
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .
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Codecs vary wildly. They can be VBR (Variable Bit Rate) or CBR (Constant Bit Rate). There can also be many flavors of a codec (ProRes, DNxHD, for example) This means that any any given point in time, the exact data rate changes.
Most codecs have their data rates published, in terms of Mb/s (MegaBITS/second) This can be confusing, because drives are usually measured in MB/s (MegaBYTES/second). So, before beginning to compare – ensure you have the right numbers. (Quick tip – MegaBits/8 = MegaBytes/s)
HDDs can vary wildly. External firewire 400 drives, for example, may only hit 40 MB/s, whereas a newer SATA drive may hit 70MB/s +.
Also, what is the transport of the data? Firewire 400, for example, may not deliver enough bandwidth to allow all of the throughput your HDD can deliver. USB and ethernet are also guilty of this, bandwidth is additionally poor for sustained throughout. So, determine how your array is connected to your host.
When you start using various RAID sets, it gets more tricky. For example, 10 drives DO NOT equal 10×1 drive speed. RAID formatting also alters your results. RAID0, for example, gives you the most speed available. RAID5 cuts down on that performance by ROUGHLY 12%, but you gain redundancy in case a drive dries. This is why you always do some real world tests. Lots of research!
I usually take 75-80% of the max throughput of a single drive. I then “add up” the streams of my codec to determine how many streams I can get (as a ball park) within that 75-80%.
Example: If my speed test on the drive is 70MB/s, I have ROUGHLY 56MB/s available. If I were to use an Avid Codec, lets say, DNX145 (which is 145 Mb/s; so 18.125 MB/s) I should be able to get 2-3 streams from that one drive.
Many of us use the AJA System Test for test drive performance.
Again, this is a rough estimate, and YMMV.
Color Correction and Effects: Usually these are “baked in” (rendered) so it is essentially 1 stream of that video codec. If NOT rendered, then the effects/ color are being generated in real time by the CPU and application, so drive speed does not become as much of a factor (we then get into how fast the OS drive is and RAM you have…that’s another dissertation.)
You’ve inquired about a topic that has many, many different angles and alone keeps some people employed.
Good Luck!
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .
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I second the GET software. Saw an updated demo last week – awesome.
That being said, Avid *should* have some great script things at NAB. Uhhhh, so I hear 😉
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.comHear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .