[Michael Kammes]

One of the main reasons for staying away from the slower machine is capture of DNxHD and XDCAM codecs (as well as playback). Newer tapeless formats require a beefier processor, that sometimes a dual core cannot handle. That being said, it will probably work, but there are no guarantees, and your performance may vary. I mean, if the dual quad Nehalems are qualified, then a dual quad Westmere *should* be fine. But, since I don’t want to be stuck in an unqualified configuration if problems arise, I’d go for something on Avid’s list.

From the doc:
“Minimum system requirements for Media Composer Software
Operating System:
· Intel dual, dual core 2.66 GHz Xeon

MC uses the GPU for playback. The NVIDIA cards are great for that. Although not qualified, I’ve seen other NVidia cards work fine (including the 4800). Since the NVidias come with a MacPro from Apple, you don’t have to order a card separately and spend MORE money.

Avid spells out in it’s doc “These [machines listed] are the only systems that support an ATI Radeon graphics card. These cards are not qualified to run in other systems.”

I ALWAYS recommend going with a sanctioned config, unless I am willing to dedicate time into tracking down ghosts in the machine.

Also, remember: NAB is coming up fast. Avid is probably due for a software update, and requirements for the update may or may not change.

Good Luck!

~Michael

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[Michael Kammes]

In my experience, anything BELOW 1920 x 1200 is OK. Anything ABOVE 1920 x 1200 will be problematic because the HDLINK PRO is NOT dual link, which is required for ACDs with resolutions higher than 1920 x 1200.

I’m hoping this changes soon!

~MIchael

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[Michael Kammes]

In our facility, this will not work. The image is centered and will not fill the screen.

The resolution maxes out at 1920 x 1200.

~Michael

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[Michael Kammes]

I’m looking for an onset solution to generate SD multicam Avid files (10:1m, for example) in Real Time, to complement the HD being recorded for onset editing. I cannot seem to find a solution that can do this off a baseband source, thus I am looking for a way to do HD…and need to see if other users are doing 9+ streams/angles of multicam 🙂

~Michael

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[Michael Kammes]

Once converted to Pro Res, does the file play at the OS level?

If you can play the raw AVC file at the OS level, have you tried using QT to do the conversion to Pro res? (Since you have FCP, the Pro ability is built into QT 7).

~Michael

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[Michael Kammes]

The benefit of editing natively in XDCAM is that you can load the disc and/or files and begin editing right away. You cannot do this if you transcode to Pro Res before you edit. What you are essentially gaining is time.

The benefit of rendering in Pro Res is that the quality and color space of the render will be better, due to the compression scheme Pro res utilizes compared to XDCAM.

If you change the render codec to Pro Res, and your timeline sequence settings are set to XDCAM, you will render into Prores, but FCP may not play it back in Real Time because your sequence is set to XDCAM. FCP like having things all in harmony for optimal playback.

The final export setting is dictated when you go to FILE–EXPORT. All other settings dictate what FCP uses while it’s running (timeline, render, etc.)

~Michael

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[Michael Kammes]

Yes.

FCP will open OLDER projects, and will prompt you that you are opening an older project. FCP will also ask you to save the “updated” project file. DO THIS as a copy, as an older FCP version will not open newer versions…i.e. FCP 6 will not open an FCP7 project.

~Michael

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[Michael Kammes]

A few things:

You can do you edit in XDCAM as you normally would. When you are done with your Edit, change the sequence render settings to ProRes and re-render. That will take all the footage and effects in your timeline and render it out to Pro Res.

I’ve always been on the fence with XDCAM. If it’s cuts only, low track count, very little effects or color work, it’s fine. Otherwise I prefer doing a pre-encode into Pro Res before I start editing.

As far as your timeline going Red…that’s expected if you are mixing codecs in the timeline. Mixing Pro Res, XDCAM, and graphics files is difficult for FCP to do in real time.

~Michael

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[Michael Kammes]

Yes.

FCP 7 works with Mac OS 10.5.6+, which includes 10.6.

https://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs/

As a side note, I always recommend doing a CLEAN install of 10.6 and not an upgrade of 10.5 to 10.6. When you go to install FCP 7, FCP will realize that you are entering an upgrade serial number, and prompt you for the previous version.

Good Luck!

~Michael

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[Michael Kammes]

Sorry to disagree, Shane…

There are several applications that can handle it.

On the high end…

Content Agent, by Root6 can handle Avid DNxHD encoding into an MXF wrapper. Digital Rapids Stream Z can handle it as well. Telestream’s Flip Factory *may* do it, I don’t recall 100%.

On the lower end, I believe REDCINE-X does it, too. Video Tool Sheds Offloader does it as well.

I find the best thing to do is create a DNxHD .mov that Avid can “see” as a DNxHD file, so Avid will do a FAST IMPORT – that is, only wrap it in an MXF wrapper – instead of re-transcoding the fie and still wrapping it into an MXF wrapper. I know I’ve posed this before, but this may help: https://michaelkammes.com/encoding/avid-is-self-aware-fast-import/

I feel your pain, I’d love to have an easier way for batch Avid MXF wrapping!

EDIT: Please clarify what camera was used for XDCAM EX recording. If a JVC Camera, the XDCAM EX files are .movs. If XDCAM EX MXF, then the choices listed above are reduced…Offloader, nor RECINE-X will be able to handle it.

~Michael

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