[Michael Mcintyre]

Not bumping the thread or ‘case closed’ but what the players had to say through direct email and on support forums:

Telestream Episode (by far the most responsive and helpful team)
Episode 5 used Dicas SDK for MPEG2 encoding. It had an option for PCM audio but it was often distorted.
Episode 6 uses Main Concept SDK for MPEG2 encoding. Engineering decided to eliminate PCM audio with MPEG2 program streams and MPEG2 transport streams. I’ve been following your threads on Creative Cow with Craig Seeman….
Episode developers really don’t see why AES (Audio Engineering Society) isn’t the best audio codec for MPEG2. Episode uses the SMPTE 331M version.

Manzanita Systems
The PCM insertion is starting to become more popular driven by Netflix.
We will have a demo for you in a about a month.  Please check back with us then.

Sorensen Squeeze
MPEG-PCM is the only PCM audio codec available for MPEG files in Squeeze.
What about the MPEG PCM audio is not “passing muster” with them?
(My response about its compression has yet to appear on their forum)

Adobe Media Encoder
No real point in waiting for a tweak to AME w/ CS6 on the horizon. While largely overlooked, AME did scream through encodes and got high praise from QC. When analyzing the transport stream, I did get some errors not present in the ‘others’.

[Michael Mcintyre]

Thanks, Craig.

My latest feedback was that some PCM insertion was causing slippage with closed-captioning using a particular provider’s workaround and they went w/ MLII instead. I guess I’ll leave that debate to the audiophiles as I don’t have a strong preference (AES vs. MPEG Layer II).

Again – the input is appreciated.

[Michael Mcintyre]

Hey Craig,

Thanks for the input! I’ll ask about AES. I do know AC3’s definitely OUT and that they haven’t tested AAC yet. I wonder who would win that audio cage-fight (AES, AAC, MPEG Layer II).

Manzanita Systems emailed this morning, “Hello Michael, The PCM insertion is starting to become more popular driven by Netflix. We will have a demo for you in a about a month. Please check back with us then. – Manzanita Sales”

So – of course I had to confirm the Netflix specs. 80 Mbps does seem like overkill. I assume they’re dumbing it down pretty harshly for rollout through their automation. Netflix actually has MPEG-2 over PCM in their ‘order of preference’.

Below are the specifications which are acceptable.
High Definition – MPEG-2 (80 Mbps)
1. Video Codec: MPEG-2
2. Profile ID: High Profile
3. Level ID: High Level
4. Video Bit-rate: 80 megabits
5. Resolution: a. 1280×720 b. 1920×1080

Audio Codec
File Type(in order of preference)
1. High Definition – MPEG-2 (80 Mbps)
2. Standard Definition – MPEG-2 (50 Mbps)
3. High Definition – Apple ProRes 422 HQ w/ uncompressed PCM audio only
4. Standard Definition – Apple ProRes 422 HQ w/ uncompressed PCM audio only

[Michael Mcintyre]

I’ve always had luck w/ Paragon NTFS.

Looks like they’re up to version 8.0….

https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

[Michael Mcintyre]

What Mark said. Excellent points.

On a lighter note, I’ve always enjoyed the”Mr. Show” political ad parody. These guys aren’t actually running for anything which makes it even funnier….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCfMgqnq2uo

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Michael Mcintyre]

I don’t but we did receive a network sizzle reel that had a 2-frame sync pop that had a frame of old film leader and ‘Edit With Steve’ and his email where PICTURE START went. That was kinda cool.

Interesting notion of an editorial easter egg though. Those would prove hard to sneak past some of my clients though.

[Michael Mcintyre]

I’ll just stand by the 1st line of my 1st post: “Depends on intent”.

Grinner sums it up best with the knowing-rules-to-break-’em angle.

Seems we’ve drifted pretty far off-topic and opened up the whole ‘documentary’ definition can-o-worms. That’s not just a whole other thread but never-ending discussion. Happy cuttin’!

[Michael Mcintyre]

Mark Suszko wrote:
“If you have to play a clip of someone saying they learned something about themselves, then you have not SHOWN the audience that, you’ve failed if they haven’t already grasped that without being told, by watching the footage and reatons unfold.

Show, don’t TELL.”

Not to drift too far off-topic from the original post but I’m not sure that I’d always agree with that. Sometimes, there’s no substitute for first-person narrative. It’s relayed information that transcends cover.

I don’t know how you’d capture footage of ‘someone learning something about themselves’. It’s an internal process. Staring off in the distance? Nodding approvingly and reflecting?

Another example would be a vet describing storming Normandy. Using your logic, you’d rather see actors in period gear on a faked beach. In that instance, I’d take a first-person account over “Show, don’t TELL” any day.

[Michael Mcintyre]

Depends on intent.

1-before-2 is your ‘hook’ with details to follow. Works as the tease for the trip.

2-before-1 functions as wrap-up.

Entirely dependent on how you’re building an entire section or act. Not just arranging lines.

[Michael Mcintyre]

You could take it through a DV camera. That assumes you could get deck control independently of firewire. You’d also be stuck with audio being piggyback’ed on the DV stream. So it’d be XLR->RCA to get into the DV cam.

My Mojo went down briefly years ago and we HAD to go through a Canopus ADVC110. Not ideal but it works.