[Neil Sadwelkar]

Also try applying Gamma Correction to the clip in the timeline and play with gamma. It can make a difference to dark clips.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Sutharsan,

I just did a trial on a MacBook Pro 15″ with FCP 6. I took in some HDV clips from an HDV camcorder, and some AVCHD clips from a Sony AVCHD camcorder. The AVCHD clips were L & T converted to Apple ProRes (not HQ)

Both types of clips are on an external SATA drive connected to my MBP via a Sonnet eSATA Expresscard adapter. This has a rather fast throughput. Faster than FW or USB.

I put these clips together in an HDV timeline. So the HDV clips play real time and the ProRes clips play ‘green line’ real time.

So, for you the option…

[Sutharsan Bala] “2). Re-capture the HDV material to native HDV, then AVC HD to ProRes and back to HDV native (as suggested) = will there be a huge quality difference?”

will save you drive space if you choose to stay with FCP 6. L & T AVCHD to ProRes and then ‘down-converting’ them to HDV causes minimal difference in quality, in my experience.

If you upgrade to FCP 7 you can use ProRes LT or proxy. ProRes proxy takes up 14 Gb/hour while ProRes LT takes up 33 Gb/hr. So LT is about as lean as HDV. Working ProRes proxy and then upgrading selects to ProResHQ for the AVCHD clips will then save you space.

One caveat. Your AVCHD files may not have a timecode on them, so you need to then figure how you will ‘upgrade’ to ProRes after the edit. Else you can work ProRes LT and not bother upgrading as LT may be ‘good enough’ for AVCHD.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Sutharsan,

From what I’ve understood, you have AVCHD files and you are doing a Log and Transfer. L & T only lets you do capture to Apple ProRes, Apple ProResHQ or Apple Intermediate Codec. Either way, your captured files will be huge and will take up a lot more space than the original AVCHD files.

One option is to use FCP 7 and the Apple ProRes LT codec. I haven’t tried this myself, but it will produce smaller files.

If you cannot use FCP 7, the other route is to L & T to Apple ProRes. And then use Compressor to convert the ProRes files to HDV. After the conversion to HDV you can get rid of the ProRes files.

This will be a double step conversion and you will have to test it with your clips to assess the quality loss if any. HDV takes up just 13 Gb per hour.

Editing ProRes and HDV in the same timeline is possible. Check with your system what the performance is like.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

What is your budget for the film out?
How long is the final film?
And what will it cost to print in Hanoi?
And cost of film stock?

We do mostly mainstream Indian film work, but occasionally we also support PSAs and indie films. particularly those that deal with social issues – AIDS, education, drinking water etc – so we do work at reduced rates and throw in some freebies.

Write me at my email address as we could figure it out for you.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I’m not sure you can actually output to 16mm from digital files. Most Arrilaser and other recorders can only record to 35mm film. What is your application of recording out to 16mm?

Depending on where you are located, you could consider shipping your files out to Mumbai, India where we have a fair number of Arrilaser recorders and even one Cinevator recorder. The Cinevator records to 35mm Internegative or Positive print stock. It records at 24fps so its real time. With print stock it can even record sound simultaneously – stereo or Dolby Digital. So you get a direct print.

You should do your post at 24fps, viz. 1080p24. You could do it as 25fps 1080p25 if you need to incorporate other older 25fps PAL material. If you do work at 25fps all you need to do is to make your final sound 24fps or 4% slower. If you are unsure of how to do that, you can send the lab the final film and 25fps sound and they will process it to 24fps for you.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

We’ve used Blackmagic cards in a production environment since 2004. Its not that there haven’t been problems, but none as severe as what you’re facing. And its not as if Aja cards don’t have the occasional issue. We use both makes.

You should describe your system and the problems you are seeing and there is bound to be a solution. You should preferably post at the Blackmagic forum here at the Cow. Kristian and others from Blackmagic do address BM card queries there.

You could also get in touch with BM support in your region. I’ve found them to be most helpful. In fact, where I’m from, I’ve found their support better than that from Aja.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Another basic thing (pardon if you’ve ensured this) is that you have to be connected to the ‘blue’ outputs which are HD-SDI. The 3700 also outputs SD-SDI.

And ensure you have the correct format playing out of the 3700’s HD-SDI. As Bob noted, the 3700 does down and cross-conversion of HD.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

We work on entire feature films. And our features are as long as 3 hours long. So we see this problem all the time. What we do is to keep the number of sequences to the minimum. As others have noted, we’ve found that its not master clips, or subclips that take up space. Its the sequences.

And when the project swells up to this size, even doing a copy and paste of sequences into a fresh project is difficult and frequently crashes the system.

So, initially, the method would be to open the project, then save as with different name. And this new project, delete old sequences and then save. You will find the project size will shrink. After that, make a new project and copy and paste sequences into that. Use keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste. Drag and drop is flaky sometimes.

Also, opening the project in a different system may help as the media will be offline.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

You can use FCP’s transitions like centre wipe. Wipe the the outgoing clip to black, then after about 4-6 frames wipe the incoming clip from black. You’ll need to reverse the direction of the wipe for the second transition.

If you want something that looks like your reference, you may need to also add a blur and keyframe it to taste.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

This thread makes fascinating reading for some who’s not from the US.

What’s fascinating is that we have exactly the same problems with late payment here. And I thought all along that it was a cultural thing to be late with payments. Apparently its global, with some tenuous link with the state of the economy.

Out here, we don’t probably have as stringent laws as there are in other parts of the world regarding late payment, but ‘hiding behind the recession’ seems to be a universal thing. This is particularly difficult when one works with clients outside of one’s country.

What I’m beginning to explore is, instead of threatening to, or even carrying out a penal charge for late payments, one could invoice clients with a due date for payment maybe 30 days from invoice date. Then show a 10% discount if paid within that date. And maybe even a 20% discount if paid within 2 days? Sort of like rewarding sincerity rather than punishing dishonesty.

I know calling late payment dishonest is a bit harsh, but if you saw how some of these late payers lived their lives – cars, houses, country homes, expensive restaurants, business class etc. – holding back payment for someone’s labour gets pretty close to dishonest.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India