[Neil Sadwelkar]

I think you need to convert them into a format like Apple ProRes or DVCProHD. Then CinemaTools will be able to conform.
CinemaTools cannot conform clips 24 to 25 or vice versa if…
1. Clips are not in an I frame format
2. Clips are locked
3. Clips are not true 24 but 23.98 or something like that.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Two possible fixes to your 165,000 files copy. I’ve been through this too. For feature film DI projects.

I use terminal to copy. Its simple.

Open a terminal window.

On the command line…
Just type ‘cp -nv’ and press space
then drag the source folder into the terminal window
so the full path appears in the terminal
pres ‘space’
Then drag the Framelink volume to the terminal window
so the Framelink path appears after the source path.
Press enter
Copying starts and you get a confirmation for each file that’s written

You can open multiple terminal windows and copy different ranges simultaneously
as long as they are in different folders.

If you want to stop the copy press ctrl-C

If the copying stops for any reason
Open a terminal window
press the up arrow so the last command is retyped automatically in the terminal
Press enter
Copying again only writes files not previously written.
So ‘cp -nv’ behaves like resume the second time around

Another alternative is to divide the entire 1,65,000 seq of frames into folders of under 30000 files.
Use Apple Color to do the conversion from DPX to QT
Its faster than Shake and even does lof to lin, color correction, and scaling/sizing.
Divide into 30000 files folders is because Color doesn’t like timelines over 20 mins.

I used Framelink a lot until Color came out.

I also use GlueTools and Pomfort. But both cost. Color is free.

Neil

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

If your external monitor is SD NTSC, then yes, 24 may not play. But if you have an HD monitor and a BM or AJA card feeding it. Even if its is a HD LCD TV set, then both BM and AJA have 24psf presets through which you can see a 24 fps timeline play.

In SD PAL, a 24 fps sequence plays out normally in a PAL monitor as 24+1 or 24@25.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

If you’ve just got an HVR-M25U and if you have the option of returning it you should. It has the most notoriously fragile Firewire ports of any VTR I’ve seen. At our facility, we have 4 units whose Firewire ports blew. Replaced by Sony, they blew again. Now two are fine two not.

Sony advices that the host the deck is connected to must be powered off before the deck is connected. And this can be a real pain. Hot plug does NOT work with the Firewire ports of an HVR-M25U.

the new M-35U may have fixed this issue, but the 1500 seems to be more robust. We normally use an inexpensive Sony consumer HDV camcorder for capture. A under $ 1000 its cheaper than out of warranty repairs on an M25U.

To answer your question, ensure that the output settings in the VTR are for HDV or Auto. And the downconvert is off. Then make sure the VTR is at 60i or 50i depending on how your tapes were shot.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I think you should use Apple ProRes. Its 10-bit and superb quality. You could even grade it a bit and use that for promos.

However since ProRes is a 10bit codec you might need that option for Pomfort. Else its restricted to 8bit.

23.98 may be suitable if you’re in an NTSC country and some TV capable promos/trailers may be needed. Translating 24 to 29.97 is harder than 23.98 to 29.97.

However, if you’re in PAL Land. stay far far away from 23.98.

In any case CinemaTools converts from 24 to 23.98 without any problems.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

That explains why hotels are doing better bargains than last year. In fact I get the feeling hotel rates have actually dropped in the past few weeks. I haven’t made my bookings yet. Flights have gotten slightly cheaper since last year too.

Are you going Walter?

I just read that Sony has pulled out of IBC 2009. NAB this year will be minus Apple, Quantel and Filmlight. There are plenty of others left, of course, but I wonder is this the beginning of the end of trade shows in an ‘internetted’ world?

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

We’ve seen ProRes greenies too. I thought it was because of the Blackmagic cards in our FCP systems and that ProRes works best with AJA. We see greenies if you so something that’s different in frame rate of size. Meaning place a ProRes clip in a Anamorphic seq. Or use a PAL ProRes clip in an NTSC seq or an HD clip in a SD seq.

Stuff like that. Doesn’t happen with other codecs like DVCProHD, or DV-PAL or Photo-JPEG. Maybe its something about the H.264 macro-blocks or something like that.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Is there really a 10,000 file limit? In MacOS X? I haven’t noticed this. But in our facility we access a SAN where finished reels have up to 30,000 files in each folder. (32000 files correspond to 2000 feet in 35mm).

GlueTools QT is dog slow opening sequences as QT or in FCP, over GigE. On a fast fibre connection its better. But playing back 2k DPX through FCP even with an array that is 2k capable would be slow I think.

You’re right about converting to ProRes. But then have you tried using Color to convert from DPX to QT ProRes. It is really fast, preserves TC in the DPX and works fine even over GigE or a Firewire drive. We use it all the time.

Other alternatives are Blackmagic Framelink or AJA converter. Both need the respective card installed.

But if Bob is giving you a fix for your Compressor issue then that’s great. The best feature of Gluetools is definitely Bob.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I’ve been sending out OMFs for sound post since version 4. At that time one had to use BWF2XML or Sebsky to even get timecode into FCP in the first place. But I sort of remember FCP 5 making OMFs with timecode that the sound post could ‘see’ in ProTools. At least I don’t recall anyone complaining about TC not being there in OMF in the OMFs I made back then.

But in FCP ver 6.0.2 through 6.0.5 there’s definitely no TC in OMF. Even though the browser shows the clips having timecode in them. I think Shane’s comment that there needs to be a Reel name for TC to be sent out is right on the mark. I haven’t noticed that in the last clips from which I made OMFs some months ago.

Possible workarounds could be to make EDLs. These surely will carry TC info. Or use XML-Pro from Gallery. That too will extract TC out of an FCP XML and then make a ProTools session.

Another possible workaround is – going by Shane’s suggestion – enter a Reel name for these audio files and then try OMF.

Finally (just one more) one possible workaround may be to do a ‘Send to’ Soundtrack pro. And then export AAF from there. That may have TC in it that ProTools can see. Haven’t tried this.

I’ve flagged this as a suggestion in the ‘Send feedback to Apple’ in FCP. Hope they implement it.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Las Vegas, Nevada, April 1, 2009 – A spokeswoman of the National Association of Broadcasters, announced in a terse two line press release today that following widespread surprise and dismay, and the possible pullout of other self-important organizations, it has decided to participate in the NAB exhibition this year.

“It will be business as usual” she said, adding that this year they expected an unprecedented attendance.

The exhibition is part of the 2009 NAB Show scheduled April 17-23 in Las Vegas.

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