[Neil Sadwelkar]

Color User manual
Chapter 4
Importing and Managing Projects and Media
Page 81

I did that and it worked down to the last frame.

If it doesn’t then the timecodes in the EDL and those in the DPX files don’t match.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Actually, Apple Color can do this. No real need for Gluetools. But if you need any form of QT to DPX and back rendering, then Gluetools is a worthwhile investment.

In Color, you import the EDL and then indicate the folder where the DPX files would be. Color conforms them to an EDL. This works.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

For DPX workflows with FCP, I use Gluetools as well as Pomfort Silverstack. Both have their uses and if DPX is bread and butter for you, check them out.

After Color 1.0.3, Color can now open pretty much any DPX file. And Color’s conversion to and from DPX to Quicktime is faster than QT and Gluetools. Especially over networked drives.

I’d say, try out Color first. If it doesn’t do it for you get Gluetools. Pomfort is better for automated conversions and burn-in TC kind of archiving of DPX.

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I’m going to use the work recaptured not re-digitize and we’ve left digitize back with analog.

I think recapturing in FCP has not been fixed because it probably cannot. I’m not entirely sure of this ‘cannot’, but its a theory nevertheless. Based on what I remember having read somewhere sometime.

FCP stores clips as Quicktime movies when you first capture them. Quicktime stores timecode in a clip, not on a frame by frame basis, but only for the first frame. It also saves the clip’s frame rate. From which an NLE like FCP can calculate and display a clip’s timecode.
So if you have a clip called ‘Clip 1.mov’ which is 25fps and 15000 frames long, starting at TC 02.33.41.05 then the last frame is 02:43:41:04. Which FCP ‘arrives at’ by the math of adding 15000 frames to the decimal equivalent of 02.33.41.05.

If you use a 15 sec clip from this master clip starting at 02:36:14:00 and ending at 02:36:28:24, then FCP is defining this clip in the timeline as a timeline clip that is
part of a movie called ‘Clip 1.mov’
starts 3820 frames from the first frame of ‘Clip 1.mov’
is 375 frames long

So FCP needs the clip to be of its original length and with the original first frame time stamp, to be able to ‘derive’ all timeline clips. Even if you manually recaptured the tape from about 02:35:12:16 to 02:37:20:02 you would have adequate media, but FCP cannot link it to your timeline. Because it needs a clip that starts with 02.33.41.05 to figure out where your first frame, 02:36:14:00, is located.

This fundamental behaviour in Quicktime has to change for FCP to be able to media manage effectively.

In my workflows I’ve practically never have had to re-dig a finished sequence. But coming from Avid I know exactly how frustrating it can be if one needed to.

Some workarounds I can think of are… (one of)
Export your seq as a EDL, then import that into FCP and redig.
Make seq clips independent and use MM to create offline clips, then redig.
Export as XML and reimport into FCP and re-dig.

I haven’t tried any of these, just thought them up.

But hey, like Walter said, why should you HAVE to think up workarounds when a fundamental thing like this is expected of an NLE?

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

One of the tricks that have helped me in the past is to take the DV (might even work with HDV) footage, and export it as Quicktime Uncompressed Blackmagic RGB. Or you could also use Animation.

Then import that back and key that. You can place this in a new sequence with the same codec and with Always render in RGB on. That makes the colour space ‘expand’. Especially useful with fine detail against a solid color background.

Neil

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I have to say you guys are most fortunate. I’m in the ‘I cried because I had no shoes till I saw…’

I’m the guy with no feet.

Here in Mumbai India. LaCie sells drives by the hundreds if not thousands to gullible editors who think their stuff is safe. I have two Lacie RAIDs (among many others, mostly failed) bought about 2 years ago. Both had their Firewire 800 ports fail while STILL UNDER WARRANTY.

I mailed LaCie by filling out the form at their web site as well as mail to the support address. I even called the dealer but he said he couldn’t do anything as LaCie DON’T EVEN RESPOND TO DEALERS IN INDIA.

Sorry to shout but that’s how it is with some drive manufacturers. In some parts of the world. Especially when they feel they can get away with it. Personally I’ve given up on LaCie, only use them when clients bring them.

On the other hand I also have a few noname enclosures that haven’t ever failed. And some that have, and the dealer has replaced them without contest.

So much for branded drives in some parts of the world.

Lucky you guys.

By the way, the said LaCie’s with FW800s bust are working just fine over USB. They even play long sequences and capture faithfully over USB (DVPAL, DV50) – which is the original topic.

Take care (of your LaCie)

Neil

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

You know, I think Walter is right.

Rajarshi, there is such a thing as 23.98 fps. We in the PAL world use 25 fps for TV and 24fps for our film. So we are about as unaware of 23.98 as people in the NTSC world are about ‘true 24fps’.

One place I’ve encountered this is when the new Avid MC Mojo exports Quicktime ‘Same as Source’ from a 24 fps timeline in a 24 fps ‘film matchback’ project edited in PAL.

Avid exports a 24fps timeline as a 23.98 fps Quicktime. And that doesn’t sync with any sound we get from the sound house. So we export these movies as DV-PAL, conform them to 25, and then back to 24. That makes them 24fps.

You could try that. Export your timeline as a QT movie. Conform that to 25fps in CinemaTools and then back to 24 in CinemaTools again. Now check if that syncs with the sound you have.

Neil Sadwelkar

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I’ve used 24-bit audio coming from a Sound devices recorder. FCP supported it. And I managed to have an entire 2 and half hour feature film in sync even with 6 audio tracks at places.

So FCP does support 24 bit audio.

Neil Sadwelkar

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Wow. That’s amazing. I didn’t know of this feature.

But if the Kona is being used as ‘pass-through’ and the system is used for editing, how can the editor monitor the edit on an external monitor, since (presumably) the output is being used for the convert output.

Neil

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.

[Neil Sadwelkar]

[walter biscardi] “A question Neil since you have a lot of experience with the BM products. Do they operate as stand-alone converters, independent of FCP? Just curious because I’ve never heard anyone talk about that with BM products.

Essentially any Kona product can be put into Pass-Through Mode so it can operate as a stand alone A/D, HD to SD, SD to HD converter to allow deck to deck transfers independent of FCP. This is really handy for us when making HD to Beta dubs, making HD to DVD dubs and up-converting SD material to HD for clients without having to ingest anything. “

You know what. I’ve not had occasion to try this out, but I doubt if it would work that way with any of the BM cards. The Multibridge however does work as a standalone converter. And we use it to output/input from analog Beta or to drive speakers. We even have one system with MBridge Pro with a DVI display hooked up as external monitor.

In any case even if we had a Kona in pass-through we wouldn’t use it for HD to SD dubs. For one thing, it would block an FCP suite, and wouldn’t fetch any cash.

For another, we need to make dubs from HDCamSR, HDCam or D-5 to DigiBeta from a 1080p24 tape to a 25 fps DigiBeta. All the three named HD tape decks do this by speeding the tape 4%. This is not acceptable to our PAL film based materials as it changes the duration and could have revenue implications with channels.

So we have to capture to an FCP or Avid Uncompressed system. These are the only two systems (AFAIK) that can take a 24 fps timeline and output it as 25fps with a 1 frame repeat. In real time with no render.
Doesn’t look too nice, but its what clients need. And this way they pay for FCP time too.

While the subject is BM Extreme HD or Aja Kona 3, two other issues I saw/heard of recently.

The Kona 3 doesn’t recognize a dual link 4:4:4 signal from a Cintel telecine. This was at a client’s place over a thousand km from where I live. I flew down and spent hours trying various settings in a Kona 3 and an iO HD.
Eventually the client (and reseller) gave up and I heard later they bought a BM card.

The same client also said he earlier had a requirement of capturing a live video feed with VITC and an iOHD couldn’t resolve time code. I didn’t see this for myself but I have managed such a capture from a BM card for a TV reality show.

Discalimer: I’m not proving that the Kona 3 or iOHD could not have been made to work in both situations, just that it proved difficult.

But to be fair, I know of one facility not too far from me where they have two FCP systems with a Kona 3 each. Let me check how they are faring.

Neil

FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL.