Olof Ekbergh
Forum Replies Created
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Have you tried re seating the Kona card? I have had to reseat mine a few times.
Does the AJA settings app see the card?
Give AJA tech support a call, they have always been very helpful.
Let us know how this is resolved.
Olof Ekbergh
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I now find FCPX to be a great solution for our facility.
We used fcp7 but never as our main solution. M100 was always our main editor, with AE as our compositing tool, and we did most cc in M100 but often used Color XML round tripping with M100.
I tried FCPX when it first came out but it just seemed too buggy and sluggish. I kept trying it as each update came out. I really liked the DB aspect and I also actually really like the magnetic timeline. But the lack of proper monitoring and sluggish behavior kept us from adapting it.
I finally decided to try a new iMac, top of the line with everything maxed. Wow FCPX runs great on it and the Matrox MX02 runs perfectly.
I completed our last project on FCPX and as I was really getting into how it works I kept getting more impressed. I can do everything in one app now. The cc is really very good once you spend some time with it. Even the audio tools are decent, compression limit and EQ works quite well, even auto noise removal is not bad.
FCPX works great with EXcam and AF100 native formats, we always transcoded those before. This is a big time saver.
Our work is a mix of industrial training promo and safety videos. We also do commercials promoting tourism in the White Mountains, and a lot of WEB vids and kiosks for our clients. We also do some long form doc work.
I am now in the process of importing all our projects that we change and update on a yearly bases into FCPX. We do safety boating videos for a company that produces the safety courses for most of the states in the US. And they keep needing updates as laws change. The magnetic timeline makes these changes a breeze.
I think the biggest problem for us was that our 4 year old 8core MP’s just were not fast enough. I am very happy with the low price of our new iMac and how quiet the TB RAID is, you no longer have to keep the SAS raid in another room to be able to edit.
I think Apple needs to make a big point of encouraging updated hardware with FCPX or editors will be disappointed in the performance. Personally I am very happy to see the end of the noisy tower computers and RAID I closures.
A new suite is now possible for very low price.
iMac $2,600.00
TB raid $1,600.00
MX02 or similar <1,000.00
FCPX etc. $500.00
SDI monitor $2,500.00This is really amazing, compared to what this type of performance cost a few years ago. My first SD system cost almost $70,000.00. And a Betacam was $100,000.00+ back then. We are really seeing the democratization of video production, and I am all for it.
Yes lots more competition keeps you on your toes but there are also many more cients and outlets for good video.
Olof Ekbergh
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I will definitely be building a rig for this really innovative camera.
Initially I will be using my NanoFlash to convert to hdmi and I have both the SmallHD and Zakuto EVF.
I will also incorporate IDX/AB brick power for balance.
Olof Ekbergh
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I don’t see a need for HQ for native AF100 or even when using the NanoFlash at 100mb/s.
I use ProRes422 for all my footage. I think only real high end compositing or footage from cameras that are 10 or more bit cams call for HQ.
So in my experience 422 is just fine.
Olof Ekbergh
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You are not using your system drive for media are you?
Are your drives in raid 0 or 5 config?
Fast drives are a must and raid 0 or 5 is really the way to go.
Also invest in DiscWarrior. You may have corrupted directories on your discs, DW will fix this most of the time and speed things up. This happens a lot. I DW my discs every couple months just as maintenance.
Olof Ekbergh
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Luke, the quickest but maybe not the best is the match color adjustment in FCPX.
Other than that use your scopes and eye on the best monitoring setup you have.
First, adjust the contrast so the scopes match. Color casts tend to be in the highlights, so a slight adjustment there is a good start, then possible a little in the mids. This is a very crude description of cc. There are many excellent tutorials on the web.
Olof Ekbergh
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I use a HDMI external monitor hooked up with an adaptor cable, from my MBP or even one of my MP’s in the suite, when using FCPX to try grading. The JVC pro SDI monitors also have HDMI input. This is not the same as using an AJA, Matrox or BM solution, but it is better than nothing.
You can even do this in many hotel room TV’s when on the road. It is not as good as when the External monitoring will work with my MX02, but it works quite well. I often do this on the road to review footage.
I put the viewer on the second display (the HDMI one) this makes for pretty good real estate.
If you send bars to the monitor and have a blue gel you can even calibrate the HDMI monitor, not as well as a real pro monitor. But you can get pretty close. I do this in my suite comparing it to bars on a calibrated real pro SDI monitor.
Soon we don’t have to worry about this as there will be many compact external pro monitoring solutions. And this is really the only way to accurately grade.
Olof Ekbergh
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I have no problem using 50mb/s XDcam footage from NanoFlash set to QT .mov.
The footage shows up and while it is converted to proxy media I can work in FCPX even on a 2008 MBP.
The most interesting thing to me is that FCPX 1.0.3 states it does not need to make optimized media (ProRes4222) from the EXcam .movs. On my 8core MP it plays w/o any skipped frames or unsynced audio.
This is great and once I get my Matrox MX02 working in a week or so when Matrox will publish new drivers FCPX may become my #1 editing NLE. Currently it is M100. My AJA card , KONA LHe, is not supported and it sounds like it will never be. Oh well it is not the first time I need new HDW.
Olof Ekbergh
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The free Sony program XDcam Transfer actually works well for transcoding the MXF files.
Or if you still have FCP6 or 7 the log and transfer works fine.
I also understand there will soon be a Canon update for FCPX so it will work in FCPX.
Olof Ekbergh
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I think Apple is just making the next step in the evolution of computers.
The Towers are a thing of the past. There really is no need for them any more.
To me it makes sense to make smaller enclosures and for those that need expansion do that using Thunderbolt or Esata or whatever is next.
If Apple can produce a smaller lower wattage unit that can deliver the power most of us need, it is a good thing.
I have no inside information, this is just my guess. My MBP runs circles around my $12,000.00 9600 Mac with a $30.000.00 video card and a $10,000.00 SCSI raid 4GB I think of mid 90’s vintage. I still have parts of this system running in a PowerMac, and a couple energy hogging pro CRT monitors.
My point is things are getting smaller cheaper and much more powerful. I still have 2 MP’s with AJA cards and another with a Matrox MX02. But I bet my next new system will be some form of MacMiniPro or whatever with Thunderbolt IO and Thunderbolt RAIDS possible SST’s using very little power.
And I also will bet that HP etc. will copy these new computers as well. These are exiting times. And sometimes progress can be scary. But just look at how much smaller less expensive and capable the new technology is.
To think that computers will always keep the same form factor is silly I think. I still remember when CPU’s took up whole rooms.
Olof Ekbergh