[Pat Horridge]

QuickTime can deinterlace and even drop a field and sometimes plays in non HQ mode.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

AMA linking and then Transcoding can be way faster (we see 5-6 times speed increase over import)
Also if you AMA link you can make subclips and only Transcode what you need (ideal for massive GoPro files)
A conform based on imported files is slow as you have to re-import all the files used (not just the parts used) where as an AMA linked job the conform is much faster.

At VET I deliver an Avid media management course (for UK folks)

https://www.vet.co.uk/site/Training/Scheduled_courses/Avid_Media_Management_for_Media_Composer_VET_Short_Courses

That covers that.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

If they are AMA linking source media (and that’s the best way rather than using import) then the set source settings on each clip will show a histogram of the values. You can shuttle the source clip with the slider above the histogram to check specific sections of content.
This also ensures they have the correct level mapping selected and they can change it if need be.
However make sure they don’t change the mapping to bring down peak whites if the blacks aren’t sub black.
We see more errors with incorrect level mappings than anything else.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

Of course ideally the Transcode option should just offer two choices when the source and destination framerates don’t match.
It should offer to Transcode and frame rate convert with the warning about breaking re-linking or Transcode and maintain the frame rate.
Expecting users to create a separate project to achieve that is clunky at best.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

If the client originally used AMA to link the files and then transcoded then it’s just a matter of re-linking the final sequence back to the re-mounted AMA source files.
If the client imported the files then you have to batch re-import them which is slower and takes up much more space as you have to import the whole source file not just the part used.

The other issue that can occur is if the client has changed the framerate by doing a Transcode in a different framerate project. That breaks the re-linking process (as the timecodes now can’t match)

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

Depending on your computer you may see as much as a 5 times speed improvement in AMA link and transcode compared to regular import and the conform from imports is a dog….

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

Yellow normally means HD content in an SD timeline or SD content in an HD timeline. And with V7 we now have an AMA colour.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

There are 2 background functions now in MCV7
DMF Dynamic Media Folders and background Transcode/consolidate.

The DMF is a sort of watch folder system that runs even when MC isn’t running. DMF can do a number of functions including making copies of source files, Transcoding/consolidating and mounting the results in new bins. However you can’t work with selects only complete source media files. Also not all AMA plugins are supported in DMF yet and the interface isn’t the easiest thing to get to grips with.

The second process, and the one best suited for you Adam, is the regular background Transcode/Consolidate.
Here you AMA link, Make selects (sub clips) then Transcode in the background.

Also due out soon is MCV7.0.2 which introduces some neat AMA changes.
You will now have the ability to create your AMA bins as part of the DMF process based on selectable fields in the AMA metadata. ie reporter name could be used as a bin name creation variable.

I teach a course for VET https://www.vet.co.uk/site/Training/Scheduled_courses/Avid_Media_Management_for_Media_Composer_VET_Short_Courses
That currently deals with Avid AMA for V6 and earlier but we will be updating that for V7 in the next few months.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

First off all “TVs” differ in the way they look and thats before tge user starts tweaking with all tge menus. So comparing to a TV is a lost cause.
That’s why we use reference monitors that should show a true representation. If correctly calibrated in the correct viewing environment.
There are low cost solutions that come close but many don’t deal with interlaced very well so movement can look odd.
We’re lucky that our Sony HD CRT is hanging in there as it produces perfect pictures and looks nice with interlaced. And hanging on as long as possible before switching in the hope something usesble comes along!

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

There may have been an option for a TBC card on the VO9850 but I seem to remember them having external TBC’s

It really depends on what condition the playback deck and tapes are in. And you want to get the best setup for quality if you are doing that much work.

No point doing it all and it looks poor.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US