[Ray Stark]

It’s been a few months and Apple still hasn’t made a peep. The iMac and Mac Mini options are interesting, but they aren’t very expandable. Plus the iMac comes with a monitor which I don’t need (already have 2 new monitors). A switch to a PC would be a major pain (all my music, mail, contacts, projects, etc are Apple-based, plus I just can’t stand the PC’s organization and unreliability) but it’s beginning to look inevitable.

If you are a freelance graphics/editing pro, what would you turn to?

[Ray Stark]

Last time I was on an Avid, it was tape-based, so I’m just trying to get up to speed with tapeless acquisition.

I’d hoped that Media Composer would transcode the footage automatically, but I’ve heard in other forums that it doesn’t (3rd party software is needed). When attempting a basic import this error message appears: “The file format for ‘xxxx’ is not supported for import.” I contacted both Panasonic and Avid and customer service reps at both companies were shaky on their knowledge of whether or not AVCHD works in Avid. The Panasonic rep said there had been downloadable transcoding software for Avid on their site but it has been removed (hmmmm). Also, a search in the Avid Knowledge Base for the simple acronym ‘AVCHD’ comes up with nothing. This doesn’t convince me that AVCHD is a supported format in Avid.

Can anybody point me in the direction of a simple tutorial, similar to something like this:
ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/papers/Editing%20AVCHD%20with%20Final%20Cut%20Pro%207.pdf

Thank you!

[Ray Stark]

Thanks for all the info. But wow…this is all Greek to me. Coming from FCP it’s as simple as backing up the SD card on the hd and then using FCP Log & Transfer to pre-edit the clips and transcode them into its ProRes422 codec for simple editing. DNx this and AMA that…sounds like a hefty workaround just to edit.

Why doesn’t Avid support such a popular format?

[Ray Stark]

All the speculators think Apple is dropping out of the pro market completely. So does that mean all future editing/motion graphics/compositing work will be completed on PCs?

[Ray Stark]

Thanks guys, that’s a great start. My old paradigm of backing up on tapes is now obsolete!

Just thought though: say, a 100 min project at a 5:1 shooting ratio = 500 min of footage. Translated to ProRes that equates to 500 gigs of converted footage that would need to be archived. Originally that would be saved on 5-6 tapes ($50-60) but now it requires a dedicated hd. I know hd costs have plummeted. Do you typically buy a dedicated hd for each project and keep it on the shelf as if it were a “tape”? Also, do you back up the ProRes footage, or is it possible to just back up the smaller-sized footage on the SD cards (H.264)? I’m assuming you have to back up the ProRes to maintain time code…

Thanks.

[Ray Stark]

Thanks for your response.

Yes, my media & renders are on a separate, dedicated hd.

I’ve heard that Adobe CS products (like After Effects) can’t use the full potential of these new macpros. Does that mean you have to do your graphics work on a PC to utilize this full potential?

[Ray Stark]

Thanks for all the info. Fortunately, I have a few months to do some tests before the shoot.

[Ray Stark]

Tom, thanks for the great, straightforward info.

[Ray Stark]

Sorry to open up a can of worms. I just figured by now lots of people would have shot/edited/output HVX200 footage to dvd and it’d be a standard practice. Guess not.

Perhaps my question was too difficult. All I’d appreciate knowing is how best to export a 720pn24 sequence from FCP into DVDSP so that it will play on any plain ol’ dvd player. No capture card. Nothing fancy, other than a basic G5 with Final Cut Studio.

I’m hearing conflicting answers. Has someone done this? Anyone? Bueller??

[Ray Stark]

Okay…so if I export a 23.98 sequence from FCP into Compressor (using DVD Best Quality) will it automatically add the pulldown so the 23.98 sequence will play back at 29.97?