[Reid Vanvoris]

Ok, just some questions from a purely consumer point of view.

I’m not playing Jr. CEO here. I’m sure some one who’s a lot smarter than me on how and why companies do what they do from a market, business, and stock market perspective (Philip Hodgetts comes to mind. The guy is excellent) could probably analyze and explain it better.

Upon casual exploration of both Panasonic and Sony’s camera offerings at the consumer, prosumer, and pro levels, why does Panasonic seem to offer so many camera choices with similar feature sets and price points that seemingly compete against each other? Sony seems to be guilty of the same. Do they have to manufacture and distribute everything their engineers come up with even if it’s not very different from what they already have out? Canon and JVC doon’t seem to do this in their product line (JVC does offer cameras with similar features, but the different models are the same camera with some extra bells and whistles and are priced higher).

Secondly, why doesn’t Panasonic make available an AVC-Intra-Ultra license so it can be used on external recorders like ProRes and DNxHD? If the GH3 can record an AVC-intra-like 72Mbps H.264 I-frame, on a fast SDHC card, why still offer AVCHD cameras? Why doesn’t Sony make a 10-bit 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 XDCAM format instead of 8-bit only?

Why did it take Panasonic so long to come out with professional M43 Lumix zooms for the GH series and the AF100 (will there be a AF200?)? Why does Panasonic not manufacture a Canon to M43 lens adapter that will fully work with the GH3 and AF100 targeted at all those HDSLR shooters with Canon lenses? Why doesn’t Sony do this either? I get selling lenses, but what about those that won’t buy your camera because they’ve already invested in a boatload of lenses that won’t work well with your camera? Get those customers on board, right?

Anyway, like I said earlier, there are probably people smarter than me who can explain all of this. I was just curious and seeking enlightenment. Best of luck to Panasonic, Sony, Canon, and JVC. They all have great products. You know us consumers, we all want perfection at the perfect price. Can you blame us?

[Reid Vanvoris]

Thanks for your kind reply. If you have used 320×266, as you stated in your original post, you might’ve made it under 100MB. Also, if you used a 2000mbps data rate instead of 5000, you might’ve made it at 1280×720, not that it matters now. Best of luck with your project and again, thanks for the tip of teh hat.

[Reid Vanvoris]

With such a high % of SD footage, I’d go with the down convert of the HD to SD, but the real question is what are the delivery requirement of those that are going to air/present the doc.

Above is my best suggestion, but if you get stuck with hd delivery requirements, look at red giant software’s Instant HD $99: https://tinyurl.com/orbf28

Here are some tutorials on how to use it:
https://tinyurl.com/asprdeo

[Reid Vanvoris]

Follow these guidelines from Vimeo and simply reset the pixel aspect ratio to your required specs (320×266).

https://tinyurl.com/9c4pf7

I’m not sure why they are restricting you to 320×266. Following the Vimeo guidelines should allow you to get your movie under 100MB, even at 1280×720 and full frame rate.

[Reid Vanvoris]

download preferences manager (free) https://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/.

close fcp, run pref mgr, open your project. viola.

[Reid Vanvoris]

Wow! Get an ice pack for the butt kicking you took over that FCPX vs PPr CS6 post. You should have made clear your review was concerning specialty students and specialty NLE uses (you know that now, of course). The Cow forums are mostly made up of folks who use the software and gear discussed to make their living. I teach at a college, too. We have A.S. degrees and B.A.S. degrees that are tied to the needs of the local workforce and FCPX is not the industry standard in our market (Miami) either, nor is Logic (Pro Tools is). I do see your logic for ease of use for students who are not going into pro video prod/post jobs. Don’t feel bad. Your review was logical and on target for what your students’ NLE uses are. Apple was going for making its NLE more consumer friendly and your review points that out well. Logic is also a not a bad choice, but Pro Tools has a student discount at about $295 which puts it close to Logic’s price, and PT is the industry go to software for audio. You talked a lot about what you thought Apple might do with its products in the future. Does what they did with FCP7 give you confidence? I will try to paraphrase good advice I took from a blog post from Walter Biscardi who is a pro kind enough to share his real-world experiences with all of us — in the post production world you don’t prepare for what technology might come in the future, you prepare for the now. Good advice from a man who makes his daily bread with the tools he chooses to work with everyday.