[Richard Walton]

Thanks for your ideas!

I think we all have some genetic fear of spiders but jumping spiders
are definitely not the creepy kind. In fact some of us think of them as cute and cuddly 🙂

Creepy is what I see on the evening news 🙂

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com

[Richard Walton]

Thanks!

My back feels better already.

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com

[Richard Walton]

Thanks Richard:

Did the magnification numbers you mentioned refer to
DSLR with prime or HLX1 plus lens?

Will I loose magnification with DSLR vs X1 given same lens?

Thanks Again!

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com

[Richard Walton]

Chris:

Thanks for this info. I think I’ll give SpinRite a try when I come up for
air. I’ll let you know what happens!

Cheers,

Dick

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com

[Richard Walton]

Daniel and Chris:

You confirmed my gut feeling that whatever would happen with my lame “workflow” idea it would
not be a good thing! As I mentioned it arose from my assumption that my original media was gone.
(Another story involving a LaCie Quadra). The good news is I FOUND the “original” tape – some of it was actually shot in analog and transferred to DV many moons ago. So while it will take me some time I have what I need to get the job done.

Necessity may be the mother of invention but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee a pretty baby:)

Many Thanks!

PS – Thanks for the kind words Daniel!

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com

[Richard Walton]

MacPro 2.66 Quad-Core / 8 GB DDR3 /NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
FCP 6.0.6
Matrox CompressHD 1.8.1.0009
Telestream Episode 5.3.1

Hi Craig:

Just when it seemed I had the Episode / MAX configuration working smoothly
I’m encountering a problem with files encoded for the iPhone. I either get a “rejection” message from iTunes when it attempts to sync the file with my iPhone or if it does successfully transfer the file to the iPhone the video is viewable but highly corrupted (flashes and green screen). The encoded file will play, in a seemingly normal fashion, on my desktop in QT player.

Once I access through QT (in Episode) the Matrox H.264 settings window what values should be entered and what boxes checked or unchecked?

Is there any reason why Episode preprocessing filters would interfere with creating a video file with iPhone specifications?

I sent these questions to Matrox but frankly their support people, have little or no experience with Episode. This is not to say they are not trying but simply unfamiliar with the MAX/Episode configuration.

Thanks,

Dick

BTW – thanks for the info on Longtail – I’m working with setting this up to use with my flash wrapped files.

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com

[Richard Walton]

Craig:

Although I repeat myself – Thank you Thank you!

Dick

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com

[Richard Walton]

Craig:

After too much time testing and fretting over why my Episode/MAX .mov files would not
function in the flash context I have been using the answer seems to be that FlowPlayer, an
“open source” (read, free) flash player, is not compatible with .mov files. So I guess the answer
is to bite the bullet and buy Macromedia Flash.

Thanks again!

Dick

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com

[Richard Walton]

Craig-

You testing confirms the results I get -now that I understand how to adjust the parameters of the MAX codec. And thank you for the information on the H.264 levels.

I do have one remaining roadblock and am hopeful you will have an answer. Just to make sure we are on the same page – I am beginning with an Episode Template/All File Formats/QuickTime (mov) / H264_Widescreen_640x360. In the “Output” window of the Settings Editor I am selecting “MOV” and QuickTime Encode. In the Video window I am accessing MAX through the QuickTime disclosure area. After setting the various parameters there I apply the settings and process the file. So far so good.

The resulting file is .mov file. This plays fine in a QT player as either a .mov or .m4v file. If I change the file extension to ,mp4 QT player returns the message “The movie could not be opened. An invalid sample description was found in the movie.” In reality I want the file to be played in a Flash context and my testing results in a black screen. I have found that if I remove the AUDIO AAC track the video file is accepted and played by QT.

I look forward to your suggestions and appreciate your help.

Many Thanks,

Dick

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com

[Richard Walton]

I thought a follow up to my own post would be appropriate in that I have, at least in part, answered my own question(s). After another set of tests that involved 1) adjusting the Episode filters (saturation, contrast and black restore) and choosing Matrox Max H.264 level: 4.1 (CABAC) with key frames every 30 frames and data limit set to 1400 kbits/sec the resulting file seems very close in quality to one produced using the Episode codec.

Here are a few other comparisons of the 2 files compressed from a 1920×1080 – 55 sec. – Apple ProRes 422 FCP QT Reference file .

Episode: 10.3 MB – total bit rate: 1554 – processing time 167 secs

Matrox Max H.264 (through Episode) – 9.8 MB – total bit rate: 1488 – processing time 88 secs

I am still interested in getting comments and suggestions and would like to have a better understanding of just what the H.264 levels (2.0, 3.0, 4.0 etc) are.

Thanks,

Dick

Dick Walton
Natural History Services
https://www.rkwalton.com