[Rich Rubasch]

Episode has gotten the best rankings in articles of late.

You mentioned the high cost of the software, and it is true that it can add up. But you are providing a service for your customer that is a very specialized task. Not just anyone can use compression software well. If you learn it and make great encodes you can bill for it.

You said this was becoming routine…that could mean cash flow too. Don’t look at it so much as a cost but as an investment that will have a return in the future.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Rich Rubasch]

Here’s our solution. We export from a FCP DVCPro50 timeline to a DVCPro50 clip. Import that into AE CS3. First thing is to go to your AE File menu and at the very bottom go to the Project Settings. In there under Working Space select SMTPE-C way at the bottom of the list.

Now select the clips in your AE project that are DVCPro50 and go to the interpret footage menu. Under the Color Management tab go to the Assign Profile and once again, choose the SMTPE-C setting.

Now, when you render it out to DVCPro50 you will see that in the render setting under Color Management the color space is already set to SMTPE-C.

When we do this our rendered clips are an exact digital match to the clips in FCP. We finally have a workflow with DVCPro50 that will match going in and out of AE.

Try it and see if it works for you!

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Rich Rubasch]

We use a similar solution. All of our G5s have the internal Jive by Sonnett with 1.5 terabytes. We digitize to these drives locally, then if I need files on other G5s I connect via gigabit ethernet. I can even edit entire projects over ethernet with media on the other computers.

Basically save often and don’t have the same FCP project open on two computers at the same time.

We use this method for everything from editing to AE work. Has been working flawlessly for more than three years.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Rich Rubasch]

Interestingly enough the timecode seems to track even with the sequence playing out at 23.98 and the deck recording 29.97. So if I get approximate timecodes for a sound bite at least I can digitize the clip because the seconds will be very close and we add handles anyway.

Thanks for the clarification.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Rich Rubasch]

Most if not all DVD players will be able to play it…however, if one of your friends still has an older Tube TV that is more than say, 7 or 8 years old, they might only see a bunch of diagonal lines and no picture. If they play it on a computer it will play.

If all your friends are watching on LCD TVs they will have no trouble.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Rich Rubasch]

Thanks Beeny…I resemble some of your remarks! I’m going to consider your sage advice and see if I can’t get a firmer grip on the wheel around here!

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Rich Rubasch]

The one form of pro-bono work that we have found works pretty good is volunteering to build the show reels and graphics for the local chapter of our Advertising Federation or MCAI awards shows. It is a ton of work, really, but we get our stuff right in front of the entire community.

If word of mouth is an effective form of advertising, then designing, directing and building the show for the local awards night is a great audience to have talking about you!

We also enter the competition so there is a chance our name comes up during the presentations as well. We get an “inside line” on who is winning and who isn’t and get a better sense of the community at large.

Last year I got a general email from AdFed asking for anyone to step up to do the show that year. I volunteered to prepare all the clips for the show reel, but it turned into building the entire thing. These organizations rely on this kind of volunteerism, and for us it has given us the largest return on investment.

Madison AdFed is even entering some of the work done for last year’s show as an entry for this year’s show!

And I also agree, that pro-bono work is going to lead to more of the same….depending on your strategy.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Rich Rubasch]

I’m kind of in Ron’s camp on this one. We have been mastering in DVCPro50 for years now and it has not let us down yet. We are primarily internal corporate communications and live show material.

For spots I have been know to go 10-bit if I plan on doing a real heavy color correction….in that case the extra bits can help. But for work where I won’t be doing a lot of color tweaking I like the DV50 option. I can keep projects online longer, upload more footage right out of the gate, and those benefits alone justify any visible compression artifacts, which we see none.

BTW, we take in everything SDI.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Rich Rubasch]

Ditto on the BitVice quagmire. Not to mention no batching.

Hey, my wife is from Sweden, but these guys don’t get a break from me.

Back to the thread, I have done exactly what was mentioned….run the program out to the recorder and rip the files with MPEG Streamclip and build a firstplay in DVDSP.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Rich Rubasch]

Let the imparting begin.

Welcome.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media