[Rob Gutermuth]

Hi,

How does Episode compare to Cinema Craft plug in for Compressor?

Specifically for doing Mpeg 2 encodes for DVD.

Any opinions before I spend either $600 on Episode or $990 on Cinema Craft MP?

Cheers!
Bob

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

I found toast to be the best of what’s out there, besides Encore, which is really the only option, if you want to make custom menus, etc…

But, it’s a PIA in my opinion – I guess if you used Premiere to edit with, it’s easier to use encore, but for something like a wedding, and doing like chapter points, etc… you almost have to just re-add them all back in Encore, since they wouldn’t import from a FCP finished file… shame… yeah, I know about using XML… actually, is there an APP for that? some college kid should write an app to allow that type of Data to be imported in encode…

Or, better still, someone write an update to DVD SP – or do an ADD ON for Blu Ray support…

I WISH I could just do Blu Ray, and keep my HD footage in HD instead of all the scaling and artifact issues I have with going from HD to SD… grrrr!

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Ok, UPDATE Number 2!

I traced this problem/issue and maybe it can help other people….

The problem seems to be in the file structure of these Firestores – I have 4 of these, so I know them pretty well… I have the HD versions that connect via Firewire to my HDV cameras…

These will only record up to 1.7gb files at a time, and then the software writes a new file, but there is no break in video, it’s seamless….

In the several years I have used these, I guess I was always under 60-70 mins before I would hit stop on the unit, and it wrote the end of that file… and then maybe I’d continue on, etc… after 10-15 mins, etc… (between acts, or halftimes, etc)

Anyways, in this case, the file has 15 parts, all but the last are 1.7gb – The transcoding software will see all these as one clip, and create one mov clip from the 15 m2t clips…. nice and all…

I tried splitting the transcode in 1/2 – meaning I deleted the last 1/2 of the 15 files, so it would only do the first 7… THAT worked – opened the MOV file in FCP 7 and did my cut test, added a cross dissolve, and top and bottom both showed me video thumbnails… JOY

then, I tried the last 8 clips, and same thing, worked FINE… My goal now, is to see where that breaking point is – 70 mins? 90 Mins? 100? I will just take away one end file at a time until it works right 🙂 Yes, I even tried to re-transcode the whole thing on another machine, and same result, so then I knew it wasn’t anything but the file(s) at that point.

looks like the only thing I loose now is about 9 frames when I butt end them together… that’s what I loose anyways when I do a tape change and the unit is supposed to continue to roll, but gets confused for 9 frames I guess, even if the device control is set to local, and no E tape control… – you can set these for complete tapeless, using the record/pause thumb button, but I don’t like that, cuz I need it recording to “cover” my time for changing a tape….

I work in this way, so I have my tape as a back up to the HD footage, but I want these controlled separately, so that the 2 mins it takes me to do a tape change, I don’t loose that time being recorded, and in case one or the other dies that day, at least I have it one way or the other (bad tape, or HD dies, etc) I guess it’s the poor mans way of what Canon did with the dual recording modes on the newer cameras like the XF300, XA25, etc… so, if one card bites the dust that day, the other B slots card will hopefully work…

Anyways… Im not sweating as much as I was this AM… always something!

More things about the older Firewire firestores that I can share…

The 2.0 software has Quicktime as an option for recording HD footage…. DO NOT use that setting, because it doesn’t work… I have 3 of the 4 units that have this option, and they must not have finished the firmware or something… ONLY ever use M2T files – they are the same, just in a different wrapper, and 2 hrs of video takes 10 mins to convert if you are just re-wraping the files into a quicktime file(s) Checked this with the 4 canon HDV cameras I have, and none will record native QT movies… no biggie, but just thought I’d mention this…

If this helps anyone avoid this issue, GREAT! It was a real head scratcher, but I hopefully have it sorted out now… darn Firestore – no wonder no one supports them anymore 🙂

Cheers,
Rob

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Hi Mark,

I was just using the 1 sec default, some were longer than that though. Guess I can try like a 1/2 second, etc… but I think the results will be the same…

An update, to make this simple….

So, I wiped Pref, etc, created a brand new project, and only brought in the A Roll clip (just one 2hr file)

I dropped it into a new timeline, Sequence matched the clip…. no rendering needed at all.

all I did was just make a cut anywhere, and then add in any transition, and the problem is still there!

I brought in another file from the same device I captured with (using Firestore HD off XL-H1) and that one is fine… make that cut somewhere in the middle, or where ever, and add a Cross Dissolve, and top and bottom show up…

I even used the same sequence for both tests – why is this file doing this, and the other one on the same drive not? the other is only 45 mins, but still.

This is very strange for me…. why would it do this?

I am going to try this one file from scratch on my other machine that is running Snow Leopard, but same version of FCP…

Again, to be clear, you don’t see a glitch when I view them in the timeline, only when exported and then played back in QT… I can provide screen shots for anyone that would like to see what Im talking about?

Thanks all – if I find out where the problem is, I can report back, in case someone else has the same issue(s)

Rob

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Update…

The problem was actually caused by something that corrupted the transisins – the stock cross dissolve was what I usually use, and most cases, I’d see a glitch right before or right after these…

the work around was to use a trany that needed to be rendered…

Here’s the other issue – I noticed that when I double click on the stock transition between two clips, and you see the top clip, and bottom clip with the tranny in between, the bottom clip’s little box is white with a black x through it, but the top clip shows up fine…

when I used the newer disolves – and you double click, you see both clips the way they are supposed to be…

This almost seems like a field rendering thing to me, but again, not noticed until it’s exported and the new qt movie is viewed…

anyone seen this before?

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Sorry, I meant “repairing permissions on the boot drive”

New info:

just created a new seq, copy and pasted the first 10 mins with 5 or so markers, and no error – I have to check to see if that glitch is gone though….

grrrr

Still wouldn’t mind some insight – I will see if 40 markers are too many in a sequence, and report back

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

I have squeeze, but never used it – is it better than compressor? – I always used 2 pass VBR on anything I encode… just me, but it’s pretty quick with a multi-mac set up.

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

upgrade to FCS3 (FCP7) and use compressor for the encode, and Toast for authoring… that would be the ideal thing… but…

there is a way to do it with your version of Compressor, by defining the MPEG 2 stream….

One note; everyone says that creating MP4 files for blu-ray is a bad idea… and mpeg2 is much better… I never tried mp4’s even at H.264, so I can’t comment, but stick with having compressor make you mpeg2’s

I think ken stone had something on this with earlier versions of FCS/Compressor… I would not use Toast to do the encode, since you own compressor.

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Yes, in fact, I can use the SAME lens on both the XL-H1 and the XL1s

BTW – anyone reading this from Canon… was it simply slick marketing and Black vs off white to make different the 20x from the xl2 vs the 20x from the XL-H1? – just curious, since I can’t tell the difference between the two lenses…

Same question for the 3x and the 16x manual focus lens… I have the 6x for the XL-H1 too… (best wide they made for these, but it’s heavy!)

so, the question remains… which is better? HD downconverted, or SD native?

I will say that Compressor does a very nice job with it’s downconverting – BUT – to anyone reading, I do have some advice…

If your final target is mainly DVD, or for broadcast TV, I find that shooting in 1080i will give much better results when downconverting, which makes sense to me, since it’s one less step that needs to be done… Maybe Im wrong here, but when I shoot in any Progressive mode, and convert to interlaced, it never looks as good as if it was shot in interlaced to begin with?

to this end, does anyone shoot in 1080P for a living? – I mean, only a 1080P tv can play that back, correct? so the format still has low mass appeal, even for Blu-Ray?

When I say that, I mean if you intend the end video to be watched by a lot of different peeps – I know the image quality of 1080P is better than 1080i, all things being equal, but – as I digress….

still looking for good feedback on the 720×480 question….

Thanks all!

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Well, the real question I have is this:

Does anyone still shoot with the XL1, XL1s, XL2 or the GL2, etc – or any DV format?

If so, what are you using these cameras for?

I want to somehow justify keeping them, so wondering if there is a place for these nice cameras?

Thanks

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations