[Ron Craig]

Thanks for the information. I wonder, though, if that responds to my question. I don’t have an issue with the appearance of the QuickTime files that I encode (usually with Episode). It’s the .wmv files that I encode through QuickTime conversion using Flup4Mac. Those are the ones that need the gamma adjustment.

Wouldn’t a gamma setting in QuickTime (to match FCP gamma) affect both of those outputs…when the wmv’s are the only ones that seem off? Or am I not understanding this?

[Ron Craig]

As an aside…

When I export from FCP through Quicktime/Flip4Mac to .wmv I find that I need to add about a +10 gamma to match the image I see in QT.

Anybody else have the same experience?

[Ron Craig]

Well, I’ll speak some sacrilege here: I don’t need the best speakers in the world. Yes, I do believe that audio quality is the most ignored aspect of many of the productions that I see. And I do think that good audio adds depth and value to almost any production.

BUT…

Almost everything that I produce is viewed on the web. The speakers those productions play on don’t come close to reproducing what I hear in the studio — through almost ANY decent speakers. And, frankly, my clients almost never mention anything about audio. The audio quality I deliver is far superior to what they seem to be able to appreciate. And, by the same token, some contributors to this discussion board, I’m sure, have a higher level of appreciation for the subtle distinctions in audio than I have. That’s a good thing.

The KRK’s are sounding very good to me.

[Ron Craig]

8 track tape. Ha! You’re dating yourself.

Blast from the past!

[Ron Craig]

FWIW…I back up everything. And I save it indefinitely. I put a small charge on every project for archiving and I buy LaCie 1 TB drives regularly.

I used to save tapes; now I save drives. But the drives are much better because I save project files, graphics, and all media. If a client ever needs to make changes down the line I restore the project with just a small bit of hassle (and of course I charge them for that time).

[Ron Craig]

I’ve done a bit of this. As John suggested, importing as ProRes is highly recommended. And, as he alsop suggested, there are a lot of threads on this.

I’ve had some audio synch issues when ingesting HDV as ProRes so keep an eye on synch if you go that route.

I think a better workflow — if you have the hardware — is to import from an HDV deck that sends a component signal to some kind of AJA card. In my case, I have an AJA box that converts the component signal to SDI and I then route that to my Kona 3.

Bottom line: Get away from HDV as an editing format. Don’t get me wrong, FCP can edit HDV. It’s just not the optimal way to go — mainly because the long GOP format puts some heavy demands on your processor.

[Ron Craig]

Whoops… that was a close call. I didn’t even know about that. Doh! But I checked and they’re both G2. Thanks for the heads-up Walter.

[Ron Craig]

Thanks again. I followed the lead of all you KRK Rockit 5 aficionados and bought a pair. B&H had only a single one in inventory so they gave me a great deal on it. Got the other from Amazon at $149.

[Ron Craig]

Thanks to all of you. Much appreciated.

And yes, I agree that headphones aren’t the optimal way to edit. But using them I was getting more reliable representation of the way my deliverables — usually web and computer-played material — were sounding in final presentation. More reliable, that is, that the speakers I was using.

Now..on to my speaker shopping.

– Cheers.

[Ron Craig]

Pollyanna I may be: I want to suggest something simple as a possible cause. Let me say first that you’re getting advice here from some real experts and all of it sounds very spot-on to me: the matching memory, correct installation of the RAID card, computer version issue. All very good advice.

Just to be sure that you also rule out everything simple: Have you confirmed that all the data you are working with is good? I’ve had something as simple as a corrupted Photoshop file on the timeline cause repeated crashes like this. Perhaps when you took your RAID offline you eliminated that possibility. But I’d take the time to rule that out for sure. Also, is it possible that any of your media was mistakenly captured to your system drive or some other drive that’s slower than your RAID? These are low-level possibilities but worth considering.

Also, do you recall precisely what action you were taking just before this whole episode began? That’s often a good indicator of cause.

Good luck.