[Todd Reid]

Thanks for the input.

Just to clarify…
I only use the DNx codec for final export. It is what they require.
I will still search for a cleaner solution since I don’t have access to a digbeta.
I do know of a betasp UVW 1800 I can get for a reasonable price.

Do you think I could do the down convert to it and have better quality than above #1.
I would have to down convert output, then digitize to some flavor of SD.

Its not a deal breaker for me, since they have never said anything, but I want to keep exceeding my client’s expectations.

[Todd Reid]

very interesting.

I’ve used the old school version and actually used post it notes on my monitor.
Now I can stay digital!!!!!

thanks for that tip.

[Todd Reid]

I’ve had that happen too, in older versions.

My workaround was to create text in photoshop and import. I guess you could try livetype/motion/Boris Title 3D.

I have been told that some older versions of FCP didn’t handle certain fonts very well and would just guess in some cases. I usually had some fonts work, but others showed up italic no matter what.

good luck!

[Todd Reid]

Hey Walter,
I have a follow up to your answer.

I have to use method #1, since my delivery is a data file (AVID DNxHD codec for the HD versions and uncompressed 10 bit for SD version to use on different network).

I have an AJA HD, so I know realtime downconversion is possible when outputting to tape, but what is the best method when you are only delivering files?

My client is happy with what I deliver in their HD world, but on the few occasions where they want to cross promote (on AFN – Armed Forces Network), I want to deliver the best possible.

Any tricks you are aware of?

[Todd Reid]

I feel for you, I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve spent doing the last 95% of a project cause something has gone wrong that required troubleshooting just to figure out the problem. I LOVE having the cow as a resource. I don’t know what I’d do without my daily reading of the cow.

now that it seems you have figured out and solved your problem, I will solidify what you probably have learned from this situation (and many others are waiting to tell you-its not something you want to here in the middle of a crisis)

NEVER update in the middle of a project!!!! Especially if things are working correctly.

Also, before you update, you’ll want to clone your hard drive. That way if there are any troubles, you just reverse the clone and your back to square one.

Best wishes for you daughter’s wedding. Kudos to you for doing such a thoughtful thing, and incurring all this grief to make sure your daughter’s day is special. She will treasure it for a long time.

[Todd Reid]

As mentioned…the key for this is to make sure your footage is NOT rendered. If rendered, the same codec/setting will not work.

took many trials and errors for me to get this to work, but it can happen. I’ve had the best results with PNG.

Walter-
I know you are very experienced, so there must be a reason that you said it wasn’t possible with FCP.
Are you not happy with the quality?
I find it hard to believe that this would be a function you were not aware of.
If so, it gives the rest of us comfort that NO ONE knows everything about FCP, I too consider myself a seasoned veteran (almost 20 years editing-started in the linear world), and I still learn stuff on a regular basis (mostly from the cow!).

This is why I think the cow is THE SINGLE GREATEST RESOURCE for ANY editor.
Keep it up cowboys!

[Todd Reid]

navigate to your autosave bin, find our where it is set under Final Cut Pro/system settings.
If there is nothing in there then you may be out of luck.

Make sure you change your settings to save every 5 minutes or so, also change your level of undo to 99. This doesn’t help your current situation, but it saves it from happening in the future.

[Todd Reid]

you didn’t mention, how did experiment #2 look? I would assume at least a bit better.

Your new flow sounds good, the only thing you might run into, is that if your footage isn’t DV50 (which you say it isn’t), FCP may not allow you to capture it, it may abort and/or drop frames via firewire.
Give it a shot, if you have trouble, you may be stuck with DV as far as digitizing. You will be able to change your sequences for sure with little trouble.

If Pro Res doesn’t give you the desired improvements, try a couple other ones, (like DV50 or uncompressed 8 bit).

I have heard of settings tweaks within compressor that can give better results than the presets. I don’t know them off the top of my head. Try searching the DVDSP forum. This will lessen the impact of the second layer of compression you are adding.

just curious.
How beefy is your computer? Do you have a raid? eSata? or are you using internal storage?

[Todd Reid]

you are correct. Some form of compression occurs just to get in on the tape. So, in theory, a capture card wouldn’t help much.
What it can do is give you more digital information to do complex things like chroma key or color correction. Its not an exact science, but if you “up converted” DV footage to even 720p, your still not “gaining” quality, but you possibly gain more depth in the 1’s and 0’s to manipulate the footage further (or better) than if you just plugged a firewire cable into your computer.

I hear you about it looking good on the tape. If I’m not mistaken, FCP doesn’t add its compressions until it needs to render the timeline (which could be when you output).

I’ve had footage where people are wearing red clothing, and it looked great until I added a non-realtime effect like color correction, then from that point on, I saw jaggies, even on the raw clip viewed straight from the computer.

Again, I mention that in your workflow that you’ve mentioned, there is at least 2 places where you are introducing more compression after the camera……importing and exporting (in this situation) is adding more compression.

The fact is that uncompressed video files are extremely large, so compression codecs were created so that we could even work with them on computers. I’m still amazed that my desktop computer can do more than the 2 rooms FULL of processing and production equipment that was the first linear edit suite I learned on. We’ve come a very long way in the past 15-20 years, but not far enough that you can plug in a small cable and expect pristine quality video.

Try working in a higher quality/lower compression sequence and see if that helps.

Also, where are you viewing your dvd? (computer/flatscreen tv/older CRT)?

[Todd Reid]

your pixellation is not coming from too many effect, its coming from your highly compressed format, DV.
If your working in FCP6, then motion comes with it in Final Cut Studio 2. You should have complete access to Motion.

Try changing your sequence codec to something that has less compression (DV50 is the next step, try uncompressed if your computer can handle it), that is going to be about the best you can do. No footage will ever be higher quality than its original format. You can do a few “workarounds”, but technically dv footage ingested, will quite often show compression or “jaggies” as some call them, especially around the color red.

Working in a higher quality sequence codec, will at the very least, help minimize your pixellation.
For the most part, the amount of effects you add to a clip shouldn’t have much to do with the final output pixellating, unless you are dealing with specific effects to achieve that look, which there are some.

Also keep in mind, that not only are you capturing on a highly compressed format, you are introducing more compression when you export to mpg for your dvd.