Tony Silanskas
Forum Replies Created
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I have been transcoding but as you know 1080/60p ProRes files are huge and for smaller projects I was looking for a way to save space. And 1080/60p is not really necessary for me right now but I like to test the “worse case scenario” when learning new stuff. It was also in testing when I started thinking how a better use of Proxy files could be very handy and save a ton of space. Seems like it could be a simple update:
– When you check “Use Proxy Media” instead of forcing every project to make Proxy media that doesn’t exist just to play back, have it as a “Per Clip/ Per Project” preference in each clip’s info window. Point is, if I can potentially have 3 versions of each clip (Original, Optimized and Proxy) I should be able to easily select between each version at the clip level and not the just the global level.
tony
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I have FCP X on a 2009 MacBook Pro and high quality is actually slower for me than better performance with Canon DSLR h.264 footage.
I will say that 60p AVCHD h.264 movie files will not playback smoothly no matter what since my machine it just too old. =( I can transcode to ProRes to fix that issue but was hoping not to have to transcode for some smaller projects.
tony
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I’m actually in the process of doing very much the same thing with some older Mini-DV tapes. John is correct that the Mini-DV tapes are great for archive but Dave, I’m sure you’re like me and want to have easy access to the files in the future since you might not always have a tape deck laying around to load stuff in. I think your best bet is what you seem to be doing: dump the footage on a drive then throw the tapes in a safe (off-site preferably) and call it a day.
And I’m sure someone will tell you, the best way to archive data right now is with LTO tape with a system like a Cache-A. But they’re expensive and out of reach of many smaller companies. If you can talk a friend or two into it, split the cost of one and share it. It will be one of the best investments you’ll ever make. Hard drives will get you by for now as long as you keep multiple backups and switch out hard drives every few years.
To answer your questions:
1) I’m using FCP 7 and the ProRes 422 codec. FCP 7 is rock solid in tape transfer and it just works. FCP X has too many bugs to be reliable with this task right now and has way less features for tape ingest like reel names, timecode, audio channel selection, in and out points, etc. I chose ProRes because it’s a standard now that works great and plays well with so much of my ProRes footage from the past couple of years. And it saves me some render time in a ProRes sequence since it’s already ProRes. It’s also a much better codec for color correction then DV. DV50 is pretty close to ProRes but not nearly as widely used as it once was b/c of ProRes adoption.
2) Put it in your museum for clients to admire the old days.
tony
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Both. I did find out that my 2009 MacBook Pro cannot playback 60p AVCHD h.264 encoded quicktimes in realtime. Lots of stuttering b/c it needs more horsepower. Canon 7D 60p files play OK since they’re easier h.264 files to decode in realtime. Time to transcode to ProRes. Just was hoping to not have to always transcode for quick little projects.
And just a quick thanks to the guys that make ClipWrap who helped me figure out my issues with some AVCHD 60p files. Really appreciated their constant fast replies and help.
tony
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BTW- here is a great article that deals with media management in FCP X:
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_x_media_management_stone.html
While it doesn’t deal directly with Keywords it does help layout the basic foundation of how Events and Projects talk to each other.
tony
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If I am understanding you correctly, you are asking about adding Keywords to clips that are directly in a Project. This is not possible for a couple of reasons.
– When you insert a clip into a Project from an Event, the clip in the timeline is now a virtual copy of the original clip. This allows you to make changes to it (effects, new notes, etc.) without changing the original clip.
– Keywords were made for Events only as that makes the most sense because they are made to organize your footage at the root level and not in the Project. Having too many areas with different Keywords would make a mess of things in my opinion. Maybe they’ll be an update to have separate keywords for each individual Project in an update but with the notes field editable for each clip in a Project, it doesn’t seem necessary.
Also, you can use the “Timeline Index” to show the “Tags” instead of the “Clips”. This will show you all your Keywords for each clip in chronological order.
And lastly, if you want to add a Keyword to a master clip in the Event, just select the clip in the Project and put the playhead over it and hit “Shift + F” to match frame to the original master clip in the Event browser. Then just add the Keywords you want, such as “In Shortform”. The one issue you will have with this is it won’t update the Keywords for the virtual clip in the Project but it will at least let you know it’s in the Shortform edit now. Maybe someone knows a way to have it update.
Guess it would be nice to be able to have a clip/compound clip that when you made a change it would ripple to every place that clip was used in different Projects. I wouldn’t want to this for master clips just copies. And maybe someone else has figured out a way to do this, too.
tony
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I’ve been working on a few small non-broadcast projects as a way of learning the program but couldn’t see myself using it for a broadcast project until there is a bug-fix update. Too many crashes especially with larger projects so far. And mostly having (surprisingly) less control on color correction than FCP 7 isn’t helping either.
Has anyone done a broadcast edit (that aired) in FCP X yet?
tony
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[Robbert-Jan van der Does] “Tomorrow I will check what will happen if I open the original file (the one where the alias is pointing to). If this raises no problems it might be the safest way to leave this always unchecked.”
I have all my media referenced like you Robbert but have the same media offline problems mentioned in the thread. Seems to happen every time with After Effects and only some of the time when I open up a clip in FCP 7. I did notice that when the clip goes offline, in the Project Properties (or even Clip Properties) when you “Show File Status” it says “1 Modified File” now. Doesn’t seem like a useful message in this version but maybe eventually it will give you a dialog about how a certain clip was modified, what changed and do you want to keep it.
tony
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Had an issue similar to that and it was a bad graphics card. If you have a spare grfx card you could try that one and see if the problem disappears. You could also make sure that the current grfx card is not lose in the box as that could cause problems, too.
Oh, and check and see if there are any driver updates for your grfx card.
tony
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