[Uli Plank]

Use the arrange tool in the Mac’s system settings and drag the menu bar over.

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Uli Plank]

I use QtChange a bit differently, by assigning a TC-track based on the creation date/time and assigning reel names based on folders. So, it’s not unique reel names, but TC is unique. Works well for DSLR footage.

But if you are that fast assigning individual reel names in FCP, that’s a valid workflow too, of course.

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Uli Plank]

It’s USB-3…

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Uli Plank]

Strange thing is, sometimes indie projects are more picky about staying RAW than seasoned professionals, just because they heard somewhere it’s the way to go (even if it ends up on a crappy projector at a festival playing from Blu-ray at best, if not DVD). Pros tend to think more in terms of overall quality vs. effort.

Fact is, Resolve can’t handle speed changes the way Apple’s Motion does (not even to mention Twixtor or the like). The quality loss from frame doubling in Resolve is much bigger than the visible effect of going ProRes. I admit it’s very good to grade from RAW, but once the grade is agreed upon, it’s not too bad to go ProRes and do the speed change from there.

So, I’d rather grade the original speed footage, hand it back to the editor and have him/her do the speed change.

Of course, if the workflow is intended for cinema with DCP, DPX would be the way to go. But then you wouldn’t use FCP for final stages, only for the offline edit. And you’d need a serious RAID.

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Uli Plank]

Thanks for the detailed information.

So, if I understand you well, the best quality if you want interlaced SD from interlaced HD was the downscale by the Decklink card, right?

De-interlacing was best with Compressor with all the bells and whistles on, right?

I know the 5D is a different subject with all it’s aliasing…

If the Panasonic 101 is any good, I hope that will be a thing of the past, sigh!

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Uli Plank]

Quite a tedious workaround! QtChange can assign reel IDs too – in batch…

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Uli Plank]

Yeah, DSLR files are tricky to work with. You may want to have a look at the free QtChange next time, which can add a TC track (derived from creation date).

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Uli Plank]

Then make sure that they are not treated as interlaced – that might introduce ugly artifacts.

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Uli Plank]

OK, hardware downscaling by BM is not the best in the world, I admit. But apart from specialized hardware like Teranex, what you can use is one of the converter boxes by AJA, their scaling is really good.

Since we can’t get AJA I/O card support under Resolve (yet?), the HD10MD3 would be an option.

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Uli Plank]

IMHO BM does a pretty good downconversion in their hardware.

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts