[Vincent Rosati]

I wouldn’t use ‘Scale to project dimensions’, as it uses the clips Motion parameters to control the scaling, and it’s not that great in quality, as you’ve noticed.
Reset the images to 100% in the Motion Parameter.
Instead, use Video Effects/Distort/Transform.

Check your project settings to ensure that the default codec is set to Uncompressed.

Vince

[Vincent Rosati]

I don’t know much about XDCAM. I understand it is capable of recording with a number of different codecs, which complicates the issue.
Check your Project/General settings to ensure that it is set to allow audio playback on your desktop.

Vince

[Vincent Rosati]

When you say 2-channel do you mean stereo?
Premiere indicates what type of audio is contained in a track by the icons on the left of the track, one speaker if mono, two if stereo. You would also be able to see two channels in the track.
Generally, Premiere will place audio on an unexpected track if the audio doesn’t match the project’s settings. If it’s a stereo project, and only has stereo tracks, when you drop a mono clip into the timeline it will add a new mono track.

Vince

[Vincent Rosati]

For the Premiere export, make sure your project and export settings are 23.967p.
Maybe try importing the audio from your original file. If you need to time stretch it to get it to match, I think there is a Maintain Pitch option.

Vince

[Vincent Rosati]

I’d start by changing the color modes of both the PS and AI projects to CMYK.
For the PS file, save it as a PSD or TIF/LZW, for placement in AI.
Try that stuff first.

Vince

[Vincent Rosati]

You could import a white 1 pixel raster.
Make sure the Position and Anchor position are in whole numbers, in the Effect Controls tab.
Than, apply Color Balance RGB. Now you can keyframe color changes as needed.

Vince

[Vincent Rosati]

This sounds like something that could be handled with scripting. I’d google ‘Illustrator Scripts’, and see if anything is available.
Sorry, I just don’t have an answer to this one. 🙁

Vince

[Vincent Rosati]

The long answer:
Your printing service should only need a PDF file, which you can save out of Photoshop.
If you go with PDF, make sure to alter the Compression settings to Not Downsample and use ZIP compression. And, heed any warnings that are given.
Or, you could save as a layered TIFF with LZW compression.

Flattening would make it difficult for the printer to isolate areas that need color corrections, but you should do test prints on a similar medium such as gloss photo, or whatever.

Also, there can be font issues with PDFs from Photoshop. Particularly when Faux Bold is used, but often when different font versions are available on the two systems. I’m in PS CS2 and I don’t have an option to embed fonts, perhaps later versions do.?

Convert type to shapes before saving a file that will go to your printing service.

I’m more of an Illustrator person. My workflow will almost always be Illustrator >> Photoshop. This can also be said with InDesign. You would do your design/layout in AI or ID and place Photoshop rasters into these projects. Than, you can save PDF’s with embedded fonts.

The short answer:
1 – In PS Layer/Type/Convert to Shape. Do this to all of your text objects, before saving the PDF, and it will prevent any font issues.
2 – At 30×80 you’re likely going to have a huge file that may need to be burned to CD and mailed.

Hope this helps.

Vince

[Vincent Rosati]

I hope you get more answers to this, as I not up to HD yet. But, I do know that HD requires a ton of power, to do smoothly.
I’d consider decompressing to an intermediate codec prior to editing, as it will improve many of the issues you are describing.

I’d download the CreativeCOW Podcast #002. It covers this issue…
https://podcasts.creativecow.net/creative-cow-podcast

Vince

[Vincent Rosati]

If the video was put onto a DVD, as in DVD-Video that plays in a DVD player, the video files are VOBs. VOBs are MPEG-2. You can simply change a VOBs file extension to MPG, and it will be recognized as such.
My version of Premiere required either an update or plugin to use MPEG-2 files, I can’t remember which. I’m not sure how PP2 handles MPEG-2.
Either way, you should decompress the VOB/MPG, or recompress to a Premiere compatible lossless codec prior to import.
I use AVS Video Convetrer to decompress video files.
It’s fastest if you pull the VOBs to your hard disk, for conversion, instead of converting directly from the DVD.

Vince