Zak Mussig
Forum Replies Created
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Sean,
FCP can’t monitor HDV over firewire. Maybe this will change some day, but with the second or so delay on playback from HDV source to FCP display I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t. To output HDV to a monitor you need a card.
Zak
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I’ll be that guy…
No Mac can be an Intel G5. Those are mutually exclusive tags. I have a black magic DeckLink card, and not a Kona, but I can say you won’t find a 1440×1080 output setting. HDV is an anamorphic format, and it gets stretched to the normal 1920×1080 for display. See if you have an easy setup for “Kona HDV 1080i60” or something along those lines. Make sure your card is set to output that resolution in system preferences, and hook it up to the Mac with something other than HDMI because according to AJA’s website, the Kona 3 doesn’t have HDMI.
Sorry… low blood sugar. I’m going to grab a soda.
Good Luck,
Zak -
Pat,
You’ll have to do the second thing you mentioned. Why not use Soundtrack to deal with your audio? Use one multi-track project, and put each track for your CDs in a separate track. Solo whichever one you want to work with at any given time. When you’re done just click the first track and shift-click the last to select all of them and then select file>export> selected tracks. They’ll export with the track names as file names, so just make sure those names mean something to you.
Hope that helps,
Zak -
Nikhil,
VCDs, beyond being limited to 700MB or so of data, use the MPEG codec. MPEG 1 is the opposite of good quality. I don’t believe there can be such a thing as a high quality VCD.
If I’m misunderstanding you and you’re trying to make a DVD, try increasing the bit rate. That setting is under the quality tab in Compressor’s inspector.Zak
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Time,
You can put the QT you export into an HDV sequence in FCP or any other QT based app. You just can’t preserve alpha by exporting to HDV since the codec doesn’t support it. You’ll also notice that you have to render the file you exported before you can play it back in an HDV sequence in FCP.Zak
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Tim,
The HDV codec doesn’t support alpha channels. You’ll have to use the Animation codec at Millions of Colors+. In Motion the export preset is Lossless + Alpha. I’ve had better luck by unckeching the premultiply alpha box in the options tab of the export options window.
Zak -
Markers in FCP can do a number of things. A normal marker just helps you find something. Go to a marker (Shift + up / down arrow to navigate) and hit m or ` and you can change your marker to a chapter marker, compression marker, or scoring marker.
Chapter markers will export with your MPEG 2 if you use export “Using Compressor…”.
Compression markers force that frame to be an i-frame under the same circumstances.
Scoring markers come along if you export for Soundtrack Pro.
You set your encoding settings in Compressor, and DVDSP will use any chapter markers you have in there. You can always add them in DVDSP if you would like. You would need to use one of the chapter menu templates or manually make buttons on a menu you make from scratch and connect them to each chapter.
TANGENT: When I forget to add chapter markers in FCP before I encode, I go back and add them then export a reference movie. I take that in DVDSP, throw it in a track, and then delete it from the track after it lays down its chapter markers. Drag your compressed video into the track and you’re good to go. It’s even easier to just not forget to add them in the first place.
Zak
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To access or change your sequence settings select the timeline and hit Command-zero. You can set things manually, for special circumstances, or use one of the sequence presets.
The reason he said 8-Bit uncompressed is simply for file size and disk speed requirements. This may exist on digibeta, but your source footage for this project is from an MPEG. You aren’t losing quality by going with 8 bit over 10 bit since the quality was lost in the original encode to MPEG 2. You’re trying to preserve what quality you have left.
FCP doesn’t support using MPEG 2 as a sequence codec (I’m not counting HDV), so you’re going to have to convert it to something else either before you bring it in or on render.
I’ve done this with DV and it looked fine, but that’s DV so your mileage may vary. Be careful with you MPEG encode settings, since that’s the next chance to lose quality. since it’s a demo reel, you can probably be very generous with your bit-rate. Also, check out compression markers in the FCP manual… may help.Zak
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From Apple’s product page…
Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile
So there that is. Anyone know what the “Level 1.3” bit means?
Zak
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The box can do 720p via component or HDMI, so the quality should be pretty good. I’m sure someone will post some optimum compression settings shortly after these are actually available.
Zak