September Blogwad

Hard Disk Warning!
Larry Jordan says don't leave a hard drive sitting on your shelf for more than a year with data that you want to keep. Explains why and gives some suggestions on how to keep old hard drives from losing data.

The Freesound Project
Sound effects here. They are available under Creative Commons licenses. Not sure if that would include any of Link's work. As I understand it, Creative Commons means that you aren't doing the project for money and your work will also be available to others under the Creative Commons agreement. But I'm not an expert.

DA Font
Some fonts here some are in the public domain, others are available under Creative Commons licenses. Again, I'm not an expert in Creative Commons licensing. But public domain is obviously cool.

Ripple Training
Some good tutorials in the Ripple Training section of the ProVideo Coaltion website.
Remove the Jitters - Covers the SmoothCam feature in Final Cut Pro 6.
Photoshop & Motion - Simple way to do a quick animation on a multi-layered Photoshop document in Motion 3 by using its 3D features.
Color Workflows With Different Video Formats - Covers how to use different codecs with Color. Warning here about working with Long-GOP formats, like HDV.

HDV video to SD DVD Using Compressor 3 and DVD SP
Exporting HDV Video from the Timeline to Standard Definition DVD
Man, working with HDV can be slow. Hopefully these tutorials will save you some time if you need to make a DVD from some HDV footage. They are over at kenstone.net
Also at kenstone.net, a tutorial on making a Blu-ray high-def video disc on a Mac. Takes you from FCP through Compressor to Adobe's Encore:
Blu-ray with Final Cut Pro, Compressor and Encore

ProRes 422 was one of the big features of Final Cut Pro 6. It was essentially a QuickTime codec, but Apple wasn't going to give it away. Too bad, because it's an efficient codec and very useful, especially for high-def footage. Well, Apple is finally letting people playback ProRes 422 footage on systems without FCP 6 installed (but you still can't create ProRes files without FCP 6.) Here are the links to playback ProRes on Mac's and PC's.

Mac OS X 10.5: Creating and maintaining a bootable "universal" external disk
I didn't know you could do this:
You can make a "universally bootable" external hard disk that will work with both Mac OS X 10.5-compatible PowerPC-based Macs and Intel-based Macs.

Bluetooth Earpiece--2-way radio
Do production? Need to buy a bluetooth head set? Then consider the Dragon. It will work as a 2-way radio with another Dragon headset. They even sell a device that will allow you to link up to 5 Dragon headsets together. Probaby not the cheapest way to communicate with a crew, but it's nice that it will do double-duty as the wireless headset for you cellphone.


Making Compressor Multiprocessor Aware
This one of Larry Jordan's Tips of the Day. Uses QMaster to make virtual clusters on multi-processor systems.

Camera Blogwad

I seem to have a lot of posts about cameras even though this is supposed to be a blog about post-production. So I've been saving up some interesting links on cameras because I didn't think they warranted a post to themselves on my blog.

First Look: Sony HVR Series
Good info on the new Sony HVR-Z7 and HVR-S270 HDV cameras, as well as their companion deck, the HVR-M35. More detail on how Sony is doing progressive recording and playback with this gear.

CompactFlash Media Test Results
The HVR-Z7 and HVR-S270 will record HDV onto Compact Flash memory cards. But there are some performance issues, especially with cheaper cards. The test found delays in starting recording, dropouts, and even lockups.

Another review of the Sony PMW-EX1 at DV.com (registartion req'd.)

Three good posts from Adam Wilt at his new blog at the ProVideo Coalition:

Three three-letter cameras: EX1, F23, RED
The new Sony XDCAM EX1 and the $250,000 Sony HDCAM SR F23, versus the upstart Red.

Whither The HVX200?
Adam says: "Does the EX1 render the HVX200 obsolete? Don’t be too sure!"

2008 FAA rules on battery transport
Frankly, I don't understand all of this. But if you're a production person who travels on planes, then you should.

Interlacing

I spent 11 hours on Friday fixing a show, which was cut by an editor outside of Link, the day before air. One of the big problems with the show is that the editor didn't seem to have any concept of interlacing. For example, HDV and DV have different field order--HDV is upper field first, and DV is lower field first. You can't just throw them together in the same timeline without some processing. That processing is namely the "Shift Fields" filter. When editing HDV that's in the viewer into a DV sequence using the overwrite or insert command, FCP will automaticaly apply the Shift Fields filter with the correct setting--it also scales and distorts the video so it looks proper. However, I think if you just drag an HDV clip into a DV timeline, then FCP does not apply the filter, scale, and distort settings to the clip.

If you don't apply the shift field filter when you are mixing footage with different field orders, then you will got stuttery playback. Chris & Trish Meyer have a good write-up on fields along with all the particulars you need to know to handle interlacing in After Effects. Check out this article from ProVideo Coalition:
Field Order - Who’s on First?

I suspect that the show that I fixed was edited on an LCD monitor. FCP makes it easy enough to use a computer LCD to display footage that I think more and more people are doing without a video monitor. Some might even say that interlace is dead because 99% (not actual number) of new TV's are progressive anyway. Well, as long as you are delivering for standard-definition, then I think you have to got to look at your show on a CRT monitor that can properly display interlace (except for those rare cases, when you have a 24p show that is only going to DVD in standard-def.) There will be plenty of CRT TV's around for a long time, and plenty of broadcasters using 480i or DVD video encoded as 30i.

Capture HDV as ProRes 422

"Really? Capture HDV to ProRes in FCP? Over FireWire?! Yes!"
This is a short tutorial over at the Creative Cow about converting HDV to ProRes 422 during capture. Will give you an idea about how to do this and how it works.

Note that in the comments section, the author advises against reimporting the clips from the finder in order to rename them (something that is recommended in the article itself). The reason he changed his mind is that FCP 6 lets you rename clips and then changes the name of the media files to match--pretty cool.

More notes on this process here at Little Frog in High Def:
CAPTURING HDV AS PRORES...VIA FIREWIRE

Codecs and Editing

"When to stay in the native codec of the source, and when to convert to something else."
by Philip Hodgetts

Good article by Philip Hodgetts over at kenstone.net. A pretty thorough run-thru of recommendations of what codec to edit in based on what codec you shoot on. Also talks about how to convert to other codecs using the batch export command.

I wonder about his recommendation to convert HDV to ProRes 422 though. The article says to convert HDV to ProRes 422 either during capture if you'd got the hardware or by converting in FCP after capture. I would probably edit in the native codec, but render to ProRes 422. I've never been through the lengthy conforming that he describes HDV requires when you master back to HDV. Then again, I've never even posted in HD. But my thinking is that I'd rather save the storage by keeping footage in the more compressed HDV codec. (HDV is 25 mb/s while ProRes 422 for 1080 footage goes from 140 mb/s up to 220 mb/s.)

The article doesn't mention a workflow that we use at Link TV. Shoot on HDV, but use the deck to down-convert to DV. I think Sony's gear does a really good job on the down-conversion. I think it's better than what FCP does. I've captured some footage at HDV and then scaled it down in FCP to standard-def, and I don't think it looks as good as HDV down-converted in the deck. The article also covers the problems with DV in respect to color space.

[via StudioDaily Blog]

XDCAM EX Codec

I tracked down some more info about the codec used for the new Sony XDCAM PMW-EX1 camcorder. As you can see from the table above, there are two general recording codecs. The HQ model has a higher maximum bit rate that is variable and also includes different resolutions--either 1920x1080 or 1280x720. The SP mode is basically the same codec as HDV 1080 line variation that Sony uses in the Z1 and V1. It is a constant bit-rate at 25mb/s at a resolution of 1440x1080. The advantage of working in this mode is that the signal is compatible with gear that knows HDV, like FCP or an HDV deck. So that while shooting, you could record to a Sony HDV deck or you could record with capture now in FCP through firewire out on the camera.

Interestingly, the SP mode has the same limitations on variable frame rate as other Sony camcorders, like the V1. That is, you can record 24p (or really 23.98p) but it it recorded with pulldown into a regular 60i (29.97interlaced) signal. So to edit that in native 24 fps, you need to remove the pulldown, which is tricky to do (especially so if you want to keep your timecode.) It looks like the HQ mode handles real variable frame-rate, recording the signal in the frame-rate that you set and not trying to squeeze (or stretch) it into 30 interlaced fps. All XDCAM EX media files have a MP4 (MPEG-4) wrapper.

No DV or DVCam recording. The bad thing about that is that you could have squeezed a lot more video on the expensive SxS cards with support for standard definition recording. Prices are around $500 for 8GB and $900 for 16GB now. With 16GB of memory you get as little as 50 min. in HQ mode, and exactly 70 min. in SP mode.

We are still waiting for a direct interface for importing from the memory cards into FCP. I'm not sure if there is any support right now for the files on the memory card and FCP yet, but hopefully Apple is working on getting a good solution soon.

Here's a direct quote from the rather large PDF that I got this info from:

The SP mode supports 1440 x 1080 resolution at 25 Mb/s,
which provides compatibility with HDV 1080i products.
Footage recorded in the SP mode can be seamlessly
integrated into HDV-compatible editing systems by
connecting the camcorder via the i.LINKTM* (HDV)
interface. It can also be recorded on XDCAM HD's optical
disc through the use of the supplied Clip Browser software.

More Sony Camera Goodness

Update: More info is rolling out about these cameras, including official annoucements from Sony for the new HDV mini and the HDV Full. They don't have official names yet even, but I'm copying these names from this awesome webpage that covers just about every piece of HD gear that would be of interest to the prosumer markert called Frank's Thoughts on HDV. I'd also recommend this analysis of the new Sony HDV gear at IEBA blog.

Sony is promising some HDV cameras with interchangable lens in 2008. HD for Indies has a short post about it and a YouTube video from the IBC conference (where I got the images.) The posts only mentions a handycam model, but the video shows a shoulder-mount HDV camera too with interchangable lens. Seems like Sony is finally taking HDV seriously as a pro format. I haven't seen anything official from Sony on this yet. Interesting that these cameras have a 1/3" sensors, but the XDCAM EX has 1/2" sensors but a fixed lens (of course, there are some XDCAM HD cameras with interchangable lenses that cost over $10k.)

Neither Fish Nor Foul

Sony just announced a new HDV camera that is sort of a maddening combination of pro and consumer features. It's called the HVR-HD1000U.

The positives:
-Only $1900
-Shoulder-mounted (Sony's first for HDV)
-Either viewfinder or LCD screen apparently usable while shoulder-mounted

The drawbacks:
-The same CMOS chip used in their consumer cameras
-I don't see any XLR sockets on that thing
-No announcement for progressive shooting modes like on the V1

After working on a shoot this weekend in the bright California sun, I remembered the benefits of a good viewfinder (not sure if this is indeed a decent viewfinder.) Shoulder-mount is great for handheld shooting, but you have to deal with the bigger body size when lugging it around. No XLR audio is sort of a deal-breaker for me. Seems like this is mainly for wedding videographers. Available in Dec.

Update: Here is a good overview of what's lacking on this camera (e.g., good zoom lens), as well as something that I didn't know--Sony showed a pro HDV shoulder-mount mockup at NAB. Where's that, Sony? Also from the same site, a good, thoroughly-negative review of what's missing from one of Panasonic's "pro" cameras AG-HSC1U.

More Creative Cow on ProRes

"Part 2: ProRes for HDV, with a splash of Color"

More nitty gritty fromt the Creative Cow on using ProRes 422. Here's my big takeaway:

PPPS. Just so there's no question here: most (but not all) of you are certain that native HDV capture is the way to go. Skip AIC. Skip DVCPRO HD. Just render to ProRes.

PPPPS. Of course, some of this changes once we add a little Color.

So basically if you have HDV footage you can capture it as HDV over firewire, and don't need to think about how you would transcode it to ProRes or rig your system to capture it to ProRess, which you can't do while capturing over firewire. Capture to HDV, but render in the timeline to ProRes 422.

Apparently sending HDV to Color and then rendering back to ProRes is totally screwed up. All your clips get out of sync. Seems like Apple didn't put the kind of quality control into Color as they do FCP before releasing.

Also an interesting note about removing pulldown on 24p footage, as an update to my previous post. Compressor 3 has a smart pulldown remover where you don't have to worry about the cadence of the pulldown. The downside is that you lose timecode.

And the article says that capturing to standard-def ProRes 422 is OK on a Quad G5. But for HD ProRes you need at least a quad-core Intel.

Sony V1U and 24fps

"Editing the V1's 24p in Final Cut Pro: A Workaround"

The Sony V1U is the first HDV camera to shoot real 24 frames per second with 1080 lines of resolution. There's no native 24fps editing of this format in FCP (yet.) In the mean time, this article describes a workaround to edit in true 24fps mode your 24fps HDV 1080 footage. Basic description of the issues with pulldown and removing pulldown is in the article too
[via FresHDV]

UPDATE: HD for Indies has this post "Working with 24p for Canon HV20". Apparently, Compresor cannot reverse telecine fromt the HDV codec. Its reverse telecine won't work with interframe compression schemes. Thus you have to transcode the HDV footage to AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) or ProRes 422 to get get Compressor to reverse telecine.

What's New in FCP 6

Final Cut Studio 2 is now shipping. I don't know when I'll get my hands on it, but Apple has posted many of the manuals online. I took a look at the manual What's New in FCP 6. I've written before about my thoughts on FCS2 and FCP6, and here's some new things that jumped out at me after reading that manual.

SmoothCam Filter
This borrows Shake technology to steady shaky footage. This seems to be the only implementation of Shake in FCP according to the "What's New" manual. If so, then no great slo-mo's in FCP. Looks like you'll have to go to Motion for those.

Bloom FX
More FX's from Motion are coming to FCP. I like the Bloom filter and there are a few more.

Rendering Native HDV and XDCAM HD Sequences to the Apple ProRes 422 Codec
This is a new sequence preset. So as I discussed before here, it makes less and less sense to transcode HDV to another codec, like uncompressed, when capturing. With the Open Format Timeline you can load and cut your native HDV footage and then render in whatever codec you like (uncompressed, ProRes 422) when you want to filter or composite.

External Video Monitoring
This is very cool. I don't remember hearing about this capability when the new version was announced. Here's something I pulled from the manual:

You can now output to external video interfaces whose settings don’t match those of your sequence. Here are some examples of some of the possibilities:
-A DV or HDV sequence output to an SDI signal on a third-party interface
-An uncompressed NTSC or PAL sequence output to a DV FireWire output
-An HDV sequence output to a DV FireWire output

Before you had to rely on hardware from AJA or Kona to do stuff like this. Now FCP and your Mac's CPU will handle this. Of course, if you are throwing an Open Format Timeline and down-conversion at the CPU that's a fair amount of work. The better the chips you have, the more luck you'll have with this type of stuff. But I pretty much got a DeckLink card because I wanted the option of seeing HDV downconverted to SD (the Kona LS wouldn't do that.) Now Kona LS users will get this capability with FCP 6 if their computer is fast enough.

For more on the new manuals for Final Cut Studio, check out this post at HDforIndies.com.

Format Rundown

Here's a couple of good articles (Part 1 and Part 2) that runs through different formats on HD for Indies. The HDV section is really dated, but otherwise it's a good rundown on the basics on these formats technical-wise. Skips some newer formats like Sony's IMX codec, AVCHD, and AVC-Intra. I've actually found wikipedia isn't a bad place if you want to buff up on technical stuff like formats.

Here's what's covered:
DV
DVCPRO50
Digibeta
HDV 720 (JVC) vs. HDV 1080i (Sony)
DVCPRO HD
HDCAM
D-5
HDCAM SR

Consumer HD Cameras

Camcorderinfo.com does a great job of reviewing consumer and prosumer camcorders. Check out their "The Great HD Shoot-Out". It seems like the consumer HDV cameras are performing well. They like the new Canon HV-20. They say it has a great image and nice performances features like true 24fps. They also like the Sony HDR HC-7. Panasonic and JVC are trying out some new formats--AVCHD and MPEG-2 respectively--with not as much success as Sony and Canon. For pros, it looks like these cameras could be useful as a cheap B-cam or when something small and/or inconspicuous is desired.

ProRes 422: Apple New's High-Quality Codec for Post

I think that I downplayed the significance of ProRes 422 in my write-up of Final Cut Studio 2. After doing some more research, it seems like a real great codec. I just read an Apple white paper on ProRes 422 (PDF file) for lots of good detail on what I think is a big addition to FCS.

Here's Apple's summary of what's so great about ProRes 422:
Enter Apple ProRes 422, a new format designed for pristine HD quality, economical hardware confi gurations, yet high-performance, multistream Final Cut Pro real-time editing—for both high-defi nition (HD) and standard-defi nition (SD) formats. Apple ProRes 422 features:
• The quality of uncompressed HD at data and storage rates lower than uncompressed SD.
• Performance comparable to or better than the existing HD codecs in Final Cut Pro.
• The ability to work with HD on slower drives, and with more users on shared storage.

In my FCS2 write-up, I thought that ProRes 422 was all about the the $3500 AJA IO HD. But Apple says in the white paper, "Capture ProRes 422 in real time from any HD-SDI source." OK. I'm used to having Blackmagic or AJA point out support for specific codecs with their hardware, and I haven't heard any mention from them about supporting ProRes 422 (except for the IO HD.) But for the time being, I'm going to take Apple at its word.

But ProRes 422 isn't just for folks with those super-expensive decks with HD-SDI outputs. Apple mentions that you can mix ProRes 422 in a timeline with native HDV footage:
"Through a new user preference in Final Cut Pro 6.0, the editor can choose to render projects in HDV and XDCAM HD using ProRes 422. This will result in faster rendering time and a higher-quality 4:2:2 composite. For projects that are mastering to HD-SDI, ProRes 422 is the perfect rendering choice. "

So capture your HDV in its native codec, low-bit rate codec (lower bit-rate than ProRes 422). But then don't render effects in highly-compressed MPEG-2 codec. FCP 6 doesn't mind having HDV and ProRes 422 in the same timeline. Well, this changes a lot of my thinking about editing HDV in other codecs as the best way to post it The new ability to mix codecs in the same timeline, really means capture in the native codec if you can (no conversion/transcoding and you don't have to use more bit-rate or storage on a higher bit-rate codec until you render something.) And you don't need some 5-drive RAID to play back those high-quality renders--my guess is that a G-RAID will play back the highest bit-rate ProRes 422 fine.

ProRes 422 also support 720x486 standard-definition resolution. This is a 4:2:2, 10-bit codec at rates comparable to DVCPro50 and IMX 50, which are only 8-bit codecs. So Apple doesn't mention how you can capture SD into ProRes 422. It seems like again it is a good option for rendering at the least.

So again:
-For all intensive purposes, visually lossless
-HD quality at SD files sizes
-Do more with your video--your drives can feed you more streams and the processors can handle the footage faster than uncompressed

Apple also alludes to support from Sony, Panasonic, and RED. It would be interesting to have some of these tapeless cameras capture directly to ProRes 422 if it really is such a great codec, but it's not clear what other manufacturers might do with the new codec.

More on ProRes 422:
Studio Daily: "EXCLUSIVE VIDEO DEMO: ProRes 4:2:2"
Apple Insider: "A closer look at Apple's new ProRes 422 video format"