HD For Indies

Flip4Mac - MXF import component for QuickTime

I don't quite get why this is supposed to be so helpful - it lets you import IMX footage, which FCP 5 can already do. I think the clue may be that it does it on a file basis - you're pulling files off the XDCAM disc rather than ingesting as video. This is, of course, a guess, until I learn more as well...there's always plenty to learn.

UPDATE - THIS IS WRONG - FCP 5 CAN'T IMPORT MXF BASED IMX FROM XDCAM ON SONY EVTR NATIVELY - SEE WEDNESDAY'S UPDATE ABOVE

Toshiba, Canon Bet on New Flat-Panel TV Technology - Yahoo! News new factory won't be online until 2007, but it's nice to see their putting their money behind it.

Apple - Support - Downloads - QuickTime 7.0.1 - supposedly has something beneficial for Final Cut Studio (couldn't resist blogging just a little bit - it's my addicition)

MacNN | MegaPEG.X Pro HD 3.0 with "videophile" decoder encode/decode/transcode MPEG-1 & MPEG-2, including HD res MPEG-2 via Quicktime Exporter.

Gutting the studio - I've pulled all computer stuff out of the studio and am plotting out how to lay it all back in, but still be able to install/deinstall hardware conveniently, but still be able to bring clients over without describing it as "Umm...it's my lab." I've been doing some Deep Think about What I Want To Do, at a much bigger scale than just what I do on this site.

That Direct To Disk solution? Technically possible, financially viable, practically implausible (too big, heavy, and tethered), and pointless - the market for it is tiny, and those in the market are almost by definition poor. So not worth chasing.

Consulting? So little consulting comes in from the site that it virtually doesn't matter. I get lots of questions, but when I mention that I might like to be compensated for my time 90+% of it dries up and blows away. I need to pursue it in a drastically different way.

I want to get back to focusing on the high end stuff. While it's fun and I could have a moderately successful website (based on traffic, not derived income) based on HDV etc., it's not where I want to spend my time.

So I'm guessing the endgame on this will be something like:

-far fewer postings on news stuff - it's called RSS folks, you can do it as well as I have been

-far more focused writing - fewer posts, but longer and more analytical. More original content, not just links.

-more focus on higher end workflows - maybe starting with HDV or other low end origination, but finishing in uncompressed, etc. More focus on film-like production stuff.

-and I don't know what else, but definitely changes.

I'm still learning more about my Dell 2405 monitor..and I'm not so thrilled. Some low points:

-people are consistently having trouble playing back DVDs on these over the component video inputs (the best input for video, not computer, input). Apparently, the Macrovision signal throws off the sync, so nothing shows on the screen

-folks are also having trouble playing back 16:9 content - even though the display has 1:1, Aspect, & Fill modes, none of them properly handle 16:9 standard definition content

-I don't know if it's my own unit, as I've only seen one mention of it on the Dell & hardforums.com sites, but I get lines/bands in the video image when viewing HD content over the component inputs. Within 10-15 minutes it makes the monitor useless to evaluate content - wavy lines throughout. White type wobbles & vibrates side to side

-If I do want to call tech support, many people are complaining of hugely long wait times and utterly inept/poorly trained support staff they are connected to in India, who are working from a script and have never seen the equipment in question. Situations like "my monitor makes a high pitched whine when I turn it on" are responded to with "Reinstall Windows." to which the user replies "I'm on a Mac. It makes the sound with no computer attached." Support's response: reinstall Windows again? OK maybe not that bad, but lots of folks are complaining bitterly about crappy support.

At this point I'm torn - I could attempt to get a replacement, as a computer monitor this is pretty good - no dead pixels. Somebody claims to be have been shipped a refurb as a replacement for a faulty new unit. I need to decide whether I'm going to keep this one and just write off the video inputs as useless, or roll the dice and possibly face a lot of headaches trying to get a replacement. I deeply, utterly, abhorrently LOATHE dealing with inept tech support. I'm not the smartest guy at all this stuff, but it just makes my brain throb to talk knowledgeably with tech support who doesn't know anything but the script in front of them.

-mike

Ynetnews - Money - Scandal shocks business world In light of last post, more reasons why I like my Mac....widespread industrial espionage going on in Israel - via spyware on Wintel boxes.

-mike

Intel adds DRM to new chips | MacMegasite Interesting. Intel is saying they are going to support Microsoft's DRM (Digital Rights Management) right at the motherboard/processor level. In THEORY this is good news for appropriate rights protection. In practice, I think it'll be further closure of the Fair Use doctrine. Intel isn't saying how it works, wanting security through obscurity. Another major feature that was announced was the ability to reload the operating system and administer the machine remotely, REGARDLESS of the operating system used by this Intel motherboard/processor combo. How long until the hackers figure a way into THAT? Viral based extortion? "Send us $XXXXX and we'll be able to recover your drive (....that we hosed via virus)." Not that it isn't possible now, just more damage possible remotely.

The article ends on an over-the-top pro-Mac bit of advocacy.

But overall, motherboard based DRM should give Hollywood/content owners greater confidence about the security of the DRM implemented. Of course, how strong, robust, defensible, bypassable, etc. this DRM is remains to be seen.

-mike

Spent yesterday with Nick Smith from Matchframe finally getting into, and starting to understand, how Final Touch HD works. I'm going to hold off on my detailed commentary until I talk to the company some more, but a few thoughts:

Wow, this is NOT a typical Mac application. The intended user base is colorists that may be used to, or may be expecting, an interface like this that looks like a Unix operating environment. As a Mac user, I find it confusing, awkward, frustrating, and glitchy - simple things like entering file names to save don't work the way you'd expect until you click off the name then click save. Just clicking save will save it as Untitled, not what you have in the dialog. This is the same in 1.07 and in 2.0b2. It's not as real time as I thought - it's easy to do stuff that brings it below realtime.

Today, I've been doodling with codecs - recreating what Marco Solario has done on his site but with the new codecs from Apple. Based on what I'm seeing so far, I'm not thrilled that BlackMagic is moving to Apple's codecs for 10 bit workflows. AIC, DVCPRO HD, and HDV all predictably don't fare anywhere near as well as the uncompressed codecs. There are substantial differences, even between the uncompressed codecs. All interesting stuff. I'll post some stills in the near future. I've also found some glitches displaying codecs in After Effects 6.5 under 10.4.1 (don't know if it does elsewhere) - the Apple Uncompressed 8 bit codec does not display if your After Effects 6.5 project is set to 16 bits, and Sheer's 10 bit 444 codec gets some crazy prismatic aberations if you look at it in a 16 bit project. Both are fine if you change project settings back to 8 bits/channel.

More thorough reporting by Monday...

-mike

Still Hope for Next-Gen DVD Accord - Yahoo! News Yeah but...they're talking about a merged format AFTER the initial hardware ships...which will be expensive....and prohibitively expensive to adopt if a merged format is due. If players were $100 to maybe $200 apiece, I might buy one of each. They are far more likely to be closer to $1000. As big a geeky technofetishist as I am, I'm NOT buying one or two of those, only to have them supplanted by a new common format.

The article makes a mistake in my opinion - they are implying one is slightly better than the other (probably based on Sony's greater capacity with Blu-Ray), and thinking that has something to do with the "quality" of the video. NOT TRUE. BOTH HD DVD and Blu-Ray will use the exact same encoding technologies. There will be no QUALITATIVE difference in the video, only QUANTITATIVE differences. You'll be able to fit more video on a Blu-Ray disc than an HD DVD in their intially specified sizes. But since both will be ample to hold a feature length film and (some) extras, it's a matter of how many extras could be squeezed onto the discs, not the quality of what's placed on there. The astute will note that you can compress more to fit more video on the disc, and that affects video quality; but again, since sizes are ample to fit the feature in high quality on there, that's a moot point.

Good gawd, that is just LAZY analysis on the part of the writer for not understanding the issues.

Bunch of little things of interest:

Ampede 1.1b - VersionTracker useful FCP plugin to render Illustrator and PDF files smoothly, even when scaled. Useful for graphics and titles

Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4 recommendations for BlackMagic DeckLink cards

Media 100 sw - free time limited demo of software only version of Media 100 video editing software. I still think these guys are waiting to die.

celtx - Overview - script writing software that allows for breakdowns and stuff. I don't know beans about scriptwriting software, so read the following...

From FD to MMS: "Craig Mazin of Artful Writer has had enough headaches (and heartaches) with Final Draft. He's switched over to Movie Magic Screenwriter. You can read about his reasons why here, followed by a lot of opinions from fellow screenwriters"

--------
The Artful Writer: Dear Final Draft: GOODBYE: "Dear Final Draft: GOODBYE

Every vocation has its gear debates. I drummed for a while, and nothing's more amusing than listening to musicians scream at each other about which company makes a better tube lug.

There%u2019s really only one gear debate in screenwriting.

Final Draft vs. Movie Magic Screenwriter.

Before you comment about how you still use some other suck-ass program or, God forbid, Microsoft Word, let me dismiss you quickly and preemptively with a %u201Cfeh%u201D.

Not interested."

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johnaugust.com Survey up for screenwriting software: "The ongoing conversation about screenwriting software, prompted by the release of Final Draft 7.0, has gotten a lot of readers wondering why a better program isn%u2019t out there. After all, compared with the complexity of editing video or managing a website, simply formatting a script should be cake. It%u2019s just words, after all. And there%u2019s no shortage of good ideas for what the ideal screenwriting software should do."

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Grey_Scale_Imaging_Performance - best part is the opening post, guy talking about the F900 vs Viper tests they did for Collateral. The rest has a low wheat/chaff ratio IMHO.

Gross Misunderstanding - Forget about the box office. By Edward Jay Epstein: "These numbers tell the story. Ticket sales from theaters provided 100 percent of the studios' revenues in 1948; in 2003, they accounted for less than 20 percent. Instead, home entertainment provided 82 percent of the 2003 revenues. In terms of profits, the studios can make an even larger proportion from home entertainment since most, if not all, of the theatrical revenues go to pay for the prints and advertising required to get audiences into theaters. (Video, DVDs, and TV have much lower marketing costs.)This profit reality has transformed the way Hollywood operates. Theatrical releases now essentially serve as launching platforms for videos, DVDs, network TV, pay TV, games, and a host of other products. "

A good read to understand the true nature of Hollywood entertainment today.

Best way to migrate to Tiger & FCP 5 - get a second hard drive and install there, so you can still back off to 10.3.x and FCP 4.5 HD. This article gives a nice step by step guide on how to do it, with screen grabs and everything. Very well timed, since a lot of folks are getting their upgrades right now.

-mike

Remote HD Engineering

Kelly Dodds sent me an email to point this out. Here's what he had to say:

For the film "THE CAVE", they had a remote HDCAM SR head wired by fibre to a deck 2 kilometers away. That SR deck fed a DVCAM for offline, which fed a powerbook with FCP, and they used iChat for dailies. SWEET! (And how I'd do it).


Which just goes to show you, there's no one "correct" answer for how to shoot something - you need to look at the whole shooting scenario and analyze what's best for your circumstances. I'm looking forward to seeing how this looks up on screen.

-mike

Toshiba sees eventual unified DVD format - Yahoo! News

Both sides are saying that they foresee having both formats - HD DVD and Blu-Ray - on store shelves at the same time. For all the concerns about avoiding VHS/Betamax...here we go again.

-mike

There have been several reports in the media about Apple meeting with Intel, spurring rumors that Apple might be contemplating switching to Intel processors, or at least using the threat of that to lean on IBM to push harder for improvements. Even analysts are saying this, out loud, in English, to reporters. Amazing.

This is crap.

If Apple and Intel are meeting, who says it's about processors for desktop systems? Intel makes LOT of electronics besides main system CPUs.

Consider this: IF Apple were entirely fed up with IBM, and was committed to switching over to Intel, they'd have to:

1.) Redesign their hardware, substantially. The current motherboard and bus architecture (HyperTransport) is incompatible with Pentium 4 chips as I understand it.

2.) Assuming they were able to redesign all of their hardware, they'd then have to rewrite the OS. Or, at most optimistically, recompile for Intel, tossing out all of their PowerPC optimized code. I hear a lot of people saying Altivec is crap, it doesn't do much good...until you get into video and audio processing, at which point it can make a SUBSTANTIAL difference.

3.) After they re-wrote all of their OS code (or recompiled and optimized), they'd have to re-write, or recompile and re-optimize all of their own applications. iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWorks, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Sountrack, Logic, Shake, LiveType, etc., etc., etc., Lots of stuff.

4.) Oh, and then they'd have to convince all the other developers to rewrite/recompiile & re-optimize THEIR code. "Hey Adobe, would you mind porting (which is what this would really be) Photoshop to Intel OS X?"

5.) Assume all of the above has been done. Now developers have to support TWO code bases - one for PowerPC, one for Intel. At least 4 processors in play, easily 7 or 8 in the next coupla years as more dual core chips come out.

6.) Oh, and lastly, Apple would have to convince us, the existing users, to buy new computers to use this new stuff. Let's pretend the hardware and software add up to be incredibly convincing - let's pretend, for completely illogical reasons, that the combo runs twice as fast as the equivalent PC at a comparable price, so that we all want to. We now have to buy new computers for thousands of dollars.

7.) Oh, and on these new computers, we'd need new software. So go out and buy/crossgrade/upgrade ALL of the software you have to work on the new box.

8.) Now there is a mix of existing customers on PowerPC hardware, and new customers on Intel OS X hardware. The industry would have to continue to develop for BOTH systems for a few years during transition.

9.) This has been done before - the Mac moved from the Motorola 020/030/040 line (forget what they're called) to the PowerPC line. Emulation was carried out so that the old stuff would run, marginally, on the new hardware. So let's pretend there's a good PowerPC emulator built into the new Intel based OS X (another huge task for Apple to undertake), so you CAN run your old stuff, but you need to buy new stuff to run full speed. But it took some companies YEARS to get new versions of their applications out for the newer, faster processors.

10.) And how many years of development would it take to make this transition? How much money, and how far behind would Apple fall if they pursued this direction, rather than staying the course with PowerPC? The salient question is this - how many years in the future would you have to look forward to find the date at which the new stuff was faster at the same cost rather than if Apple continued on with PowerPC? And not just in terms of hardware, but in terms of SOLUTIONS - hardware and software that is optimized and shipping? At least 3 or 4 I'd imagine, at best. And how many developers would they lose in the transition, based purely on "If it's going to be THAT much more expensive to support the Mac (now on two different codebases for two VERY different hardware architectures), we're going to bail on this already small segment of the market, now that Apple has effectively further subdivided it." Just because it'd be on Intel hardware wouldn't be any great incentive for current developers to develop for Intel OS X. How similar would it be to Unix/Linux on Intel? How much more appealing would this make it to do it on there? Dunno.

So do I think Intel OS X is likely?

Umm...no.

Not gonna happen.

Not unless IBM ground to a complete halt in terms of processor progress, and Apple felt that the pain of the above scenario was preferable to sticking with IBM. And things would have to be very, VERY grim before it looked worthwhile to go under that knife and cut out the still pumping heart of PowerPC architecture from Macs.

-mike

ATI Brings HDTV to the PC - Connected Home News - Designtechnica
-the next (or some future) generation of ATI graphics cards will have H.264 hardware acceleration. In much the same way that current graphics cards often have hardware MPEG-2 decoding, they're going to add H.264 decoding to future Radeon cards, so that they can decode high def DVDs on the fly. How much we can access that in other applications, such as editing apps & compositing apps, remains to be seen. This is cool.

-mike

...so after the last posting, I thought I'd try some more stuff.

If you drop HDV or DVCPRO HD 1080i60 on a 1080i60 uncompressed timeline, even "just" an 8 bit one, it won't play back without rendering. Same as always. Most likely due to scaling issues - 1920 pixel wide uncompressed doesn't jive well with 1280 or 1440 pixel wide compressed formats - the compressed formats have to be scaled up, and that's too much to do in real time with everything else going on. Maybe someday with CoreVideo help, but not today.

HDV, even on a dual 2.5 GHz G5 with ATI X800 card, requires rendering if you insist on setting Quality and FrameRate at High, rather than Dynamic (as well as Safe RT rather than Unlimited RT). If you drop to Dynamic Quality, it'll play back acceptably, even via the HD-SDI on a BlackMagic card (AJA Kona2 testing coming soon!) Dropping to Unlimited RT gives a yellow bar, which basically means "I think so but no promises, I may drop frames" in both HDV and DVCPRO HD (1080i60 both).

There are three settings in the timeline that affect playback performance vs quality:

1.) Safe vs Unlimited RT - Safe is the "This'll work, I'm pretty damned confident." Unlimited RT is "this ought to work, but I'm not promising." There's almost certainly a more sophisticated meaning and analysis to be gleaned from that, but I'm not sure. My understanding is that Safe RT shoots for flawless performance, and if it can't do it, marks it as needing to be rendered and refuses. Safe RT is the perfectionst. Unlimited RT goes for it, even if it has to drop frames or compromise. This trade off already existed in version 4.5.

(New to version 5.0 is Dynamic RT, which has the following two components)

2.) Playback Video Quality - you get 4 choices: Dynamic (adjusts on the fly to do what it can, dropping resolution in order to maintain frame rate), and then three absolute quality settings: High, Medium, and Low. Not all codecs offer all these choices.

3.) Playback Frame Rate: has three choices: Dynamic (again adjusts for the best it can do), Full, Half, & Quarter.

On my dual 2.5 GHz G5, running 10.4.1, with an ATI X800 and 3.5 GB RAM, a BlackMagic Decklink HD Pro with v5.0b1 drivers and Final Cut Pro 5, here's what I learned:

HDV Realtime Performance

This is testing with 1080i60 HDV. 1080i50 may be different, and 720p30 definitely will (so much less math involved there).

Starting with a demand for best possible quality - with Safe RT, Full Video Quality, & Full Frame Rate, HDV doesn't want to do a realtime cross dissolve. Probably due to the funky long GOP nature of MPEG-2.

BUT, it is happy to do realtime high qualty color correction, no matter which knobs and sliders you play with in the 3 way Color Corrector.

A two second cross dissolve took about 19 seconds between two otherwise unaltered HDV 1080i60 clips, so transitions render roughly 10:1. A 1 second cross dissolve will take about 10 seconds, etc.

A two second cross dissolve, when both clips have heavy color correction (all knobs and sliders changed), took just under 25 seconds. So about 12:1 for rendering transitions with color corrections on both clips.

So how does DVCPRO HD fare in comparison?

Opening up the 1080i60 DVCPRO HD Sampler that Apple has distributed at various events, I made sure I was set to Safe RT, Full Quality, Full Frame Rate - best it can do for RT.

Cross dissolves between two otherwise unaltered clips are realtime, green bar above ("all OK"). Adding a 3 way Color Corrector effect to one of the clips in the transition stays realtime IF AND ONLY IF you don't move any of the four sliders below the color wheels, including saturation (this is different from my uncompressed HD tests). So you can push black/white/midtone colors around, just don't adjust any sliders, otherwise it'll require rendering when set to Safe RT/Full Quality & Frame Rate. Adding a color correction to the second clip in the transition doesn't change the transition's rendering status.

Changing from Safe RT to Unlimited RT makes the above scenario - one clip in transition has a color correction - change from red (rendering required) to yellow (it might work) over just the transition, not the clip itself. Adding a 3 way color correction to the second shot doesn't change the transition's rendering status either. Playing it back, it drops frames with this setup. Changing Quality to Dynamic plays back without dropping frames, and if it's reducing video quality I can't tell.

If I leave RT set to Safe RT, and only change Video Quality to Dynamic, the effect changes to green - it'll do it, but it may drop video quality.

So it looks like cross dissolves are the hard part - the 3 way color corrector is pretty much a free ride, do whatever you want there, unless you want to cross dissolve at the same time, in which case drop to Dynamic Quality.

Dynamic RT is going to save a LOT of time in the editing process.

Basically, realtime effects were "brittle" before - yes or no, works or breaks. Now they are more flexible, employing graceful degradation - if it can't do a perfect job, you can set it up to gracefully degrade just a little bit if it can almost do the task, or degrade quality/framerate a lot if you're asking a lot of it (or asking a lot for your box).

You can also adjust your realtime performance in another place - go into the Sequence Settings, under the Video Processing tab, and change the the Motion Filtering Quality between Fastest (linear), Normal, and Best. Turning it down to Fastest will buy you a bit more realtime performance, although you will probably need to drop to Dynamic Frame Rate to get it to work realtime. Don't forget to turn it back up to Best and re-rende all your effects before you master your program, however.

Amazing what you can learn when you dig around. I have yet to crack open an FCP 5 manual. Who knows what I'll learn then!

: )

-mike

Did some testing, here's what this posting covers:

-mixing 8 & 10 bit, Apple & Blackmagic codecs on one timeline - what's RT and not, under what circumstances?
-Render times for color correction and transitions
-relative render times of 8 vs. 10 bit timelines & footage
-render disks - does speed make a difference in how fast renders take?
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I'd heard of folks successfully mixing different codec footage on a single timeline for SD stuff.

So I decided to mess with it for HD stuff.

Some notes:

-if you make a 10 bit sequence (4:2:2) using the Apple Uncompressed 10 Bit Codec, and drop 8 bit footage onto it, the 8 bit footage gets a red render bar and doesn't play back at all (blue/black screen with "Unrendered" on it)

-interestingly, all of the new Dynamic RT settings are NOT available on a 10 bit sequence. Your only choice is Full Quality checkmarked on or...still checkmarked on.

Mixing 8/10 bit and Apple/Blackmagic codecs on the same timelines

I started doing some testing that got confusing, so I did this:

I took 2 clips of the same footage that I already had:
-BlackMagic 8 bit 2vuy (4:2:2)
-BlackMagic 10 bit (4:2:2)
Using those as starting points, I converted them using the following Compressor Advanced Format Conversions:
-HD Uncompressed 10 bit 1080p24
-HD Uncompressed 9-bit 1080p24

So I now had 4 clips.

I made 4 comps, two from presets and two "illegal" ones

Legal:

HD Uncompressed 10 bit
HD Uncompressed 8 bit

Illegal

Blackmagic codec 10 bit
Blackmagic codec 8 bit

Then I dropped all four clips onto all timelines.

Here's what I learned about which did or didn't play back (fine or with red line requiring rendering). All are 1920x1080, square pixels, 23.98 timebase:

"OK" means no red line, and a quick test showed it playing back full speed.
"red" means it showed a red "requires rendering" line and

Apple Uncompressed 8 bit timeline
(playback quality and frame rate both set to "High")

Apple 8 bit: OK *
Apple 10 bit OK *
BMD 8 bit: oddly, red
BMD 10 bit: OK *

* (I could apple 3way color corrector and do anything BUT adjust sliders under color wheels and NOT get a render bar. COULD adjust saturation though)

-turns out this is the most interesting new twist.

-in this sequence, applying a cross dissolve between two Apple Uncompressed clips, one 8 bit the other 10 bit, required a render, even with NO other effects added to those two clips. Applying a 1 second cross dissolve betwen these two clips (with no CC or other FX) took 5 1/2 seconds (stopwatched) on my dual 2.5 GHz G5. Same render status with all other combinations of uncompressed Apple/BMD 8/10 bit codecs - rendering required on an Apple Uncompressed 8 bit timeline.

-dropping the Playback Quality to Dynamic gave a green render bar - it will simply cut the resolution in half to render it on the fly in realtime


Apple Uncompressed 10 bit timeline:

Apple 8 bit: red
Apple 10 bit: OK
BMD 8 bit: red
BMD 10 bit: OK

-there are no Dynamic RT choices with 10 bit - the only RT option applies to tape output, not timeline playback.

-a 1 sec cross dissolve between two Apple Uncompressed 10 bit clips took 12 seconds on my dual 2.5 GHz G5 (two and a half times longer than 8 bit!)

BMD 8 bit timeline (Blackmagic 8 bit (2Vuy) codec):

Apple 8 bit: red
Apple 10 bit: red
BMD 8 bit: OK
BMD 10 bit: red

Again, no Dyamic RT options here.

BMD 10 bit timeline (Blackmagic 10 Bit (DV10) codec, not the one used in v4.5):

Apple 8 bit: red
Apple 10 bit: red
BMD 8 bit: red
BMD 10 bit: red

This is a bogus test - the older Blackmagic 10 bit codec is unavailable in FCP 5 with the v5.0b1 BMD drivers. BMD really expects you to use the Apple Uncompressed codec.

Lesson learned: Dynamic RT offers one advantage for uncompressed HD work: you can put Apple Uncompressed 10 bit footage on an Apple Uncompressed 8 bit timeline and get RT performance. But that's it - still no RT stuff in a natively 10 bit timeline, regardless of whose uncompressed 10 bit codec you use.

10 bit rendering takes LOTS longer than 8 bit rendering. Applying the exact same ugly color correction, where I moved ALL color wheels and sliders (for a craptastic look), took this long on two setups of the same footage, one 8 bit version one 10 bit version (23 sec 3 frame clip):

Apple 8 bit sequence, Apple 8 bit codec: 1 min, 10 secs (70 secs to render on a 23.125 sec long seqence, so a 3:1 rendering ratio)

Apple 10 bit sequence, Apple 10 bit codec: 2 min, 55 secs (70 secs to render on a 23.125 sec long seqence, so a 7.5:1 rendering ratio)

Yowch - so in FCP 5, 10 bit rendering takes 2 1/2 times longer than 8 bit rendering.

I don't know how much difference it makes, but I'm using a 4xSeagate 400 array on a Sonnet Tempo X 4+4 SATA card striped into a RAID 0 with SoftRAID 3.1.3.

BlackMagic Disk Speed Test run on this almost full array (170 GB free of 1.46 TB) gave 90 MB/sec reads, 162 MB/sec writes.

Render Disks - does speed make a difference?

For compressed SD render disk speed doesn't matter, it's CPU bound. For uncompressed HD, dunno...let's find out!

I reset the scratch disk for renders to my cheapie little 120 GB drive I bought at Fry's for an alternaboot volume - a Maxtor 6Y120MO 120 GB.

Apple 8 bit timeline, Apple 8 bit clip - 1 min, 16 secs - took 6 seconds longer, or 8.5% longer for the Maxtor vs. the 4 disk array.

Apple 10 bit timeline, Apple 10 bit clip - 3 min 1 secs - took 6 seconds longer again, or 3.4% longer for the Maxtor vs. the 4 disk array.

For comparison purposes, I ran the Blackmagic disk speed test on the solo 120 GB - it performed at 46 MB/sec reads, 44 MB/sec writes.

An empty 4 disk array, or an 8 disk array would, I suspect, widen the advantage, but not by much I'd guess. It seems fairly clear that with a 2x read advantage and a nearly 4x write advantage (and rendering involves readng and writing), that Video Render scratch disk doesn't make a difference in render speeds. It definitely makes a difference in how many simultaneous tracks you can play back simultaneously (even if that number of tracks is or is not only 1 track).

An interesting test - for SD and compressed HD work, would renders be as fast over a GigE network as locally? I've done some heavy computation After Effects rendering tests in the past and network (even reading from a single drive) was about as fast as local disk performance for the very computationally intensive stuff I was doing.

OK, enough for today. Time to go run in the 93 degree heat. Welcome to Austin! Crematoria is just down the block - "If I owned this place and Hell, I'd rent out this place and live in Hell." Well, I only feel that way during the summer, when I'm foolish enough to run at the hottest time of the day. By August I'll be used to it. Or dead.

Whee! :D

-mike, who wishes his conveyance would glow smoky red when he arrived at his scorched blacktop destination. Party Poppers would be cool, too, for sudden stops.

PS - (did anybody else notice that the Big Red Button for the retro jets was actually labelled "Party Poppers?" Somebody in props had fun) You'll get respect, and maybe a freebie question answered, if you know the name of that ship.

eCinema Systems, Inc. Martin finally got a page up about his new 23" LCD. It's VERY expensive, but should be viewed as a replacement for a studio HD CRT, not a desktop computer monitor. He built his own guts for the thing, and I had a long talk with him about accuracy and repeatability. If you turn it on, it'll be within a half a human color perceptual unit as compared to any other one of these in the world according to him. So basically, it's more consistent than your eye can discern. It will display a true 23.976 fps. With the proper input box that they make, you can load 3D LUTs.

About 600:1 contrast, SDI and HD-SDI inputs. Handles all video standards HD & SD. About 4 1/2 inches deep, 22 pounds. Much less costly than the big 24p capable Sony.

Stuff like this is the future of digital color correction I think. The biggest limitation at the moment is the LCD panels - we need brighter whites and darker blacks and faster pixel response time.

Why is this the future? Smaller, lighter, more consistent than CRTs, with more stable color, and doesn't require regular visits from an engineer to calibrate.

When I talked to a couple of colorists, however, both said the biggest barrier to adoption would be techno-balk. Colorists would balk at working on an LCD no matter how good it actually is based on what they've always heard about LCDs, and clients would balk at walking into a suite that purports to do serious color work but has an LCD panel up there.

So it's a marketing education issue as well.

-mike

PS - I emailed Martin about pricing and he sent this back:

MSRP for the DCM23 is $14,995.

The DCM23 is a complete system. In other words, just like you would buy a BVM-D24. The price includes everything you need to use it as a video monitor. It also includes a sophisticated graticule generator.

The two boxes are sold separately for applications where they are needed as separate items (for example, to drive a 2K DLP projector with 3D LUT's.).

The EDP100A starts at $6,295
The EDP200 starts at $12,995

You don't need to purchase either of the above for the basic DCM23 package.


I was still confused about how this was going to work and what was required, so I asked again exactly what's the dealio and he patiently wrote this back:


Some things may have changed since NAB. It's often the case with new
products and prototypes (which is what I showed at NAB).

The DCM23 will be sold as a package only. The initial package includes
everything you need to do single-link HD/SD video monitoring. Effectively,
it includes a specialized version of the EDP100A, with all the features it
has and then some.

So, it is a system a one-stop solution.

In that context, doing 3D LUT work should become clearer. Just like with a
conventional Sony CRT monitor, any LUT work becomes an external function,
requiring an additional box. In this case that's the EDP200.

Yes, I'll be updating the website with configuration data.


...so it comes as monitor and EPD100A, if you want 3D LUTs that's another external box, which costs $13K more. Eek. At that point, you're getting into Sony BVM-D24 (the big 24p capable CRT) pricing territory, which has better contrast, but requires more care and feeding, and doesn't come with 3D LUT capabilities....which cost.

Martin emailed back about 3D LUT stuff:


On the 3DLUT matter. Keep in mind that no 3D LUT solution exists much below
about US$30K...and this might not include software, calibration equipment or
related services. In fact, many DI houses have spent well over $75K in 3D
LUT systems after paying for the monitor or projector. A high-grade
spectrophotometer is in the $20K to $30K range. It's a high-dollar game no
matter how you look at it.

And so, if you purchase a BVM-D24 for $26K to $32K (depending on where and
who you are), you still have to spend another $30K to $75K to get into 3D
LUT work. The DCM23 + EDP200 solution opens the door for many others to
start applying these advanced techniques.

The EDP200 will not be available for a few months, all pricing at this point
is preliminary and subject to change.

-Martin


-mike

DVD Insider: Singing the Blu's Good article on the state of the HD DVD/Blu-Ray standoff....for those who care.

Lots of folks say that the two technology approaches are holding things up from getting burners, recorders and media to the market and making it hugely successful. But that runs counter to logic since the organizations are working really hard to see how they can make the units—profitably—for sale under $1,000 and to make media that is priced under $35 per disc.


It also talks about IF there is a compromise format, it'll delay rollout for about a year. Ouch. How tough and expensive would it be to make a double optical system player to do both? Harder than the Sony DVD+/-R solution to the DVD conundrum - HD DVD puts it's data in the middle of the disk, Blu-Ray uses a smaller spot laser and puts it's data up close to the surface of the disc with a 0.1 mm protective coating (hullo, scratches, anyone?).

Lest you forget there is one little item that also needs to be solved—content protection. The approach that currently has broadcasters’ and content owners’ blessing is the Advanced Access Content System (AACS). This is designed to control digital rights on downloading movies, burning them to DVDs , sharing them at home or using them in your portable/car video players. Hi-Def content won’t be delivered until this protection has been hammered out. And you can be certain that the music industry is working on a similar solution to get the horse back in the barn.


That'll be interesting to see how it gets worked out - does this mean my OS and OS level video software (QuickTime and Windows Media) have to be able to recognize, honor, and track DRM throughout? Ugh. Time/hassle/complication.

NewsBits for Wednesday, May 25th:

(keep reading, I added some stuff if you read this earlier today)

Blu-ray and HD-DVD Summarized - curious about what all this HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray stuff is about? Here's a nice primer. I finally get why the two systems are soooooo incompatible - HD DVD puts the data 0.6 mm away from the surface, like a DVD does, but Blu-Ray puts it 0.1 mm away from the surface of the disc. Different manufacturing stuff required, and more susceptible do dust/scratches.

Talking to somebody about the new Apple Uncompressed 8 bit and Uncompressed 10 bit codecs in Final Cut Pro 5, I was told that the codec auto-detects the size and chooses a color space (601 for SD, 709 for HD) based on the size of the frame to be compressed/transcoded. If 720 or smaller, 601 (SD color space). If larger than 720 pixels wide, then 709 color space (HD's color space, more color range possible). This is a good quick fix but I can see problems with it (such as if rendering in After Effects or other compositing program, it's necessary to make odd sized compositions that might require the "other" color space than what is assigned based on size alone). I'd love to see Options enabled for the codec - Automatic follows these new rules, but allow manual setting of SD/601 or HD/709.

MacNN | LayerLink plugin adds Illustrator support to Motion - very very useful for motion graphics work, akin to how I've worked with After Effects for years.

Mac vs. PC 5: Power Mac G5 Dual 2.7GHz - light on actual content, but it's nice to see the G5 not getting totally trounced in After Effects. A Vegas/Premiere Pro vs. Final Cut Pro would be more interesting.

MPG | Apple Final Cut Pro Keyboard USB & wireless keyboards, or keycaps for Final Cut/Final Cut Express (found on philafcpup.org)

SYPHA guides to NLEs, DAWs and DV cameras This is a pop-up driven web thing that lets you boil down your choices by things like price, formats, input/output options, OS, etc. Handy.

Final Cut Pro News (Phila FCP Users Group): Apple - Mac OS X Downloads - Video - TOKI Shot a shot list generation program. A long and tedious process, but necessary for certain efforts like picture and sound editors, music editors and musicians.

I found this list of where "Revenge of the Sith" is being projected digitally in the US that was mentioned on a CML List

This is even better than my two email requestors for serial numbers - guy on Avid board suggesting trading plugins. Uh, dude, not the place fo that... : )

El Duque sent that one in, thanks!

-mike

ProLost: using the eLin color model in floating point apps:

Another good article by Stu I think I missed before. Best quote to get the gist of it:

"Many of the image processing tools we use behave differently when performed at different gammas. If you gamma an image dark, blur it, and gamma it back up (inverse of gamma = 1/gamma), you get a different result than if you simply blur the image.When you convert an image to linear space, your subsequent image processing operations better match real-world physical properties of light. If you are accustomed to processing perceptually encoded images, you will probably find that switching to g1.0 processing will make your familiar effects look more organic (with a few notable exceptions to be covered in a later article)."


Again, this only really matters if you're trying to be serious about the work you do. The basic built-in filters provide decent but not great results.

-mike

Updated 9am Wednesday - see bottom

A client brought their HDV deck over to my studio for some stuff I was doing, and I got a chance to play with it just a little bit with Final Cut Pro 5.

I had previously mastered a project to DVCPRO HD 720p60, and tried the Compressor 2.0 setting to convert it to 480i60 and a 1080i60. It converted it as progressive frames (30p) instead of fields (60i). One might argue that it's appropriate to keep a progressive format progressive, but I look at it as a cop-out -- I have 60 time samples per second, I want them all represented. So I used After Effects to render a 60 field per second version of it. Time consuming but better quality.

So I have this 720p60 master, now I want to make an HDV tape of it, just to see how it works out.

I tried using After Effects to directly cook a 1440x1080 (native HDV resolution) from my 960x720 (which is the native DVCPRO HD 720p resolution) source file straight to HDV in the AE output settings. The file was much larger than expected - presumably it cooked out all I-frames from After Effects. Perhaps I should have told it to keyframe every 15 frames? Not sure, but it didn't work out as I expected.

So I cooked out an interstitial - 1440x1080 using the BlackMagic codec to a 1080i60. Then I used Compressor 2.0 to transcode the interlaced BMD codec file to HDV.

The HDV file I dropped onto a 1080i60 HDV sequence in FCP. I apparently did it right, because that file plays back in realtime and gives no red render bars.

I doodled with the menu system on the HDV deck behind the flip down plate, and managed to figure out how to switch it from DV input to HDV input, and eventually how to configure the analog outputs to display high def on the component outputs rather than a downconverted SD component output. Lots of choices on that little deck, pretty cool. It looks and feels like a nice little DV deck with a front mounted LCD panel. But it does HDV too.

I then used the Print To Video command and turned most of the geegaws on - bars & tone, slate with text, 10 sec black, countdown, 5 sec leadout, etc. It estimated 1 hour to prep the HDV (I forget the exact dialog, but it basically is reformatting the HDV to have a proper GOP (group of pictures) formatting structure.). What was probably going on was rendering the countdown, slate, black, etc. to HDV. It only took 5-10 minutes in reality, not an hour, since the program itself was already properly formatted.

At first it didn't work - I hadn't set the presets in FCP. Duh. So I used the Easy Setup for HDV 1080i60, then it worked like a charm - even started recording on the deck for me automatically, same as a DV deck would. It was a little disconcerting to see the image previewed on computer screen more than a second ahead of the image displayed on the video monitor attached to the HDV deck. This must be the MPEG-2 engine's delay.

Speaking of monitors, I'm running the component outputs from the HDV deck into the component (video, not BNC computer/VGA) of the Dell 2405 monitor. I'm still getting what appears to be an overlay of horizontal light RGB bands over the image when using video, not computer, inputs. I've seen it from two sources using two different sets of cables, so it seems to be endemic to the monitor unless I can get something else adjusted. That part is bad - it seriously interferes with one's ability to view and evaluate the image. That has to be fixed or this monitor is useless as a TV monitor. On the other hand, I dug around in it's menu sysem and found the Image Controls. YES Virginia, you CAN make it display a proper 16:9 image instead of the default stretch to 16:10. There are three modes - full screen, aspect (which properly handles aspect for 16:9 and presumably 4:3), and 1:1, which is pixel for pixel. I was relieved to discover that it wasn't that the image looked like shit, it was just showing a downconverted SD signal from the HDV deck at the time. SD is tiny on screen, 720p is about 1/4 screen, and 1080 res is full width but letterboxed slightly top and bottom (to account for the 1200 vs 1080 resolution difference) when set to Aspect setting in Image Controls (which is what I'd recommend). There's also a Video setting that affects colors. Video is richer/more saturated. That's all I know about it so far without, you know, actually RTFM.

If I can get rid of the travelling RGB bands on the image, it's a passable/decent but not outstanding HDTV. BUT the image quality is NOT close to what I see when running HD-SDI through an HDLink to the DVI inputs of the monitor. Even just sitting there with no signal coming from the HDV deck, I can see red/green/blue stripes across the black image. Not encouraging.

The HDV deck is pretty cool. At something like $3000 to $3500 it is out of my comfort range for now, but when it drops to $1500 to $2000 I'd think about buying one just to have one around because it's cool (I don't own ANY decks nicer than an S-VHS deck, which I pretty much never use - I'm usually burning DVDs for client review). I rent all the decks I need professionally, I don't have confidence in the amortizability of any of the decks for the infrequency with which I use any one particular model (I've used DV, HDV, BetaSP, DVCPRO HD, and HDCAM in the last few months).

I haven't had a chance to capture from the deck yet, but I'll play with that soon enough.

OK, 3am, time for bed.

But in short - FCP 5 drop to tape incurs a delay depending on the complexity of your HDV edit; I'm liking the Dell better except for one worrisome problem; and the HDV deck is pretty cool with lots of features for downconversion on the fly.

-mike

UPDATED Wednesday morning - I came into the studio this morning and powered up all the monitors, including the Dell 2405. Switching over to the component video inputs, I played back the HDV version of the project, and noticed the RGB bands were gone. Good news that it's gone, but why? Two possible reasons I could think of:

1.) The RGB bands were interference from another device. so that the bands would come back when I fired up the G5 plugged into the DVI input.

2.) The RGB bands were due to heat, and allowing the Dell 2405 to cool overnight had made them go away.

Which is it? I fired up the G5 and saw no changes to the image.

Upon the second playthrough of the 10 minute program, I noticed the bands coming back.

This makes me think it's heat related, and this is bad. So perhaps this monitor is going to be sent back. Time to deal with Dell's purportedly horrible tech support on this issue (Cringely article). UGH!

Checking the Comments from my last post, somebody suggested it is a power ground loop problem, and suggested plugging the monitor and deck into the same power source. I'll try that, too. But the progressive nature of it from power up makes me think it's a thermal issue of some sort

-mike

Stu discusses log vs lin - that's logarithmic vs linear color spaces. If you're not going out to film or doing heavy, serious visual effects work you don't need to know/worry about this. But it's interesting stuff.

-mike

Two times today strangers have emailed me asking for serial numbers for Final Cut Pro HD or Final Cut Pro 5.

PEOPLE! GET REAL!

I can understand how the classic "starving indie" gets by on bootleg copies - in my early career I didn't own everything I used for work.

Somebody updated their Pro Apps Support file and their bootleg serial # didn't work and they asked me for one. Gee, let me think about that. Um, no. Hell no!

Somebody else just out and out emailed me out of the blue asking for a serial number. Never received an email from this person before.

Please, people, use your brain.

I try to be a resource for the indie community to get things done (and eventually it'd be nice to make some money doing it). But I'm NOT a resource to support or promote bootlegging. Buy a legit copy. Get one via educational outlets if you have to, but BUY the damn stuff, OK?

Please don't email me for that kind of help.

OK, end of rant.

-mike

Kung Fu Monkey: Writing: Plot and Story - back to basic moviemaking - STORY.

Read this before you even think about what camera to use. This may be basics to many out there, good fodder for me.

found the link on Cinema Minima.

-mike

Apple - Support - Downloads - Xserve RAID Driver 1.0 - Apple has an updated XServe RAID driver specifically for Final Cut Pro (and presumably other video application) users. From Apple's site:

About Xserve RAID Driver 1.0

The Xserve RAID Driver Update should be installed by all Final Cut Pro users using an Xserve RAID. The update reduces I/O WRITE latency by overriding behavior to periodically force the Xserve RAID to write its buffer cache to the hard drives. Lower I/O WRITE latency improves performance during video capture and is required to avoid dropping frames regardless of the video resolution used.

Since the frequency of Xserve RAID cache flushing to the hard drives is reduced, it is strongly recommended that an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) be used with the Xserve RAID to guard against the possibility of data loss in the event of a power failure.

Requirements: Xserve RAID Driver Update 1.0 works on all Macintosh computers running Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later with a Xserve RAID.

Conveniently, I have a client that did a project in HD that I'm working with, and he wants to make a traditional DVD out of it. I'm helping him with some finishing touches. It's been an interesting project. In the beginning, he was debating whether to make this cable pilot with Digibeta or Varicam. The client is interested in producing the show in HD, so I had recommended they shoot with Varicam, edit with native DVCPRO HD in Final Cut Pro HD, and make a DVD out of that. They are experienced Avid editors, and with the help of a crossover editor (someone who'd learned on Avid then learned FCP) were going to make this their first Final Cut Pro HD project as well, since FCP is MUCH more affordable to do DVCPRO HD work with. There had been some discussion as to 24p vs 60p, and eventually it was decided, since it's a reality based show, to go with 60p, and that would be a more appropriate look for the material, as well as convert to 480i60 cleanly as well. Eventually they'd be able to produce a high def DVD of it, they'd get some experience with HD (new for them), and it all sounded like a good idea.

The Road to Hell is paved with credit cards, good intentions, and "It all sounded like a good idea."

Maintaining our damned theme, the Devil is in the details. One thing they didn't mention at our first meeting was that they wanted to integrate stock footage into this piece. All of the stock footage they brought in was standard definition, and much of it was from 24p source that had been telecined or had 3:2 pulldown added, and much of it was letterboxed 16:9. All of this had to be put on a 1280x720 (or actually, 960x720) DVCPRO HD timeline in Final Cut Pro HD.

This created all kinds of confusion and difficulty for the client, who has extensive experience in standard definition video production, but this was their first HD project.

They shot all of their Varicam footage at 60p, rented a Panasonic AJ-HD1200A deck, and successfully captured all of their footage. I didn't hear from them during this phase, so purportedly all went well.

However...they also had shot some HDV footage, which again was not discussed during the initial consultation when Digibeta vs. Varicam was discussed. FCP 5 wasn't out, they needed to edit other SD & HD footage together, so Final Cut Express HD wasn't a valid option for a variety of reasons (quality, color correction, etc.) They didn't have, and didn't want to buy, HDVxDV or LumiereHD, so they used the Sony HDV deck to downconvert on the fly to DV, and dropped that into their timeline as well.

All of this could have been sooooooo much easier had Final Cut Pro 5 been shipping when they started editing a month or two ago. But of course, it wasn't.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED:

1.) New to Final Cut Pro - media is handled differently between the two programs. This led to some issues with scratch disks - render & capture files were spread across the internal drive as well as a sometimes present FireWire drive. Confusion over this led to some files being deleted off of the internal drive, so source footage (some of which captured on the fly from DVDs) could not be readily batch recaptured, as no timecode was involved. This left us with sections that were rendered and would play on the timeline, but couldn't be altered without losing a playable timeline (Big Red Screen of Doom- "Media Offline").

2.) Integrating standard def footage, with letterboxing, with 3:2 pulldown, with fields, into a high def progressive timeline results in some ugly video. Giant field lines, etc. By the time it gets scaled back down to standard def, ugh. The fix I suggested: take that source footage into After Effects, interpret as separate fields, drop onto a 720p60 timeline, scale it up, re-render. Smoother and cleaner than dropping it into the FCP timeline, scaling it up, and hoping for the best

3.) In retrospect, it would have been good to do all of this as a 16:9 standard definition project. With all of the SD footage integrated, to have captured the HD, done an "offline" of it at HD res using DVCPRO HD, and downsampled via Media Manager to uncompressed SD (or DVCPRO50) for online, and at that point brought in the standard def other parts, would probably have been best. Even writing that, I'm sure that wasn't quite the way to do it. Perhaps if the AJ-HD1200A could downsample to SD in realtime as anamorphic standard def over SDI would have been best - capture as DV, do offline, batch recapture as uncompressed for online. Something like that, since SD is all we're delivering.

4.) No pre-shoot camera/post testing - without a prep day to get used to gear, and a practice short bit to make sure everything would post as expected would have been useful. To shoot some random footage and cut it in with the SD stock would have shown some of the issues. HD is a different animal, and has to be learned about. There were basically two flavors of video before - NTSC and PAL. If you got fancy, maybe it was anamorphic. Since 24p and HD have come along, it gets much more complicated than that.

The project isn't a disaster - it needs some cleanup, and a few things look goofy, but are fixable in time. It's going to meet their needs. But had we all understood up front exactly what their plan was, and that they be including standard def, and letterboxed, and telecined material, it could have all gone more smoothly. A good looking DVD will come out of this, and that's all they really need for the moment.

-mike

More of Mike's FCP Notes:

Well, there's a lot of info coming out about FCP 5. To just run through features that others are covering elsewhere feels a bit foolish and wheel spinning-esque.

So instead, I'll focus on what I (think I) do best: poke around under the hood.

First up: codecs:

DVCPRO HD 1080i50 codec may well be the offlining format of choice for 1080p projects.

Here's why:

-1440x1080 for 1080i50 codec instead of 1280x1080 for 1080i60 codec. More resolution, same overall bandwidth as the 1080i60 codec. So compression is probably about the same on a "per pixel" basis, but you get more pixels since fewer frames per second. 1440x1080 is same resolution that HDCAM is recorded to tape. Different compression algorithm, but same size.

-realtime effects (I checked) work - so realtime color correction and cross dissolves. Hallelujah!

-relatively low bandwidth - 12 MB/sec or so

-transcoding time seems improved - I converted 1 minute of 24p footage to DVCPRO HD 1080i50 codec @ 24p in slightly under 3 minutes. I'll need to double check against FCP 4.5, but I think this is about twice as fast if I recall correctly and the hardware is the same as when I tested before.

Apple's 8 & 10 bit 4:2:2 codecs

According to the folks I've talked to so far, Apple has changed their Uncompressed 8 bit and Uncompressed 10 bit 4:2:2 codecs. Now anything over 720 pixels wide uses the 709 color space (the HD color space, as it correct), and anything 720 or fewer pixels wide is processed in 601 (standard definition video) color space. This is an improvement. It also implies that the Apple codecs are different. The testing done over at the One River website had previously indicated that the BlackMagic codec was preferable to the Apple one. New testing required.

Presets: what's changed:

looking at the list of presets in FCP 4.5 with BMD v4.8 drivers and FCP 5 with BMD v5.0b1 drivers, here's what I see has changed:

-Apple Intermediate codec has been added, with presets for 1080i50, 1080i60, and 720p30.

-nomenclature has changed - instead of HDTV 1080 25 Hz, the naming is more direct now, specifying interlaced from progressive formats. HDTV 1080 25Hz has become 1080i 50

-three new codecs have been added: HDV, MPEG IMX, and HDV, at the following sizes and frame rates:

Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i50
Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60
Apple Intermediate Codec 720p30

HDV - 1080i50
HDV - 1080i60
HDV - 720p30

MPEG IMX 8-bit NTSC - 50 Mb/s - 48 kHz
MPEG IMX 8-bit PAL - 50 Mb/s - 48 kHz

as well as a new size of DVCPRO HD - 1080i50, which I went on about above.

BlackMagic has changed the codec used in their presets - they now use the Apple Uncompressed 8 & 10 bit codecs instead of their own.

OK, late and tired. To bed, nearly 1am.

-mike

My Final Cut Studio upgrade from Production Suite arrived this morning and I'm installing it now.

While it slowly chews it's cud on 8 DVDs, here's my notes so far. I'll post again once I actually start messing with it.

So finally, my Final Cut Studio upgrade is here.

And to say it's a big upgrade is no understatement - it weighs about 20 pounds, and comes with a ton of manuals (see pictures).

Apple, as usual, is very serious about their packaging and presentation - the upgrade package comes in a double layered box, with padded foam top and bottom, to keep it nice and tidy (see the first picture in above link).

INSTALLATION

The whole Studio comes on 8 DVDs.

Popping the first disk in the stack in, it's the Final Cut Studio Upgrade disk (to be specific, I'm upgrading Production Suite to Final Cut Studio). The installer has some new twists (see screen grab), allowing you to install specific parts as you wish, in specific locations as well. For instance, under DVD Studio Pro Content, there are 4 possible items to install - DVD SP 4 Templates & Transitions, as well as Templates and Transitions from DVD SP 3. New to this installer is a pop-up menu for Location - you can specify where the content (not the application) gets installed. This is great, in case you want to stash it on a non-boot volume, or have your own centralized location for such assets. The pop-up for DVD Studio Pro Content, for example, lists 5 likely locations where you might want to keep it, as well as "Other...." so you can put it anywhere else, including another volume. It's very nice to have this kind of customized control. Presumably, it will then remember all these paths so the host application will know where all this content is as soon as you launch it, without having to reconfigure anything (in theory).

You can also install iDVD Theme elements, but those are only for iLife 04, not 05. Bummer - some of those templates are really nice.

Estimated install size for the default "everything" install - 19.3 GB.

(This is being installed on my dual 2.5 GHz G5, with 3.5 GB RAM, an ATI X800 graphics card, two 1920x1200 monitors, a BlackMagic DeckLink HD Pro card (AJA Kona2 testing will be included as well), and a 4 x Seagate 7200.8 400 GB array attached to a Sonnet Tempo X 4+4 SATA card (presently with 1.0.1 ROMs until I upgrade the firmware on my drives, which requires 48 reboots of a PC, but that's another posting to follow). So this is a fairly high end setup. Once I get my Maxtor drives updated, I'll be running on an 8 port Sonnet eSATA (8 external ports).)

Installation looks like it'll take about an hour ten or hour and fifteen minutes, if I promptly feed it the disks when ready. At the moment, installing Apple Loops for Soundtrack Pro, it's reading in about 9 MB/sec, writing out about 12 MB/sec according to Activity Monitor.

Incidentally, as I was loading pictures onto my laptop to get pics up, I used the Compact Flash Card slot on my new Dell 2405 monitor to load the text of my notes onto it to transfer to my laptop - it worked like a charm, no drivers needed, even iPhoto autolaunches. More kudos to the Dell monitor - it's VERY sweet.

OK, main install finished - it took an hour and 13 minutes, with me sitting here to swap discs.

woops, I miscounted - there are NINE discs - two are in one sleeve. That two-in-a-sleeve is a DVD Video of the tutorial stuff, the second I'm presuming is the tutorial content. Eager to play with that, that'll be next. But that'll probably be tomorrow, since I have to go run, and have tix for Star Wars tonight. I'm going to drink for an hour beforehand at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar before the show. If you've never heard of Alamo Drafthouse, IT ARE TEH KOOLEST! And I mean that, grammar and spelling intentional. A big shout out and a hug (if she'd let me) to manager Julie, who helped me with a ticket fiasco this afternoon in the middle of a crazy day (involving ambulances, no less).

It's half movie theater, half bar/restaurant. No more sneaking beers into theaters (even if you're too old to do so, ya know ya wanna from time to time), they sell pitchers and pizza and salads and everything and bring it to you in your seat, and serve you on a bartop in front of the seats. It really is the only way to see movies from now on, especially event pictures like Star Wars, Batman Begins, etc.

In any case, all that means I'm Geeking Out in a different way than usual tonight, having beers and letting Melissa drive me home, where hopefully she'll take advantage of my inebriated state (and she'll probably read this too, the only interesting part is whether it'll be Before or After, and whether the Julie comment will Cost Me). :D

Oh, I'm having too much fun today. Talk to you all tomorrow, May The Force Be With You.

Always.

-mikey, space cadet du jour

OS X 10.4 (and 10.4.1) and Final Cut Pro 5 involve a LOT of changes to how things work under the hood. If you have a working Final Cut Pro HD v4.5 station working happily under OS X 10.3.x, I STRONGLY recommend that you buy an inexpensive second (or additional) internal drive and install 10.4 and Final Cut Pro 5 on that, leaving your original install alone. Play with Tiger and FCP 5, but have the ability to go back. An 80 GB drive would be more than adequate, and they are dirt cheap. Or get a faster/bigger drive that you'll ultimately use in place of what you have now.

In any case, the ability to reboot to work with your previously working OS & applications can be invaluable under deadline, and is well worth the money in a production environment.

-mike

Upon opening a prior version file, I got a message about "This project contains one or more sequences which this version of Final Cut Pro can render with Motion Tab quality (Scaling, Rotation, etc.) Please choose a scaling quality to use. "Fastest" is the quality level 4.5 used."

This is good news - since there are 3 options, Fastest, Normal, and Best, and Fastest is what FCP 4.5 used, it looks like Apple has improved the scaling technology FCP uses. This is VERY good news, since scaling in prior versions was a weak point.

So now the entrants in the field for scaling video are thus:

-Cleaner 6.0.1 - high quality scaling algorithm, but doesn't handle 10 bits/channel to my knowledge. Also has known problems with luma/gamma shifts when dealing with YUV codecs. Need to test to verify exactly what's up. So not a great solution.

-Compression Master 3.0.x - good solution for 8 bit/channel codecs, so long as they are supported. It can't export to all codecs. No 10 bit/channel support

-Adobe After Effects - high quality scaling, handles up to 16 bits/channel, but everything gets run through RGB instead of staying natively YUV. This can have side effects potentially. Exactly what, I haven't tried it yet. But it's labor intensive and non-automated to convert

Final Cut Pro HD v4.5 - poor quality scaling, no 10 bit RGB support, but good 8 & 10 bit YUV support. But poor scaling quality. HD content is handled in SD color space unless using BlackMagic codecs, and perhaps even then internally in FCP.

Final Cut Pro 5 - improved scaling algorithm. Good 8 & 10 bit YUV handling, no 10 bit RGB handling (without being processed through YUV).

So FCP 5 and After Effects are the only good possible 10 bit solutions. The choices go downhill from there, depending on what codecs & color spaces you are using.

-mike

I've posted some pictures of some very crude comparisons between the Dell 2405 vs Apple 23" Cinema Display. Both of these monitors can display 1920x1200 pixels. The Apple arguably has a nicer frame/stand, but the Dell costs less, has a better image (at least from preliminary testing), and has a BUNCH more inputs.

The Apple has one DVI-D input, and 2 FireWire 400 and 2 USB 2.0 ports. List price is about $1500 (dropped several hundred dollars not too long ago).

The Dell as one DVI-D input, one VGA input, one component video input (auto-senses HD or SD input), on composite input, one S-video input, one composite input, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and a full range of digital still camera memory card/stick inputs that work sans drivers. Oh, and the Dell can be had for under $1000 if you work it right.

My first basic basic test - plug both into my ATI X800 card, set them to mirror mode so they both display the same thing. Oh, and both had properly set profiles in the Display settings of System Prefs. Nice to see the Dell's shows up and works just fine. So far I'm very impressed with the Dell's integration on the Mac - even the still camera card reader stuff works fine out of the box, no drivers or nuthin'. This is on my dual 2.5 GHz G5, BTW.

I cranked the brightness on the Apple up to max to try to get as close to possible to the Dell's brightness, but this substantially elevates the Apple's black levels, which is not such a good thing.

I changed the Dell from it's default sRGB setting to User Setting, and then didn't change it from there.

Neither of these setups - Apple at full intensity, nor Dell at an unaltered User Setting is probably what is best for this kind of testing, this is just a quickie first pass.

I watched the Batman Begins 1080p trailer running on both simultaneously. The Dell seems brighter, with more contrast, and possibly more saturation, but that may be my biased eye liking it otherwise so much.

I took some pictures in the studio with the lights turned off; I don't think the light coming through the blinds affected the Dell any more than the Apple. That is to say, just because there are blinds visible behind the Dell it shouldn't alter the recorded brightness of the Dell's image.

If you look at the pictures, there are three:

1.) both monitors with same images. Not black levels in unilluminated portions.

2.) Same thing, but with Apple monitor facing camera more directly.

3.) This seems to be the most telling - both monitors are displaying pure black images. Note how much brighter the Apple is. This is not a desirable feature in this context.

These are all the raw JPEG's - I did NO adjustments whatsoever in iPhoto - no levels, no cropping, nothing. So while this isn't any kind of scientific test, nor adequately set up, it does give a clue as to the relative black levels of the two monitors as set up.

So far, I'm preferring the Dell.

I've found no dead pixels on the Dell so far, even after using a dead pixel testing application. My first Apple 23" had a stuck pixel and I managed to get it exchanged after a lot of hassle.

More testing to follow, but this is a reasonable place to start.

-mike

Final Cut Pro/Express HD: Single-screen Digital Cinema Desktop Preview is unavailable in Tiger

Here's the entirety of that article:

The Digital Cinema Desktop (DCD) feature in Final Cut Pro HD 4.5 and Final Cut Express HD does not function in Main mode in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. This issue only occurs if you are using the feature in single-screen mode, which is referred to in documentation as "Digital Cinema Desktop Preview - Main." The other Digital Cinema Desktop Preview modes (which use two screens) work as expected.

This document will be updated as more information becomes available.

So FCP 4.5 doesn't fully work quite the same in Tiger (10.4) as it does in Panther (10.3).

-mike

Got my new Dell 2405 24" 1920x1200 LCD monitor set up very quickly (it's on top of a sideways G5 - how's that for a non-glamour install?).

Wow.

Wow wow wow.

Was on phone with client for an hour, looking forward to the chance to unpack the monitor (had to wait until packed for trip and had the neighbors set to feed the dogs).

First impression, based on no settings/adjustments made:

1.) Brighter than Apple 23" it sits next to.

2.) black levels are lower (this is good)

3.) No dead pixels (hooray!)

4.) Batman Begins trailer looks better on the Dell

5.) whites are whiter, blacks are blacker on the Dell

6.) Inputs, inputs, inputs! With component & S-video inputs, VGA & DVI, PLUS a bunch of camera card slots in the side that work with the USB 2.0 plugs, this is a phenomenal monitor.

7.) And YES, the component inputs work with HD from my BlackMagic DeckLink HD Pro card, but it's scaled vertically to full screen (as expected, 16:10 display of a 16:9 image) and also offset to the left a bit - perhaps that's tweakable in the monitor's controls.

So far, I DEFINITELY like it better than the Apple.

Oh, and you can get it for as much as $500 less than the Apple.

-mike

Blackmagic Design: Software Downloads

In addition to the v5.0 beta 1 drivers for Final Cut Pro 5 (and Tiger), BlackMagic has updated the HDLink drivers. From their website:

HDLink Utility for Macintosh & Windows 1.7
19 May 2005
LUT’s for Panasonic VariCam & Grass Valley/Thompson Viper cameras, "Blue only" mode for video noise, Interlace Simulation Mode, optional viewing of illegal YUV values, change settings without a power-cycle, support for displays lacking valid EDID data.


Again, I'll be playing with all of this next week.

Open HD. scalable. accessible. affordable.

This is a website that certifies hardware for HD usage for HDV, compressed HD, and uncompressed HD. If you're a PC user, this is a good resource.

And, if nothing else, you can peruse the specs to see if your existing/planned purchase matches motherboard, RAM, etc. specs for some clue as to compatibility. Clue, not guarantee.

-mike

Creative Cow - Read Thread

The gist seems to be this - you can drop standard def content on an 8 or 10 bit uncompressed HD timeline and it will play in realtime. The person who posted this did it using a Blackmagic Decklink card, and whether this is a Dynamic RT thing or a DeckLink thing is not exactly clear - somebody with a Kona2 have time to test this out? I'm packing to leave town for the weekend, no time to test.

-mike

UPDATED - see bottom for the latest twist

....so after making a pointless trip to the Apple Store only to discover that they had a different upgrade in stock from the one I asked for (they had Final Cut 5 upgrade, I wanted Final Cut Studio Upgrade), basically a more sophisticated thing happened AGAIN a few hours later.

I got an email from a local Apple reseller saying that they had Final Cut Studio in stock. I called and asked specfically for a Final Cut Studio upgrade. Yes, they had that in stock. So I drove down there in rush hour traffic. Once I got there, I discovered that they did indeed have a Final Cut Studio upgrade package, BUT it was the upgrade from Final Cut Pro, not from Production Suite. The guy was very nice and apologetic about it, saying he realized after we hung up and I was on the way that he should have asked to clarify. It was an honest mistake, but still yet another waste of my time.

Beware - there are THREE possible upgrades for Final Cut Pro users!

1.) A straight upgrade from Final Cut Pro version whatever to Final Cut Pro 5 ($399)

2.) An upgrade from Final Cut Pro HD to Final Cut Studio ($699)

3.) An upgrade from Final Cut Production Suite to Final Cut Studio ($499)

(and there's also a Final Cut Express upgrade, but that's another story)

Each one is a different SKU # (package) with a different price. Even though the second vendor had a box that included all of the software I wanted, he couldn't sell it to me at the price I should be paying because his reseller's price for the upgrade from FCP was higher than my retail purchase price for the upgrade from Production Suite.

Be VERY VERY CLEAR when you call and/or ask that you are getting what you wanted, otherwise you're going to pay too much or not get what you wanted.

And get PISSED at wasting an hour TWICE (dammit) because somebody didn't pay attention to what you said and what they had in stock. Well, that's not fair to them - you have to be VERY specific when asking about what you want. I asked for a "Final Cut Studio upgrade" which is imprecise and vague - I SHOULD have asked for "Final Cut Studio upgrade from Production Suite." to be explicitly clear about what it was I needed.

All of this in an effort to avoid Apple's lie - on their website, Final Cut Studio is listed as, and I quote using copy-paste,

"Upgrade from Production Suite
Ships: 1-3 business days"

...and not "we think" or "we hope" or "probably" or "It should" or "if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their ass a-hoppin'"

I ordered mine on April 25th, they started shipping on Tuesday, and even today is the third business day since they started shipping it, and my order is still listed as "Processing Order" as it has all week. The description for "Processing Order" is given as

Processing Order
In-stock items are processed immediately so that you can begin enjoying your Apple products as soon as possible. Generally, orders can be modified while they are being processed.


....which is incredibly vague and frustrating. Does processing order mean it is in stock? Or that once an item is in stock, orders will be processed immediately? There's no way to know. My order has had this status for 3 days now (starting Tuesday).

I don't have a problem whatsoever with Apple needing time to fulfill backorders. I have a serious problem when they are listing 1-3 day shipping times for new online purchases when outstanding orders have yet to be filled in more than that timeframe. Accurate forecasts would be difficult, but "at least 1-3 days" would be accurate, rather than "1-3 days" which makes it sound like they are sitting around in a warehouse waiting patiently to be shipped by otherwise not-too-busy people.

OK, end of bitch-rant. Woops, not quite, it's Dell's turn next....

As long as I'm cranky and bitching, this reminds me of the situation I have with a 23" Dell 1920x1200 LCD (the 2405 model) that I ordered for $1100 including shipping and everything - I ordered it online expecting it to ship promptly, saw nothing to indicate otherwise on the website whilst ordering, but a week later my credit card hadn't been charged. I checked the online order status, and it said three weeks. A friend of mine more intimately familiar with Dell's inner workings said "Three weeks is the edge of the universe as far as Dell is concerned." "What do you mean?" I asked. "That's the longest amount of time they list. There's two weeks and 6 days, then there's the heat death of the universe - in a little over two weeks, you'll get another email saying 'three weeks estimated ship time', and two weeks later another 'three weeks' email, etc. etc. Three weeks to them means they have no idea when it will ship. It took MONTHS to get my WiFi adaptor for my laptop, and they kept playing this same game."

Our petty conspiracy theory is that Dell stacks up these orders until they can make a bulk order of tens of thousands of these panels to get a bulk discount, then fulfills all the orders at once. Actually, that's not all so far fetched.

Bitch moan bitch moan shit Shit SHIT!

OK, now I'm done. For now.

-crankymikey

UPDATE: I called to find out what's up. It's expected to ship within 24 hours, and I was foolish enough at the time to select 2nd day shipment, which means I'll get it Tuesday...or Wednesday. Nearly a week. And of course, it's too late to change the order. Harrumph. Or more accurately, GOD DAMMIT!

-mike

UPDATE NEXT MORNING - so of course, later that night, in much the same way that your food won't arrive at your table until you go to the bathroom at a restaurant, only after I write my childish rant do I get an email from Apple - it's shipping and will be here Monday. And since I'm leaving town this afternoon for the weekend, that'll honestly be just fine.<