Our first DCP Digital Cinema Package... it's a success !

We got selected as one of the guest films for the Real Experimental Film Series at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills, and we needed a DCP, pronto!

I started researching DCPs a couple years back when I worked as a post-producer on an other indy feature, but the tests weren't conclusive, so I didn't get to make the actual DCP for it.

It was time to dive again into DCP waters. I tested a few new encoding apps, Wraptor for AME, DCP-o-matic, EasyDCP plug-in for Resolve.  But at the end of the day, I went back to FinalDCP. I retested the entire workflow, and talked to a couple of colleagues just to make sure I got everything right.

I elected to make a flat, Interop DCP and I set the Jpeg2000 bitrate at around 150Mbps. Since our master was HD, I selected to pad the image, without resizing.

I had previously prepped an LCR mix from the stereo mix stems, so I encoded in 5.1 with empty LFE, Ls, and Rs tracks.

It took 16 long hours to encode, but it went steadily. The software converted from the 23.976fps of the ProRes QT HD Master to the 24fps of the DCP  which probably added to the render time.  The conversion was perfect, no skipping frames or stuttering.

I QC the package on the computer using the DCP Player app, and all was fine! Image checked, sound checked.

I then formatted a WD portable drive to Linux Ext3, using an old MacBook with Ubuntu, and I copied the DCP from the Mac HFS drive to the Linux drive on the same MacBook.

The drive was sent to the theater for ingest. I got to check the film a couple days before the show... and the movie played beautifully! Yes!


On screening night the movie looked and sounded great on the big screen, with cast and crew and an audience, powerful stuff!  The director was thrilled, and so was I.

It's a success!

Mac Mini WiFi slows down with USB 3.0 HDs in close proximity (was: with too many USB attached)

--- Update 2/28/15:

The problem seems to be radio interference that USB 3.0 hard drives emit.
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/usb-3.0-hard-drives-can-cause-wi-fi-interference

Indeed, I had my HDs real close, sometimes on top of the Mini.  Got myself a USB hub and put some space between HDs and the Mini, and the WIFI seems much more responsive now.


--- Old Post:
The Mac Mini's (2012) WiFi slows down considerably when too many USB peripherals are attached.

I had all 4 USB connectors populated when I started noticing real sluggishness.

Typically with Safari pages start to load, but get stuck in the middle and nothing happens. Progress is halted, pages stay blank.

I removed 2 out of 4 USB peripherals, and bam! All peppy was the Mini again.

Is too much USB power draw affecting WiFI?

NLEs Timetable

Just for fun...


1989 Avid

1990 Lightworks

1991 Premiere 

1993 Media 100

1995 Casablanca (Macrosystem)

1999 Final Cut Pro

2000 Vegas (Sony 2000-2004?)

2003 Edius (Canopus)

2007 SpeedEdit (Newtek)

2011 FCPX



R.I.P.

1971 CMX 600
1984 EditDroid (Lucasfilm)
1995 DraCo
Renomee Plus (Macrosystems)
Pinnacle Studio
Ulead Video Studio (Corel)
Fina Cut Express
Avid Free DV
DPS Perception RT
Velocity HD


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software

FCPX (10.1.3) Adjustment Layer is de-activating Crossfade to Color transition

If I had an adjustment layer on top of a clip with a Crossfade to Color transition applied, the transition would be ignored.

This was a problem in early versions of FCPX, it has been fixed in FCPX 10.1.3

FCPX (10.1.3) Media Offline - (Opening a Library with Media that's been moved to a different HD)

When I complete a project, I move the entire folder from my working Raid drive to a set of backup drives.

Sometime I need to open the Library to check something, or re-export something, or to create a new cut from the old one.

If it's a small thing, I will not copy the whole folder back onto the working Raid, I just want to open it on the backup drive.

First I duplicate the Library, so to keep the old version as-is.

Then I open the duplicate, but when I do, the Media shows OFFLINE.

I need to Relink files to the actual location, i.e. the Media Folder (I have my media external) onto the backup drive:

- Select the Event containing the footage

- Go to: File / Relink Files

- Relink Missing, Locate All

- Select the first File in the list that match.

FCPX will check and recognize the candidates and ask you:

"Click Choose to verify matches for XXX of XXX files found."

Click Choose, and Bam! They're all relinked. Sweet.

Avid MC 8.1.0 and Canon C300 footage

In order to AMA Link Canon C300 footage, you need to install Canon's XF Plugin 64 for AMA (2.0.3 in my case I'm on MacOS 10.9.4)

Canon XF Plugin 64 for Avid Media Access 2.0.3 [Mac OS X]

Available here:
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/products/professional_cameras/cinema_eos_cameras/eos_c300#DriversAndSoftware


It will appear as MVP_Canon X64 2.0 in the Console (AMA_ListPlugins)

FCPX to Adobe After Effects roundtrip with Apple ProRes 4444XQ - Gamma is off

Update 12-16-14 from Adobe:

Media Encoder CC (2014.1) Bug Fixes

• Fixed: ProRes XQ sources decode with incorrect gamma setting

So I need to test again to see if this problem has been fixed with AE as well.

---------

A file (bars) is exported from FCPX, imported into AE, a Composition is rendered, the rendered file is imported into FCPX. We're using the same codec for FCPX Project settings, Export settings, Render settings.

It seems to be a Gamma issue. The highlights (100 IRE) are fine, the blacks (0 IRE) are fine, but everything in between is compressed = darker.

And it is visible as soon as the file is imported into AE, so it looks like AE misinterprets the ProRes4444XQ codec on import.

Scope trace of the ProRes4444XQ file in FCPX:

Scope trace of the ProRes4444XQ file from After Effects CC (shifted down = darker):

DaVinci Lite 11 on the other hand has a perfect roundtrip with no shift.

Scope trace of the ProRes4444XQ file from DaVinci Lite 11:

Hopefully we will get an update from Adobe that fixes this problem. From my tests, every other flavor of ProRes imports /roundtrips fine with AE CC, with no shift.

Note that only ProRes4444 and ProRes4444XQ have no Embedded Color Profiles in AE. All the other flavors of ProRes (422LT, 422, 422HQ) are in Rec709. But ProRes4444XQ is the only one that exhibits a shift

Below are the same before/after with ProRes4444, with no shift.

Scope trace of the ProRes4444 file in FCPX:

Scope trace of the ProRes4444 file from After Effects CC:

Are you experimenting the same shift / darker result on your system?