Uncompressed Graphics on DV timeline ?

For years I have worked in the 10 uncompressed world (digi-beta). But with the advances in DV 2/3 inch cameras, some of our work is much easier to finish in a dv timeline.

However, am I missing something in FCP 5? I have a subcontractor who comes in to edit on occasion that is an Avid editor by day. He says in current Avid softwares he edits what he has shot on a dv timeline yet, Avid "up-rezs" all his graphics on above layers at uncompressed.

Therefore, he doesn't have the 4:1:1 blur for graphics that I'm getting on FCP when we edit DV shot footage in a 4:1:1 timeline.

I haven't used an Avid in about two years so I can't verify if Avid can even do this, nor do I really care. I do, however, have a vested interest in editing in a native dv timeline without the degradation of graphics in FCP.

Is it possible to edit dv shot footage in a dv timeline yet have GFX uncompressed for output?
You Folks Are Truly Very Helpful,
Austin

No...sorry. Cannot mix resolutions on a timeline with FCP. What does he output to? Because if it goes back to DV, then the uncompressed graphics are then compressed to tape. If to digibeta, then the graphics will look fine.

What we recommend people do is edit in a DV timeline until you lock picture, then copy and paste it into an uncompressed 8-bit or 10-bit timeline then render. Your graphics will look better then, as will your text.

But then you need high speed drives for this, like a G-RAID, or internal SATA drive or external SATA Raid.


www.shanerosseditor.com

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Hi Austin,

A possibility that comes to mind, is to create compressed quicktime movies which the same timecode/reel names as your source material. You can edit using the compressed footage, and then have an EDL that matches your source material.

I've written a tool a while back, to do the compression, preserving the timecode, But I'd have to recreate it, I think. I don't know if I have the source code anymore.

bob..

Robert Monaghan
Glue Tools - Cineon & DPX QuickTime Components
www.gluetools.com
Santa Barbara, CA

Thanks guys. I have posted on here a couple of times before (back in the no-register days) and, I always get solid advise.

This site is truly a "shop owners" dream.

Thanks again,
Austin

On lower budget DV acquired projects I often cut DV and for graphics sections that suffer from 4:1:1 NTSC or 4:2:0 PAL issues I will render at 8 or 10 bit and then inset edit them to the master Digibeta tape.

Or as mentioned by Shane - render the entire timeline as 8bit or 10bit uncompressed after picturelock. Ready for output to DVD or Digibeta.

Avid will output to DV the same as FCP eg: once back on tape in 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 the images are back in DV colourspace and suffer the same issues.


Ben



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