On line question kona card xdcam

Hi all.
I just finished editing a project using xdcam rendering with apple pro res.
i then put it on a drive to be printed to tape cuz we cant afford a digi recorder.
I sent it to another post house in and they told me i had to export out the movie uncompressed 10bit for them to print to digi? they are using a kona card so i thought they can play the apple pro res 1920 X 1080 time line and the kona card does the downconvert so no need to export out everything at 720 X 576 widescreen 10bit am am i wrong or wright?

Thanks Emmet

There are really two parts to this question, if you read between the lines.

The first question is whether that particular Kona system can do that particular thing. The answer to that question is "maybe." It depends on the board they're using ? I'm pretty sure all Kona HD I/O boards that Aja is current shipping will do a real-time downconvert like you want, but older ones may or may not. Also, whether the system can play back mixed XDCAM and ProRes media in real time at full quality is another "it depends" thing.

But the other, more important, question is whether your post house is justified in asking you to render out an uncompressed Quicktime for them. The answer to that one is a rock-solid "yes." Post houses have to strike a balance between being full-service and being profitable, so asking you to send them a full rendered, exported, uncompressed Quicktime instead of a Final Cut Pro project is a totally reasonable way for them to guarantee they can do the job right the first time. If you send over an FCP project, they're going to have to go through it to double-check that all the media is linked, everything is rendered, all filters and effects work as they should and so forth and so on. That means extra work and extra time that the post house will either have to absorb or pass on to you as an upcharge.

If you really want to send them your FCP project instead of just a rendered Quicktime, maybe you should call them back and ask what the cost difference would be to handle the job that way. If you've got more money than time in this situation, that might be a good option.

A really long time ago, back in the early 90s, I used to work in print. Clients always wanted to just send us their QuarkXPress or PageMaker files (this was back when Quark and PageMaker were, y'know, relevant) and ask us to make sure they printed correctly. In some cases, we charged extra for that service; in other cases, the production managers kept jobs moving efficiently through the department by requiring clients to send us press-ready TIFF images or PDFs instead of layout files with linked assets. That was the equivalent of asking for a Quicktime instead of an FCP project. Which one we required kinda depended on the client and how busy we were. The policy also varied from shop to shop.

So basically, if your post house is asking for a Quicktime, I don't blame them at all. Rather than arguing about it, I'd just send them what they ask for, or again if you don't have time and are willing to pay, ask them to up-sell you additional services and get out your credit card.

Here here on the print analogy; I remember those days too. Hell, we used to output FILMS to go to press, nevermind digital files. Now it's all press-ready PDF files, and printers try not to dig back into the original Quark or InDesign file if they don't have to. Same reason most dub houses prefer SCQT files, less hassle and less chances of screwing something up in the project file.

JK

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SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

Pro res is a compressed file. I very well compressed file but still compressed.

Post house does not want to do deal with compressed files. Pro-Res is specific to FCP also. FCP may not be apart of there workflow to tape.

I would online to the native xdcam captured source. Then make an uncompressed export of that.