Blog Archives

A detailed, illustrated review of PreRoll Post from Imagine Products.

An explanation of what happens during export in Final Cut Pro when the render file format doesn’t match the export (Share) format.

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus both shoot 4K video. Imagine, an iPhone shooting 4K video! But… how? In this short video excerpt, Larry Jordan illustrates how to edit 4K video into an HD project using Spatial Conform and the Transform settings in the Inspector.

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus both shoot 4K video. Imagine, an iPhone shooting 4K video! But… how? In this short video excerpt, Larry Jordan illustrates how to measure the speed of a hard disk using Blackmagic Design’s Disk Speed Test utility.

An illustrated, in-depth discussion of 4K video on an iPhone 6s, how to capture and edit it in Final Cut Pro X; along with a discussion of storage requirements.

An illustrated tutorial on how and why to change frame rates for different video clips when editing in Final Cut Pro X.

An easy way to reset an incorrect aspect ratio when using standard-definition video.

In this short video excerpt from a recent webinar, Larry Jordan shows how to work with multichannel audio in Final Cut Pro X.

This short video tutorial illustrates how to work with multichannel audio in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

An illustrated guide to moving iMovie projects and media from iMovie into Final Cut Pro X.

Archiving media for the long-term is neither simple, nor cheap. In this article, Larry Jordan explains what you need to know to protect your precious media for the long-term.

An indexed and linked list of all technical blogs and articles written by Larry Jordan during August, 2015.

An illustrated, introductory explanation of how to add, modify, position, and delete audio in Motion 5.

An illustrated, detailed product review of version 2.70 of Final Cut Library Manager, by ArcticWhiteness.

An illustrated explanation of how to measure free space on your hard disk – and why you need to do this – along with an explanation of how to improve performance by minimizing file “swapping.”

It hasn’t drawn the attention of the new Morph Cut, or the new Lumetri Looks, but the recent addition of project consolidation and transcoding to Premiere Pro CC is a big deal. This is because it simplifies our ability to …

An illustrated, step-by-step tutorial on how to prepare digital images for video editing in either Premiere Pro CC or Final Cut Pro X.

An illustrated explanation of why you can’t import portions of a clip into Final Cut Pro X, along with examples of what you can and what you can’t.

A summary of the 2015 Storage in Media Survey Results conducted by Coughlin & Associates. Storage is essential to all digital media and this survey provides a snapshot of how it is being used across our industry today. (Included detailed PDF.)

An illustrated tutorial on how to create MXF OP1a files using Apple Compressor, along with a description of what MXF OP1a means and where it is used.

An illustrated tutorial showing how to add burned-in timecode to video using Apple Compressor.

An illustrated tutorial on enabling burn-in Timecode in Adobe Media Encoder 2015 (or 2014).

A detailed explanation of which video formats to use for presentation using a video projector. This considers both PC and Mac formats.

In this short video demo, Larry Jordan explains when to use external vs. managed media in Final Cut Pro X.

A short video where Larry Jordan answers the question: “When should I use camera native, optimized or proxy media in Final Cut Pro X?”

An illustrated explanation of video scopes – Waveform Monitor and Vectorscope – and how to read them to better understand your video images. This article applies to all video editing software and images.

This short video tutorial, from Larry Jordan, summarizes what you need to know to compress video faster – hardware, software, codecs, and settings – when using a Mac.

A video compression speed test comparing the iMac with a Mac Pro using Apple Compressor and focusing on whether using multiple instances makes any difference. (It does!!)

This illustrated article explains what you need to know about cache files in Motion 5.x.

This is a detailed, in-depth speed test comparing Adobe Media Encoder CC 2014 with Apple Compressor 4.2 on a new Mac Pro, iMac and MacBook Pro.

An illustrated explanation of how to use the Media Browser in Adobe Premiere Pro CC (2014) to access media and projects faster.

A detailed, illustrated look at compressed video image quality as created by Apple Compressor 4.2.

This is the first in a series of articles that look at the speed improvements in the latest version of Apple Compressor 4.2. In this test, we look at improving compression speed for YouTube videos.

This short video tutorial provides an overview of a major new feature in Apple Compressor 4.2: the ability to create iTunes Store Packages.

The 10.2 update to Apple Final Cut Pro X expanded the use and usefulness of keywords, as this detailed tutorial explains.

This short video tutorial showcases the changes to the Media Import dialog in Final Cut Pro X (v.10.2).

An explanation of how, why and when to delete generated media in Final Cut Pro X; and what happens if you delete files you shouldn’t.

A detailed explanation of how we implemented live video streaming from our studio to the web using FrontLayer.com and Wirecast.

A tutorial on how to archive projects that only include the media used in that project, along with whatever length handles you specific. (Written by Chris Mansfield, featuring Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve.)

An illustrated, step-by-step tutorial on how to use high-res media to reframe shots within Final Cut Pro X.

An illustrated, step-by-step tutorial on how to use high-resolution media to re-frame shots to create closeups when you didn’t shoot them.

A secret tip that explains how to see source media timecode during import into Final Cut Pro X.

A detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to connect Wirecast to Wowza for live video streaming. Written by Larry Jordan, Tori Hoefke, and Megan Paulos.

An extension takes the Premiere interface places it has never gone before. The Pond5 extension allows you to search, browse and download royalty-free clips directly inside Premiere; as Larry Jordan shows in this video demo.

A step-by-step illustrated article explaining what Ratings are in Final Cut Pro X and how to use them. (Also includes references to using keywords.)

An explanation of how to choose the right version of ProRes for your project.

A look at the challenges of adding a media asset system to a small company. It isn’t the software; it’s the people.

A simple system to measure the differences between compressed and source video clips which can be done in either Apple Final Cut Pro X or Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

In this short video tutorial, discover the new features and optimization settings in Adobe Media Encoder CC 2014.1.

This short video tutorial explains how and when to speed video compression by creating a “compression network” using multiple computers and Apple Compressor.