Blog Archives

Job-chaining saves time during compression by sending the output of one compression process into input of the next. Here’s how it works.

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to compress video for YouTube using Adobe Media Encoder CS6.

This article provides an overview of how to use Adobe Media Encoder CS6.

There are two ways to create movies using custom image sizes: one in Motion and one in Compressor. This illustrates both methods.

Here’s a step-by-step technique that shows you how to create chapter markers manually or automatically in Compressor.

Compressor scares a lot of people. However, if all you want to do is compress a video for YouTube, Compressor makes the process very easy. This technique shows you how.

Although Adobe Audition and Premiere Pro are designed to work smoothly together, that doesn’t mean you are limited to only using Premiere Pro with Audition. In fact, there is a very nice, very fast way to move projects between Final Cut Pro 7 and Audition, which I want to show you here.

Many times, editors need to share projects. Changing Event References in FCP X makes this possible.

By default, the audio output of Final Cut Pro is stereo. You can get it to output split tracks, but you’ll need to do the mix in Soundtrack Pro or ProTools. This tutorial explains how.

There’s been some debate about authoring NTSC DVDs in DVD Studio Pro (with having all of the region codes selected) and their playback in PAL countries.

David Scott was having a problem creating a DVD using a Compressor Template. Until he solved it. Here’s what he did.

If Blu-ray Discs are in your future as a Mac Pro user, you need to read this report from Michael Powles on installing a Blu-ray burner in a Mac.

In this article, Larry Jordan answers a question about when to convert HD files to SD for editing in Final Cut Pro 7 or earlier.

DVDs are always standard-def, not high-def. So your AVCHD material will always look worse on a DVD than your source footage.

H.264 and X.264 are two different development projects that result in two different codecs that both do the same thing: create H.264-compliant files.

In this article we examine my personal favorite method to burn DVDs (Roxio Toast) as well as the most reliable way to burn a VIDEO_TS folder.

Creating markers for H.264 is exactly the same as creating markers for a DVD. In this article we examine the technique to do just that.

A subscriber, William Aleman, writes in with a valuable tip on the feature that successfully locks QuickTime movies from being downloaded or saved by the visitors on the Internet.

Experiencing a problem exporting a sequence as a mov and finding that the quality of the QuickTime is soft, a subscriber is referred by Larry to a previous article and walked through an easy QuickTime7 solution.

Larry weighs in on the issue of selecting between the Animation codec and ProRes 4444, following a subscriber’s question regarding importing files into Final Cut.

While at the Director’s Guild of America’s “Digital Day,” I was impressed by a fabulous presentation given by Scott Billups called, “Zero Post.” In this article we’ll take a look at this process and the great opportunity it offers us.

A subscriber and previous contributor returns with another great tip about operating the Compressor from the command line and advises to limit the number of your batches to a few hundred compressions.

Formats like HDV and XDCAM are compressed using MPEG-2 which is very hard to edit accurately. So, Final Cut Pro converts it invisibly in a process called “conforming”.

Here are a series of thoughts I jotted down during the presentations at DGA Digital Day, specifically during a long session devoted to 3D video.

In answering a subscriber’s questions regarding working with three different formats we examine issues like selecting the best codec to use, converting frame rates, and more.

In response to a subscriber’s question regarding the “blurry and aliased” look of his clips, Larry suggests that the problem may lie in the monitor settings.

Subscriber Mike Henry writes in to see about finding the most highly recommended practices with mixing cameras with different resolutions.

A subscriber writes in asking for the best codec to use to get the great HD quality of her footage transferred onto a 4.7GB DVD, which is, unfortunately, a question with no easy solution.

When using Media Manager to archive media the key point to remember is that you need to select what you want to manage BEFORE selecting it from the menu. And, I always select what I want to Media Manage in the Browser, not the Timeline.

How to upload a file automatically after Compressor has finished converting a file.

What’s the best video format for archiving materials? This is an easy question to ask, but a hard question to answer. Also, what’s the best way to preserve 1″ and 2″ master video tapes — especially since those machines are increasingly hard to find? This article gets you started in the right direction.

While you can create watermarks in FCP, Compressor provides a much better alternative. This technique shows you what to do.

Final Cut Pro is a QuickTime editor. But what if you want to create WMV files? Well, you are not out-of-luck, but you will need different software. This article describes what you need to know, along with how to resolve problems when creating WMV files.

Sometime between February and June, 2009, all broadcast television stations in the US need to convert from analog to digital transmission. However, this is NOT the same as converting from SD to HD – they are not, necessarily, related. While the current changeover timing is being debated in Washington, here are some answers to your questions.

XDCAM is generating a lot of interest for its high-def quality and small size. This discussion began with a question about using it for archiving – which spawned a lot of additonal thoughts.

Need to get a sequence from a later version of Final Cut back to an earlier version? Here’s how to do it — though, keep in mind, that not everything will transfer.

When you send a stereo audio pair to Soundtrack, STP treats it as a stereo clip. When you send a dual-channel mono pair to Soundtrack, STP treats them as two separate files. This article describes how to switch from one to the other.

QuickTime can make viewing 16:9 anamorphic video a bit difficult because it always displays video using square pixels. In this article, discover the secret to getting QuickTime to show your video correctly.

Video images are not the same as computer images — and what you don’t know WILL get you in trouble. This article explains what you need to know to keep your tapes from being rejected for technical reasons.

Adding DVD chapter markers to a QuickTime movie is reasonably easy. But how do you do this for H.264 compressed video. This article describes what you need to know.

Technical Guru Graeme Nattress presents a lucid, and illustrated, explanation of why colors in DV, Betacam, and DVD are handled differently. If you do any kind of color work, you need to read this article.

Where to store files is always a question. This short tip helps you determine where to store your media and project files for DVD Studio Pro.

Down-converting HD to SD using Compressor provides better image quality than using Final Cut Pro. This article shows you why.

The video scopes in Final Cut, while accurate, don’t show the entire picture. If you use the scopes in your work, you need to read this warning.

In this article Larry handles a question regarding whether a series of continuous time code cuts will translate into the OMF or be ignored.

In this article Larry fields a question from a subscriber having trouble exporting a multitrack and directs him to the suggestion of another subscriber.

When you are ready to lay your final projects back to tape, the best way to do so is to use Print to Video. However, Edit to Tape is required if you need to record at a specific timecode on your tape. But this requires laying Timecode on your tape first. This article explains how.

The article describes how to view and change subtitles in DVD Studio Pro.

As our industry moves quickly to tapeless media and acquisition, properly archiving your footage can make the difference between happiness and heart-ache. In this article, I outline what you need to know about archive formats.

It would be great if we didn’t have to render. But, since we do, what can make it go faster? This article explains what you can do to help and what won’t make any difference.