Blog Archives

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

ProRes 422 is a new codec, invented by Apple, that seeks to minimize the massive file sizes of some HD formats. It also has benefits when you are working with HDV or other GOP-compressed video formats. In this article, I show you more about this codec and how to use it.

This technique shows you how to connect a video monitor to your computer. This is great for those situations where you don’t have access to camera or deck.

Even though Soundtrack Pro is, at its core, a surround-sound audio editing system, sometimes you just need mono (single-channel) audio out. The only problem is… how? This quick article explains what you need to know.

In this article, various problems with playback are addressed and answered.

Tony asked an interesting question: what’s the difference between RED and DSLR cameras for shooting video. Good question. So I asked two experts: Philip Hodgetts and Noah Kadner. This article provides their answers.

Whenever you trash or delete Final Cut preference files, FCP will reset back to NTSC DV 48kHz audio. This reset happens whenever your preferences get trashed. I don’t think Final Cut inherently thinks NTSC, but that when things reset, FCP resets to its default settings which is NTSC.

Converting a low-resolution edit into a high-res master is the process of on-lining. Here are a series of tips to keep in mind as you on-line High-Def material.

Confused by all the different video outputs on your deck? This article explains what they mean, what they do, and when to use them.

A reader asks how to create a PAL DVD. In this article, I provide a reference for file conversion, then talk about the Compressor setting you can use to compress your files. (I also include a link to lots more training on DVD creation.)

Here’s a quick tip on how to create still images so they can display in a PAL 16:9 sequence.

Over the last four months I’ve had a long email chat about video formats and the best ways to convert between them. If you are moving files from NTSC to PAL or back, and trying to integrate HD material, this article covers what you need to know.

Panning balances audio playback between the left and right speaker to position the audio in space. In this quick technique, learn three ways you can pan multiple clips in Final Cut Pro.

If there was one “magic format” we would all be shooting in it. Unfortunately, as many of us are discovering as we move to HD, the world is a highly incompatible place.

Print to Video is your best choice when outputting to tape. However, some people find really ingenious ways to avoid it. This article describes what it is, along with a discussion of self-contained vs. reference QuickTime movies.

The debatable “nightmare” of offline editing is discussed, with Larry strongly recommending the creation of DVCPROHD 23.98 fps masters to keep the frame rate and image size constant and greatly simplify the final on-line edit.

The only problem with creating multiple versions of the same file is the time it takes. In this article, I explain how you can do this faster and easier by automating Compressor, than just doing one file at a time from Final Cut Pro.

Increasingly, audio is being recorded in more than two tracks. However, Soundtrack Pro has a problem when dealing with more than two tracks. This article describes the problem, and a work-around that fixes it.

Monitors for HD video are not cheap. So why not just connect an HD television set via HDMI and let it go at that? In this short write-up, Dan May, president of Blackmagic Design, explains the potential problems with monitoring your HD video using this kind of setup.

Here is a very slick technique to find audio in your sequence that’s distorting. It won’t fix it — but it will find it; and much, much faster than real-time.

This technique shows you how to get the most from your FireWire drives, from partitioning through formatting to daisy-chaining.