This is a series of neat Droplets created by Industrial Revolution to ease the workflow pains of using Canon 5D mkII files in different FCP situations depending on framerate and resolution.
The window allows for the user to select the files from the CF card much in the same manor FCPs first implementation of Log and Transfer worked.
Then you use a set of default sequence settings and dummy sequences and populate them with your clips, then make your edits and export!
Best of all, it’s free!
From their site:
The Canon5DmkII can produce terrific results, but anybody who has tried to bring the files directly into FCP will tell you that they are difficult to work .
with and require constant rendering.
This unique workflow package allows the user to choose to edit in 1080p, 1080i or straight to standard definition 16×9 25fps. Custom droplets give one click access to compressor that will convert the H264 files into ProRes for editing. The user also has a choice whether to make the clip realtime (i.e. 30fps to 25fps) or timestretch so that one frame in 30fps is one frame in 25fps. This will result in a slowdown of 20% for pin-sharp results.
Compressor droplets are supplied to get the final 1080p/i self contained movie into standard definition 16×9 too.
An easy to follow workflow diagram helps plot the conversions needed to get the best quality from a Canon camera’s HD output.
An interesting option for those who use Final Cut Server. It seems like ConSol is releasing RCE without support for free, but with an option to purchase a support contract. This is surely going to give more people the incentive to try out the software. It provides new and former Artbox customers with the deprecated rough cut editor function Final Cut Server has been lacking.
This IBC is going to fine!
Quantel had a mockup of how they envisioned FCP to connect to sQ servers at IBC2008 and NAB2009, but I guess they are now ready to show how it actually works!
Quantel says:
Final Cut Pro on Quantel
Now broadcasters can have the same fast Quantel sQ Server workflow with Final Cut Pro editors. And there are absolutely no compromises on speed or quality. This exciting new development is the first application of our new virtualisation technology and is released at the show. Final Cut Pro editors can be added to existing systems giving Quantel customers even more choice over how they benefit from the fast turnaround sQ workflow.
Since sQ servers are actually frame based, and not file based as most broadcast servers these days, Quantel must rely on a mediator between the VxWorks based sQ Server monsters and the MacOS X based FinalCut Pro clients that virtualizes the frames into QuickTime interpretable files.
DigiDesign posted this the other day:
Pro Tools Compatibility with Upcoming Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Apple has announced that they will begin shipping the new Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard 64-bit operating system in September 2009. Avid is working closely with Apple to deliver compatible, high-quality versions of Pro Tools® as soon as possible. Please check back periodically for updates on Avid’s Snow Leopard support status.
So this might be the break we have waited for. One of the most annoying things about ProTools in the broadcast environment is the lack of a 24-hour timeline, hindering us to use TOD a TC reference when recording concerts that lasts over midnight. At IBC or NAB many years ago I was told that this could not be fixed until ProTools was written with 64-bit code.
We just received a test unit of EditShare Field. It’s not very cheap, but it may be a brilliant product for reality/documentary productions in the field with neat logging options, raid protection and the possibility for syncing with a EditShare at home aswell.
I’m keen to know if the project sharing workflow actually works, or if it’s mainly media sharing and painful project sharing. Also the deletion scheme seems like a bit work for the sysadmin, but then again, I have never heard of a sysadmin that doesn’t have to spend a lot of time deleting material.
EditShare has had some problems earlier, which the salespeople doesn’t like to be reminded of. Some productions have suffered really fatal data corruption with an earlier version of a FC driver supplied by a third party. Maybe colored by this, my gut feeling is that Quantel, Avid, GVG and all but maybe Lightworks, offer more filesystem/project/database reliability. EditShare is now 5 years old, and may have matured enough to take the step out of smaller post-house environments into enterprise broadcast and larger postproduction facilities.
It works with both Avid and FCP in addition to some other NLEs with less clever workflow benefits. I’m going to test the unit with FCP, and already it has proved not to work with Thursby’s AdmitMac, so I had to use Apple’s own Samba implementation. EditShare recommends a certain version of Thursby’s DAVE, but that doesn’t solve my needs within the company so I’ll stick with Apple Samba.
I’m returning the unit in a couple of weeks, so I should write something more substantial by then 
Clever way to use V-mount on other stuff!
Element Technica gives you a way to attach V-mount equipment on either 15mm or 19mm rods with V-Dock. The ISO Plate also gives you a way to attach RED-RAM or other drives to a V-mount adapter.
The makers of two tools we use a lot are Graeme Nattress of Nattress Productions and Wes Plate of Automatic Duck. They are also quite active on Twitter as it turns out, and you can follow them here:
Graeme & Wes
Of course, Graeme twitters mostly about single malt Scotch and RED workflows, but Wes never rests as it seems..
So I just ordered the Matrox CompressHD card.
I was able to check it out at NAB, and even though my guess is that we will get the same kind of acceleration with some GPU acceleration with Snow Leopard, I still find the need to use a computer as a transcoding engine for proxy needs, ipod/iphone output, versioning for audio sweetening.
But is the near realtime performance sacrificing the quality we love from the very timeconsuming software transcoders?
So, what is more important? Speed or quality? My feeling is that I will say yes to the most speed as quality allows me. My quality curve has a knee, while speed doesn’t!
And of course, this does not compare to the ElGato TurboH.264HD unit I use to compress my DVDs to AppleTV friendly QuickTime files!
More often than I like, I see crews coming back from shoots without using SPG’s or sync devices like Ambient’s ClockIt..
For FinalCut Pro you can now sync up several ISO’s by automatically comparing audio waveforms with PluralEyes from SingularSoftware. I have not tried it yet, but I guess I’ll get a chance sooner rather than later!
PluralEyes™
We just recieved our HXR-MC1P, a small and portable AVCHD recorder which is not exactly a lipstick camera, but it comes pretty close. The image quality is decent, but there is one really annoying detail about this camera: The cable is not detachable! You don’t need a lot of foresight to predict that people are going to treat this camera in a fashion that is going to break this cable.
