PsF’s missing workflow, Part 3: Sony’s AVCHD & NXCAM cameras

In part 1 of PsF’s missing workflow, we introduced the new terms benign PsF and malignant PsF (Progressive Segmented Frame), reviewed their vital importance and fragility in post-production, and clarified the PsF status of two Panasonic professional AVCHD cameras (branded as AVCCAM). In part 2, we clarified the PsF status of the Canon XA10 professional AVCHD camera. Now, in part 3, we’ll clarify the PsF status of Sony’s professional AVCHD cameras, some of which carry the NXCAM brand.

Adobe & Avid attract FCP-defectors with special discounts

When I began publishing my FCP-exodus articles last year, even some other ProVideo Coalition magazine writers thought and commented that my words were an exaggeration. However, now some of them are defecting from Final Cut Pro, and several other award-winning editors are doing the same. Part of the enticement to jump ship are the special crossgrade pricing being offered by Adobe and Avid, and part is the fact that they need either features which are currently missing in FCP X and/or the need to import FCP 6/7 projects in their new editor. In this article, I’ll round up the crossover pricing from Adobe, Avid, and SingularSoftware, which has reversed its prior policy based upon this new era of turmoil in video editing tools. I’ll also offer some quotes from editors who have moved or declared intentions to move.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5 brings better handling of medium framerate videos recorded as PsF

You may have noticed that even many late model AVCHD cameras shoot medium framerate progressive video (i.e. 1080/25p and 1080/29.97p) as PsF (Progressive Segmented Frame), meaning that they (unfortunately) record 25p-over-50i and/or 29.97p-over-59.94i. This regrettably occurs with both consumer and even some of the latest professional AVCHD cameras with the mentioned progressive framerates. Fortunately, this practice doesn’t damage the internal AVCHD video recording quality to any perceptible degree since the encoder knows that it’s progressive, but unfortunately it makes the video more susceptible to being mistreated later on, either by a video editing program which mistakenly thinks that it is interlaced and consequently de-interlaces it when importing it into a progressive timeline, or by an HDTV set that does the same thing. Unnecessary de-interlacing is a bad thing and should be avoided when bringing progressive footage into a progressive timeline… or into a progressive display device, like an LCD, Plasma, or projector. One of the best ways to prevent unnecessary de-interlacing is by recording the progressive signal natively (not as PsF), but that’s not the case with many cameras when shooting 1080/25p and 1080/29.97p. This article will clarify the issue further, explain how we overrode it manually with Premiere Pro CS 5 and Media Encoder 5, and how the 5.5 upgrade resolves it automatically!

How to pick Mac video editing software after the FCP X launch

After the launch of FCP X 1.0, Mac users can finally analyze which video editing software to choose depending upon key features. Now there is finally a recent version to compare from Adobe (Premiere Pro CS 5.5), Apple (Final Cut Pro X 1.0), and Avid (Media Composer 5.5). Since Apple has ceased to support FCP 7 as of the release of FCP X, the possibility of using FCP 7 under MacOS 10.7 (Lion) is unpredictable. [UPDATE: Apple has stated that FCP7 will run under Lion.] This article will cover three key features which may be critical to your current or upcoming projects: multicam (or the capability of auto syncing clips from multiple cameras, whether or not some of them have stopped recording during the event), full use of a professional i/o interface (like the ones from AJA, Blackmagic, Matrox, or MOTU), and the inboard capability of incorporating and viewing closed captions. Since as of October 2010, closed captions are legally required in the USA even for certain web videos (details ahead in this article), this will be of increasing importance to many editors.

PluralEyes for Premiere Pro CS5 (Mac) reviewed

If you ever record dual-system audio or multiple camera angles without synchronized timecode, you’ll wonder how you ever survived without PluralEyes added to your editing software. Users of Premiere Pro CS5 for Mac who are aware of PluralEyes for other editing programs will be happy to know that a version of PluralEyes is now available for their preferred app too. This article will go over PluralEyes’ general features and then illustrate the specific workflow used with Premiere Pro CS5 compared to the way it works with other video editing software.

TiVo Premiere for professional use

For a long time, I have had my eye on TiVo to use instead of the Comcast-provided Motorola DVR. I have known for a few years that the workflow required to re-purpose DVR recordings is much smoother, cleaner, and easier with a TiVo than what’s feasible with a conventional DVR. Up until recently, the price for an HD TiVo unit —together with the monthly TiVo fee— had kept me away. However, in the month of September 2010, TiVo was giving away the latest entry level model known as TiVo Premiere when one signed up for a 2-year contract. Under this agreement, the TiVo monthly fee is only US$3 more than what Comcast charges for the old Motorola DVR rental, so the offer became irresistible. This article describes the process to upgrade from your conventional DVR to TiVo Premiere, and the available workflows to re-purpose content for personal or professional use, including the steps to enable editing in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 or (with additional steps) with Final Cut Pro.

Adobe’s US$99 Premiere Elements for Mac: a first look from a pro video perspective

Last week, I attended Experience Adobe CS5 Production on a Mac here in Miami. Interestingly, the seminar was organized by a local reseller called Enhanced View Services, although promoted via Apple Events, and the actual presenters were from Adobe and Apple. Even though there was a presentation from Apple before and after the Adobe presentation, I estimate that 75% was about Adobe’s CS5. Many ProVideo Coalition readers know that I have written several articles about Final Cut Pro workflow, and more recently, I’ve published several about Premiere Pro CS5, and I will continue to do so. In addition to saying hello to the people from Apple and Adobe and hearing even more about CS5, I really wanted to see whether there would be any mention of the new US$99 Premiere Elements for Mac, which had been announced earlier in the week… and if not, I wanted to ask questions about it. In this article, you’ll find out more about what happened at this event, and the surprisingly positive answers I got about Premiere Elements for Mac.

Add eSATA to a 27” iMac and untap RAID speeds of 3.3 times faster than FireWire 800

Although it has been in existence for many years and is known to be among the best and fastest ways to connect local external hard drives or disk arrays to a computer, Apple strangely has been the only computer manufacturer to my knowledge which has not yet offered a direct eSATA port on any of its computers. Even way back in the Apple G5 tower era, I used to add eSATA ports to high-end video editing systems I integrated, and this of course has continued with the MacPro (Intel) era of Apple towers. The lack of direct eSATA port on all other Macs Mac, MacBook(Pro), and Mac Mini] has sadly meant that video editors have had to settle for slower FireWire 800 speeds… until now. The highly respected OWC (Other World Computing) is now offering a US$169 custom modification to iMac 27” (mid 2010 models) to add eSATA, which untaps 3.3 times faster performance with an external disk array or SSD, compared to FireWire 800. This article will cover what the extra speed means to a video editor, how eSATA has been added to Macs before (with compromises), the advantages of OWC’s new official upgrade plan, and how to do critical video evaluation monitoring with an iMac.

TecnoTur episode 3 (English): Karl Soulé of Adobe and Tamara Benavente of Ellanvannin Multimedia

TecnoTur episode 3 (English) is now available. Tamara Benavente of Ellanvannin Multimedia tells Allan Tépper and the TecnoTuristas about how she produced her latest short film Lost and Found, using a Sony camera and Adobe Premiere. Then Karl Soulé of Adobe tells us about some little known yet extraordinary features in Premiere CS5. Here are details about this episode contents, and how to hear it free, or become a subscriber.

TecnoTur episode 2 (English): Radio Lollipop + Matrox’s announcements at NAB 2010

TecnoTur episode 2 (English) is now available, and includes an interview with Radio Lollipop, and with Matrox regarding all pro video announcements at NAB 2010. Brittany Smith of Radio Lollipop —an international radio network based in the UK, with affiliate stations in children’s hospitals throughout the world— tells TecnoTur about her background in commercial radio, and her current position at Radio Lollipop. Then Rubén Abruña and Allan Tépper travel to NAB 2010 in Las Vegas and interview Wayne Andrews, a Matrox pro video product manager. Wayne tells us about ProRes422 encoding in Windows, compatibility with Avid MC5, and MAX 2.0 with scene analysis and VBR encoding.

The exodus from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere CS5 has begun

On April 5th, 2010, I published the article Will Adobe’s new Mercury technology provoke a sudden exodus from Final Cut Pro to CS5?. At that point, the title was still a question. Since then, NAB 2010 came and went without a word from Apple regarding the potential future of Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Studio. Apple’s complete silence on this topic seems to indicate that Apple is much more focused on the consumer market, especially their mobile devices, and no longer on professional applications and hardware. This is further revealed by Apple’s continuing release of MacBookPro 13” and 15” models without ExpressCard34 slots, which is now offered exclusively in the 17” model… and by the complete lack of direct eSATA ports on any Apple laptop. In the meantime, Adobe has already shipped Premiere CS5 for both Mac and Windows. As stated previously, CS5’s Mercury engine can handle multi-layers of H.264 raw footage in real time very gracefully. (CS4 can also do that, although not nearly so gracefully.) Based upon private e-mails and conversations with editors yesterday, the exodus from Apple’s Final Cut Pro to Adobe’s Premiere CS5 for many began yesterday.

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