Re: Switch from Avid Adrenaline to final cut pro

Michael,

[promoboy] "I have Beta SP footage and I run it through a capture card and into my system via component. I want to keep the footage as clean as possible so I bring it in uncompressed. I assume, then, that I need a timeline setting for uncompressed to play it back without rendering, right? "

Yes, although DVCPRO50 is also pretty good.

[promoboy] "Next, my client brings me some DV footage that I can capture directly into the system via firewire. This would keep the video native at DV25--capturing to any higher resolution would be a waste of disk space, right? Does FCP allow me to cut the DV25 footage into the same timeline as my Beta SP footage and play it all back without rendering anything? "

This will play in RT sort of. It would have to be rendered to output to tape. I would bring it in uncompressed or DVCPRO50 as well. However, if you do place DV25 on an uncompressed timeline it is decompressed and the rendered file will be uncompressed media, thus also consuming space.

[promoboy] " In Avid I would bring the DV25 in DV25, the Beta in at 1:1, then cut away all day and never have to render until I start adding too many effects."

That's true, but it cuts both ways. If you were working with animations, in FCP your animator could render as uncompressed and you would be able to bring that exact same file into the timeline without additional rendering. In Avid, even if the designer renders to an Avid codec, you still have to import, which creates a duplicate OMF or MXF file, also taking up more space as well as the additional import time. Another factor is that Avid codec media cannot be viewed outside of the Avid application. You cannot send an Avid file to a producer and have him open it up on his desktop in any native media player. With FCP, you can do that with Quicktime.

Both media architectures have their pros and cons.

Sincerely,
Oliver



Oliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
www.oliverpeters.com