December 2007 Archives
Creating menus in Encore has never been easier! With many different options to choose from in the library you can be up an running with a very professional looking menu in a matter of minutes. All you need to do is add your desired text and route your buttons and you are ready for DVD navigation. That great thing is if you want to create a very custom looking menu system then it is still very easy. I always begin with a predesigned layout but then modify it to my needs. An easy way to begin a project is to base your menu on the predesigned menus, buttons, images, and shapes found in the Library panel. You can add still images, buttons, or other assets to a menu. The technique you use depends on the source of the object. To automatically create buttons and build the links to those assets, simply drag the assets (such as video, menus, or timelines) to a menu.
Buttons, in order to function as individual navigation links, cannot overlap each other. As you add buttons to a menu, Encore highlights any that overlap with a bright red outline.
In addition to standard definition, Encore provides an assortment of high-definition menu templates and other assets, and distinguishes them with an “HD� in their names. These can be used for any type of project (DVD, Blu-ray, or Flash) and Encore will automatically scale them to the desired menu size when you build the project.
We now offer a complete training class to get you up and running in Adobe Encore. Sign up now and start making professional DVD's.
ViewCast Corporation a leader in advanced digital audiovisual products for capturing and streaming-live and on-demand-audio and video over the Internet and mobile networks, today announced that Peter Still will join the company as sales director, EMEA, effective Jan. 2, 2008. Still will have responsibility for developing and enhancing sales of ViewCast products and creating new business opportunities throughout the region.
Limelight Networks, the leading content delivery network (CDN) for digital media, announced that it has been selected as the exclusive CDN provider to deliver video content for all 17 of Dailymotion's growing portfolio of localised, country-specific online portals. Dailymotion, the first independent video sharing site, needed a trusted partner that could help support its in-house content distribution infrastructure. Dailymotion has been experiencing exponential growth, in terms of site traffic, content volume and general brand awareness. In June 2007, Dailymotion drew 37.6 million users who viewed a total of 715 million online videos.
The DV Show Podcast interview with CEO, Gary Anderson, from Net Briefings is featured on the NetBriefings' website.
Gary's interview covers the following:
- Details about Net Briefings Enterprise product E-Conference Enterprise.
- A follow-up to Streaming Media West 2007
- Net Briefings earlier announcement this year of Proclaim
Limelight Networks, the leading content delivery network (CDN) for digital media, announced a streaming service beta program for Adobe Flash Media Streaming Server 3. The new service leverages the integration of Adobe Flash Media Streaming Server 3 into Limelight Networks' global, rich-media CDN. Select customers in the US can take advantage of this program to enable their Adobe Flash media content and bring the next generation of online experiences to consumers worldwide.
The new platform created by Limelight Networks to support Adobe Flash Media Streaming Server 3 will provide customers with enhanced features and capabilities including the ability to stream industry standard H.264 video and HE-AAC audio streaming for high quality Web video and encrypted streaming using RTMPE and SWF verification for improved content protection.
Internap Network Services Corporation, a global provider of end-to-end Internet business solutions, announced a new service level agreement (SLA) that provides 100% uptime performance for its content delivery network (CDN) services. The CDN SLA extends the 100% uptime SLA that Internap has offered for the last 10 years on its Performance IPTM network services. Included in this new SLA is third party verification by Keynote Systems and proactive notification by Internap as part of its end-to-end network monitoring and management.
This new SLA follows the acquisition of VitalStream in February 2007 and the integration of the VitalStream CDN with Internap's Performance IP network infrastructure that includes patented technology and intellectual property known as MIRO (Managed Internet Route OptimizerTM). MIRO monitors Internet backbones around the world in real time and automatically chooses the best route for traffic based on performance and reliability. Internap's Performance IP and MIRO runs thousands of mission-critical websites and applications for more than 3,500 customers globally.
Those that have Final Cut Studio or DVD Studio 4 installed on several workstations inside their internal network can look at Apple Qmaster and Compressor as an option for distributed encoding. This is one of the cool features of having Final Cut Studio and Macs available. Now before you decide to go this route you should know that the only way you'll be happy with the speed of the encoding on your encoding cluster is to have a fast network and fast workstations.
With that said you can create a Cluster with Apple Qmaster by turning on the QuickCluster with services feature in the System preferences of the Mac OS under Apple Qmaster. This option is only available for those with Final Cut Studio or DVD Studio Pro 4. Using Compressor you can send jobs to the cluster instead of to Compressor on your Desktop workstation. The workstations in the cluster can gang up on your videos to encode your output files which is very cool stuff. For example, when you send your Batch to your cluster each node in your cluster is used to process the videos which means encoding should be completed quicker. You even have the ability to check the status of your encoding on the cluster through the Batch Monitor on your client computer. A possible scenario is to have editing happening during the day and encoding going on overnight or when editing is not happening.
If you are in the market for one of the new Adobe bundles, then now is the time. Our great friends over at Digital Juice have teamed up with Adobe to save you 10% on your next purchase. This includes any product form Adobe and when you are spending close to $2000.00 on a production suite and a few other applications 10% adds up quick. So don't delay and get your Adobe products now and sign up for one of our up and coming Adobe training classes!
Digital juice has done it again, they have teamed up with the guys at Red Giant and are offering one fo my favorite plug-ins at 50% off. It is Trapcode's Particular. Particular is a powerful 3D particle system that can produce a wide range of effects from natural smoke and explosions to geometric or organic abstract motion graphics design elements. Tight integration with Adobe After Effects provides bouncing particles on 3D layers, emitting particles from layers and lights and using a layer as custom particle. Comp-camera aware and 16bit of course! The physics engine includes air resistance, gravity and turbulence, providing very realistic particle motion. The keyframable Physics Time Factor gives you full control over time so you can freeze time and move the camera around in a scene. Particular has many uses and make sure you check out these great examples. Don't miss this great opportunity to save big on a very useful plug-in and sign up for our next After Effects class and learn how to utilize this great plug-in!
Nero, leaders in digital media technology, announced that the latest update of the award-winning Nero 8 suite brings users a number of great new features including BDMV authoring and playback, improved file encoding speed, and support for Mini HD DVD-Video discs.
Nero 8 has received certification for authoring and playback of writeable Blu-ray Disc Video (BDMV) titles and, with the new update, now supports advanced and interactive features for High Definition audio and video. The certifications were presented by Sony Corporation's Blu-ray Disc testing center and ensure maximum compatibility with other Blu-ray devices for trouble-free operation.
Telestream's award-winning Flip4Mac WMV Components for QuickTime applications has surpassed the 10 million download mark! They're celebrating the amazing milestone with the release of Version 2.2 software.
Highlights for all users:
- Play Windows Media from more websites and streaming servers
- Move your software from one computer to another using the new deactivation/reactivation feature
- Support for Apple's Mac OS X Leopard
Exporting a Quicktime movie out of Final Cut Pro using the current settings of a HDV1080i60 sequence, and then closing Final Cut Pro, and opening the Quicktime movie with Compressor to do the encode is over twenty percent faster than exporting out of Final Cut Pro to Compressor. A test was conducted using a Powerbook Intel duo 2.2 with 2 gb of RAM. The Project was 1:45 long, and to encode straight out of FCP, it took 19:35. To export the Quicktime out of FCP, and then encode the movie, took 15:27. These numbers are certainly subject to the machine doing the encoding. Aside from the benefit of the time savings you also end up with a Quicktime movie.
There are many different settings you need to be aware of in the capture settings dialog box, but the first one you need to address is the length of allowed capture. What I mean by this the the time that Avid will allow you to capture your footage before it stops capturing. The default is 30 minutes, which I have always thought to be way to short considering that your average DV tape is 60 minutes and for the most part I want the time limit to be when I press stop. So, I set mine to 120 minutes that way I have complete control over my capture time limit. To do this go t o your project window and select the settings tab. Double click on capture and the capture dialog box will open. Click on the OMF Media Files tab and set the maximum capture time to your time limit of choice. Make sure you sign up for our next up and coming Avid class, class sizes are always small and seats are filling up fast!
Exporting a series of images from your sequence is performed a little differently than exporting a single frame image in Final Cut Pro. You can export a sequence of images in the format of your choice via exporting Using Quicktime Conversion. Set a range in your sequence for export using in and out points.
1 After you have opened a sequence into the Timeline, you can set your in and out points for export as a Numbered Image Sequence.
2 Go to File > Export > Using QuickTime Conversion.
3 Designate a place where you want the files to be saved. I recommend creating a new folder for this export.
4 Click on the FORMAT twirl down menu and choose Image Sequence from the list.
5 Click on the USE twirl down menu and choose a setting.
6 Click on the Options button in the Export Window to set other options for bit depth and compression under the Options button of the Export Image and Sequence Settings box.
7 Click OK after you have made changes in the Options menu, in this example JPEG Options, and in the Export Image and Sequence Settings box and Click Save in the Export Window to export your image sequence.
Adobe After Effects has many great effects, plug-ins and presets. They are very useful if you know how to apply them. One of my favorite plug-ins is the CC Sphere effect that comes free with your purchase of Adobe After Effects. It allows you to turn any flat image into a sphere and then animate it. You can make everything from stone or glass marbles an entire universe. The example here is a simple flat image of the earth with the CC Sphere effect applied, some clouds added and then a simple rotation animation. This only took a matter of minutes to make and the possibilities are endless. You could make a whole galaxy and fly through it from planet to planet or just to the moon and back. This is one of the many great tricks you will learn in one of our intense After Effects training classes. Sign up now, class sizes are very small and they fill up fast!
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Envivio Inc., the leading technology provider of IP video convergence encoding solutions from mobile to HD, announced it is providing a Convergence Generation video headend for TUS TELEKOM's live standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) IPTV services in Slovenia. TUS TELEKOM will expand its existing SD IPTV service to 108 channels, add 6 channels of HD content, and migrate from MPEG-2 to a more efficient Envivio MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoding solution.
When you are working on authoring a project with DVD Studio Pro, it is often a big help to set a default button style. A popular default would be to set your buttons up to have the text appear in the center of the button rather than the DVD Studio Pro default of below the button. To accomplish this all you have to do is set up your button the way you want it and then right click on the button, and select set as button default style. Now every time you left click and drag to create a button it will use the parameters you have assigned to your default button style. At the beginning of every DVDSP project if you know what the most common, or only button in your project is going to be, and set it as the default, it will certainly speed up your work flow.
You also may want to save each button as either a custom or project button style, so that it can be referred to thru the palette. You would want to do this if you were going to use the button style in future projects or if you were going to be changing button styles frequently within the same project.
Here at GeniusDV, we recieve a large number of calls on a daily basis from editors seeking support on a wide variety of issues that can arise in a day in the life of a working editor , but occasionally, we receive calls that would seem better suited for someone who works in the paranormal!
one of our past Avid students, who produces two shows a week for his local church service, called us and stated that he was hearing strange voices as he was putting together his projects. Naturally, we all looked at one another and wondered if this guy had a late night and was hearing the voice of Jack Daniels, but as we dug deeper and deeper into his situation, we discovered something quite fascinating!
This producer was using a cheap, unshielded firewire cable and everytime someone was on a cell phone, or when the church used their wireless microphone system while he was capturing his material into Avid Xpress, those signals became mixed with his audio signal. He had the better part of an entire conversation and a sermon intertwined in his audio tracks. He went out and bought a heavy duty firewire cable and that solved his problem. We didn't need Scully and Moulder after all!
Something that can easily get over looked in Final Cut Pro is making sure you have your filters in the correct order within the filters tab. Filters start at the top and effect one another as they progress down thru the list of applied filters. A perfect example of this can be seen when applying a matte and a blur. When the Blur is applied first the blurred image shows thru an unblured matte.
When the Matte is applied first the edges of the matte are blurred as well.
Anytime you run into a result that is not what you thought it should be you may simply need to rearrange the order of the filters. Once the filters have been applied you can simply drag them up and down within the filters tab to reset the order.
If you are trying to sift through all of your render options and find that you are confused by all of the settings, then I would like share with you my work-flow and hopefully it will help stop the confusion. First and foremost you need to decide the delivery vehicle for your program, is it going straight to the web, are you publishing a DVD or simply exporting to another application. My philosophy is to always keep my exports at the highest quality at all times. So to do this I have found that a QuickTime movie set to Animation is the best uncompressed export setting. There are a few key reasons that I have come to use this for my exports. It will always embed a clean alpha channel that is easily recognized by most applications, it does not compress your sequence and even if I am making a DVD I still render to this setting and I then allow Adobe Encore or Sorenson Squeeze hand the transcoding. This is not only efficient but most authoring programs handle the transcoding much better then After Effects or Avid. If you want to make animated gif for the web After Effects allows you do this and I use this setting if I am posting something to the web that is not needed for any other application. The last setting I use is .FLV. Flash Videos are the best way to post your work on the Internet. Not only do they play fast but they look great. The settings for your .flv will change from project to project so you will need to play with your settings to achieve the results you are looking for. Just remember that QuickTime set to Animation; Flash Video and Animated GIF’s will get the results you are looking for in most applications.
Replacing a Clip
1 Click on a clip in the timeline
2 Start dragging the clip to an adjacent area, then hold down the option key to swap positions with the other clip. If you are dragging your clip further down the timeline to a new location, it will splice into position and shift all other clips downward.
On2 Technologies, Inc., a leader in video compression solutions, announced that Unilever, one of the world's largest consumer products companies, has chosen its On2 Flix Publisher solution to provide enterprise video encoding and delivery services to Unilever's global community of marketers.
On2 Flix Publisher is a unique browser-based encoding and publishing solution for Adobe Flash Player 8 and 9, based on On2's VP6 video compression schemes licensed by Adobe. Publisher allows easy drag and drop video creation and publishing on a web page, without any special software installation on the user's PC. As a result, large enterprises, media companies, and video portals can allow anyone to become a video publisher without special training or equipment. Publisher's automatic workflow allows large number of videos from a large number of users distributed globally to be published without large infrastructure deployments and specialized management resources.
MTV Italia, the Italian affiliate of international media powerhouse MTV, has purchased a range of Digital Rapids DRC-Stream media encoding and streaming solutions. The Digital Rapids hardware and software combinations were selected by MTV Italia for encoding and streaming live content on QOOB TV, MTV Italia's interactive website.
QOOB TV explores new ways of producing and distributing content. Users are also allowed to upload and comment on content, which is monitored and edited by MTV. MTV was looking for a reliable and flexible way to encode live feeds into the On2 VP6 format for live streaming to viewers using Adobe Flash Player. MTV selected Digital Rapids' solutions to meet these requirements, and is now running DRC-Stream cards and Digital Rapids Stream software on both HP and Intel servers.
For Mac users that need to export a single Windows Media file from QuickTime Pro or any other QuickTime based application Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD is just the tool to use. In many cases where you don't need a heavy duty compression application to convert videos to the .WMV format Flip4Mac is just the tool needed.
If you need a high quality file for playback on a desktop you can use the 2-Pass VBR 800kbps preset inside Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD application. To encode 2-pass VBR Windows Media videos users will need to have Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD and no just the Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro version.
To Export a 2-Pass VBR 800kbps Windows Media file inside the FlipMac Export Settings, choose the Two Pass VBR, 800kbps Profile. Users can further customize settings but this will get you a good quality file without a lot of adjustments to parameters.
Note: Also, make sure you're using the latest Flip4Mac WMV update
If you haven't heard solid state recording devices are here and now! The new 32gb P2 cards are available now and the record times are now worth taking a serious look at. Panasonic's P2 card is a plug-in PC card utilizing ultra-reliable, solid-state memory. The lightweight P2 card consists of four high-performance SD cards, like those used in digital still cameras, packaged in a rugged die-cast frame. It is resistant to impact, vibration, shock, dust and environmental extremes, from intensely hot, humid weather to temperatures below zero. The P2 card is reusable and connects instantly with most laptops and major non-linear editing systems eliminating the digitizing process. The P2 card can also be easily connected to any recently-introduced laptops with the ExpressBus interface via an inexpensive adapter.
Recording time on a single 32GB P2 card:
- 32 minutes in DVCPRO HD or AVC-Intra 100
- 40 minutes AVC-Intra 100 at 1080/24p native
- 80 minutes in DVCPRO HD or AVC-Intra 100 at 720/24p native
- 64 minutes in DVCPRO50 or AVC-Intra 50
- 128 minutes in DVCPRO
Setting up a batch export to Compressor is as easy as doing a single export. I used to export sequences thru Compressor one at a time, and have to be available to start the next one. To export multiple sequences out of Final Cut Pro at the same time, first you highlight them in the Browser by Apple clicking on each one. Next right click on one of them and select Export / Using Compressor. This will open Compressor with all three sequences ready to have a Setting & Destination assigned to them. After assigning Settings and Destinations, which can be different for each sequence, just submit the batch and walk away. I often wait until the end of the day to export all the sequences that are ready, and simply let all the compression happen over night.
In Final Cut Pro, you may find it easier to drag the handles of selected clips within the canvas rather than going to the motion tab and adjusting its parameters. You must be in Image+Wireframe or Wireframe mode to use Wireframe handles.
Scaling a clip:
1. Select clip in timeline.
2. Within the tool palette, click on the selection tool and either drag a corner handle (to scale the clip and keep its proportions) or Shift drag a corner to scale vertically or horizontally.
Moving a clip:
1. Select clip in timeline.
2. Within the tool palette, click on the selection tool and drag the layer to a new position (partially or completely outside the canvas, if desired).
Rotating clips:
1. Select clip in timeline.
2. Within the tool palette, click on the selection tool and drag any edge of the selected clip's border in a clock-wise or counter-clockwise motion to rotate.
Itiva Networks, the on-line Video Content Delivery Solution for high quality digital assets, announced that PunkTV.ca is using Itiva's unique hybrid Content Delivery Network solution to bring a diverse and explosive set of music videos to viewers worldwide.
PunkTV.ca, one of the world's biggest punk, metal and alternative music WebTV magazines now available on the Internet, averages about 3 million hits per month. PunkTV.ca is taking a bold move to advance the music industry to a new era where consumers are now demanding the highest quality video experience a robust full-screen experience with TV-like attributes. PunkTV.ca has posted most of the initial 1,000 music videos out of its catalogue with many more coming on board over the next three months.
ViewCast Corporation, a leading global provider of audio and video encoding communication products, announced that Real Broadcast Networks (RBN) is using ViewCast's Niagara PowerStream Pro encoders to deliver state-of-the-art video streaming solutions to RBN customers. In a recent example, Niagara encoders provided high-quality and high-availability online streaming for the "24/7 Live Feed" feature of the popular "Big Brother" reality TV series. The encoders were also in action during the Labor Day weekend's Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Telethon, establishing a new benchmark for image quality of the production's live streaming video.
Internap Network Services Corporation, a global provider of end-to-end Internet business solutions, announced the integration of BuyDRM's KeyOS Pay Media Platform into Internap's content delivery network (CDN) services. Enhancing the robust features of Internap's rich media delivery solutions, BuyDRM's technology will provide customers of Microsoft Windows Media with greater Web content marketing and monetization tools while powering live and on-demand rich media streaming and downloads.
Internap's CDN features MediaConsole, a workflow management toolset that supports streaming formats such as Flash and Windows Media and includes a media manager, pre-built video skins and a real-time reporting dashboard. Through the BuyDRM integration, MediaConsole will feature support for pay-per-view, subscription-based, token, ad-supported, marketing and silent monitoring business models and will be compatible with most payment gateways and shopping carts. In addition, the MediaConsole will boast a simple, push-button user-interface for content management and transactional analysis and includes sophisticated data encryption applications.
Occasionally, you might be left to wonder "Where in the world did my scratch disk go?" Well, here are some perfectly good explanations on what may have happened. Usually when a scratch disk becomes unavailable it can mean one of the following: It may be turned off, disconnected, unmounted, moved, deleted, or renamed.
The next time you power up Final Cut Pro and the scratch disk can't be found, a dialog box with these options will appear:
Quit: This selection will allow you to quit without changing the preferences of the scratch disk.
Set Scratch Disks: This option opens the current list of scratch disks that are available and can be switched to. If your default scratch disk is unavailable, it will not appear in this list.
Check Again: This option will allow you to reconnect the scratch disk and wait for it to mount.
Envivio Inc., the leading technology provider of IP video convergence encoding solutions from mobile to HD, today announced that it is providing the video encoding for MTV's mobile TV services in Brazil. MTV's mobile programming is being delivered using a Brazilian variant of the successful Japanese ISDB-T digital terrestrial television standard which includes the 1seg specification for mobile TV.
As Brazil is among the world's largest mobile phone markets, with more than 110 million users, the government mandated that content delivery to mobile devices be included within the new national digital TV system. The Envivio 4Caster B3 encoder, selected by MTV as well as several other broadcasters, is the first encoding product to support the specification defined within the Brazilian 1seg mobile TV standard.
ON24 Inc., the global leader in webcasting and rich media marketing solutions, announced that federal and state organizations are selecting ON24's scalable and reliable webcasting solutions. By using ON24's webcasting solutions and services, government agencies, such as Department of Education, Department of Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, State of California, State of New York and State of Virginia, can easily produce, manage and deliver virtual presentations and outreach sessions, conferences, town-hall meetings, or training seminars to hundreds and thousands of viewers.
Wowza Media Systems announced today that Rambla, a cutting-edge Belgian CDN predominantly based on open-source solutions, is now using Wowza Media Server Pro, its award-winning commercial Flash streaming server software, as Rambla's chosen platform for Flash media streaming services.
"While we built our CDN mostly on the open source platforms, Wowza's commercial server was the only practical choice for streaming Flash," said Jo Martens, Managing Director, Rambla. "Wowza gave us the rapid time-to-market we needed to satisfy the market demand with a reliable and scalable solution. We are delighted with the Wowza Pro performance, reliability and even more importantly with the world-class support Wowza provides."
Where you wondering if Media Compser Software version was up to the task of editing big motion pictures? Well, wonder no further. I Am Legend is posed to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the holiday season and it was cut on Avid Media Composer Software. Wahrman (the films editor) owns five specially equipped Media Composer systems that he rents out to productions (four were used on I Am Legend). He believes that investing in his own systems offers revenue-generating benefits and also helps ensure the overall quality of a film. Wahrman, who has been using Avid systems for nearly a decade, particularly relies on the script-based editing feature. Read the complete story and sign-up for the latest Avid editing training bundle and set your sights on the next blockbuster film!
After making the necessary hardware connections, in order to utilize the voiceover tool in Final Cut Pro, you will first need to set the duration you're recording and the target audio track within the sequence.
Defining Duration:
Perform one of these options
- The easiest method would be to create in and out points within the timeline.
- If you fail to specify an in point, the playhead will act as one and the recording duration will last until the out point.
- If you fail to specify an out point, the last clip at the end of the sequence will be used.
Setting Track Destination:
Audio recorded using the voiceover tool is placed in the audio track defined by the audio channel 2 destination track.
Example: Lets say that you already have a sequence that is comprised of three tracks, one video and and a soundtrack on audio channels one and two. You will need to enable the audio channel 2 target control of audio track 3 before you use the voiceover tool. The voiceover will then be placed in track 3.
First, we start by selecting the TOOL in the FCP menu and click on FxBuilder.
Earlier, we talked about how you could build each scene of your film as a separate project and later combine them in a master sequence as a form of nesting. The Nest Items Command in Final Cut Pro allows you to select a range in your timeline that contains many layered effects and collapse them into a nested sequence. This can make a very busy timeline easier on the eyes as you continue to work.
Creating a Nested Sequence From a Selected Range in the Timeline
1 Select a range of clips in your timeline.
2 You can either press Option C or go to Sequence > Nest Items.
3 Enter a descriptive name for the nested sequence in the Nest Items dialog box.
4 Designate the width and height of the nested sequence.
5 If the range of clips you have selected contain effects, markers, etc., make sure that you check the Keep Effects, Markers, and Audio Levels with clip selection.
6 Select the Mixdown Audio option if you want your audio to be rendered in the nest.
7 Click on the OK tab. Your previously selected range of clips have now been replaced with a nested sequence. Go to Edit > Undo to step back out of the nest if needed.
RipCode, Inc. has announced their collaboration with Texas Instruments Incorporated to deliver the industry's first digital signal processor (DSP)-based video transcoding appliance for Internet video. Built on a robust, scalable and configurable multi-DSP platform using open architecture standards, RipCode's V4 video transcoding appliance utilizes TI's DaVinci technology specifically tailored for efficient, quality digital video systems. TI's high performance processors give RipCode the ability to replace between 10 - 20 GPP transcode servers with a single RipCode appliance, improving bottom line revenue through significant energy and cooling cost savings.
Telestream, the leading provider of transcoding workflow automation solutions, announced that its FlipFactory and Flip4Mac video compression products helped bring the 2007 Special Olympic World Games to Internet viewers around the globe. The Special Olympics Games were broadcast from Shanghai, China in October and are available on the official Games website at www.specialolympicslive.org. The student-led web project was jointly developed by Fudan University in Shanghai and the University of North Carolina in the US.
Wowza Media Systems, emerging leader in media streaming server software, is making Flash streaming even more affordable with an 80% price reduction for its widely popular Wowza Media Server Pro Unlimited. Now priced at $995, Wowza once again reaffirmed its price leadership on a mission to make flash streaming server technology affordable to all.
Since Wowza Media Server Pro launched in February 2007, Wowza has taken a leadership role in radically redefining the economics of Flash streaming and rapidly gaining over 3,700 licensees worldwide. Wowza's customers have proclaimed its Wowza Media Server Pro "the smart choice" and recognized its value in the 2007 Streaming Media Readers' Choice awards, naming it as a top 3 media server choice along with Adobe and Microsoft.
If you need to capture analog footage, (8mm, Hi-8 etc), into your Avid system and you do not have a MOJO or some other form of transcoder, all you need is your DV camera or deck connected through the firewire port. Once you have your DV camera hooked up simply plug the RCA jacks from your analog source into the analog plugs on your DV cam. Make sure your DV cam is set to VTR and you are ready to go. Make sure you have your camera turned on and plugged into the firewire port before you turn on your computer. Once you have Avid running and your capture tool window open you need to turn the Toggle Source button to off. If you do not do this Avid will try and control your DV deck/cam instead of bringing in your desired source. Now push play on your analog source and 
hit record in the Avid capture tool and you are on your way. This is the best way to get analog sources converted into digital so that you can edit and output to digital!
For all of you Final Cut Studio Artists out there who continue to wonder if an iMac G5 can give you the performance you're looking for when it comes to an intense project, take note of the name Arno Salters. This French-born music video director is making waves with his unique style of mixing live-action with stop motion animation and his clientele is growing by the day.
"What I'm trying to get out of is that glossy, sterile, corporate look the music video industry has sunk to, where everything looks and sounds the same," says Salters.
Bringing the live footage they shot with a Panasonic HVX Camcorder into Final Cut Pro, Salters picked the shots he liked and matched them to the song. Before he begins shooting his stop-action footage, he places markers in the Final Cut Pro 24p timeline, in-step with the music he is working with, and carefully plans each edit.
After shooting his stop-motion footage, Salter's and his wife commences to cutting out 2,500 digital stills. The iMac G5 and Final Cut Pro are his choice tools. Take a look at the story.
ON24 Inc., the global leader in webcasting and rich media marketing solutions, today announced achievement of major technology and webcasting milestones for 2007. ON24's emphasis on excellent customer service and technology innovation contributed to the company acquiring over 300 new customers. To support ON24's growth in the US and worldwide, the company launched offices in Beijing, China and implemented a second datacenter.
Sorenson Media, the worldwide leader for video compression and decoding solutions, announced the immediate availability of Sorenson Squeeze 4.8 for Adobe Flash. Building on the recent release of Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 with H.264 video support, this upgrade enables users of Sorenson Media's award-winning application to encode MPEG-4 video compatible with the newly-released Adobe Flash 9 Update 3 software, using the H.264/AVC, AAC and HE-AAC codecs. Because the resulting files are true MPEG-4 files, they will also be compatible with popular devices such as Apple's iPod and Sony's PSP. This one-file-fits-all technology will simplify the technology landscape for video producers and consumers alike.
To create a text crawl in Final Cut Pro you would first need to go to the generator menu which is located at the bottom right hand corner of the Viewer Window (has the letter A on it) and click it.
1 Navigate to the text option which is located at the bottom of the menu and choose crawl from the text menu.
2 Click on the Controls tab located in the Viewer Window and you will see Sample Text in the Text Edit Box. Change the text to whatever you like.
3 Click on the Video tab inside of the Viewer Window and press play to review the crawl.
Subtitles are a big part of the DVD world. You can simply import subtitles. You import subtitles using a script file. Adobe Encore DVD accepts three different types of script files: Text Scripts, Image Scripts, and FAB Image Scripts. Scripts specify the start and end timecode of the subtitles. The big difference between them is that text scripts contain the subtitle text, whereas the two types of image scripts instead reference predesigned and formatted image files.
Unlike image-based subtitles, text script files include the subtitle text along with the timecode for the start and end point for each subtitle. Text scripts contain no screen position or formatting information. You format and position the subtitles as a group when you import them. The Import Subtitles (Text Script) dialog box also lets you designate the track on which they will be placed (or creates a new track), the language (if any), and the color set and group that will be used when displaying them.
While in the process of editing in Final Cut Pro, you can sometimes have second thoughts about a given clip's purpose or the action that it displays. A quick way to review the clip is to solo it. We have discussed soloing a TRACK before, but this is a single CLIP and this can come in handy if you have video in tracks that overlap the clip.
1 Place the position indicator over the clip in the timeline.
2 Click on the clip in the Timeline to select it.
3 Press Control S or go to Sequence > Solo Selected Item(s).
4 Play the clip by either pressing the space bar or clicking the play button in the Canvas Window. You will now see the selected clip playback and that all overlapping video tracks have been disabled.
Press Control S or go to Sequence > Solo Selected Item(s) to reactivate the other clips in your sequence.
Once again Avid has proven to be the workhorse of the movie industry! Director Robert Zemeckis (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump) is viewed as somewhat of a legend himself for his technological innovations in cinema. Now, the centuries-old material comes face-to-face with the latest motion-capture technology in Zemeckis’s 3D computer-generated film Beowulf. O’Driscoll spent two-and-a-half years on the project, handling everything from cutting pre-visualization sequences to finalizing cuts for the IMAX 3D version, slated to release simultaneously with the film’s theatrical release. Avid editing systems aided the editing team at every stage of the project. Read the rest of the story and do not forget to sign up for one of our up and coming Avid classes, seating is not only limited but going fast!
When you play back a Final Cut Pro sequence, you can tell which audio spots are hot by simply looking at the audio meter clipping into the red area, but you cannot pinpoint the specific problem areas within your audio clip so that you can address them.
You can detect specific hot spots in your audio by marking audio peaks in Final Cut.
Marking Audio Peaks
1 Make sure that you have UNselected all audio and video in the timeline.
2 Go to Mark > Audio > Peaks > Mark. Final Cut Pro will then place peak markers in the Timeline Ruler above the sequence hot spots. If a section of your audio has a hot point that lasts longer than a spike, a peak marker with a duration will appear over that area in the Timeline Ruler.
Now that you have detected audio peaks now its time to fix them.
Lowering Audio Hot Points
There are multiple ways but here are two:
1 Select the area of the audio clip that was marked as hot underneath the peak markers. You can do this buy creating through edits with the razor blade tool to designate the areas right underneath the peak markers, then going back to the selection tool to make your selections (Shift Click to make multiple selections).
2 After you have made your selections, go to Modify > Levels > and adjust the gain. If you make the changes Relative, if you have already keyframed the audio in this area the keyframes will be maintained. By making your changes absolute, you will blast away any keyframes that where previously set and all audio will be adjusted to the assigned dB level.
Another way to adjust the audio in these problem spots would be to Toggle On Cip Overlays at the bottom right of the timeline > control click on the pink overlays on your audio to create keyframe points that you can drag up or down to adjust levels.
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If you have exceeded your system's capability to play back the audio you have in your sequence in real-time, then you will hear beeping when you try to play back your project. If you look under user preferences in the General tab, you will see options for Real-time Audio Mixing and Audio Playback Quality. The Real-time Audio Mixing value is the number of tracks that Final Cut Pro will playback without having to render. Keep in mind that any filter you add to an audio track counts as an additional audio track. For example, if you had 5 audio tracks, each with 2 filters, then you essentially have created 10 tracks. If you have exceeded the number of tracks set in this option, you will have to render. Although this number can be changed, your system hardware will ultimately dictate the Real-time audio Mixing setting.
In reference to the Audio Playback Quality, if you have this option set to High and you have placed audio at multiple sample rates into your timeline, when your sequence settings are set at 48k, FCP will have to struggle to convert all of those audio files during playback.
You've just completed the most ambitious documentary you have ever produced, creating a large and involved timeline filled with various audio clips, graphic elements created in Photoshop and sequences on top of more sequences. Much to your dismay, one of your interviewees contacts you to say that a still image she given to you is no longer relevant to the subject your project covers. This is how you would EFFICIENTLY go about finding that clip in a massive timeline!
Searching for text or timecode in a sequence:
1. Press the home key to position the playhead at the beginning of the sequence to enable the ENTIRE sequence for search OR simply place the playhead where you wish to start the search.
2. Choose Edit > Find.
3. Enter the text or timecode number you want to search for.
4. Choose the type of item to search for in the pop-up menu.
5. Choose the tracks to search from in the Where pop-up menu.
6. Click Find or Click Find All.
