Little Frog in High Def

Yeah, I know, I know. I already knew this, and I have told many MANY other people that they should edit XDCAM as ProRes…but I thought that I’d just save a LITTLE time with these quick promos I am cutting and keep them as XDCAM, but render them out of Color as ProRes. I did a small test and it worked.

But, I didn’t anticipate a few things in this project. The big one being that the producers want timecoded dailies of BOTH angles. How this was done before was putting the A cam on V1, and the B cam on V2…making them both 50% and putting them side by side. Then we add the A cam again to V3, add the TIMECODE READER filter, and crop the picture until you ONLY see the timecode. The cameras are set to TIME OF DAY code, so they are only a few frames off…so this works fine.

Well, I did this, and then I went to render it. 45 min sequence for Reel 1…and the estimated time was 5 hours. The render bar was bright green, so I could edit fine, but render…oy vey! And I have TWO more reels to do…and they wanted this by tonight…or tomorrow at least. So I’d have to render for 15-18 hours…then export and encode for the web. Ugh.

OK, so I had the bright idea to SEND TO COMPRESSOR from FCP. This way I could export them, but continue to work (FCS 3 allows for this). OK…I did this, but after 3 hours, it said that it still had NINE HOURS TO GO! And not only that, the computer was reduced to a crawl, I couldn’t even edit in FCP without dropping frames and image skipping. I can’t work like this.

Well, it was now 2:00 PM and I needed to do something. So, I emailed the assistants who I worked with on the last show…all XDCAM, and asked about their process. See, we relied on them to do everything and prep the footage, so I didn’t now how to get from Point A to Point Z. They said that they used the XDCAM Transfer Utility to convert the footage from the cards to XDCAM…I did that too. Then they used the Media Manager in FCP to convert the footage to ProRes 422…and retain the timecode and the reel numbers. Fine, I’ll do that.

According to the display this process will take 3 hours. So, I am taking time to watch THE SECRET OF NIMH with my kids, and write this blog post. (Mrs. Brisby just saved Jeremy. Voiced wonderfully by Dom DeLuise).  When the conversion stops I’ll relink to the new ProRes clips, and then we’ll see how long this takes.

SOME TIME LATER…

OK, after 3 hours the conversion is done…and it all reconnected beautifully.  Now I do the SEND TO COMPRESSOR and…well, 5 hours.  Better, but not great.  But something that can happen from now until the AM.  And I can do the tasks of merging second system audio with one angle, then making a multi-clip of this so that I can start editing tomorrow.

(If the producers would take a DVD, I could have played this out in Real Time to a DVD Recorder, and been done in 3 hours.)

A buddy of mine, Bryce Randle of Post Fifth Pictures, popped in on iChat to ask me the question:  ”Do you remember how to change the size of frames in the bin?”

Boy do I. That was one of the day to day tasks I did as an assistant editor on EVEN STEVENS. One editor liked to have all of the shots laid out by camera angle and take. One bin per scene, then say Scene 1A (Sc1A_1, SC1A_2), and the various takes all lined up, then Scene 1B, 1C, and so on. So I’d have the bin set to FRAME view. But, when you first do this, all the frames, icons…windows, whathaveyou, are all really small.

Well, we can’t have that. We need them bigger so we can see what the shot is. So I would make them bigger. And here’s the answer to Bryce’s question…how do you make them bigger?

Press CMD-L (command-L). This will make it get bigger by a notch.

Keep doing this until they are the size you want.

And if you want them smaller, press CMD-K.

These are the same keys you press to make the tracks…the ACTIVE tracks (the ones highlighted via autoselect) bigger and smaller on your timeline.

Sorry that I haven’t posted in a while. My latest gig on Warren the Ape has kept me VERY busy lately.  That and two side projects that are running concurrently.  A lot to do, and little time left for much else.

On Warren I am mainly onlining and color correcting. Well, that is ALL I am doing.  But it is a big job.  Besides making it look pretty, I have to blur things like license plates and people and brand names and logos…a daunting task.  One that I would NOT like to be doing without the great Andy’s Region Blur plugin.  Seriously…wow, this is a life saver.  Localized, keyframeable… can’t thank Mr. Mees enough.

Now, one thing that seems to take all of my time on this show is the slates.  Those are the things before the show that ID the show, the total running time, the date it was output to tape, show number, production company…all that stuff.  Typically you only see these once on the tape, a few seconds before the show starts.  But with MTV (and I’m sure a few other networks), it is a bit different.

There is a slate in front of each show segment…each act, the “NEXT TIME ON” tease, and all the various credit bed elements.  Why?  Because each slate IDs the segments with a unique number, a ROUTING NUMBER that is then fed into the computers at the network, where they build a show based on these numbers.  Makes sense.  Just know that each show has 9 slates.  Then comes the fun part.  There are 3-4 different versions of the show. Main Master, International Master, Promo Master, and if we used a popular hit song, we need an alternate master so we don’t need to pay for that song in other markets, so the RE-SCORED MASTER.  And each one has different slate information.  So I need to build 36 different slates.

But, the fun doesn’t stop there.  That’s the easy part.  Each show has different audio configurations as well.  The Master will have Stereo MIX on CH1 and 2, and Mono on 3 & 4…then the Music and Effects only on 11 & 12.  And then the International will have only 4 channels, leaving out the Mono.  Promo will have VO and effects on 1, dialog and production audio on 2, and then a stereo music mix on 3&4.  And the re-scored version will have different show mixes in the act that contains the popular music.

The tricky part is that the show is mastered once…output to HDCAM SR.  And then dubbed to Digibeta SD masters.  Those masters need different routing numbers, so when the dubs come back, I punch in to them, only laying back the new slates (insert edit).  What makes life interesting here is that we are converting 23.98 to 29.97 when we output, so the timecodes aren’t spot on, and there might be slippage, so we back time one frame to make sure things are right.  And the show is dubbed to them letterboxed, but the CREDITS need to be full screen.  So I have to go back (or my assistant does) and punch in the full screen credit beds.  The promo copy and International copy are output separately to digibeta, and we have to go back to them and punch in the full screen credit beds as well…instead of downconverting, rendering and outputting.  We downconvert when we output, then punch in SD credits.

Get all that?  Understand it?  I don’t expect most of you to get it.  I’m mainly showing that delivering a show for broadcast requires a lot of small things, a lot of attention to detail…a lot of boring, repetitive work.  Which is why I love the fact that I can listen to music while I do it.  Thank GOD for that.

In case you don’t follow me on Twitter, let me state that I recently purchased a Canon T2i DSLR camera. Wait, nevermind, I posted about that here.   This is the baby brother to the Canon 5D and 7D.  I got this to replace my DV Camera (Canon GL1) that I used semi-professionally, but mainly as a home video camera.  So I now have the T2i for all my home video shooting.

Man, does it rock.  VERY nice images.  But I do need a Z-FINDER from Zacuto…but that’s besides the point.  The point here is getting all of this footage to an editable state.  When I got the camera, Canon just released the EOS plugin for their DSLR line, but then it didn’t work with the T2i, so I hacked it to work and …it works.  But, it works slow.  What I like about it is that it adds a reel number (the name of the folder you backed up the footage into), and it assigns the TIME OF DAY code as the master timecode for the clips.  PERFECT for the professional workflow.

But I mainly use this camera for home video use, and this process is REALLY SLOW.  The solution?  Magic Bullet Grinder. Grinder uses ALL the processors your Mac has to compress multiple files at the same time.  So if you, have an octo-core mac like I do, that means that Grinder will bring all of them to bear on the task of converting.  Or if you have a Quad, it’ll bring all four.  And each processor will tackle one clip. 8 processors, 8 clips getting processed at one time. So what this does is make the conversion of these files 4 – 8 times FASTER than using Compressor, or Log and Transfer in FCP…or MPEG STREAMCLIP.

One thing I really like is that it lets you choose a destination before you start compressing…a pop up window appears so that you don’t forget to do this.

Now, your choices of codecs are somewhat limited.  ProRes Standard, ProRes Proxy and PhotoJPEG formats (no ProRes LT like I like to use for my smaller home movies), but the choices are decent ones.  And while it does include a timecode track, it doesn’t refer to any timecode the camera records.  It defaults to 1 hour, and you can assign your own custom code, but I don’t really see the use of that beyond identifying that the footage is from a different card.

But, Grinder does offer the option of compressing to two different formats…an offline quality one with burned in timecode, and then the master full resolution version.  So the timecode of the proxy will be the same as the master footage, so all you need to do is reconnect when you are done editing with the offline quality media.

As I said, I have been using this with my home movies, where I want to get something cut quick, before they pile up and become so overwhelming that I leave them and don’t touch them for YEARS.  Which is still the case with a lot of the early footage.  BUT, lately I have gotten something shot, and edited, within a few days of the event or trip, and have made the family happy.  Grinder has really been helping me here.

Again, I would like to point out that, at least in my opinion, this application isn’t quite ready for professional use.  Sure, it’s fast, but you don’t get a reel number, you don’t get time of day code (you get user assignable code)…so recapturing the footage, if you are revisiting a project or if you are recovering a project due to hard drive failure, will be a bit of a task , and not as automated as FCP’s Log and Transfer works.  So if you want to use the SPEED of Grinder, then either leave the media online all the time, or back all of it up so that you are prepared for the potential drive failure.

Hmmmm…I did just notice that if you choose ProRes Standard, that a note appears that says that 720p material will be upconverted to 1080p.  Now, my camera offers 720p60, and I can see using that for slow motion (convert to 23.98 or 29.97), but will this frame rate hold when I use Grinder…when it gets converted to 1080p?  I’ll have to test that.  And that is an option Red Giant might have to address too…give a 720p option.

Magic Bullet Grinder is available from www.redgiantsoftware.com for $49 US.

OK, I am NOT going to say that Avid Media Composer 5.0 is a “game changer.” Mainly because I hate that term. And I don’t think that it is changing the editing game. But, what it is doing is adding more tools to make it a better application. Hmmm…well, I might actually have to change my thoughts on the term “game changer,” because it is actually changing the game, just not the game you all are thinking about. The game Avid is changing is the one it has been playing with it’s user base.

Initially Avid was good. They listened to the needs of the editors and incorporated many things they needed to do in early versions of Media Composer. But then they started to slip, and get lazy…or just plain neglectful. If we wanted a feature, they got around to giving it to us eventually, but they’d charge us $14,000 to “activate the new feature.” They got comfortable in their position and ignored the needs of their base.

But now the game HAS changed. Avid is not only listening to the editors and end users of their products (meaning post supervisors and facilites managers too), but they are actively seeking out our advice…and incorporate it into their latest releases. There was this great tool that we users of Final Cut Pro really rely on, and love. It is Select All Downstream, or Upstream…or between IN and OUT points. I myself use this daily. When we asked Avid to add that to Media Composer…low and behold, in Media Composer 3.0.5…there it was. And when we asked them to support the new camera formats…in less time than their usual record of a year or two, they listened to us. In fact, they are listening to us so much now, and taking our advice so much now, that they come out with a new MAJOR release of Avid Media Composer every 6-9 months or so. So fast that I personally have told them that they really need to slow down. Why? Because many large facilities and old guard post houses would be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars for new upgrades, because they’d need to upgrade 12-40 bays, including hardware to view on client monitors. And historically a fully decked out Avid MC would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

So, Avid’s old game of a) not listening to their user base, b) not implementing new features quickly enough and c) costing a lot of money has changed. And their NEW game is…well, listening to us, adding new features VERY quickly, and offering their Media Composer line as pretty inexpensive editing solution.

Enough preamble, onto the review.

Avid was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to beta test Media Composer 5.0. And in doing this I not only got to play with all the new features, but also help work out the bugs. And I got a chance to get more comfortable with how the application works. Media Composer 5.0 (MC5) has a LOT of new features, and I tried to test as many as I could, but I limited myself to the key areas that most impacted me and my editing style and workflow. If you want to see a full list of these features, you can see my NAB preview here.

What I played with:

SMART TOOL

This new feature adds “Final Cut Pro-like” timeline work habits to MC5. Before this release, you had to click on the RED select arrow (overwrite), or YELLOW select arrow (insert) before you could drag media around the timeline. While in FCP, this is the norm. I can tell you that when I go from FCP to Avid MC, I miss this ability a lot. Well, now I have it. But, it took a little getting used to. The main thing that distracts me is the OVER/UNDER behavior. If you are on the upper 50% of the clip, you get the OVERWRITE arrow, in the lower 50% you get the INSERT arrow. Well, on some of my timelines, my tracks are pretty thin, so trying to get the right select arrow becomes quite a task. So what I have done is disabled the INSERT select tool until I want it. But, I would really prefer a keyboard key to toggle between the two. Like OPTION or CONTROL. So normal behavior would be RED arrow so that I can grab chunks or clips and move them about. But when I want to swap shots I press CNTRL and the arrow becomes YELLOW temporarily. As it is now mapped, I have to press a key to activate which arrow I want. Which is a decent workaround (something Steven Cohen mentioned to me).

Now, how this is DIFFERENT in the old way is that now you have an OPEN SEGMENT MODE. This means that those options are now active all the time. In previous versions you either lasso your clips, or activate the arrows, and then do your moving, and then deactivate them to continue working and to navigate the timeline. The SMART TOOLS allow you have the segment modes open all the time, so that you can move clips, and then navigate on the timeline by clicking on the timeline bar (just like you do in FCP), and then doing more changes. And the TRIM tools are also active all the time, so you can slip and slide the cut points. And if you want to deactivate the tools, you can click on the lower ruler. But this is a setting you have to adjust in the TIMELINE settings.

So now you have the best of both worlds. The great Avid trim tools and trim editing that I have gotten to love again, AND the direct timeline manipulation that I love in FCP. Now, it isn’t EXACTLY like FCP, nor should it be. As I said, it took a little getting used to, but once I got it down, I had it. And you can enable clicking on the ruler or timeline to disable these functions, just like the older versions of MC. So you can still click all over the timeline when moving the playhead, activate the Smart Tools when you want to grab something, and disable them by clicking on the timeline bar…just like the old way. But, slighly different as their location has moved from the bottom to the side. So that might get the old-school Avid people a tad getting used to. When you are so used to the way something works that it becomes second nature, when things change, you get thrown for a little loop.

COLLAPSE STEREO TRACKS TO ONE LAYER OF AUDIO

I cannot tell you how much landscape this saves. I typically have 4-8 tracks set aside for music, for when things overlap or I add stings to other scores. And then 4-8 tracks for SFX. Now, I can use 1-4 tracks for each…as you can make one track into a stereo track. And I like my SFX to be in stereo, as often the sound in them travels from L to R. So this is just a small feature that gives you more room on your timeline, meaning you don’t have to scroll UP and DOWN so much to adjust your audio. A small time saver, and any time you can save doing these small things means more time saved in the editing process. And this can all add up to more time to do the ACTUAL work.

TIMELINE AUDIO TOOLS EXPANDED

This too turned out to be a big time saver Instead of having to have the AUDIO TOOL open, and having to move bins aside looking for it, I have have a lot of the tools I use on it directly on the timeline. I use MUTE and SOLO a lot to only listen to certain mics, or to quickly solo out the music tracks (so I don’t have to turn off the 18 other audio tracks) so that I can make sure the music edits I make are smooth. And the ability to turn on the audio waveforms ONLY on certain tracks, like music, means a LOT less time sitting idle as MC loads all the waveform data for ALL the tracks.

Again, a small amount of time, but enough to slow my train of edit (as opposed to train of thought) down. And all these little things add up.

RED AMA

I haven’t worked on a RED project yet, but I got some RED footage from a friend to test out this feature. And I didn’t go TOO in depth, as I focused mainly on other things. But, I will say, that with AMA, accessing the RED footage is a breeze. It doesn’t go after the PROXY files, or the other QT files that the RED produces. I tried to AMA those and only got errors. No, what it does is access the R3D files, so you are accessing the actual 4K files.

When I initially did this, in earlier beta builds, I noted that it was very sluggish. But then I moved my footage to my Caldigit HD one, and thing played a bit smoother. But still choppy. And I had choppiness issues with other AMA files, and finally figured out it was my graphics card causing the issue. I’ll talk more about that in the next section. But, needless to say, access the RED RAW files quickly through AMA, and being able to adjust a quick “one light” look to them when you do this is pretty slick. I need to play with this more.

QUICKTIME AMA

Now onto one of the big main features that was introduced in MC5, Quicktime AMA. WIth QT AMA, Avid MC5 introduces a huge leap into working with multiple formats. Now MC5 can work with footage recorded using the KiPro, or the new Arri camera. Now MC5 can work with footage captured in FCP to ProRes. Now it can work with footage shot with Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras. QT AMA will either load the footage automatically (something I don’t like), or allow you to import an entire folder, or individual files. This is very cool!

Now, I want to tell you something. Just because you can now access these files natively, I caution against editing the files natively. Be wary about loading the files via AMA and start editing them in their native form. Can you? Well, yes, you can, if you have the right graphics card. Avid MC5 really relies on the NVidia line of graphics cards, they add more power to the system to deal with the processing power needed to deal with this footage. Initially I only had my ATI 4870 card, and things were sluggish.

One thing that I noticed is that my Canon T2i files would import fine, but when I get beyond 8 clips in the sequence, my machine would slow to an absolute crawl. I’d get the spinning beach ball for seconds before the system would react. And forget about playing in reverse. That made me crash. Editing with ProRes was better…a lot better, but still not smooth. The system was slow to react, and playing in reverse was not smooth. Red…stuttered. AVCHD…acted like my T2i footage. It was horrid. But that was because I was still using my ATI 4870 card. So note that issue when wanting to work with these files. I found out that getting an NVidia card would help, so I did. I got a lower end GT120, and replaced my ATI, and there was a significant improvement. I’m sure a beefier card would be better. But still, many formats, like H.264, is VERY processor intensive, and not really ideal for native editing. But with the card things were a lot better, albeit still sluggish as my sequence got bigger. So this hope that editing native will make your edit go faster…sorry to disappoint. A large sequence with this footage will be cumbersome to edit native, at least in my experience.

As for ProRes, it was normal. Editing with that format, after I got the NVidia, was pretty painless. Very smooth. Integrated into the DNxHD project well. And you know what else? If you install FCP on the same system, to get the codecs into QT, footage imported into FCP from P2, converted to DVCPRO HD, are also accessible, and also integrate well into the cut. So that was an added bonus. Because how many times has someone shot P2, imported into FCP, then erased the cards without backing them up?

I caution about editing with this footage, mainly the DSLR footage, in a long form sequence. Because the larger the sequence got, the more sluggish the system became. I got up to about 15 min when it became noticeable.

Your organization of these files will be very much the same way FCP organizes things. They are where you put them in the Finder, and they remain there. MC5 just makes clips that point to where the media exists. It does not move them to the MXF > 1 folder. Nope. And get this, you CANNOT CONSOLIDATE them there. Sorry, the Consolidate option is only available for Avid media file types. When I tried to consolidate, I got these errors.

And there are more reasons why you might not want to work native. It isn’t just the sluggishness of the system after a while, but many of the workflows that we need to do on the Avid are now impossible to accomplish with files edited using QT AMA.

You cannot output an OMF (pardon, AAF) file for audio. Sorry, that is only available to media in the Avid media file format. This is a very standard workflow…getting your audio AAF or OMF out to an audio post house for mixing. If you can’t export an AAF/OMF for that, then you are stuck mixing yourself, on the Avid timeline. Fine for some, but crippling for those of us in broadcast TV and feature film editing. MC5 is just one step in the post production chain.

A workflow I was hoping would work, doesn’t. I was hoping to capture in FCP to ProRes, use QT AMA to access this footage and use Avid to edit it (or allow the Avid editors more comfort level using this software to edit), and then use Automatic Duck to bring the sequence with linked media back to FCP for finishing in Color. But no, sorry. You cannot export an AAF file with non-Avid media file formats. Nope, I get the following error:

I have heard of someone having success getting footage captured in FCP, and in a sequence to Avid and in a sequence that linked to the media via the EDL method. But they had to do a lot to get it to link properly.

So yes, QT AMA is great in that it allows you to access many media types rather quickly. But this doesn’t mean that now you can edit natively, because many of the crucial features of Avid MC5 won’t work on this media. In fact, the people at Avid highly suggest that you don’t work native, but that you transcode to an Avid format. Quicktime AMA is merely a tool to allow ACCESS to this footage. Once you get access, you need to transcode to an Avid media file format (DNxHD) in order for everything Avid does well to work properly. Sorry guys, no native editing if you want to edit properly.

MATROX MXO2 MINI

Avid opening up hardware to third party vendors for the MC line is big. BIG! I also was able to test this and can say that it works great. Installation was easy, and the result was amazing. I was able to view my DVCPRO HD 720p 23.98 footage onto my HD monitor. I was able to monitor the AMA’d footage…everything. And it was clear and smooth. Didn’t stutter or skip. It output the 720p 23.98 as 59.94 to my external monitor, but that’s fine. That’s how I view my 23.98 from FCP too. It still looks 23.98. And it outputs 1080p 23.98 as 29.97, adding the proper pulldown to monitor properly. And there it is, full HD quality playback on an external monitor for under $500. Matrox is working on new drivers, and the 2.0 drivers, due out later this summer, will output 23.98 at 1080 via HDMI. Until then, the pulldown it does to the footage works well.

The MXO2 Mini only works as playback in MC5, even though the unit is designed to input video. Currently that functionality isn’t available in MC5, but is in FCP and Premiere. Avid and Matrox have only enabled output on the unit at this time. It’s sole purpose at this time is for playing back footage onto an external monitor, it isn’t reliable as a means to output a show to tape. For this you still need an Avid MOJO DX, or Nitris DX. I’m sure you can try…get a Keyspan Serial adapter for deck control and see what you can do. No one stopping people from trying. Heck, you can use this to output to a DVD recorder, or if you are still in the dark ages, a VHS deck. With the realtime timecode overlays, this will be a VERY fast way to encode DVDs for client review.

There is another big reason that this is a big deal. This now makes the MC5 package more affordable to the big shops that employ Avid MCs. Because now they don’t need to buy Mojo DX boxes for all their edit stations. Many production facilities want to have edit bays that play out to client monitors, and until now they have had to shell out $8000 for the ability to do that, via the MOJO DX. And the Mojo would ONLY be used to output to a client monitor. They wouldn’t use it to go back out to tape. So now, with the MXO2 Mini, these facilities can save a TON of money. They can get their fully equipped Avid MC systems with Nitris DX or Mojo DX for capture and online/output stations. This might be just a couple of machines. And then they can equip all the rest of the systems with the Matrox MXO2 Mini and save $7500 per station. The MXO2 mini connects via a PCIe card for towers or Express34 card for laptops (your choice when you buy…to get both connection types it is an additional $99). It will not work on iMacs or MacBooks or MacBook Pros that do not have the required slots.

This might be just the incentive that many post and production houses need to get them to upgrade their systems. Many places hold back because the upgrade cost is daunting. Now Avid has made the upgrade more affordable.

Why the MXO2 Mini and NOT say the MXO2, or AJA Kona, or Decklink Extreme you ask? Well, according to Avid…baby steps. This is but their first step in the direction of third party support. They still need to sell the other hardware to remain profitable, and so if you want to capture and output, you get the Mojo DX or Nitris DX. But if you just want to view, you can get the MXO2 mini. Yeah, I was a little put out too. I only had the MXO2…the big daddy of the line. I had to get the Mini in order to interface with MC5. No saying what the future might have in store for third party capture card support. Avid keeps hinting that more is in the works. And if their record of hinting holds up, we might just see expansion of this. And giving their recent history of new releases every few months, it might not be that long before we see it.

My overall impression? I like it. I like it a lot. QT AMA brings a LOT to the table. Now, I still recommend transcoding to Avid’s codecs, because MC5 still likes to work with it’s file type for optimal performance. And if you want to be able to continue using the footage the standard production chain, it is essential. But, you can work with the files natively if you stay entirely in MC5 for everything, and the performance on these native files was better than I expected. I love the added audio features on the timeline, it sped up my editing workflow. I’m torn on the SMART TOOLS as the over/under doesn’t work for me as well as I thought, but I have a decent enough workaround (thanks to Steve Cohen) and found that mixing the Avid and FCP way of dealing with the timeline will take a little getting used to. The MXO2 Mini is a great added asset, and not only good for the smaller guys who just need to monitor their footage full quality, as they might never output to tape and might stay completely digital, but also great news to the larger post facilities that want client monitoring in all their bays.

I give this upgrade a big thumbs up.

As a post script, I felt that I needed to mention that the latest version of Media Composer will not come with ScriptSync for free. If you are a new purchaser of the software you will have to pay an extra $1000 to get this awesome software. However, those who are upgrading from MC4 will be able to get it for free, but only for this upgrade. For full details as to why, please click on this link.

Sometimes I feel like I am right out of an In Living Color skit (funny skit show from the 1990s) where some Jamaican lady says “You only got three jobs?  You so LAZY!”  OK, I guess you had to be there…

I am at an interesting point right now. Not in my career, but in my job situation. The Long Beach job is now on hold. An unplanned hiatus, but something that is needed…and I will go back to it at some point. Not too long ago, I was on a planned hiatus, and during that time I went to NAB, and spent a week working on a show pilot/pitch.

Now, that show pilot isn’t done yet. We THOUGHT it was, but then the network wanted changes, so they are doing some re-shoots. That’s a good thing, it means that they want it they just want to tweak a few things. They wouldn’t be ponying up dough if they didn’t like the show. SO, while I am on the unplanned hiatus, I will be working on the pilot.

AND…I landed a three to four week union gig on a show called WARREN THE APE.  No, I’m not editing it  That would be COOL!  But I am onlining it…and making it look pretty.  And now you can see my work in action if you watch the clips on that site, then watch the show.  See how much better it looks?  That’s my work!  OK…so I have this job to fill in the hiatus too.  Pilot, and short stint onlining a show.

But wait, there’s more!

Another person has approached me to edit another show pitch.  This is one that I agreed to do a while ago, I just didn’t know when it was going to be hitting my door. Well, it looks like it will be hitting my door the same time as the OTHER pitch, while I am onlining Warren.

So yeah, I am busy.  This is something that can happen to anyone in this business.  Some days/weeks/months…nothing.  Then other times, four things all at once.  It is the times where you have nothing for those long weeks that actually make you accept the three things at once.  I mean, no one wants to work ALL the time, right?  But you do have to prepare for the dry months.

Now I just have to get my act in gear so that when the dry months hit, I do some independent film short or web video.  Some NON-technical tutorial thing.

OK…this is something that “Avid Editors” brag about all the time.  They can load a sequence into the Viewer, and then click a toggle that will then show them that sequence on the timeline.  The PROGRAM (or Canvas for you FCP peeps) timeline is replaced by the PREVIEW (or Viewer) sequence in the Timeline area.  This way they can build a selects reel, or look at footage from another cut, and watch it…then mark IN…watch some more…mark OUT, and then toggle back to the main sequence and cut that in.

This is super useful.  I do it all the time.  Select reels, or as I said, sequences from previous cuts, or other acts, that I am moving to the current cut.

The complaint I hear from them is that FCP doesn’t do this.  Sure, you can load a sequence into the Viewer, but first off, you can’t then toggle back and forth and see what you are doing.  It is useful at times to see not only the image you are cutting over, but also the layers of stuff…what you are bringing over, or might want to bring over or leave out.  You might not want to bring over the original music, for example…or the voiceover.  Whatever.

Now, the first thing that happens when they try to just cut this in is that FCP doesn’t bring over all the clips, but rather it NESTS them, so you end up with one layer on V1, and a stereo mix on A1&2.  Even though you might have 5 layers of video and 18 layers of audio.  Well, there’s a simple solution to that.  All you need to do is either hold down the COMMAND key (A.K.A.  key) when you press F10 or F9.  This enables OVERWRITE SEQUENCE CONTENT…or INSERT SEQUENCE CONTENT.  And this is mappable on your keyboard.  Just go into the Keyboard, choose CUSTOMIZE, and then in the search window on the upper right, search for SEQUENCE CONTENT.  Then map it.

OK, that solves one issue.  But now to the others.

First off…seeing what you are doing in the other sequence.  Well, that’s easy.  Don’t load it into the Viewer.  FCP has the wonderful ability to have multiple sequences open at the same time.  This is a huge advantage over Avid MC…in this respect.

But that doesn’t solve everything.  Because lets say that you want to copy and paste only between IN and OUT points.  Well, if you select the clips you want, there might be overlapping audio, or video…definately music that will go off in either direction.

Well, yes, you can RAZOR the sections that you want, OPT-V will do that.  Then you can COPY and Paste.  But then that leaves your other sequence with copped up sections.  Looks kinda messy.

I mentioned to a fellow editor (Richard Sanchez, who is a regular on the Creative Cow), that I really wished that the RANGE SELECT tool worked in selecting just part of a sequence that you wanted to use.  He offered up this suggestion.  

Mark IN, then mark OUT, and then press OPT-A.  This will SELECT BETWEEN IN AND OUT.  YES!  Then hit COPY, click to the sequence you want to cut into, and PASTE.  OR, if you want to CUT this in between shots, hit SHIFT-V to INSERT PASTE.

Boom, done.  The great Avid feature that we all know and love, replicate-able  in FCP.  Yes, done a little differently, because they are different applications.

This is why it is really cool working with other editors.  Because it is impossible (well, VERY difficult) for one editor to know ALL the tricks in an NLE. So Richard was able to show me the cool trick of selecting between IN and OUT points.  And I was able to amaze him with INSERT PASTE.  And this is why whenever I learn a cool tip, I like to share it with people.  Plus this might make the Avid editors happy…now they can do something they rely on in Avid…in FCP.  Albeit differently.

EDIT: Martin Baker, the BRILLIANT lad from across the pond said in the comments that you don’t even need to do the OPT-A. Just mark IN and OUT and then COPY. TOO EASY! SO…the tip in brief:

Have your main sequence open. Open the sequence you want to copy from. View your footage to determine what you want. Mark IN, mark OUT. Press CMD-C to Copy. Go to the main sequence. Park the playhead where you want the new footage to go. Press Shift-V to INSERT PASTE.

Apple Insider posted a pretty funny rumor, that seems to have spread like wild fire.

I would comment, but I think Phil Hodgetts did it best.

Bottom line…AI is just plain wrong.

EDIT: APPLE responds on CNET.  So get a grip.

I like the fact that both AVID MC and FCP show this in the Viewer (Preview monitor in Avid MC) and Canvas (Program Monitor in Avid MC) when you are missing media.

FCP shows white letters against a bright RED background, which seems to scream, “Hey!  Buddy!  Your media is not here!  Something’s wrong!”

Avid just has a black background with grey letters…muted, as if to say “hmmm…something should be here, but it isn’t.”

This appears to be the theme of both applications.

You see, when your project SHOULD have media, but then it suddenly doesn’t…or rather it had media the last time you opened the application and now it isn’t there…both applications react differently.  And I have to say that I really like the way FCP handles this situation better than Avid does.

You see, when media goes missing from FCP, it flashes a big warning:

“SOME FILES WENT OFFLINE.  Some of the media your project references have either moved, changed, or gone away.”

I like that.  I like it when the application says “you’re missing something!”  Because you might not know.  Not at first, but eventually you’ll open a bin and see the media is gone, or play the timeline and hit that red bar.  Well, no.  Because FCP does ANOTHER cool thing to tell you the media is offline.  If you get that warning, and then click past it, you will see right away on the timeline where the media is missing from.  

A red render bar appears above the timeline where the media is gone from, and the clips are a different color (light grey).  And the thumbnail has that MEDIA OFFLINE red banner.

FCP does this by default.  Automatically. “Eh, oh…you’re  missing something here tough guy.  You might want to take notice.  Or not, you can click continue if you want…but it will still be missing.”

Avid Media Composer…doesn’t.  It doesn’t say a word.  Not one peep.  It just waits for you to open a bin, double click on a clip, and then it shows the muted warning, “media offline.”  Or play the timeline and hit the same black slate.  It’s as if MC says, in a bored tone, “here’s a shot, here’s another shot, and another, oh, by the way, this media is offline, here’s another clip…  Yeah, it was here just a moment ago, but now it isn’t.  Where is it? I don’t know. Shall we continue?”  The ONLY warning you have that the media is offline is that slate. Oh, and the thumbnail if your bin is in  SCRIPT view.

Sure, you can choose the clip color OFFLINE in that timeline menu, but this isn’t a default.  This is something you have to tell Avid you want it to do.  ”What, now you want me to tell you when this is offline?  Well, I won’t do that, but I’ll make the clip a different color.  Is that good enough for you?”  Well, no…but, I guess…if that’s the best you can do.

I have been using Avid MC 4.0 for the past 6 weeks, and I have really enjoyed going back to it.  But then this happened today and I remembered that this was one of my pet peeves.  The one thing about FCP that I really liked.  Media management is crap next to Avid MC, yet it can tell you that something is missing, ringing bells and flashing lights, when Avid MC just sits there.

What’s up with that?

Man, have I been neglectful of my blog. I hate it when I go to other blogs I read and see the same old post over and over again. Nothing new. Really? Nothing new? C’MON! You must be doing something.

Well, I am. I am busy…busy cutting. I am on Rough Cut 2 where we had to completely rearrange everything. Which is OK, as most of the stuff I roughed out in Rough Cut 1 I could use again as segments in Rough Cut 2. And I needed to expand on some segments, and cut some segments. And I’m glad that in these stages I don’t have TOO much music…because fixing music after adding or cutting is time consuming. We are just in “get it in the right order” mode…get the story in a good…story telling order.

ANYWAY, that isn’t what this post is about. I just wanted to let you all know that I have been busy. Because besides this job, I have a family with three girls and on the weekends they run me ragged. Mother’s Day hit too… Oh, wait, getting side tracked again.

I had today off. Because we had more footage to import (another shoot day), and the producer needed to get her bearings. So I went to the dentist (which everyone should do on a day off, I suppose…right?), and then saw Iron Man 2…in a theater ALL to myself. Private screening. NICE. And then I cam back and…took the rest of the day off? Nah…I can’t do that. I’m a workaholic. When I am not working…I make excuses to fire up my machine and do SOMETHING.

Well, I had a decent something to do today. Besides converting a bunch of footage at home for use in the show, I did some testing. Because when you aren’t working, you should test things. See how things might work out…BEFORE you impliment them. Well, the thing I wanted to test was taking this fine show cut on Avid Media Composer 4.0 (which I am LOVING, BTW), and get it over to FCP so I can send it to COLOR for color correcting. Because Color is not only easier to color correct with than the built in tools in MC, but because it is more powerful than MC.

So, I took an Act, exported an AAF file linking to media. Then used Automatic Duck Pro Import to import that into FCP (worked flawlessly)…media managed to ProRes 422 (because Color doesn’t work with the Avid codec)…and then sent to Color to correct a small chunk, then back to FCP to see the results.

I knew that eventually we’d output this 720p 23.98 (DVCPRO HD from P2) show to 1080psf HDCAM, I first media managed the media to 1080p 23.98, using the software to cross convert the footage.  Why not?  I was converting the footage to ProRes, why not kill two birds with one stone?  Well, it looked a little soft to me, so I media managed again to 720p ProRes…and that looked much better.  Sharp.  and toggling between the two I could definately see the difference.  And I know the cross convert capabilities of the MXO2 will look better than the software.  So I’ll do the cross convert when I output.

OK, now.  I still have some NAB stuff to get to.  YES, I DO!  I’ll try to do that when I am on the subway to work.  I have 1.5 hours to kill both ways.  It’s just not easy typing and managing my bike at the same time.

Avid just isn’t slowing down. I advised them that they just needed to slow down. But did they listen? Nope. Why slow down? Because just as soon as you get used to one version, another version comes along and has tons more features that you want. And when you JUST CONVINCE a company to upgrade to one version of Media Composer, you might be hard pressed to get them to do it again. Many large facilities don’t upgrade often, so when Avid keeps hitting us with new release after new release, we might not be able to benefit from those as many companies won’t upgrade because they just did. But us independents? We like upgrading, when the new features call for it.

And boy, will the new features of Avid Media Composer 5.0 call for it.

First let me mention hardware. And no, this hardware isn’t something Avid makes. They are now opening up to third party vendors…specifically Matrox. Avid Media Composer 5.0 now works with the Matrox MXO2 Mini. But not for capture, but for monitoring on a large monitor. This is so you can save money on multiple systems. You can have the one or two bays that you use to capture/output, and the rest…say the other 8 – 30 bays… can utilize the MXO2 mini to throw that image on the nice big client monitor. Before, if you wanted this, you’d have to equip each bay with Nitris DX or Mojo DX boxes, and that can be VERY expensive. Especially if you don’t utilize those machines as capture machines. There are many places that have Mojos just for monitoring, and that is a tad much. Add the MXO2 mini for roughly $450 and BAM! There’s your inexpensive monitoring.

No, you can’t capture with this. No, you cannot output with deck control with this. This is a monitoring solution only. BUT, you can output to a DVD recorder say, for client approval copies. With timecode. Realtime output. And with HDMI connections, and Component and composite outputs…you have monitoring options. And I’m sorry…it only works with the MXO2 MINI.

OPINION: Yeah, I know. I have the main MXO2 box, but it doesn’t work with that. Nor the LE. The reasoning is this… they want to provide an inexpensive monitoring solution to new systems. Make the MXO2 Mini the new bottom end of the Avid MC hardware spectrum. Why not also work with the MXO2 and LE? Got me. That is something between Avid and Matrox. I’m just happy that they opened up to third party hardware. And I heard that this is just the start. Baby steps. More might be coming…this is just the first few footprints on the moon.

New AVID Media Composer 5.0 timeline

Second, let me mention my favorite new feature… the new advanced Avid Media Access (AMA). This new version of AMA now allows Avid MC to access Quicktime files directly, and allows MC to EDIT those QTs without converting or transcoding them. So things like ProRes, the new Canon XF codec…they are directly accessed via AMA and you can just start editing them right away.

This also includes native RED files. Media Composer can edit them without the need to transcode.

And you can adjust the color of the footage before you bring it over…apply a general look while you edit. Darn handy.

OPINION: Now how this works is very familiar to FCP users. AMA will just access the files where they currently reside. Just like importing QTs into FCP. Avid MC just points to the media where it lies and works with it. Move the files, and the connection is broken. SO, if you want to work with the footage natively, then move it to the folder you want it to reside in on your media drive, then import. For all you Avid users…well, the same explaination applies. So now you know how FCP works in regards to media. Yes, you can transcode to DNxHD if you want, and then throw it into the Avid media management. I wouldn’t blame you, that’s rock solid. But I have a different idea.

Now that Avid works with the MXO2 Mini…and now that it works with ProRes… And while I still know a lot of editors that REFUSE to use FCP, and INSIST on using Avid, because they feel more comfortable on the Avid…well, now you can use both. Why not utilize FCP to capture the footage (ProRes), use AMA to import that footage into AVID MC 5.0…edit…then send that sequence back to FCP (via Automatic Duck) linking to the original media…send to Color to color correct, then output from FCP? I think that just might work. This way I can use FCP and Avid…and make all those Avid editors happy, yet still keep costs down for the production companies that have tight wallets.

Speaking of Avid and FCP editors…this brings us to the third new feature that Avid MC 5.0 brings to the table: Avid Smart Tools.

This is something that Avid has added from great demand from us FCP editors. I guessing, because this adds FCP like editing to the Avid platform. Avid is trying to win over the FCP editors, and win back us FCP converts. And it might work. Now you can set up your timeline to either work like a classic Avid MC setup, or you can toggle on the Smart Tools (or pick and choose which ones you want), and now you have an FCP like interface. Grab clips and move them, or grab the cuts and trim them with the mouse. You can even lock audio and video together so that it does both in one click.

The first option is that RED arrow. If you hover on the clip on the top half of it, say above it’s mid point, you get the RED arrow. This allows you to grab and move it and overwrite over clips you happen to drop it on. Or just move things around. Hold down the CMD key to lock the move to cuts or the playhead.

Second option is the YELLOW arrow. If you hover below the midpoint you get this option. THis allows you to move the clip and SWAP places with the clip you drag it in front of or behind. This is what you usually have to hold OPT for in FCP. Again, the CMD key snaps to cut points.

Then there is the trim options. RED trim will allow you to trim footage away and leave a gap (you can trim one side, or the other, or both).

YELLOW trim allows you to trim footage, and close the gap. So cut into a clip and have the timeline move in to fill the void. What is really cool about these trim options is that when you activate them, they activate the Avid MC trim mode…their normal, really cool trim mode. So you can now use the keyboard commands to do some really cool trimming.

OPINION: Is this a feature that Avid editors have been clamoring for? Nope. In fact, most of the Avid editors I know HATE this feature in FCP. They don’t want this access to the timeline. No, this is a feature that FCP editors have wanted Avid MC to have. And Avid has given it to them. This isn’t the first time Avid has added a FCP feature. In Media Composer 3.0.5 they added the SELECT ALL DOWNSTREAM and UPSTREAM and BETWEEN IN AND OUT points. This is something us FCP editors know well. It is very helpful, and Avid knew it…so they added it. Now with these new Smart Tools, they are very obviously trying to win back FCP editors, or people like myself who use both. They want to give us the same comfort level of editing that we have with FCP. And it is true, FCPs open timeline is one of my favorite parts…so now seeing it in Avid, I can’t wait to play with it. When it is released, I’ll be sure to grab the demo and play with it for the 30 days.

You want more? Guess what? I got more. This is going to be one LONG article.

AVCHD import. Before now you had to use third party applications to convert the footage to DNxHD, like ClipWrap. Not anymore. Now you can import the AVCHD footage directly into Avid MC via the IMPORT feature.

Opinion: Yaay! Adding support for more codecs is always a good thing. Relying on third parties can be a drag, unless the third party software offers things the base software does not. But it is nice to not NEED to rely on the third party software. Now I hope this is stable, as there are multiple types of AVCHD. That always seems to throw a wrench into the works.

AUDIO. Now there are a lot more audio features.

You can now SOLO and MUTE on the timeline. You can now access the Audio Suite plugins directly from the timeline. And you can….Ooooooo I love this… turn on Audio Waveforms on SELECT TRACKS ONLY. Meaning not ALL of them. Meaning that the draw time it took to draw ALL the audio waveforms will be severely reduced. And you won’t have them on the tracks you don’t NEED them. I only want them on say, the MUSIC tracks. Boom, I can activate them on only the music tracks.

OPINION: All I can say is awesome. NICE options here. OH! And look at the upper right of that picture. See the timecode window on the timeline? That’s cool too.

Speaking of music tracks, you can now make a stereo pair appear as only ONE TRACK on the timeline. YUP! Because when you make changes to them you want it to adjust the levels and cuts and dissolves to both, so why not have them appear as one track. So now instead of having 24 layers of audio, you can have 16…or 12. This works for stereo sound effects too.

And they added direct access to many audio suite plugins directly on the timeline. No need to go digging in the Audio Tool for them, there they are, at your fingertips.

Man o man will that make editing easier.

And that seems to be the theme for Avid this year. To make editing easier. To allow us to use the tools we feel comfortable with using. Are you an FCP editor and want the ease and speed you developed with FCP, they now have tools to allow you to do that. Are you hard core old school Avid? Turn those off and edit like you always have.

Oh, and I haven’t even talked about CLOUD editing. I missed the demo, but basically this is having the media and main project on a central server, and the editors then are able to access that via a web interface, on any computer with an internet connection. Edit anywhere…with even a netbook. No carrying around media. Let me find a web demo and point to that. Steve Cohen has a blog post about it here, and link to the videos.

There’s a reason that Avid won a lot of awards at NAB 2010.  The improvements to Media Composer are stellar.  Well, on paper.  Let’s see what happens when we get our hands on it.

OPINION:  Many people that I have spoken with think that Avid’s decision to support ProRes…Quicktime in general…means that it is giving in to Apple and Final Cut Pro.  I disagree.  There are other reasons I believe.  One of them is the popular recording device, the AJA KiPro.  This recorder records directly to ProRes QT files, and up until now…or when Avid MC 5 comes out, the files only worked with FCP.  Well now they can work with Avid MC as well.  And the fact that Arri also announced the ALEXA, a high end camera that also records to ProRes quicktime files.  And there are the JVC cameras that also record to Quicktime files…albiet XDCAM and HDV codecs.  It appears that Avid is doing their best to support all the camera formats, and recording devices.

The twenty-fifth episode of THE EDIT BAY is now available for download.

A funny thing happened at a conference…we found out that a show we were doing for one network, was also being done by ANOTHER network…

To play in your browser or download direct, click here.

To subscribe to this podcast in iTunes, CLICK HERE.

Wanna know how to make your audio sound like it is coming from a telephone, or a cheap radio?  Well, I did too.  I googled it, and after a few hits I came across a great solution for this.  So you don’t have to go searching, I’ll post it for you.  Just know, I don’t take credit for this, nor can I figure out who to attribute it too.  I just wanna post it so when people ask, I can point them here.  Or you can bookmark it…or attach it to a stickie…or…

I’ll shut up now.  Here’ the tip:

* Apply a Low-pass filter to your audio clip, set the frequency to 2500 and Q = 1

* Apply a High-pass filter to the same clip with the frequency set to 500 and Q = 1

While I am on this 2 week hiatus, and working on the pilot, and working at NAB, I am really NOT on hiatus.  I will be working a little bit on the Long Beach Job from my home editing studio.  And while I can’t take ALL of the footage home with me, I was allowed to take some.  What I really needed to do was cut down Acts 1 and 2…tighten them up.  Make them flow better.  I cut them fat for the rough with the intention of going back and smoothing out after I got the first four acts roughed out.  But then I made Act 3 darn tight and good, so now I need to go back and work on 1 and 2.

And there is a small section of an interesting detour from the main story that I found fun, and thought it would work well to break up Act 2.  So I needed to bring home some footage of that to work on too.  So, what I did was make a new bin for each act, and a bin for the selects needed to cut this other section.  I then CONSOLIDATED the footage to a small external drive.  This made a new sequence and new media (with the .new after the new clips) that linked to that consolidated media.

Now, for the FCP people out there, this was basically MEDIA MANAGING.  Taking only what was used in the cut, with handles, and making separate clips on a separate drive that linked to the cut.  BUT, this is an area that FCP really falls behind Avid.  Let me explain how.

So, I take this footage and the bins of the consolidated footage and make a new project.  Avid projects are actually several files, one file for each bin, plus a couple master files.  So I make a new project with the same settings, add the bins to the folder, and they appear in the project. And they point to the media on the external drive.  Now I can cut away to my hearts content, and make the footage shine.

OH!  But now I need to add new interview bytes!  And music!  OK, my assistant back in the office makes a bin of selects from the interview, and consolidates them and will FTP (or YOUSENDIT) me the media and bin.  There’s that.  Now I need music.  No problem, I have the same stock library that we are using for the show, so I just import the same tracks and work from those.

NOW… when I am all done cutting, and I am ready to bring these cuts back to the main sequence… you might think that I need to bring back all this consolidated media too, huh?  I mean, the cut is linked to them, right?  Well, maybe for the music, but the other footage was part of longer MASTER footage already captured by the Avid.  So I don’t need to bring the consolidated media.  I just bring a bin with the new cuts back to the main system, add them to the project, and then hit RELINK.  What this does is create a new sequence that now relinks back to the master clips!

I shit you not.

FCP, you see, looks at the starting timecode, ending timecode, duration, and reel number.  If the clip you have doesn’t start at the same time as the one you are trying to link to, or have the same duration, it goes “sorry dude, this isn’t the same clip.  I mean, it is TOTALLY wrong.  I mean, look at the start time, look at the duration.  Not even close dude.”  Avid, on the other hand, is smart.  It doesn’t look at the start and end and duration and reel ONLY.  No…it looks at those and says “Hey, the timecode range of this clip falls inside that clip, and they have the same reel number.  Let me see…Ahhh!  There is the timecode we are looking for, let me just connect this to that and viola!”  Yup, it connects it.  Back to the original media.

Pretty slick, huh?  Would you like to see this in FCP?  I’m sure you would.  GUESS WHAT!?  Someone made this possible.

I shit you not.

It is called FCP Reconnect and it is from Video Toolshed.  I have tested it and it works.  VERY slick.  Watch the demo.

OK, the Long Beach job is on hold for two weeks – planned hiatus while they do more shooting.  One week for NAB, that I leave for on Sunday…and the other for a quick 6-10 day gig cutting a pilot for a TV show for a cable network.  Not a FULL pilot, but a 10 min pitch pilot.  I’ve cut a few of these in my day, and they can be fun…or they can be maddening.  Trying to make some old washed up actor into something fun…not fun.  But taking genuine good material and helping CREATE the look/feel of a show?  FUN!  This project looks like the latter.

So this will be my first big foray into AVCHD.  I have worked with it in the past, but only as footage from a second or third camera that came it, or personal stuff from a borrowed camera.  Nothing like full blown production.  This show was shot with the new Sony NXCAM camera.  Unlike the other projects where the footage was on a 16GB card, or 8GB card…this show has two folders, each with 53GB of footage at AVCHD compression…that’s 5 hours on each camera.  I am using FCP for this one, as it has a better AVCHD workflow at this time, and I want to use COLOR.

This footage is being converted to ProRes with Log and Transfer…and let me tell you, it is taking while.  When both cards are done I’ll give you the time it took.  Longer than realtime though.  And the cool thing about tapeless and Log and Transfer is that once the first clip comes in, you can now watch it, and add comments or rename it, while the rest are being imported.  Try that with tape!  I am capturing to an internal 500GB SATA drive.  We’ll see if I have enough space for this.  I should.

I like cutting these.  Quick, to the point, fun, fast paced.  With the possibility of going to series, and long term work.