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GH2 post-production workflows
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  • An interesting intro to Lightworks:

  • does it support AVC HD natively without rendering?

  • Lightworks currently supports AVCHD natively in QuickTime containers only (mov, mp4) not MTS containers. MTS files need to be re-wrapped to mp4 or transcoded to MPEG I-frame HD in an AVI container (there is little quality loss). http://lightworks.wikidot.com/avchd-workflow Using MediaCoder's & shaunthesheep's presets, my conversions of short msi clips to Quicktime container are almost instant.

  • Nobody using EDIUS?

    Not to start a NLE flame :) but on a pc it's light and fast as nothing else. I used Premiere and Vegas but Edius is years ahead. Only Avid could have the same speed and features on a PC and it's question of personal taste.

    Both Edius 6.x and the cheap Edius Neo have always supported AVCHD natively from the beginning. No transcoding, no hassle with AVHCD file structure. You just drop your MTS in your project and you start editing in real time. You have an old laptop? (with an intel centrino and maybe one gig of ram) you just use proxy editing and you'll edit 1080p in real time.

    If you have a new intel i7 or i5 with integrated graphics (aka i5/i7-2600k), you don't even need a discrete graphics card. H264 is encoded natively by the processor with the Intel Quick Sync technology. Intel used Edius as demonstration for its new Sandy Bridge platform:

    So, for a Edius user, the GH2 workflow is zero: new project, add files, start creating :)

  • Edius 6.03 - great sofware for NLE! EDIUS 6 Tutorial (Color Grading - 5 Episodes) you must see:

  • Episode 4 is My favourite. Everything is made without external plugin and he's working with Red camera files on a laptop. Actually You must be a YUV curve Jedi.

  • Vegas can also edit straight from the card reader -- same as Edius. I haven't used Edius but it's rep is a fast stable NLE but on the thin side feature wise.

  • Difference Edius from all the others NLE softwarre - YUV (non RGB!) color spase. I bought Edius 2.5 + Canopus DV Storm 2 PRO many years ago, and now - Edius 6 + HDSPARK. I'm happy (:

  • @LongJohnSilver @brianluce @VVV1151

    I don't think editing software is like a marriage; monogamous, till death do us part.. Everybody switches editors. I commented on Lightworks because it's industrially used, maybe going Open Source - and a free, 40MB download. Now if all the others were free too, I'd use the lot!

  • @VVV1151 Thank you, I've been looking for tutorials like these.

  • @Roberto No, actually it is like a marriage since as you say, everybody eventually switches editors... :)

  • @towi @sampledi

    Thanks for the explanation of your Media Composer 6 workflows. Can you post your Mac workflow? 5DtoRGB can't convert to DNxHD on Mac yet. Also what about spanned clips? Clipwrap sometimes combines the spanned clips into a .mov file with a bit of weird artificacting in the beginning, etc..

    I want to wrap my head around a full workflow from original hacked AVCHD folders to single-file DNxHD 175 .mov files (easier to organize than MXF, unless there is a good reason to use MXF?) that playback fine with proper gamma/blacks/color/IQ in Media Composer 6 on the Mac.

    "For export (EDL, AAF etc.) the first thing to take care of from the very beginnig is reel naming, clip naming and unique timecode So… copy your files from your SD cards to folders on your computer choose an appropriate naming for your folders; name the folders as you would name "reels" (for instance by shooting session or whatever) batch rename the MTS files in your folders (00000, 00001, 00002 is not appropriate) create QT files from your MTS files (for instance with "5DtoRGB". On Windows you can convert to DNxHD with 5DtoRGB) buy "qtChange"……"

  • What do you think about this one: 1. Import raw mts into premiere pro 5.5 2. Noise reduction 3. Correct the white balance 4. Export footage 5. Import back into premiere pro 6. Do some color grading to add the finish gloss 7. Export final

  • (Possibly...) switching from FCP to PPro creates the following problem for me: Yes, PPro can natively edit MTS files. Which is great. But how would I sync up the audio from the Zoom with the MTS file? I talked to customer support at Dualeyes, they don't support MTS files, only QT movs. So - if you are using external audio recording devices, that need to be synced up, you're back to converting to ProRes (or such) for synching purposes - and keep being caught in Apple's ancient 32bit land. So you don't save any time by this, and can't really take advantage of PPro's native capabilities, it seems. Which would in fact not change the FCP workflow at all:

    Capture GH2 + external Audio

    Clipwrap MTS files to ProRes

    Dualeyes sync external audio with Clipwrap created movs

    Import to Premiere using a custom ProRes sequence (no such thing comes with the factory presets)

    Or - has any one found a way around this?

  • @rbna

    Use a clapper or something then line it up on the timeline.

  • @Macalincag Yes. And I could also grow my hair long again and use a type writer... I mean, with masses of clips produced, there simply is no time sync it all manually. Going through the Prores/Clipwrap/Dualeyes workflow is much, much, much faster.

  • Thanks, @Macalincag. I was just wondering if anyone had found another way of getting around the problem...

  • @rbna does dualeyes actually add new audio track to .movs? I thought it only found matches, but couldn't actually strip in new audio.

  • @JDN Yes! This is how it works: You drag the (external) audiofile into the DualEyes window, and then your .mov with camera sound. DualEyes will then create (1) an audio file from the external audio, that matches the video clip, and (2) it will - if you tell it to - create a new .mov of the video clip with the synced piece of the external audio. So you get a .mov with the external audio synced up in one easy step. This works 98% of the time (in interview situations - not too much experience in very noisy places, or witht the camera mic too far away from the external mic). You then just erase the original .mov and the generated audio file (no need), and rename the new .mov. This can be cumbersome, all the renaming, but a software called Name Mangler does a marvellous job batch-renaming files in the Finder.

  • I dunno about Mac, but Plural eyes works with MTS on a PC.

  • Dual Eyes supports MTS files, but it can't remux the new audio into an MTS file. It will create a .wav file to match the video clip. I suppose Plural Eyes will be easier, but I've only tried Dual Eyes.

    Don't underestimate the quality of the GH2's built-in audio recording. Using built-in audio and a good external mic will simplify your workflow.

  • @rbna SWEET! So I can: remove AVCHD and merge clips with Clipwrap, add a timecode with QT change, sync my dual system with dualeyes, thus creating my new master, edit low res (large project... need to save drive space) then conform 1:1 back to my master. Love it.

  • @JDN That's right! Why would you add the TC, though, if you name your files with unique names?

  • Paranoia...

    (and ass covering)