My preferred way of ingesting HD footage is via the AJA io HD this keeps it simple and converts it to Apple ProRez. The other benefit of using a IO box is the ability to view you HD material on an Full HD LCD monitor.

If you ingest SxS footage via the Sony US10 card reader it will bring all your footage in as clips and you will end up with XDCAM EX footage, not ProRez.

For Multicam editing HD footage you need the easiest codec your MacPro can handle and that is Apple ProRez. IO boxes like the AJA or Matrox MXO2 convert all your footage to ProRez although the Matrox box does give you other flavours of codec to choose as well.

Say you film a stage show and it lasts 90 minutes that’s 45 minutes each half, you want two continuous 45min camera feeds, that’s four 16Gig SxS cards or 4 SDHC cards with MxR adapters. Once you get back to base and you are ready to edit your footage take the HD SDI out of an EX-30 or EX-1/3 into yout IO box. The video and audio travel down the same HD SDI lead. NOTE. For the 1st time in 25 years I bought HD SDI cable made up as you need to be sure your cable is as good as your pictures deserve.

This also allows you to view your recorded footage as it’s being ingested, it may seem a longer way to input your footage but giving your Mac pristine ProRez footage will allow you at least 2 camera angles via SATA drives with no stuttering. Stuttering, dropped frames happens when your SATA drive tries to feed too much data at the one time and can’t keep up.

You would need to store your footage onto a XServe, RAID or SCSI (Pronounced Scuzzi) drive in order to squeeze more data throughput if you want to edit 3-4 camera angles or you can simply convert your footage to SD if your end result isn’t HD.

A tip if you do not have a start point like a flash gun or clapper board, look at each 45min clip in the viewer and find the same bit of action which could be 5mins into the footage. Look for a leg being lifted in both shots and mark the IN points in both clips then choose MULTICAM and bring it onto the timeline, then you can simply drag the clip back to the start of the show and you are in perfect sync.

Remember to mark your main camera as ANGLE ONE and camera 2 as ANGLE TWO it will usually pick angle one as the sound source but that can be changed if needed.

So there you have it my major tip for HD Multiclip editing is…

1. Bring all footage in as Apple ProRez

2. If you are using SATA drives then only use 2 cameras

3. If your outputting onto SD DVD then you can use 4 cameras as long as you down-convert to SD

The lads up at Ripple training have great in-depth editing with multicam tutorials to download.

www.rippletraining.com

I put my hand up and admit I was wrong, the MPEG 2 file that comes from the JVC HM100 does indeed work with multicam…on the timeline…1920 x 1080 50i…2 cameras…no rendering ! The down side to this is if you add even a one second crossfade to the video track you will be waiting 2 minutes for each ONE second to render !

As you can see from my test there is not even a green line let alone a red line above the timeline. As a further test I tried 4 HD camera angles but that was asking a but much from the system and it stuttered.

This was edited on FInal Cut Pro 6, ingested from the SDHC card inserted into a n SD card reader and plays back from the card itself.

I had to test this for Terry who was going to suggest the JVC HM100s and FCP as a multicam workflow for a colleague.

Remember if you bring the SDHC file in via the card reader it will bring it in as separate files unless you filmed one continues take as you would if you are going to use it with multicam.

After phoning AJA today I have been told that the new drivers for the io HD will be about two weeks away and that AJA do not release drivers until they are 100% correct. There are at least two issues to be resolved with Apple and we are set to go. Also I was told that the Ki PRO is now shipping and they are working flat out to fulfil their back orders.

Ki Pro provides a new way of connecting production and post with its extensive analog and digital connectivity; virtually any video and audio source can be fed into Ki Pro to record pristine 10-bit ProRes 422 media that is then immediately available to edit within Apple’s Final Cut Studio.

“We have had unprecedented interest in this product, and remarkable pre-release sales coming off of our recent 24-city Ki Pro global road show,” said Nick Rashby, president, AJA Video Systems. “We’re pleased to be shipping a very robust 1.0 version, and will be supporting our customers with frequent software updates and additions. Ki Pro provides significant workflow efficiencies for everyone from cinematographers and filmmakers to editors and post professionals.”

Ki Pro allows filmmakers, broadcasters, video professionals and prosumers to skip the process of re-rendering to an editing codec by giving immediate access to full raster edit-ready Apple ProRes 422 files directly from camera. Ki Pro records hours of media to a removable storage module. The device is a small, portable unit that can sit on a table, in a bay or mounted between a camera and tripod. Ki Pro is also ideal for on-set monitoring, providing instant access to multiple display devices simultaneously.

Core Ki Pro Features:

• Record hours of pristine Apple ProRes 422 QuickTime media to a removable storage module that offers built-in FireWire 800 for immediate editing and file access on OSX.
• Record natively to Apple ProRes 422 and ProRes 422 HQ for full raster 10-bit 4:2:2 HD and SD.
• Bridge proprietary compression schemes by recording to the edit-friendly Apple ProRes 422 codec.
• Connect any digital camera via SDI or HDMI, or any analog camera with multiple input options.
• Convert in real time from SD to HD, or 720 to/from 1080, in full 10-bit quality.
• Extend client review capabilities with simultaneous recording to camera and to Ki Pro.
• Extend productive life of existing cameras and embrace future workflows with powerful conversion capabilities.
• Built-in WiFi and Ethernet for complete control via a web-browser, or iPhone.

For a complete set of features and technical specifications, please visit www.aja.com. Ki Pro is available now via AJA’s network of worldwide resellers for an MSRP of US$3995.

CoreMelt has released Lock & Load, a new video editing plugin for Final Cut Pro. It’s a stabilizer that the folks at CoreMelt say runs at six times the speed of Apple’s built-in stabilizer, Smoothcam.

Lock and load is capable of intelligently ignoring foreground motion, even on busy scenes or with dark backgrounds. No need to choose tracking points, as the plug-in intelligently analyzes the entire clip for you. With intelligent adaptive zoom, Lock & Load will automatically compensate for differing levels of movement and zoom in to remove edges.

It removes or smooths rotation and zoom changes as well as X and Y movement. Lock & Load analyses only the portion of the clip you select, so there’s no need to export and re-import long clips. It works with all kinds of footage, no “too much movement” errors.

The multithreaded motion analysis uses all processors on your system. Lock & Load offers a realtime preview of the smoothed clip without rendering.

Lock & Load normally retails for US$149. However, through Sept. 8 you can get it for $129. And if you already own CoreMelt Complete V2, you can buy Lock & Load for $99.

www.coremelt.com

If you are new to the arena of video editing, eventually the question will arise. Which software is better, Final Cut Pro or Avid? The question can be a complex one. Each application has an army of loyal enthusiasts. Although, I won’t take sides on this issue, here are some items to consider.

AJA posted this message over 3 weeks ago just after the introduction of FCP-7. People including myself are once again left out to dry as we wait for AJA to come up with the goods. I need to learn all about the new features in FCP V7 and Motions new features so can AJA please get the finger out and deliver the long awaited drivers please !

As of today (Wednesday) I have emailed Matrox to check if the MXO2 needs new drivers/firmware to work with Final Cut Studio 3.

Reply from Matrox “We’re happy to announce that Matrox will be supporting Apple Final Cut Studio 3. The MXO2 product line is currently in the midst of meeting quality assurance standards for compatibility with this new software release. The drivers are scheduled to ship in early September. In the meantime, you can be assured that Matrox will be providing free updated drivers supporting Apple Final Cut Studio 3.”