Seeking Avid MC workflow for good quality dailies
 

Hello all. I have a very basic question. Can you suggest a workflow that would allow me to create a good quality video/audio file output of about 60 minutes of HDV footage using only Media Composer 5.5.3.
I have done several short projects (music videos/shorts) in which I created a 'Lossless Animation' file from AVID. Then used a third party application (MPEG Streamclip) to convert this file to a high quality mp4 using a quicktime wrapper. This two step process looked excelent (for HDV) but took most of the day to render however. I did it this way because when I used the codecs inherent in Quicktime and created (send to) a quicktime movie in AVID the result was a very washed-out look. I am hoping to find a relatively quick way of rendering about 60 minutes of audio/video that can be delivered in a file form and viewed on a PC. ( Windows Media perhaps?)
I would greatly appreciate any workflow with detailed instructions that you could suggest.

Thanks in Advance,
Scott

Re: Seeking Avid MC workflow for good quality dailies
 

If you are using an intermediary codec in your workflow, it will always require a two-step rendering process. Either edit native and render directly to your final format, or use a hardware encoder or render farm.

Same pain, but it'll get over quicker.

Re: Seeking Avid MC workflow for good quality dailies
 

There is no fast way to do what you are asking for inside MC. The fastest way to get good results is to use the newest version of Squeeze with a QT Reference file from MC. v8 of Squeeze will use your graphic card to render the video. As an example I had a HD timeline that was about 7min long. The export to a 1080p file for the web took 45 min directly from MC. The same export done in Squeeze took 4 minutes.

Depending on the export format you need a program that takes advantage of the power of your graphics card can be a real workflow time saver.

Edit: The washed out look can be controlled via the RGB/709 settings in Squeeze. If you are going for a computer display choose RGB. If you are going for a TV display choose 709. There is no way to make one that looks good in both worlds at the same time. To optimize my computer display exports I tweek a color correction and play with the gama setting to make it look more pleasing to the viewers.

Re: Seeking Avid MC workflow for good quality dailies
 

Scott:

Also, in MC when dialling up your export settings (ditto for Squeeze) you can drop the luminance level a click or two and raise the contrast another couple of clicks. This will help the washed out look significantly.

Just pick a 5-10 second piece of representative video (usually something with an interview) and make a few settings changes...export it...tweak and export again. Goes pretty fast and eventually you'll have a template that works for most of your projects.