Exactly!!! I have no argument with the suggestion to mixdown as the solid approach. The downside for me working in long form series with lots of versions is the amount of storage space I would chew up with 4 to 5 hour long mixdowns from all the different versions. I know storage is relatively cheap but it's not free so I haven't been given any new storage since the original 16 TB chassis was installed. I've lost the backup power supply on that chassis and made everyone aware of the risks of losing it all but still no new chassis.
It seems that it's the audio that has induced my current error so I am using audio mixdowns with success and in the future I will ask for even more tail pad from the protools mixers.
So the real question is where is the level/gamma/quadrature shift occuring?. As previously mentioned I have always been told to avoid the QT engine so custom exports from Avid are to be avoided. Using a QT ref bypassees the QT engine and has no level shifts when used in Adobe Media Encoder. Taking the QT ref .mov and using QT Pro 7 to save as a self contained .mov generates a .mov that will ama link back to Avid with correct levels and no shifts. It is when I use that self contained .mov in Adobe Media Encoder as the source to make the XDCam50 422 .mov that the level shifts occur.
Does this mean that Adobe Media Encoder is using the QT engine in it's processing? I'm on CC 2015 versions and have also used primarily CC 2014 in my series work. Perhaps there was a change between CC 2014 and CC 2015 in this regard. I haven't had a chance to try different target codecs to see if the same thing occurs. My gut says they would be the same regarding the shift as it seems to be an input processing issue as best I can tell.
---In Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com, <pale.edit@...> wrote :
On Wed, Nov 22, 2017 at 2:34 PM Mark Spano cutandcover@... [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:Reminder:Mixdown to desired output codec > Export Same As Source. It works, and you don't have to guess like all these other methods of export.On Wed, Nov 22, 2017 at 2:09 PM, bigfish@... [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:Now that I found the audio was the problem today I noticed that the file I made from the self contained ProResHQ .mov has slight but noticeable level shifts and quadrature errors while the new file I made once I got the QT Ref to work is correct level.
If I ama link back to the ProResHQ self contained .mov the levels are correct but when using that as a source in Adobe Media Encoder to make XDCam50 422 the levels get shifted a bit. What a cluster flop. I was always under the impression as "Save As" in QT Pro 7 was clean and safe. I guess the resulting file is clean but there is something in AME that misinterprets it in some manner. I've always been aware that custom exports in Avid are prone to gamma shifts etc... which is why I use the QT ref exports and render to the target codec in Avid. This is very disheartening.
---In Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com, <bigfish@...> wrote :Turns out that it's the audio stems that are the issue. Or to be exact the lack of audio stems. I always have the protools mixer give me extra region at the end of the mix for like 3 minutes so I always have actual audio on all the tracks. I've had issue with QT ref files when there was filler at the end or anywhere in the audio tracks so I just ask for the pad to insure I have audio media throughout the timeline and no filler. Sometimes I just create audio mixdowns of silence and edit them into any gaps and this seems to work with saving self contained .movs in QT Pro 7. If I don't do this often the audio track duration differs from the video and I've also seen whacky sync issues.
The problem today was that the textless elements at the end of the show exceeded the length of my padded out protools stems. So I looped some of the ending 3 minutes of silence to fill in the gap. Well apparently Adobe Media Encoder doesn't like any edits in the audio tracks when it comes to QT Ref files. I hadn't run into this on my other series because we didn't add textless elements but did a complete textless output file so the 3 minutes of pad was more than sufficient to have continuous non edited audio tracks so I never saw the problem before. I even tried editing an audio mixdown just in the gap area but it had the same problem.
The solution, which has often been suggested on this and other lists is to make audio mixdowns of the entire audio track thus ending up with a continuous track of audio media from one source. Once I did this it worked like a charm. It did also seem to work if I just left the filler in the audio tracks. At least AME started encoding so I figure it would work. I'm leaving the full audio mixdown version and the one with audio filler at the end encoding overnight so I can see if both work okay.
I think there's a turkey in my system this week. That is besides the one at the console.
---In Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com, <domqsilverio@...> wrote :My guess would be the migration to in-house Adobe QT engine rendered QTRef support dead.
DQSOn Nov 21, 2017, at 10:01 PM, John Moore bigfish@... [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:I've been taking Avid exported QT Ref files into Adobe Media Encoder for years now. Some of the more complex shows take a bit of time to load in but have worked. I have primarily been using DNX 175X renders in Avid. I've also used ProResHQ in my 4K projects.Today I'm on an HD project using all ProResHQ. I do my usual upper track safe color and Render everything to ProResHQ. I was previously rendering upper tracks to ProRes 422 because I was told that was the delivery spec. Today they said no we need to do XDCam50 with 16 tracks of audio.I've been doing that type of XDCam 50 422 export on previous series using CC 2014 without issue using QT Ref exports from Avid as the source. Now I'm on CC 2015 and I've been successfully making H_264 files from QT Ref out of Avid but now today after rerendering to ProResHQ and trying to QT Ref into AME to make an XDCam50 422 AME imports the QT Ref and I can scroll through it when I tape the compression setting and open the settings window. So AME recognizes the file but when I say encode it just sits there with no sign of life other than the preview window shows the preview screen. I let it sit for about 15 to 20 minutes but no progress is seen in the preview screen other than the initial appearance of the black window.If I make shorter QT ref files out of avid like the first minute or so that works and if I take the problematic QT ref and save a self contained version with QT Pro 7 that too works in AME. I just don't understand why all of a sudden AME is balking or taking a super long time to start encoding. Very weird behavior.Anybody else seeing this kind of quirk with AME and QT Ref files. I had occasions before where it might take 4 to 5 minutes to start encoding after pressing the button but now it just seems to sit there.This problem is compounded by the system I'm on is taking for every to boot up after typing in the user password. I start the computer and get to the log in screen okay but then after entering the password it takes 10 minutes or more to get to the desktop. This too is new behavior so I'm trying not to restart the computer until I get the current project out tomorrow. I don't know whether I'm herding cats or dancing on razor blades but I've had better days.Any suggestions welcome, especially if they involve opening a Bait and Tackle shop and getting out of post. ;-)John Moore Barking Trout Productions Studio City, CA bigfish@...
Posted by: bigfish@pacbell.net
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