Print to DVCAM

L

lynchfan

Member
Hi, guys.

I just want to say that I have tried for several hours to solve this problem, so I want everyone to know I'm not just a new member coming on here looking for a quick solution.

I have a 720P project shot on HVX200. The project is 30 seconds long and I am attempting to print to DVCAM. I used digital cut and it everything worked as expected except there was nothing printed to the tape. I am not sure if I have to change this DVCPro HD project to DV in order to print it to dvcam.

I am desperate at this point, so any help is welcome.

This project needs to be delivered to a local television station.
 
About the only option I can think of is to export a QT ref of your finished sequence, and then run that through Sorenson Squeeze (or other similar compression app) to convert the 720p file into 480/60i DV QuickTime. Then, import that into an Avid 480/30i project and print to tape. This is assuming that your 720p HD footage is of the "Over 60" flavor, and not 24p "Native" format...

However, if it is 720/24pN, you can create a 480/24p project, and open up your sequence there. Just find the bin containing the sequence in your HD project, and open it. Oddly enough, this really does work. You can then transcode to DV in that project, and then since Avid can add pulldown on the fly, you should be able to print to tape there. I've done this to go to BetaSP, but it should work fine with DVCAM as well.
 
cbrougham said:
About the only option I can think of is to export a QT ref of your finished sequence, and then run that through Sorenson Squeeze (or other similar compression app) to convert the 720p file into 480/60i DV QuickTime. Then, import that into an Avid 480/30i project and print to tape. This is assuming that your 720p HD footage is of the "Over 60" flavor, and not 24p "Native" format...

However, if it is 720/24pN, you can create a 480/24p project, and open up your sequence there. Just find the bin containing the sequence in your HD project, and open it. Oddly enough, this really does work. You can then transcode to DV in that project, and then since Avid can add pulldown on the fly, you should be able to print to tape there. I've done this to go to BetaSP, but it should work fine with DVCAM as well.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your help, CB. Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with Sorenson Squeeze and it will not recognize the QT reference of my finished sequence.

I am reading through the help section, but I have not stumbled across an answer.

Do you have any advice on what may be my problem with this?
 
Last edited:
Well, tell me first: are you working in a 720/59.94p Avid project or a 720/23.976p Avid project? If it's the latter, we can skip Squeeze altogether...
 
Alright... then we definitely need Squeeze. So here goes:

1) Open up your finished sequence, and add ins and outs around what you want to export. Also, turn on all tracks that you want to export (in other words, make the track selectors purple).

2) Highlight the sequence in the bin that you want to export, right click, and select "Send to... Sorenson Squeeze". You might have to hunt around to find it (sorry, I'm not in front of an Avid at the moment, so if some of this seems a little wrong, just use your intuition).

3) In the pop up export dialog that follows, find and set the following options: Quicktime Reference, Use Marks, Use Enabled Tracks, Same As Source, Use Avid DV, Export Video and Audio.... and anything else that looks pertinent ;)

4) Give the export a place to go and a file name, and hit OK/Go/Action/Do It!/Whatever...

5) The audio will be mixed down to a two channel stereo file, and the video will be represented with a very small (a couple KB) MOV. Squeeze should (*should*) automatically launch and place these files in the processing pane.

6) Create a new QuickTime compression preset (read up in the Squeeze help on this) that uses the Avid DV codec. Make sure your output is set to interlaced and 29.97. I know you're not too familiar with Squeeze, but a little clicking around will make it make sense to you. Apply this preset to the clip in the processing pane. Hit the "Squeeze It!" button down at the bottom.

7) The resulting DV MOV that is created should be importable into a 480/30i project.

Now, sounds easy, but it might take a little bit of playing with in order to get it right. Again, I'm not in front of an Avid at the moment, so some of this info may not be totally spot on. I'll check tomorrow when I'm back at the office, and amend my earlier tutorial. Good luck!
 
Thank you very much for taking the time to help me out. I really appreciate it. The problem I am having is that Sorenson Squeeze gives me an error message when I import the Quicktime reference.

"Unable to add the source file. The following file is not supported."
 
I am using Sorenson Squeeze 4.2, so I am wondering if that is the reason the program won't recognize my 720/59.94p project when I go to import.
 
Possibly--I'm running 4.3.3 at the office, and I'm about 99% positive I tried this before. Check here at Sorenson for updates. I think 4.3.3 should be free...

I'll test it tomorrow and let you know what I find.
 
Funny... I just tested this, and got it to work. What version of QT are you using? Also, can you describe the steps you're going through?
 
I'm envious that you were able to make it all work.

Quicktime 7.1.3
Sorenson Squeeze 4.3.3
Avid Xpress Pro 5.7.2

My step by step process:

All tracks turned on and in and out point made around entire sequence.

Right click sequence in bin and select "send to" "encoding" "sorenson squeeze".

Auto launch Squeeze.exe clicked on, auto load export file(s) clicked on.
Export setting 1: Quicktime Reference

Options:
export as Quicktime Reference
use marks on
use enabled tracks on

Defaults: Digital Mastering
Flatten video tracks on
Fill spaces with black on
Render all video effects on

Display Aspect Ratio: Native Dimensions

Mix down audio tracks on
Audio format: AIFF-C
Sample Rate: 48KHZ
Sample Bit Depth: 16 Bit

Use Avid DV Codec on

Colour Levels: 601/709

Click: Save

Sorenson Squeeze launches

Unsupported Media Format
Unable to add the source file(s). The following file(s) are not supported.
D:/My Project Name.mov

That's my current step by step process.

If I can't get it to work to DVCAM the station has told me they will accept mpeg-2, but from what I have read that isn't a great quality format and I'm concerned that my 720p footage will just end up looking awful if I do that. Perhaps you have a tip to create the highest quality mpeg-2 while I try and troubleshoot this quicktime reference issue.
 
I have been playing around with the quicktime export for the last few hours. I can get Sorenson Squeeze to recognize the quicktime reference file when I deselect Avid DV Codec, but it shows up as a white screen with audio. When it is selected Sorenson Squeeze doesn't recognize the file.
 
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