Duct Tape Films
Well-known member
:furious3:
Okay, if you are reading this right now, and you are currently experiencing exactly what I am talking about, let me first assure you - "Finder:Get Info" is wrong.
:huh:
Your HD files have not shrunk to half their size. Finder just doesn't know that.
rogar-BigGrin(DBG)
Now, take a deep breath, and read on....
Here's the backstory for those who have not experienced this harrowing problem with HD size files, Cinema Tools, and Finder. I first discovered this problem last Friday night, with a screening approaching on Sunday, that as I looked at the HD size source files on my Hard Drive, they appeared as 640x360 in Finder, instead of the 1280x720 that they were originally animated as. What's worse, is I had no other files that predated these files.
Quickly I realized where in the process they had changed, as I had batch conformed from 24P to 23.98 fps in Cinema Tools. I had one file I had not put through Cinema Tools yet, and that file showed up properly in Finder, as 1280x720. Three and a half years of work at 1280x720, and now my resolution had apparently halved itself. I poured myself three drinks.
:beer: :beer: :beer:
Oddly enough, I noticed upon bringing those same files, which in Finder appeared as 640x360, now suddenly appeared as 1280x720 in FCP - and even if I analyzed that same file back in Cinema Tools. How can this possibly be?
:huh:
I then did a side by side comparison between a test frame that had not gone through Cinema Tools; according to Finder it was 1280x720, and one that had been conformed in Cinema Tools - which showed up as 640x360 in Finder. They were completely identical in resolution, at least by all sights, and oddly enough, in file size as well. My heart rate started to return to normal, and after convincing myself there was nothing I could really do about it until I talked to Apple Customer Service, which didn't open until the morning, I passed out in a drunken stupor.
The very next morning, bright and early, I called Apple and said "What the hey?!?", or something to that effect, perhaps even with an expletive. He explained to me that Finder was not actually giving the dimensions of the frame size of the file, that it was giving the dimensions of how it should be displayed on a computer screen. Um, still kind of a poor explanation, and perhaps the single most counterintuitive thing I have ever experienced on an Apple computer, but what the hey, I let the kid talk.
He told me that I wasn't the first person to call about this problem, but that I was only something like the fourth. This problem has been there through all incarnations of Cinema Tools, and the programmers think the problem* is actually with Finder, so it will take an OS update to actually fix the problem. It sure didn't sound like it was any kind of priority, which is exactly why Noah wants to sticky this, especially since so many more of us are working with HD size files these days, it's bound to come up again and again until they fix it.
Now, just to prove to you that your files are okay, if you go into QT, under "Window:Show Movie Info" you will see a box that says your file is, for example, "1280x720" and then down at the bottom it will say, "640x360(half-size)". I'm not exactly sure WHO thought it would be a good idea to encode the data of these files, after a pass through Cinema Tools, this way, but I'm pretty sure they've never worked for years on a movie, and thought for a moment that their files shrunk in half. In fact, I'm willing to bet they've never worked on a movie. Rest assured though, your files are still HD.
Now, don't you feel a whole lot better? :thumbsup:
*Apple doesn't actually think this is a problem. We might want to let them know otherwise, that, or start a DVXUser group insurance policy.
Okay, if you are reading this right now, and you are currently experiencing exactly what I am talking about, let me first assure you - "Finder:Get Info" is wrong.
:huh:
Your HD files have not shrunk to half their size. Finder just doesn't know that.
rogar-BigGrin(DBG) Now, take a deep breath, and read on....
Here's the backstory for those who have not experienced this harrowing problem with HD size files, Cinema Tools, and Finder. I first discovered this problem last Friday night, with a screening approaching on Sunday, that as I looked at the HD size source files on my Hard Drive, they appeared as 640x360 in Finder, instead of the 1280x720 that they were originally animated as. What's worse, is I had no other files that predated these files.
Quickly I realized where in the process they had changed, as I had batch conformed from 24P to 23.98 fps in Cinema Tools. I had one file I had not put through Cinema Tools yet, and that file showed up properly in Finder, as 1280x720. Three and a half years of work at 1280x720, and now my resolution had apparently halved itself. I poured myself three drinks.
:beer: :beer: :beer:
Oddly enough, I noticed upon bringing those same files, which in Finder appeared as 640x360, now suddenly appeared as 1280x720 in FCP - and even if I analyzed that same file back in Cinema Tools. How can this possibly be?
:huh:
I then did a side by side comparison between a test frame that had not gone through Cinema Tools; according to Finder it was 1280x720, and one that had been conformed in Cinema Tools - which showed up as 640x360 in Finder. They were completely identical in resolution, at least by all sights, and oddly enough, in file size as well. My heart rate started to return to normal, and after convincing myself there was nothing I could really do about it until I talked to Apple Customer Service, which didn't open until the morning, I passed out in a drunken stupor.
The very next morning, bright and early, I called Apple and said "What the hey?!?", or something to that effect, perhaps even with an expletive. He explained to me that Finder was not actually giving the dimensions of the frame size of the file, that it was giving the dimensions of how it should be displayed on a computer screen. Um, still kind of a poor explanation, and perhaps the single most counterintuitive thing I have ever experienced on an Apple computer, but what the hey, I let the kid talk.
He told me that I wasn't the first person to call about this problem, but that I was only something like the fourth. This problem has been there through all incarnations of Cinema Tools, and the programmers think the problem* is actually with Finder, so it will take an OS update to actually fix the problem. It sure didn't sound like it was any kind of priority, which is exactly why Noah wants to sticky this, especially since so many more of us are working with HD size files these days, it's bound to come up again and again until they fix it.
Now, just to prove to you that your files are okay, if you go into QT, under "Window:Show Movie Info" you will see a box that says your file is, for example, "1280x720" and then down at the bottom it will say, "640x360(half-size)". I'm not exactly sure WHO thought it would be a good idea to encode the data of these files, after a pass through Cinema Tools, this way, but I'm pretty sure they've never worked for years on a movie, and thought for a moment that their files shrunk in half. In fact, I'm willing to bet they've never worked on a movie. Rest assured though, your files are still HD.
Now, don't you feel a whole lot better? :thumbsup:
*Apple doesn't actually think this is a problem. We might want to let them know otherwise, that, or start a DVXUser group insurance policy.
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