auto conform but no Post Conform

[Richard Fairbanks]

It has finally happened to me, now. I have an hour show that will need a complete re-conform from Digibeta and DV tapes. I do not own Post Conform (haven't had to auto conform for over seven years), and it appears no longer sold or supported. There are rumours of conform capability being built into PT, but that does me no good at the moment. My options appear to be:

1) Hire the conform out. This is least desireable but may be most cost effective in the end.
2) Obtain Post Conform. This would be a bad choice unless I get it for little or nothing, since it is clearly a dead application. Video deck rentals would be required.
3) Use an alternative such as Final Cut Pro. Deck rentals would be required, but I could then do the job in house and have better control. Export an omf to Pro Tools.

I am looking into using Final Cut. After reading through the manual I am not certain what to use as an audio interface between Digibeta and FCP. I can see that my 192IOs and Digidesign Core Audio can be used for FCP output (which I don't need), but what about for digitizing? I suppose I can install it and experiment, but I feel sure one of you good people here already knows.

I checked out Titan, but it looks like that would require a significant amount of manual labor.

Are there other choices?

[José Luis Díaz]

Hi Richard,

I would go for the first option. Probably the less expensive and less convoluted. Rent an Avid or FCP suite (with Beta and DV decks) to make there the batchdigitize process. Then you can OMF export to you. Just two hours of rental. It can't be too expensive.

OTOH, TITAN is very, very good.

Good luck.

Jose Luis

[Richard Fairbanks]

Thanks, Jose. Your advice is certainly the most time-efficient. In terms of cost, it appears to be a tossup between hiring out (hourly in NYC with EDLs provided by the client and possibly containing unexpected problems) and renting video machines to do it in house (where I can control costs due to unexpected problems), but only if I do not have to purchase anything additional.

If any of you have actually used FCP, and might know if digi's hardware can be selected as an audio source, would you mind replying? Your experience would save me a couple of hours of installing it and trying myself.

[Chief Technician]

Richard,

Drop me an email (address in my profile) if you want. I'm in Manhattan and have PostConform.

Perhaps we can do something for you (or do it better).

[Richard Fairbanks]

Thanks for the offer, Chief. I thought about you even before you suggested it. I have a good relationship with a small Avid house down the street who has offered to work with me on the budget side. This appeals to me because I can go back there to do a quick fix if I discover a problem later on.

[Chief Technician]

Sounds like you got yourself an ideal situation given your circumstances. Glad to hear you thought of me. If things ever change, I'll be around. Good luck with your project.