Workflow question with video

[LukeHoward]

I'm a composer working in Pro Tools. Re-conforming when the upstream edit turns over is a bit of a pain: I would like to be able to just change a timecode offset and avoid having to reimport audio and video.

I understand I can do this with Video Slave, except it doesn't support looping (when using MTC/MMC) or tempo changes (when using DAWLink). The Avid ecosystem alternative (running Pro Tools or Media Composer on a separate machine) seems overkill, particularly in terms of license cost, but probably is the most flexible.

The Avid Video Engine already runs in a separate process and, as I understand it, uses the same protocol internally as Video Satellite – ideally there would be a way to interface with it so one could load a video independently of a Pro Tools session. Avid, any thoughts?

Right now, I'm thinking Video Slave is probably the best option... just better not write any tempo changes (as looping is useful!).

[reichman]

If you get new picture, how can you avoid loading it when checking your cues? I'm trying to think through your process, and I don't fully understand it yet.

[LukeHoward]

Originally Posted by reichman

If you get new picture, how can you avoid loading it when checking your cues? I'm trying to think through your process, and I don't fully understand it yet.

I probably didn't explain myself very well. I want to just load it in one place and update the offsets in my (composing) session rather than having the film live in the composing session.

But, maybe this isn't really worth complaining about. Ingesting new versions and clearing out the old only takes a minute or two.

At ease :)

[reichman]

Got it. You're doing session per cue, and you have 14 sessions to update every time the picture changes. Yep. You need a video slave. Or an intern.

[LukeHoward]

Originally Posted by reichman

Got it. You're doing session per cue, and you have 14 sessions to update every time the picture changes. Yep. You need a video slave. Or an intern.

Right, hehe :)

Yeah, I'm probably rare in that I compose in Pro Tools. Other composers that use Logic aren't bitten by the looping bug (as the underlying issue is Pro Tools emitting contiguous MTC when looping).

[melodydetective]

Originally Posted by LukeHoward

Right, hehe :)



Yeah, I'm probably rare in that I compose in Pro Tools. Other composers that use Logic aren't bitten by the looping bug (as the underlying issue is Pro Tools emitting contiguous MTC when looping).

When I tested Video Slave 4 I had no problems with it doing anything I threw at it. I’m pretty sure I looped ProTools also and it followed. It mostly freed me from the short cycle bug and others that make the internal PT video unable to stop, and was otherwise indistinguishable from using PT video (except that it actually just worked all the time). In the end I didn’t want another subscription so I didn’t go with it, but having gone through an utter nightmare of unreliability in several sessions that added hours to my composing days, I’m looking at it again. (Honestly, Avid are a video company. It’s truly pathetic of them to tell us their own program needs to use another program for video.)


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