Viewing FCP remotely

[Ashleigh Wright]

Hello All

I realise that this is not a question directly related to the RED workflow however it would be great to get some insight on this here.

We are a production company and often work with the RED and we are discussing the possibility of allowing clients to view the editing process remotely.

This would allow us to share dailies, make decisions on the cut and to grade live with the client over the web. I am familiar with the iChat theatre option in FCP 7 and would love to hear if anybody on reduser utilizes this feature or if there is a better way of achieving this!

Essentially we would like to share the output from our monitors, which are sent out via HD-SDI to the web and allow a client to log in temporarily to view and discuss the post work with us in real time.

Thanks!

 

[MichaelP]

I have been using Slingbox for years to achieve this and have used an old TiVo box as a poor man's server to store and select different versions to be selected remotely.

Michael

 

[Scott Crawley]

For editing the slingbox sounds great, but not for grading. Isn't slingbox employing compression of some kind?

 

[MichaelP]

Yes it does - it scales dependent on bandwidth at both ends. Unless you have dedicated very fast direct connection, anything you view remotely will be compressed. For grading you have the additional need for calibration of both monitor and viewing environment at both ends to deal with. There are technologies out there that manage remote calibration, I just can't think of who right now off the top of my head.

Michael

 

[Scott Crawley]

The thought of getting critiques on the quality of my shadows from a host of producers who may or may not even be looking at the whole image, or even an accurate image would make me open an artery. No thank you. If it were sufficiently controlled and viewed only in a reliable DI suite then maybe, but then I always liked the idea that the size of the suite limited the number of chefs with a spoon in the soup.

I'd recommend the OP stay away from that mess, definitely.

 

[Ashleigh Wright]

Thanks for the response guys, I will be sure to check out slingbox. Michael, do you have to ensure the person who wishes to login has the slingbox software installed on their machine?

 

[Mark Phelan]

Ashleigh,

I tried the iChat feature once, just to see how well it worked and it didn't. It choked on the receiving end playing back very erratically with compression. A nice idea and it looks wonderful in their advertising, but in real life, not so much.

Scott makes a good point also, once it leaves the premises one never knows how many eyes are viewing it and willing to offer their input from a source that might not (probably not) be adjusted properly. That could open up a can o' worms unless some caveats were declared up front. It's bad enough to get my clients just to be able to view something because they are trying with an antique of a computer system. Their response is usually, "Oh, you're on a Mac, that's why". It never dawns on them it might possibly be their setup.

 

[Ashleigh Wright]

I do agree with Scott's point, it would certainly have to be implemented in a controlled way. In regards to grading, the discussion came up following an article on Televisual about the 25 most admired graders.

"Another three MPC colourists make it into our list – George K is the next best ranked, coming in just outside the top five. His spots include Mazda Light Moves, the Channel 4 Chatty Man promo and two ads for San Diego Zoo that were graded remotely with George K on the Resolve suite in London and the clients in LA, reviewing the material in real time. “I think we’ll see more remote grading in the future as technology is moving so fast,” he says"

http://www.televisual.com/read-online/First-grade-colour_rid-8.html

 

[Scott Crawley]

He's likely right, but my gut says that unless you are operating at the top levels; the level of satisfaction with a remote process will be very low.

 

[Ashleigh Wright]

I am inclined to agree, although for editing I think this would certainly be beneficial as long as it would be fairly straight forward for clients to log in remotely.

 

[MichaelP]

Whoever wants to watch will need to download the software for their OS. The software is keyed to a unique slingbox player. It used to only allow one viewer at a time to circumvent rebroadcast rules and such. I believe it now allows up to three. There is also an iPhone app ($20).

Michael