Mixing build 15 and 16 footage

[Sean Sweeney]

We just finished up a shoot with Build 16 - it worked flawlessly almost all day, wherein we hit a critical failure with a certain shot - it had a very bright white backlit area and contrasty black marble walls in the foreground.

For whatever reason the camera didnt like this particular image and kept spitting out codec errors, grinding the production to a halt. We had some success with starting off set, where it was dimly lit and panning the camera towards the scene - but then the codec errors would kick in after 30 seconds or so. We scrapped those shots, moved to closeups.

We had a backup body with Build 15 on set, and used that to shoot the wide sequences that Build 16 didnt like - no problems. However now with all of the upgraded build 16 redcine, redalert, and FCP log and transfer, all of the Build 15 footage is green or shows up black in redalert.

I was under the impression that the new versions of these programs were backward compatible with older footage - have I overlooked something? Do I need to revert to the older versions to output my footage from Build 15??

A bit of a panic - thanks for the help!!

 

[Deanan]

Which build 16 were you on?

B15 footage works in the latest RA/RC.

 

[Sean Sweeney]

I'm trying to track that down at the moment. The rental house had their cameras on Build 16 (wasn't a shoot with our #920) and I don't have a note of which build it was. Can I find this information if I open an R3D in redcine?

Also, when using the red log and transfer plugin (the latest version, as with all the other red software we're running) if i mix b15 and b16 footage in the import window, if I view some b15 footage it's green as I scrub through. Then, all of the other b16 footage is green after being imported (this speeds up the transcoding noticably as well).

FCP 6.0.4
Latest red software

 

[jafm45]

I'm having the same kind of trouble at this moment. Using FCP 6.04/QT 7.5 en redcodec 3.1 I can open and view the build 16 material, which looks much better in M-quality than the build 15 material.
When I create an FCP project, import build 16 material and edit it, it works fine. But when I open one single build 15 clip (by dragging the file in the same FCP project) and play, it's all green, and the build 16 clip becomes green as well. FCP crashes, leaving the message that it has to do with the redcode.qt component.
Since we're processing 13 episodes, it's rather important that we find out a workaround quickly. The build 16 material has to been edited alongside build 15 material, in one FCP project, one way or another.
I followed the instructions at red.com processing the (longer than 1 minute) clips to prores, but even the processed files become green after about 40 seconds. In redalert the same results.
In my opinion it has to do with the combination QT 7.5 / Redcodec 3.1 and FCP 6.04. Next step is to go back to earlyer QT-versions and combine several FCP versions, starting at 6.02.

J. Hertoghs, filmeditor

 

[tj williams]

We are currently shooting a short on bld 15 latest version. We have not updated yet because we are also in the middle of a longer form project and won't until it is finished. The proxys play back in Red Cine (latest bld 16 version downloaded three days ago) well on set, haven't rendered yet for editing in HD. Info in advance about any greening will be appreciated so I don't look the goof talking about any possible problems!!! Red guys !!!!

 

[Sean Sweeney]

Hey guys - sorry for the delayed response. After re-updating REDAlert we were able to open both builds there. The log and transfer plugin with FCP stayed buggy though - I had to take the build 15 clips out of the queue and convert them manually through REDAlert. (I would've used REDRushes but we were having the OSX 10.5.4 bug at the time)

At any rate everything worked out - the mixed footage caused problems again during the conform through Crimson for DPX export, again solved by finding a manual workaround. Since Build 16 has gone release I don't think it'll be something we run into again...I hope!