I just want to reiterate that H.264 is not necessarily the best codec to use. It's the default for many applications, but that doesn't mean it's universally acceptable for every kind of footage. So I'd suggest experimenting with at least one other codec to ascertain the best codec for the job. You want to compare things like color, edges, aliasing, smoothness of motion. Best of luck on this. Sounds like you're going to have your hands full!

Ski - you have no idea how deeply I appreciate your taking the time to go through this with me! If you could possibly suggest a couple of other "top flyer" codecs to try? There are SO many options in the pop up menu I haven't a clue where to start experimenting. One further question - is there any major benefit to wrapping my head around Soundtrack Pro vs staying with Logic where I'm very familiar? cheers Julian

Hi Julian, My pleasure. I've just come off a project where I had to inundate myself in video stuff, so I'm glad to share the knowledge. And that project was... (!!! shameless plug alert !!!) [url]http://www.macprovideo.com/tutorial/midi101[/url] [b]MIDI 101: MIDI Demystified[/b] :) OK, to your questions... Regarding codecs, man, it's such a dark art all of this video stuff. And I'm no expert. But it really depends on the nature of the footage as to which one might work best. High quality DV renders can look great but the color is sometimes a bit washed out compared to the original. H.264 can deliver great color but sometimes edges (and certain colors) can look blurry. Again, it depends on the kind of material. Sorensen3 is considered a "legacy" codec but can produce a really nice result. If you're game to try that one but you don't have it on your system, you can download "legacy codecs" from the Apple website. So from my limited experience, I'd say to try DV, H.264, Sorensen3, and Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC). As far as STP is concerned, I'd suggest getting all of your audio laid up in Logic first. Then, for noise reduction (which I hear STP is really good for), export a file and see if you can improve the sound using STP's plugins. Then re-import that audio back into Logic and continue with your EQ, level, and compression. Always make sure to check sync, though, for any files you export from Logic and then bring back in. Good luck!

I'll definitely be checking out your tutorial - most of our stuff is acoustic but one of the things I've come to appreciate about the macprovideo tutorials is that there are always gaps to fill in my knowledge, even after all these years using Logic! I've now got DV-PAL and H.264 versions: The former is an enormous 28.41 GB file while the H.264 is only 3.99 GB - is that normal? Seems very odd to me! The H264 looks better - more natural colours than the DV-PAL which seems over-saturated so I think I'll go with the smaller file. As always, any ideas and insights very welcome! cheers

Hey Julian, I haven't followed the whole thread... but would second the parts of what Ski has written (that I've read of course!) and I'd highly recommend checking out iZotope's RX Advanced 2 plugin. Amazing results can be had with this... yes, it's expensive... but sounds like for your project it may be worth the cost. I believe there is a functional demo for the standard and Advanced versions. Saved me when some dialog recorded at an interview shoot came back really bad - almost unusable! [url]http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/rx/download.asp[/url] As for the DV-Pal vs H.264 version. The file sizes are normal. H.264 is basically a compressed file = smaller file size, but Logic struggles a little more to play it back in real-time. If all you're working with is one track of audio, without the need to do anything else and you have a fairly recent Mac then H.264 will probably be ok for your needs. Cheers R

Oh!... and in terms of Peter's tutorial... it's possibly the funniest and most satisfying piece of edutainment I've seen in a long while! ... you can find out more about Peter Schwartz (Ski to us here on the forums) in this article on the MPV Hub, where I had the pleasure to interview him: [url]http://www.macprovideo.com/hub/interview/feature-interview-with-a-trainer-peter-schwartz[/url] Best Rounik

Thanks for the kind words Rounik! And "edutainment" -- that's great! :) Julian, if H.264 looks better, go with it. File size shouldn't be a primary consideration in terms of which codec to use, despite the vast differences in file size. In video, appearance is everything. A bad looking picture will always detract from its impact, message, the story, etc. So it seems to me that you've found the best of both worlds -- a small file size as well as the best looking picture using H.264. Cool!

So many many hours of work later I'm about to "export audio to movie" and since these are hour long movies and I'm going to have to do it 18 times in total I want to get it right! I've done some reading online and searched these forums so this is more of a check to make double sure . . . (he says hopefully!!) In the sound settings dialogue that opens up there are a number of possible formats and options, I've so far selected: Linear PCM Stereo L R 48.000 kHz Quality: Best Linear PCM settings: Sample size 24 Little Endian deselected Floating point deselected The plan is to open the movie with improved audio in Final Cut Pro X (for which I've just recently downloaded the bundle of tutorials! - they're great!!) and edit more there. That intention / next step might suggest other settings than these possibly? Edited to add: Hmm - just gone a bit further along in the process and in the subsequent window where I get to select which audio track(s) I want to include, it only lists the first one - the original with all the bad audio, and not the edited copies I've bounced to other tracks. Does this have something to do with the padlock on the original file? cheers Julian

File size should be the least of your concerns, IMO. Honestly, what does it matter if the file is large or small? Just go with the file that runs the smoothest on your system, and most of the time that's going to be an original DV file.

Hi Ski, thanks for your reply, but I think we might have wires crossed, or maybe I should have started a new thread. I'm not at all concerned about file size, just about inputting the correct settings. My problem now is that when I come to try to add my edited audio back to the movie, replacing the original crappy audio with its excessive noise, extreme variations in volume and feedback squeals, I get first to the "sound settings" dialogue - which I hope you can confirm I have selected the correct setting for, and secondly I then get the dialogue where I should be able to select my improved audio track. In fact I am only being presented with the option to include the original bad audio track! For e.g. in the particular project I'm working on, I have the original bad audio on track 1, a bounced denoised version on track 2 and then a further improved version on track 3. Tracks 1 and 2 are muted, because I assumed I'd be able to select my track 3 in the export dialogue which would then be added as the new audio file for the movie. However, only track 1 audio is listed! I've tried at least a dozen times experimenting with different settings and will continue to experiment more, but I can't help but think this might be a known problem, or that you guys might possibly be able to diagnose where I'm going wrong. Reading around online I think I can get there by using Quicktime Pro to add my bounced "improved audio" (and delete the old bad track) but surely it should work in Logic? cheers