D/A Converter Advice

Can anyone give advice as to choosing a D/A converter? I am going to be importing 40+ Hi8 tapes into FCE. I currently own a 'Dazzle' converter that is several years old and drops the signal often. I have used a Sony Digital 8 that has a built in converter also (family members). I am considering a Canopus ADVC300 or an ADS Pyro AV Link. I am open to other suggestions as well. The question is, is there a significant difference in video quality between the Sony camera and the other two products? I shot most of the videos on a Sony TR-101 Hi8 camera. Thanks

In agreement with Alchroma
I also use CanopusADVC300 and got as good result as to my knowledg is
possible in a reasonable cost level.
Yours Bengt W

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Analog to digital converter advice

Anyone have any thoughts or tips on using this analog to digital converter with a VCR and CS6? Has anyone used one of these before?
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc55
Thanks.

http://www.biopac.com/Manuals/dv%20converter%20advc-55%20user%20manual.pdf
Page 13 has the guide for the dip switches.
You can also test if you get a better result by applying set up or otherwise in switch 2.
BTW - how old are the VHS tapes and what do they look like before digitising them?
Are they PALor NTSC originally?
(The box wont do a great job of converting them either so stick to what they are ).

NTSC DVD doc for PAL Europe. Updated Advice on IF I need to convert & HOW?

I have read with interests several posts on playing NTSC, all region DVDs on PAL DVD players. I hope someone may have some updated advice for my situation. In brief, I would like to give out DVD copies to festival goers in France where my Doc will play in April. I thought to produce DVD-Rs on my Mac.
With a film acquired documentary(24fps), transferred to NTSC video (29.97 fps) sitting as both Avid and Final Cut Pro Media on my trusty G-4, I am now ready to export a Quicktime Movie and then encode to MPEG-2, and "author" a DVD in DVD Studio Pro.
Will an NTSC DVD now play on most DVD players and Televisions in Europe? (A contact stated their "players are bi-standard NTSC and PAL", but I'm still uncertain this means my DVD-R or replicated NTSC will play).
Should I make a PAL DVD?
IF I try a PAL DVD is it really as simple as exporting a Same as Source Quick Time Movie from Avid or FCP then using the QT MPEG-2 exporter and selecting "PAL" from within Quick Time? Then I just create a new Pal project in DVD Studio Pro?...... Even if it is that simple to create PAL from QT and my media, I don't see how my 24 fps/29.97 fps doc now magically becomes PAL 25 fps / 59.97 fps just because I converted it to MPEG-2.
Do you all recommend I try to make my own PAL DVD or should I just take my already authored NTSC DVDs and cross my fingers.
I really appreciate any newer thoughts on this topic. I'm an old pre-digital film guy so be kind.
Thanks, Rob
G-4 Quicksilver Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Yes, although the vast majority of newer European DVD players and TVs have no problems with NTSC DVDs, the only way to be sure (well, almost sure) is to burn a PAL DVD. You can't legislate for the fact, however, that not all DVD players can play all DVD-R authored disks, but that's a seperate problem!
I generally use After Effects for quick and dirty (but good quality) standards conversion. Whatever you do don't just try exporting your project via Quicktime using a PAL as this will only change the colour space and not the frame rate or frame size. If you use QT to change frame rate it will simply repeat every fifth frame to get to 30fps which will give you jerky motion.
Here's a step by step guide to doing the conversion in Compressor 2, using "optical flow" to interpolate to get the extra frames :
http://www.macworld.com/2006/02/secrets/marchcreate/index.php?pf=1

Advice needed for converting AI file to PDF

I'm working on some 11x17 page size illustrator files that are of aerial photo maps (with a legend).
Can someone offer me some advice on how to best convert these files to pdfs and keep the photo quality high and keep the file size as low as I can get it??? I basically can convert it to a pdf but I don’t understand the compression settings section (assuming that’s what needs to be changed in order to accomplish this?).
Thanks

This is a trick I find works well.
Just save it as a pdf and open in Acrobat, then (Acrobat X) go to tools and then Prepare for Web Publishing, use all the default settings.
This should reduce the file as much as 1/3 the size sometimes even more.
It has no effect on the qquality.

Advice sought re converting existing Bc site to a responsive design

Hi,
I read today that Google is shaking up its search rankings to favour mobile-friendly sites.
I have an existing e-commerce Bc site (fixed width) that I'd like to convert to a responsive design. At the moment I don't have the time to do it myself because I'm working on another business, while running the existing one, and wondered if anyone could offer any advice?
What I'd like is not a whole redesign (I'm happy with the look and feel) but simply to convert it to make it responsive (and to include an elegant solution for making the tables on the site responsive too).
I was thinking of using 99designs, or something similar, but maybe there's a better way?
Site: http://tinyurl.com/mtknz5b
Kind regards,
Frank.

Hi Frank
i see you are in Sheffield I'm just south of Glasgow
i can quote you on this if you're open to it
Would recommend foundation framework.
We are a partner with a lot of site development and do BC exclusively.
www.platonik.co.uk
regards
Fraser

Please help. Keep getting a conversion error when trying to convert a PDF to a .docx. Advice?

Please help. Keep getting a conversion error when trying to convert a PDF to a .docx. Advice?

Sara,
Please see my answers in bold below.
What browser are you using? Try clearing the cache, or using a different browser. N/A
Are you converting from within Reader, or directly via the ExportPDF website. Within Reader.I disabled the OCR and this did not work either. Try converting from within Reader, and disable OCR as detailed in this document: How to disable Optical Character Recognition (OCR) when converting PDF to Word or Excel.
Are you on a networked computer? Make sure that there aren't any firewall/proxy settings that are preventing you from uploading files to the Internet. Not having problems uploading the file--that works fine.
Make sure the file is within the file-size limit of 100 MB. It is <40.
I get the error message, "File failed to be converted using Adobe ExportPDF online."
Thanks for your help in advance.

In need of last ditch advice (upgrade to HC96 or buy Canopus converter?!)

Hi all,
Need the community's advice here...
Bought the Sony HC48 model not knowing it lacked the A/V in... too late to return for a refund to JR.com... the ability to transfer analog to digital is very important to me, so here's the question...
in your opinion, should I:
a) hold onto the HC48 and use it for its primary camcorder purpose to shoot video, and supplement that with a Canopus converter (ADVC 55, 110, or 300) for my analog to digital conversion needs... OR...
b) exchange the HC48 and upgrade to the HC96 (paying the difference), which I can use as both a camcorder and a digital pass through mechanism, thus eliminating the need for an external converter...
I would greatly appreciate any feedback. Thank you in advance and have a great weekend everyone!
Regards,
Joe

It's really your call, as only you know the financial implications of either course!
The Canopus ADVC110 works perfectly for me - I still use an analogue video camera - and is IMO the best value for money of the three.
Hang on: I just checked the specs of that camera, and it says that it includes:
i.LINK® DV Interface1
A digital high-speed bi-directional interface which provides Audio/Video communication between two compatible devices. This connection allows for pure digital transfer between devices equipped with an IEEE1394 interface, such as camcorders, digital VTRs, capture cards and PCs.
iLink is Sony's name for Firewire. If this is a digital camera you are good to go!
You will probably find that it actually connects to your Mac through the Handycam Station. But it is likely that they 'forgot' to include the required firewire cable, but that you can get in any camera store.

Advice on converting analog Hi8mm tapes to digital

Hi,
I am looking for advice on converting some Hi8mm analog video tapes to digital. They are not my tapes but I would still prefer to obtain a good quality transfer. I may do some editing on a few of them in PRE and would like to maintain the ability to edit them in the future.
At present, I've bought a Roxio easyVHStoDVD USB converter which states it can capture in DV-AVI format but doesn't actually appear able to do so. Results so far at capturing have been finicky at best but I'm still working on it but am wary because the format captured is not DV-AVI.
I've read several people here suggesting using an ADS Pyro A/D Firewire converter. Would that be a better, less troublesome route to go? And what other tips does anyone have in doing an A/D conversion?
Thanks,
Paul

The workflow that you outline is good for archiving the material, but not so good for later editing that material. As Paul_LS states, a DVD-video will use MPEG-2 encoding. Material and quality will be forever lost. These DVD's are good for doing a backup of the material on tape, but the best quality will result from editing the Captured DV-AVI Type II material. Get an external HDD, instead, and copy those files over to it for later editing.
If you need to do much correction to the Captured material, especially color and exposure work, you might want to look into the Canopus 300, which allows one to do more at the Caputre stage with regards to color and density. The 100 will do a great job of straight Capture, but all corrections will need to be done in PE later.
For a similar Project, with 34 VHS tapes (all sorts of film rates, EP, LP and SP, I did a quick archival copy to DVD (I used my Panasonic VHS-DVD deck for this), and then did a Capture to DV-AVI Type II for all tapes, logging each with details and notes on what each scene was and where it was located, via Timecode. This was all done, while the Capture was being made, and these notes were invaluable, when it came time to actually do the edits.
Using the DV-AVI Type II files (stored on about 4 2TB external (FireWire 800) hard discs, I then Imported just what I needed to create 17 finished DVD's from the tapes. During the edit, I archived each Project to another set of external HDD's, because I will need to do extensive editing for a finished set of DVD's for the two subjects, whose lives were recorded on those 34 tapes. Again, I kept notes on these files, so I know exactly where every scene is located. I can still go back to the Captures, but as I have doine the color grading, and density correction on the next phase of files, those would be the ones that I'd want to use.
In this Project, the biggest help was my "shot sheet," that contained all details of every shot. It saved me countless hours of searching, just to locate a particular scene. If you need a "shot sheet," let me know, and I'll share a PDF of the one that worked for me.
Good luck,
Hunt

Converting iOS app to Android - advice

Hi.
I've got a few apps released for iOS - the resolution is 320 x 480. I'm thinking about converting these to Android. However, I'm not sure what resolution to target to hit the most users? I guess ideally I'd code them to adjust for different resolutions, but I'm a single developer and don't have time to do this for all my apps. So I'm trying to pick the most popular.
I've read this: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html but it doesn't seem to clarify things for me.
Also, would converting my iOS apps to Android just require some config changes (certificates, icons etc) or would it likely need some additional AS3 tweaks/additions?
Any advice appreciated.

What is the nature of your apps? If they are scenes that can have some extra content off the sides you can do all device screen sizes with the one FLA. Look at the iPhone and iPad screens of this app:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/thomas-friends-lift-haul-collection/id641291615?mt=8
Notice how on the iPad you see a little more sky and ground. If you can work that way, and either have extra content on the left and right, or above and below, you can set the stage scale mode to showAll, and the stage will fill the device screen, revealing that extra content on wider or taller screens.
If you can have extra content in all four directions you could use the scale mode noBorder. For that example you would have a 14:9 stage, and enough content to go as wide as 16:9, or as tall as 4:3.
I made these test pages to show how the stage looks, just resize your browser window to simulate different device sizes and ratios:
http://xfiles.funnygarbage.com/~colinholgate/rev/showall.html
http://xfiles.funnygarbage.com/~colinholgate/rev/noborder.html
The red lines represent the iPad ratio, the green lines are iPhone 3gs & iPhone 4, and the blue lines are iPhone 5.

My iTunes purchases won't convert to mp3 files. Any advice?

My iTunes purchases won't convert to mp3 files. I don't want to burn a CD, either. Any useful advice/help?

krisfrommorgantown wrote:
My iTunes purchases won't convert to mp3 files. I don't want to burn a CD, either. Any useful advice/help?
If they will play but will not convert, you probably have DRM "protected" files. Were they purchased prior to mid-2009?
If so, and you don't want to burn, your choice is either to replace them, or to upgrade them by using Match. For the latter option, see
iTunes Store: iTunes Plus Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
and look at the section on "Can I upgrade my previously purchased music to iTunes Plus?"

What is the best format to choose when converting mts files to fit well with iMovie? I am using iCoolsoft for conversions and can pick from almost any kind of formats to convert to. I don't want to get the black frames... what do you advice me to pick?

I have lots of MTS files stored on an external hard drive that I want to use in my iMovie films. Now, as you know, iMovie doesn't like them. I have bought iCoolsoft for converting my video files into any format I want but now I've got another problem: what format is the best for iMove? Some of the formats I've tried are giving me a black frame around the video clips and some are bigger and other smaller but anyway I don't want them at all! Can anyone recommend what format to convert to to keep the original clip's size and no frames and still be liked by iMovie to be able to import them?
Much thankful for any kind of support and reply on this one.
Eva

The format iMovie uses when you edit video after it's imported is Apple Intermediate Codec, it will have the file ending .mov but internally it's set so the Mac can edit individual frames easier and play them back easier at full speed. If you have the option of saving to QuickTime .mov see if there is a pulldown list of all the different "codecs", that's the style or flavor of compression applied to the video frames. If Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) appears on that pull-down list choose that as your codec when you save to .mov.

PDF still not converting even after all advice from forum

Hello, I am trying to convert a PDF using Adobe Export PDF, the file is 8.6mb, when I click to convert it says "file failed to convert using Adobe Export PDF online" I tried disabling recognised text, still didn't work. Followed the link to the ExportPDF web interface, it says export complete so I save, however when you click it says 'internet explorer has stopped working' and it closes the programme. It says in Properties- Applications...and then it's blank. After PDF producer it says Acrobat Distiller 7.0 (windows) . I have comverted 7 other files in the same series, some of which are bigger, however there is just won't convert. Please help....

Hi Sean,
Sorry to hear you're having trouble!
Could you try the steps outlined in this document: http://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-1831 ?
After going through those steps, try converting from the ExportPDF web interface again.
Let us know how it goes!
-David

Vendor Payment Advices - Convert to SmartForms

My customer is currently changing all their SAPScripts to SmartForms to use a new fax service called Fax Maker (apparently Fax Maker won't accept SAP Script).
They run SAP 4.6C.
They want to change the Vendor Payment Advice but this doesn't seem to be able to accept SmartForm entry in the configuration (SPRO >> Financial Accounting >> Accounts Rec & Accounts Pay >> Business Transactions >> Outgoing Payment >> Auto Outgoing Payment >> Payment Method >> Setup Pay Comp Codes for Payment Trans).
How do I get Fax Maker to accept the Vendor Payment Advice?
I thought I could get the SAPScript to produce a pdf file and send this, but I'm not sure on how to do this.
Regards,
Louise

Dear Pernille,
please kindly check the following hints to help you:
1) Please check whether you selected the check box in the variant
configuration "print payment advice". The variant is of the variant
that you maintain in the printout/data medium tab of transaction F110.
2) Unfortunately it's technically not possible to send remittance
advices per e-mail and to spool at the same time. You can only either
send advices per e-mail or send them to spool. This is the standard
system design.
3) Please check FBZP to the desired company code and payment method to
see if the customer has selected the flag "NoPaymentAdv.". It must be
set as "Always payment Advice" and afterwards the advices via e-mail is
executed.
4) Please refer the documentation on the sample function module:
'SAMPLE_PROCESS_00002040' in FIBF by following the Menu Path:
FIBF > Environment > Infosystem (Processes) > Click 'Execute' >
Select: 00002040 Autom. pmnt transactns: Output of pmnt advice note
5) To send a business partner a payment advice note by fax or email,You
must use the process interface 00002040 (Business Transaction Events)
define the selection of the message type (printout, fax or email).
Before you can do this, however, you must have carried out the
necessary technical (Basis) settings for faxing or sending emails.
6) Also consider the SAP note 836169.
Thanks.
Mauri

Hi Guys. Please would you advice how to convert an audio track recorded from my cheap bass guitar to a great bass guitar sound from the bass collection of Logic X

Hi Guys.
I need to convert an audio made by my cheap bass guitar to a Logic bass audio.
Thank you!

I will request that your query be relocated to the Logic Pro forum where knowledgeable Logic Pro users will be able to assist you.
Ciao.

Some advice on audio formats and converting tracks

_*Some thoughts about audio formats and conversions. These are all supported by iTunes unless stated otherwise.*_
General principles : there is no point in converting an already compressed track into a higher bit rate - it may seem as if this would give an improved quality, but once information has been lost through compression, there is no recovering it. The sound MAY be improved subjectively through the use of an appropriate EQ setting.
This is not a definitive list : other formats, for example the one used by Real Player, and the ATRAC minidisc codec used by Sony, are not listed : many of the following can be used in iTunes, or are reasonably well-known.
To use one of the available formats, they should be set in the Importing tag in *iTunes Preferences* (Advanced prior to iTunes 8, now in General). Once set, the format is used for importing CDs, but can also be used to convert tracks already in iTunes (using the Advanced menu : +Convert Selection to xxx+ ). It is not used when dropping files onto iTunes, or using Add To Library.
1. _Lossless formats_
Certain high-quality audio formats are "Lossless". This means that if the track is re-converted into the same format (after editing, for example), it will not degrade no matter how many times that is done.
.AIFF - a format (common in Macs) representing full CD quality. Bit-rates are over 1400 kbps; +1 minute of music is approx 10MB.+
.WAV - more or less the same as .AIFF but a Windows format.
*Apple Lossless* - a 'once-only compression', applied to .AIFF or .WAV tracks to retain quality but reduce file sizes. A little (totally inaudible) information is lost, but also a more efficient 'codec' (compression algorithm) is involved. +1 minute = approx 5MB.+
.FLAC - similar to Apple Lossless, but less proprietary (a more open standard). Not supported by iTunes.
2. _'Lossy' formats_
These formats are so-called because each time the conversion is done, the track is re-compressed, and more information is lost even if the file size remains the same. Various quality settings can be chosen, from around 320 kbps (high) down to below 128 kbps, though 128 is reckoned to be the lowest acceptable bit rate to listen to music in stereo.
In general, the higher the input quality, the higher the output quality when 'stepping down'. Therefore an .AIFF track converted directly to 128kbps 'lossy' will sound better than a 256kbps track re-compressed to the same 128kbps.
.MP3 - a standard audio compression format that has been around for many years. Common everywhere, and supported by virtually all contemporary music players. The codec has been improved so that modern MP3s sound markedly better than earlier versions. +1 minute @ 128 kbps = approx 1MB.+
.AAC - a superior codec to MP3 (though the quality gap has narrowed), which has been chosen by Apple as the iTunes format of choice. Nowadays, a track at 128 kbps .AAC will sound around the same quality as the same track at 160 kbps MP3. +1 minute @ 128 kbps = approx 1MB.+
.WMA - Windows' own proprietary lossy codec. It seems to have a bright and sparkly sound compared to MP3, but lacks a decent 'bottom end', i.e. the bass tones are somewhat lacking. Not supported by iTunes. (Can be played using VLC).
.OGG - the open standard Ogg Vorbis format, often held to be superior to MP3 but little-used and therefore not supported in many platforms and players, including iTunes.
When considering which format to use, the most important things to remember are
1. how will these tracks be played back? (on a hi-fi? an iPod? expensive earphones?)
2. the quality will depend finally on the judgement of the listener (some ears are better at telling small differences in quality than others)
3. how much space is available to store (and expand) the music library?
As for quality, a good way to decide is to "audition" different formats. Using one CD track known to you, try importing it at several different formats and bit rates (using iTunes Preferences). Then just play them, see which sounds best to you. In this way I came to decide for myself that AAC @ 256kbps was the best for me +(1 minute = approx 2MB).+

The Windows version of iTunes supports importing of WMA files, converting them to one of the other formats. Mac iTunes offers now support of WMA files at all.
Good point - and if I knew more about iTunes on Windows I would amend that and post a different version of the article in their forum.
I accept the point about .WAV files being used also for compressed formats but didn't want to make it too complicated; the most common use for .WAV I believe, is full quality audio.
On the subject of Lossless compressed audio (FLAC and AL), Wikipedia has this :
_*Difficulties in lossless compression of audio data*_
+It is difficult to maintain all the data in an audio stream and achieve substantial compression.+ +First, the vast majority of sound recordings are highly complex, recorded from the real world. As one of the key methods of compression is to find patterns and repetition, more chaotic data such as audio doesn't compress well. In a similar manner, photographs compress less efficiently with lossless methods than simpler computer-generated images do. But interestingly, even computer generated sounds can contain very complicated waveforms that present a challenge to many compression algorithms. This is due to the nature of audio waveforms, which are generally difficult to simplify without a (necessarily lossy) conversion to frequency information, as performed by the human ear.+
+The second reason is that values of audio samples change very quickly, so generic data compression algorithms don't work well for audio, and strings of consecutive bytes don't generally appear very often. However, convolution with the filter [-1 1] (that is, taking the first difference) tends to slightly whiten (decorrelate, make flat) the spectrum, thereby allowing traditional lossless compression at the encoder to do its job; integration at the decoder restores the original signal.+
+Codecs such as FLAC, Shorten and TTA use linear prediction to estimate the spectrum of the signal. At the encoder, the estimator's inverse is used to whiten the signal by removing spectral peaks while the estimator is used to reconstruct the original signal at the decoder.+
This seems to imply that even Lossless codecs make changes, but it IS a very complex subject. If I could still edit the main article I would remove that bit about AL losing information.

D/A Converter Advice

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