Pixel conversion and h.264 questions

I have some home movies on my hard drive that I imported using Roxio. I imported them in DV/DVCPRO because quicktime on windows doesn't handle mpeg2 (the other option on Roxio). My problem is that I want to make copies to give to my brother who has a Mac so he can edit them.
Questions:
1. DVCPRO files are 720x480 rectangular pixels, how can I import them into quicktime so it converts them to square pixels (640x480) without resizing it and losing information?
2. What is the best format to convert them into so he can edit on a Mac and then create a DVD that won't have any loss of resolution from the original files?
3. Can quicktime on a Mac handle the conversion of rectangular to square pixels? I could give him copies of the uncompressed files then.
4. Unrelated to the above questions: Is there a qood tutorial on H.264, that would answer for example, what is the appropriate bit rate for viewing on my machine vs. sending over a DSL, etc.
thanks
dell Windows XP

Send the original source files on a DVD (more than one if it will not fit).
Don't worry about the square versus rectangular pixel issue. Computers use square pixels and most TV's use "lines".
NTSC "video" is sized 720X480. The QuickTime conversion would be 640X480. The data is the same.
You'll introduce other issues if your convert the current .dv file to any other format. Your brother can import (without any conversion) your .dv files directly into iMovie (or other DV editor apps). Bonus. You both save computer time.
It may take a while to burn all of the needed DVD's and postage is about $.84 to mail one. But you'll both be working with the source (sort of) files.
As to tutorials about compression (tips, tricks etc.) there are hundreds of them all over the Web. I even wrote a book "QuickTime Pro: Explained" that may be useful. Click on my profile for more info.
*Note*
I may benefit financially (if someone actually buys my work) from links in my profile.

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H.264 and prores proxy question

I've read through a ton of posts about proxy and h.264 workflows but didn't find any that answers my specific question.
My raw video from my camera is mp4 (h.264). I understand that h.264 is not good to edit with, so I have a few options. I use a macbook pro for editing so I have been toying around with prores proxy for editing and it makes a difference on RT playback and rendering while editing, so that's good. When I get ready to output my movie after editing, I relink my project back to the original h.264 source files and that seems to work fine.
I'm wondering if that's not the right workflow though. Should I transcode the h.264 into prores HQ or LT and then ALSO to proxy, edit with proxy and then relink my project back to the HQ or LT files to output? Or is linking back to my source h.264 files and outputing the right way to go?
Since the original files must be in the best possible quality that I'm going to get (since they're my original clips), I assume that relinking to them right before output is the way to go but I really don't know much about codecs to know if I'm missing something.
Thanks in advance for the advice.

Thanks for your response. I'm shooting with a Sanyo FH1, mostly in 1080p, but I've scaled back to 720 since 1080 was overkill for what I'm doing to save some space.
The thing I don't quite understand yet is the issue with pointing my project back to the source files after all the editing is finished with prores proxy and just before output. That way, FCP would only have to uncompress the source files to render for final output only one time (besides the initial transcoding), albeit, probably longer than it would be for prores. I'm sold on proxy because it was so much faster to edit with than h.264 and I didn't have to keep any video files after I was finished except my source files....trying to budget hard drive space. I transcoded one file a while back to prores but the file size was more than I wanted to deal with since I only edit on my macbook pro so I didn't try to edit with it. Like you said, maybe just converting to prores and dealing with the space juggling would be the best way to go, or try prores LT to see how the quality is.
Does converting from h.264 to prores buy me any quality or a better final result, or just a cleaner workflow? Don't misread my questions, I'm not arguing, just trying to understand from you guys that know a lot more about this than I do. Making my living as a developer, it's just ingrained in me to understand this one
Message was edited by: kenmoberg (updated macos version)

Why are my message attachments now represented by question marks? They appear in the conversations and details like this on my iPad but are there on my iPhone.

Since running the battery right down on my iPad, software up to date, my message attachments appear as question marks in both the conversations and details. They are still there on my phone. How can I fix this please? I've reset networks. Turned messaging off and back on. Turned the iPad off and back on.

The jpegs I am sending are 5x7 at 300 dpi and on the order of 1 Mb when I send them based on the jpeg quality.
In the Mail email window select Actual Size in the Image Size menu.

I think my other account is hacked and the hacker changed the password and the security questions and i can't retrieve it , so does anyone know how to have a live (online) conversation with a senior or an apple employee responsible for such problems ?!

Please help me because it's not the first time the account has been hacked, every time i found out that it was hacked i changed the password, but this time it is not easy because he changed the alternative email-adress and the security questions.

Call the Apple support phone number for your country:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57
and the 1st tier agent should be able to assist you or transfer your call to the Account Security team.
Regards.

Datatype conversion and Range

Ok here i am back again..
I am creating a database upgrade tool,
the column types are also subject to change.
I use the CAST(col_name AS newtype) function to cast types,
this often works. But not for all cases.
@see http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/A91202_01/901_doc/server.901/a90125/functions15.htm
For example a change from VARCHAR(255) to CHAR(3) does not work if the row currently
contains a row with more than 3 character.
A simple conversion that solves this problem is:
CAST(CAST(col_name AS VARCHAR(3)) AS CHAR(3))
I tested it using the following statement:
select CAST(CAST('wtfomgbbq' AS VARCHAR(3)) AS CHAR(3)) from dual;
Does this always work?
Some type changes can be done directly on a table like this:
ALTER TABLE table_name MODIFY ( col_name <NEWTYPE>)
But this only works if the range is either the same or increased,
or the table does not contain any rows, or the columns has only null values.
(i checked the reference)
But is there a way to always use this MODIFY statement and force the data to be transformed to the new type?
My current approach is to create a temporary table, drop the current table, and recreate the current (with correct schema) and put the old data in the new table using the CAST function as described above.
Maybe you experts now some way to do this faster?
And how can i handle range decreases without getting oracle errors?
(the update process may take several hours, so the DBA does not want an error message when updating the database)

It would be easier as you still have to convert the output of SUBSTR to CHAR(3), else you are doing an implicit type conversion... Which is not bad, but i really want to be explicit:
CAST(SUBSTR(col1, 1, 3) AS CHAR(3))
Note that the sql code that does the type conversions is automatically generated, so it doesnt matter if it looks more complex.
Anyway the main problem question is:
Can i always use ALTER TABLE MODIFY to modify the data types of columns or do i have to use temporary cols, or temporary tables?
Isnt there an option to force data type conversions and let oracle handle the casting (ans loss of data if the data-range is decreased) ?
Thanks in advance

New LG Monitor Screen Image Keeps Shifting a few pixels left and right / goes into power save mode

I just purchased a new LG Computer Monitor from Best Buy today and hooked it up to my PowerMac computer. Shortly after setting it up, the entire screen image started sporadically shifting left and right a few pixels. And then, at seemingly random times, it'll shut itself down, going into power save mode. I checked the cables to make sure they were secure and they seem to be. Could there be some sort of interference that's causing it? Or would it be the graphics card? My computer is only a couple years old. Please help!

Do you have another computer you can plug the monitor into to test?
Adam
Best Buy Community - Retail, Americas
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*Remember to mark your questions solved and click the star under the user's name to show your thanks!

How to export .MOV in desired video pixel size and in a centered format.

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium SPK2 and Quick Time for Windows Pro Version 7.6.5 the latest release.
I have a series of Quick Time .mov files which were shot at HD using a Canon Mark II EOS 5D camera. In total its about 28 GB of .mov files seperated into 78 different .mov clips. The movie inspector says they are .H264 format at 1920 x 1080 pixels
When I look at the QTM Other Properties Visual Settings it tells me the .mov Transformation for Normal, Display and Scaled is 1920 X 1080 pixels. I have checked 'Preserve Aspect Ratio.
I have figured out that I can drag all the individual clips into QTP thus making a single complete movie so to say. However, I have not been able to figure out how to convert this into a mpeg file (compressed ) that will display normally both on a PC when burned to DVD or to play on a standard DVD player or even play at the correct size on a PC.
*Playback size not correct:*
It also does not display at the requested size when the mpeg file is played natively on the PC wheter using Video Lan, Windows Movie Player, or just clicking on the file and letting IE open it. Their also seems to be a centering issue in which the movie is not centered in the playback window but rather is positioned in the upper left corner, theirby leaving white space to the right and bottom of the player. The original .mov file which I can view in QTP does not have this problem. In fact I have to use the Half Size option so as to view it entirely other wise its too large for my standard PC display.
I want the completed movie to appear similarly to what one would get if they were to purchase a DVD movie at the store.
I have gotten it to export in two different sizes reducing down to 256mb and 576mb respectively but both resulting mpeg files display smaller than I desire. The larger one is suppose to be displaying as 1280 x 720 pixels but does not appear to be doing so It appears more like 640 x 480 image. Also neither finished mpeg shows centered in the playback screen.
My Export Options are set as:
Movie to MPEG-4
File Format: MP4
Video Format: MPEG-4 Improved
Image Size 1280X720 HD
Preseve Aspect Ratio using Fit Within Size
Frame Rate: 29.97
Key Frame: Automatic
Resync Markers
Yes, I also tried one using the H264 option at the larger 1920 x 1080 HD format which should be the native QT format according to the movie inspector properties and likewise it does not correctly in size and in fact is blurry.
How does one take a .mov file and convert it so that it can be
centered correctly, burned onto a DVD and play like a commercial DVD does.
I have also tried Womble.com MPEG Video Wizard DVD 5.0 which does make a DVD which will play on a PC with the same incorrect video display image settings. It will not play on a DVD player.
Thanks for your assistance.

SOLUTION
I discovered that the begining graphics of my video which were set at 1280 x 720 pixels were causing the entire video to be reduced in size. I recreated the opening graphics at 1920 x 1080 pixels added in about 90 frames of each graphic ( 3 seconds each ) and the video now converts to mpeg4 at 1280 x720 pixels filling the video screen.
Later on I will test it at the full 1920 HD conversion and report back what I find.

In InDesign, how does one determine the pixel size of a text box? Specifically, we need to write text to specifications of 600 pixel width, and have no idea a) how to scale a text box to specific pixel width, b) how to

This may be a basic question... but in InDesign, how does one determine the pixel size of a text box? Specifically, we need to write text to specifications of 600 pixel width, and have no idea a) how to scale a text box to specific pixel width, b) how to determine what word count we can fit in, and c) how to do it in a table? Thanks!

Set your ruler increments to pixels Preferences>Units & Increments. You can fill the text box with placeholder text Type>Fill with Placeholder text and get a word count from the Info panel with Show Options turned on from the flyout.
From the Transform panel you can set a text box's width and height

Currency Converion and Business Rule questions

Hi all,
I am new to BPC and would appreciate if you can help me answer few of my questions. I was going through how to documents on currency conversion and Business Rules.
1. The Flow in Currency Conversion and Business Rules different?
2. Can Currency conversion be done without defining the Currency Rules?
3. In Business Rules Detail there is a cloumn for Sign. How should one determine what sign should go for a given account?
Thanks,
Diksha.

Venkatesh,
It seems like you are using Company as your Entity type dimension.
Try to change your code to look like this
*RUN_PROGRAM CURR_CONVERSION
     CATEGORY = %CATEGORY_SET%
     SELECT(%CURRENCY_SET_ID%,"[ID]",CURRENCY,"CURRENCY_TYPE='R'")
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*ENDRUN_PROGRAM

Business Rule Currency Conversion and Carry Forward

Hello Guys,
I have a question related to the Business Rules Currency Conversion and Carry Forward
I configured the business rule "Currency Conversion" and I selected "Apply to Periodic". What this rules does with the flag selected is to get the value of the previous month converted and add the factor (Local Currency previos month - Local Currency Actual month) * Exchange Rate of Current Month
For Example: USD previos month +
This rule applies perfectly from FEB to DEC but if I run it for January, it does not consider the value of USD previos month and LC previous month for calculations so the result I get is:
(and of course it´s because it only applies to periodic)
I need to include into my results this amounts and factor so the question is: Is not a flag I can activate to force the system to act as it does for FEB to DEC periodic ??
I also set up the Business Rule "Carry Forward" so with this rule Im able to bring values converted in USD from DEC to JAN for example from a Data Source Input, but the problem is that it erase any other value I have in other Data Source members and I need to keep that info.
Hope you can come with a suggestion.
Im working with SAP BPC NW 7.5 SP08

Hello guys,
Yes, my fiscal year is from JAN to DEC and Im using a YTD app,
As you mentioned for P&L accounts the rule works fine; but we want to carry forward LEQ accounts. Is there a way to use or configure the currency conversion rule with the flag "Apply to Periodic" to carry forward LEQ accounts for the next following year?
Here is how we configured our Carry Forward Business Rule
Source and Destionation account = 4111
Source and destionation Flow= FCLO
Reverse Sign= False
Data Source Type= ALL
Same Period= False
Apply to Periodic=False
Opening Data Source=DatosBase
Source Data Source = AJ_AC
Regards

Aperture RAW conversion and noise

I've been using Aperture for many years and have recently learned something useful about how to tweak the RAW conversion settings. Until recently I just left them at the default settings for my camera, a Panasonic GH2.
Anyhow I've not been entirely happy with shadow noise (otherwise I reckon it's a great camera). Many web sites say that a degree of shadow noise is normal for this camera, so I didn't figure mine was any different. I tried a variety of noise reduction approaches but none really made a worthwhile improvement.
Until a few days ago when I tried tweaking the 'Raw Fine Tuning' settings - and I found a way to make things *much* better.
Please note that the following comments may only be relevant to Panasonic RAW files, and maybe only for the GH2. I don't know if they apply to other cameras (though I think they may.
It turns out that for the GH2, the default 'Raw Fine Tuning' setting includes 'Sharpening' of 0.78 and 'Edges' of 0.79. This is fairly aggressive sharpening, but I didn't really realise what it was doing to noise until I discovered that was significantly increasing shadow noise -even at base ISO!
If I set these both the sharpening sliders in the Raw Fine Tuning section to '0', the 'grain' in the shadows is much smoother - a massive improvement.
But, of course, the image is a bit less 'sharp'. Well, this isn't much of a problem with 16+ megapixel cameras. Unless you are making huge enlargements from originals, and really look closely at the finest details at 100%, it makes very little difference if you give up this 'sharpness'. But the reduction in noise is actually very obvious indeed. It's much better!
Most of the sharpness I need on these less noisy images can easily be added by including the 'Edge Sharpen' adjustment, either at the defailt settings, or marginally toned down a bit. I'm currently using Intensity 0.7, Edges 0.3 and Falloff 0.4. This leaves most smooth areas untouched, so the 'noise' or 'grain' in smooth areas is as it comes from the sensor. By toggling the Edge Sharpen on and off, I can easily confirm no change in 100% or 200% loupe views.
That level of edge sharpening is a bit subtle, but actually achieves most of what I got from the Raw Fine Tuning sharpening sliders. It will be applied only to in-focus contrasty things like eyelashes or hairs or other defined edges, and very nicely.
So I'm sharing this in case other people also find it helpful. I strongly suggest removing the default sharpening entirely, and only using the Edge Sharpening slider in a cautious manner if you want to enhance sharpness.
Some related web pages:
http://www.jonroemer.com/blog/2011/01/aperture-3-too-sharp-tweak-the-default/
http://www.twin-pixels.com/raw-processors-review-aperture-bibble-capture-one-dxo -lightroom/
PS - there is a different issue with the default Raw Fine Tuning 'Boost' and 'Hue Boost' sliders, both of which are set to 1' by default. It turns out that these introduce a very large amount of contrast and exposure gain - turn them down to zero and the image goes quite dark and flat! The Aperture user guide says something about Hue Boost changing colours when Boost is set to '1' and this is the case. So I've experimented with turning them both to zero, and instead using a custom curves adjustment to achieve a similar level of exposure and contrast to the default conversion and the camera's default JPG image. By fine-tweaking the curves one can get better control of blown highlights and the overall contrast. I'm not sure if the colours are 'better', but I think so. I am fairly sure that I get smoother transitions in the mid-tonal ranges with this approach rather than just using Apple's default settings. Maybe they are a but strong for my liking. Certainly I can make curves that rarely require the 'Recovery' slider to fix over-boosted highlights. Anyhow, you may also find that this tweak helps a bit. Interestingly on a Canon RAW file the effect is not nearly as great in exposure terms, but there is also a definite colour change.
PSS - the end result is that I have set my camera preset for RAW fine tuning to zero settings for boost, hue boost, sharpening and edges. I then add contrast as needed using curves, and sharpen only with a little edge sharpening. I've then saved a few Presets with slightly different contrast curves and all with a little edge sharpening. I can very quickly select the level of contrast needed, and I am very confident that my results are quite a bit better, with better tonal gradations and much less noise.
Hope this helps
Chris.

Nice observations, Chris. I think the RAW Fine Tuning is often overlooked, even though it's a vital first step in RAW processing, and really the whole point of shooting RAW in the first place. Too much boost yields horrible skin tones in my experience. I have a default of .50 Boost and Hue Boost, Sharpening and Edges at .25, Moire .50, Radius 12.0 and Denoise .25. I've found these are "mid range" settings for the Canon 5Dii, and first make small adjustments to the Fine Tuning brick before moving on to exposure adjustments.

OPEN-FOR, varchar and nvarchar (more questions)

hello
create or replace function fnEnumSystemUser
+(+
+FirstNameFilter nvarchar2,+
+...+
+)+
RETURN xxxxx.cursorType /* REF-CURSOR */
AS
+strSQL varchar(2000);+
SystemUserCursor xxxxxcursorType;
BEGIN
+...+
+open SystemUserCursor FOR strSQL using FirstNameFilter;+
+...+
Notice that FirstNameFilter type = nvarchar2 and strSQL type=varchar - if "FirstNameFilter" contains Asian character, then I presume it'd become jibberish in "strSQL"? And also lost any unicode data in OPEN-FOR operation?
(Actually I don't know what exactly will happen, at least not until I test with the app which is not yet read. And you can't call the function with unicode character with TOAD and didnt manage to get around test this with SQL*Plus yet.)
Thanks

Presumption incorrect.
From the link given by hoek in your original post this morning:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/appdev.102/b14261/datatypes.htm#sthref753
"You can interchange VARCHAR2 and NVARCHAR2 values in statements and expressions".
The NVARCHAR2 only really comes into things with table column datatypes for unicode data in non unicode character set.
If you're using a unicode character set (which you can find from info given in your third post), then you don't need to worry about NVARCHAR2 vs VARCHAR2 even when you're storing data.
If you use VARCHAR2 with multi-byte characters then you just need to make sure that you're using CHAR length semantics (NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS).
When you're fetching the data back into variables, you don't need to worry about VARCHAR2 and NVARCHAR2. As I already mentioned in previous threads, the datatype of the dynamically constructed query string passed into OPEN FOR has nothing to do with the datatypes returned by that query.
Going forward, if you do have issues with character set conversions and question marks then you need to look at character set conversions at the various touch points of your application, look at the NLS settings for the client(s) and server. Also the DUMP function is invaluable for seeing the bytes which are actually stored in a column / passed around.
From your first post, you gave the impression you were using bind variables for the parameters, this is good. For this sort of query building you might also want to look at SYS_CONTEXT for a slightly different way for binding your variables into your query string. There are a couple of useful asktom articles on this sort of thing.
So, in summary:
- you don't need to worry about using a NVARCHAR2 for the datatype of a PLSQL variable when just using that variable as a string for OPEN FOR
- if you are using a unicode character set, you don't need to worry about NVARCHAR2 vs VARCHAR2 for your column storage
- if you are using a non-unicode character set, you do need to worry about NVARCHAR2 vs VARCHAR2 for your column storage

Problems with conversion and import to FCP

I have some files in m2ts format and convert them to Quicktime using iSkysoft video converter.
When I import to FCP and render where there is a lot of action I get a wavy pattern all over the image (maybe related to interlace) is there a filter to fix this or another conversion program?
(Im using FCP 6)
Message was edited by: Andreas Sweden

I have tried with MPEG Streamclip that I usually use as well but it will not take the files. I am just trying out iSkysoft for this and it appears to be a descent program.
I have tried Xvid encoding and H.264 (only two options available), I tried to convert to .DV format as well but with same result.
It appears that the material becomes interlaced twice on top of eachother

Phone conversation and Demo

We're exploring signing on with iTunes U here at the University of New Hampshire. While we can browse different universities public sites we'd like to see what it looks like in the private side through Blackboard (which we use and will use for privileges and authentication purposes). If anyone is willing to arrange a phone conversation to answer some questions from our blackboard and portal administrators along with some type of webex so we could see how it looks from a faculty and student's view it would be great. Thanks, you can email me at [email protected]

You won't reach Apple here. This is a user to user support forum. You'll have to contact iTunes store support for help with this: http://www.apple.com/emea/support/itunes/contact.html.

New iMacs and H.264 import

Hello!
I am going to buy a new camera with Flash memory and h.264. I was told that it is a pain to import large h.264 movies from such device. It seems obvoius that Apple was not able to propose something with old hardware like Radeon 2600, but now it seems to be possible with Radeon 4800.
Are there any information about improvements with h.264 encoding/decoding with new iMacs?
Regards,
Kirill Boyko

Hello Tom!
Thank you for answer!
I am a newbie so correct me if I'm wrong.
When you say "gets converted" .. "during capture" you mean FCE Capture process. This process is managed using Capture window in FCE and was designed specially for tape camcorders. According to FCE manual Capture process does transcode your video.
Editing HDV Using the Apple Intermediate Codec
Your HDV video is transcoded by the Apple Intermediate Codec during capture. The
Apple Intermediate Codec is a high-quality video codec optimized for playback
performance and quality. Although the data rate of the Apple Intermediate Codec is
three to four times higher than the data rate of the native MPEG-2 HDV, the
processing requirements to play back your video are less. Unlike native MPEG-2 HDV,
the Apple Intermediate Codec does not use temporal compression, so every frame
can be decoded and displayed immediately, without first decoding other frames.
For new camcorders which instead use file based media the Capture process is managed by Log and Transfer window. Which is slightly different in workflow and capabilities but logically the same - it transcodes H.264 video into AIC format.
I suppose that Apple historically split these two processes which are same by nature.
What I am interested in is this phrase in manual:
AVCHD footage is not captured natively but is transcoded to Apple Intermediate Codec.
By this Apple mean that HDV is captured "natively" what I think means "easer". SO I suppose it uses some hardware acceleration during transcoding from MPEG-2 to AIC which results in much better time and less CPU usage.
SO, my question is:
Wether it will be possible to use similar HW acceleration proposed by new RADEON/GEFORCE to transcode h.264 faster, or x19 times faster as stated in ATI feature list?
Regards,
Kirill

Pixel conversion and h.264 questions

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