I'm writing this newsletter on Easter Sunday and between the close of NAB and the holiday, things have slowed down a great deal. Which is just fine by me.
One of things I like about the NAB Show is the chance to catch up with folks I haven't seen for a while. (Though, creating as many shows and interviews as we do somewhat interferes with extra time for visiting.) Still,
Randi Altman, editor-in-chief of
PostPerspective.com and I were chatting and she mentioned that there seemed to be a LOT of "pay-to-play" interviews going on at the show. Then, a company marketing person said: "It's unbelievable how many people are just willing to share anything (even if it's not valuable) with their audience as long as they get paid!"
This drives me nuts! The more paid reviews that are out there simply makes it harder for anyone to trust anything. Because if you think a paid review is going to point out problems - well, I've got a small bridge in Brooklyn that I can sell you, cheap. This growing problem is my
lead story this week.
Earlier today,
Richard W. sent me this question: "Something came up that I [need explained.] ...The auto-update on my MacBook Air Mojave prompted me to update
iMovie from version 10.1.1 to 10.1.11 with the curious message: '
Detects media files that may be incompatible with future versions of macOS and converts them to a compatible format.... I really hate the idea of any software converting my media files without my clear understanding and approval so I didn't update this iMovie software... I wonder if you know anything about this?"
Yes, and it is critically important that you understand the answer. Apple has
deprecated all codecs based on QuickTime 7. If you upgrade to the
next version of macOS AFTER Mojave, media using these codecs WILL NOT PLAY and CANNOT be converted! In other words, if you ignore this warning and upgrade, you are screwed. (
Here's an article that explains what is happening.)
What Apple has done, before the next OS upgrade, is provide a
conversion utility in Final Cut, iMovie, Compressor, and Motion that recognizes these out-of-date codecs and converts them into something more future-proof; specifically ProRes 422. What this feature does is recognize when you've opened media which will soon be obsolete and gives you the ability to convert it.
This conversion is NOT automatic, nor behind-the-scenes. You have to click
OK for the conversion to occur. However, if you DON'T convert your media, you will not be able to upgrade to the next version of macOS. (Here are two articles
illustrating this conversion process in
Final Cut Pro X and
Compressor. Compressor is more flexible.)
Please, to prevent future problems, read my background article above and these newer ones showing how this process works. Because, once you upgrade macOS, you can't go back and you can't play your older media. Also, if you are debating what to do, please turn OFF automatic updating of your system.
Here's an article that explains how. This will prevent unexpected, and unpleasant, surprises.
I'm very grateful for the glowing reviews for our NAB coverage on the
Digital Production Buzz. So, this week, I revised my workflow write-up to reflect the audio changes we made on site and improved the detail and accuracy of my
first report.
A company I'd never heard for -
Accusonus - contacted me about their new audio plug-ins. After taking a look, I discovered that there's a lot here to like, so I wrote a "First Look" Review. They have a very interesting approach to providing very complex, machine learning-based software tools. You'll find it
here.
The
Digital Production Buzz is working through our wrap-up of NAB. Last week we spoke with folks at:
Cinedeck,
Digital Anarchy,
Evolphin, and
Digital Bedrock. Each of these companies has products that can benefit independent filmmakers - take a listen to the
show here. And here is all our
NAB coverage!
Over the course of the next week, we'll also have all our NAB shows posted to YouTube. You can visit The Buzz YouTube Channel
here.
I haven't forgotten our weekly webinars, but life just got too hectic over the last couple of months. I'm hoping to get these restarted once school ends, later in May. For now, though, I hope you had a good holiday and I look forward to talking with you next week.
