This FAQ article is for the Life.Church Worship team and their workflow as it relates to weekend lyric videos creation. We create custom lyric videos each weekend and export them to playback in AVID ProTools. For context refer to this article on the ProTools preset we use.
We’ve adopted a video compression that is recommended by AVID, the company that owns ProTools. This new compression creates much larger file sizes but the benefits out-weigh the space restrictions.
Managing your files and staying organized is going to be more important than ever. Your computer should maintain at least 20GB of free space, after downloading one of these videos, in order to run at maximum efficiency.
More than 30 minutes - Don’t wait until the last minute!
WCH - 30 minutes for 9GB file.
SPF - 35 minutes for 10.1GB file.
The MXF file contains the video but is not all that is needed to playback in ProTools on a weekend. The XMP file is also needed. ProTools uses this file to translate all the details about the video. Please keep both in the same video folder.
You will notice that the XMP file has two file extensions. This is normal.
Welcome back VLC to playback the MXF file! Quicktime has to convert the file in order to play it. Without getting too technical, Quicktime is dead and is slowly falling behind. VLC is a free open-source application that plays the file great. *****See this article to help always open the file with VLC (article coming soon) - Download VLC here.
Check out our help article on downloading and using the Preset.
No need to update. The new preset and codec have been present in the Adobe suite for a while. It will work without updating.
Hopefully this change will allow you to not have to worry about the update and rather stay up-to-date with the latest features and software stability improvements.
In the Export video, on the right side, you must first select DNxHD as the Format before the Preset will appear. Additional tip: scroll all the way to the top of the Preset drop down window.
There is a good chance this article on using the Preset will solve the problem.
Nothing special is needed to play this video in ProTools. Because it’s a native AVID codec, it’s 100% supported by ProTools. The video can be previewed within ProTools using the video window (Window > Video). You don’t need anything Adobe on your ProTools machine. The only thing you might desire is to install VLC in order to preview the video outside of ProTools.
Troubleshooting - Please Keep Reading!
Central Tech will work with you to troubleshoot any issues. We have not had any issues with these codecs thus far. We have found a few workflow problems during this process and would love to share our findings with you.
This statement is simple. When you have the final weekend session on your computer, make sure it is out of a Dropbox sync-able folder. Generally we say create a folder on your desktop or root Media drive and copy it into that folder. If you try and run the session from an external hard drive, that could cause a slow read speed and ProTools will crash.
We have encountered numerous scenarios where Dropbox was the culprit that caused ProTools to crash. Dropbox can be a resource hog and bog the computer down when it’s syncing new files. It’s best to just quit the application during the weekend services.
Delete them (empty the trash) or keep them on an external hard drive for backup. The likelihood that you will need old weekend, final sessions, is very low. Don’t be a file hoarder! Your computer should maintain at least 20GB of free space after downloading one of these videos in order to run at maximum efficiency.
In the past, we’ve experienced issues with OS and ProTools compatibility. Reach out to Central Tech to verify your version. Current compatible and recommended versions are listed in this help article.