When we first saw the news of the Digimetrics Eos plugin for Final Cut Pro we thought 'nothing new' as it has been done before. Today a video for the Eos audio 'legaliser' was brought to our attention, so we thought we'd take a quick look at both.
Broadcasters will find any reason to reject a tape or file these days file for transmission. Gamut errors have been a particularly annoying reason for failures over the past few years. Sometimes watching the 'scopes isn't good enough, the internal ones in FCP aren't great and shouldn't be relied on for final mastering.
So what can you do to make sure your project that you've spent weeks on gets the thumbs up from your broadcaster? You could run it through an external 'legaliser' or you could look to software to do the job for you.
Digimetrics have brought out two plugins for Final Cut Pro that will make sure that your video and audio levels are within specific broadcast standards. First of all it is a bit confusing to call them 'Eos' - they have nothing to do with Canon's DSLRS! Secondly pricing is a little high for the FCP ecosystem at $299 for each plugin. Toolfarm has had promotions running on both these plugins so we would check there first.
Digimetrics has demo videos of both the video and the audio legalisers. We should also point out that broadcasters can reject a programme if it fails a Harding test. Kanye West's video 'All of the lights' has been flagged as particularly bad. (Since removed) The Eos plugin will not fix flashing pattern problems.
Eos Broadcast Video Plugin for Final Cut Pro
In regards to Color Gamut, Eos offers the ability to set limits for measurement and correction (and, by default, correct gamut using AutoFix) relative to EBU R103 in several methods:
- Percentage of legal limits
- Millivolts (mV)
- IRE (absolute value adjusted to 0-255)
You can choose to measure gamut against ITU color standards BT.601 or BT.709, or define your own custom color space using the Y', Cb' and Cr' coefficients for the RGB components.
Measurement and correction results are provided in an XML-based report, showing which frames are out of gamut, and if AutoFix is enabled, which color components were adjusted.
Safe Title/Action Area overlays are provided in the preview window for:
- NTSC 4:3 and 16:9 (525 line raster)
- PAL 4:3 and 16:9 (625 line raster) where applicable, overlays for 14:9 also provided
- 720p
- 1080p
- 2k/Digital Cinema
using the following standards for measurement:
- SMPTE ST-2046-1
- SMPTE RP-218
- ARIB TR-B4
- ITU-R BT.1379-2
- EBU R92
- EBU R95
Eos Broadcast Audio Plugin for Final Cut Pro
Offering the ability to measure Audio Loudness relative to multiple standards, including:
- ATSC A/85
- UK BCAP 6.9
- EBU R128
- User-defined variation of ITU BS.1770 fast or integrated mode
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
