Comparing Files

Sometimes we end up with two different versions of a video or file and dont' know if they are, in fact, different. Or, sometimes when we hand off a disc to a client they claim they can't view the video or it's "corrupted". So, here's how to compare files a simple, straight forward and built-into the Mac way.

Method #1 "MD5".

01 Launch the Terminal. (I like to hit Command + Shift + U to open the Application folder, then hit the letter T and up and down arrow from there, then hit Command + O or use Control + F3 if the terminal is already in the dock)
02 OPTIONAL STEP: Hit Command + COMMA to open the Terminal's Preferences and goto Settings > Window > Background Color. In the color window that opens set the transparency to something like 60%. Close the preferences.
03 In the Terminal type exactly, without the quotes "md5" in lowercase.
04 Hit Spacebar.
05 Drag the first of the files you want to directly compare into the terminal window. You'll end up with something like:
md5 /Volumes/HD01/Video/Files/Movies/movie01.mov

06 Hit Return.

After a moment (bigger files take longer) you'll see a number appear as a result. Something like: aa3f30d5e8977965702c4acc83f645da

Now, do the exact same thing with the file you want to compare this first file with. But why did you mess with the preferences to alter the transparency of the window? A quick trick to compare the numbers, since they're so long, is to run md5 in two separate Terminal windows, and since they're transparent -or at least translucent-, overlap them and see if the images of the generated numbers match.

If the numbers are identical, the files are identical.

If you need to generate md5 sums on many files in one directory, from a fresh Terminal prompt, type "cd" then hit spacebar, drag the directory (folder) into the terminal window and hit Return to change it to that directory. Then type "md5 *" and hit enter (that's an asterisk after a space) and you'll see a list of md5 numbers.

Method #2 "CMP".

01 Launch the Terminal.
02 Type "cmp -l" (that's a lowercase letter L)
03 Drag the first file you want to compare into the window.
04 Drag the second file, the one you want to compare against the first, into the window. You'll end up with a long line of paths and directories to the two files.
05 Hit Return and wait a while. There is absolutely no indication that anything is happening while it compares them. If you return to the standard prompt, the two files were identical. If it outputs some sets of numbers the files are different. Be patient, it can take a while to compare large files.

"cmp" will compare the files byte-by-byte and let you know if they are different. The difference it will spew out won't make much sense to the average viewer, but the importance is that it'll let you know they are different.

Use both command-line tools to be even more sure of the files are the same or not.

Firewire is dead

The new spec will support data transfers at 4.8 gigabits per second, or Gbps, nearly 10 times faster than the current standard's 480 megabits per second and six times faster than FireWire 800. It's also 400 times faster than the 12 Mbps offered by the original spec, USB 1.0.

Firewire is dead.

On Further Evil

Another little evil tip for when a client just knows what they don't want but doesn't know what they do is to desaturate the entire project a bit, then after a round of changes you know are or are near the final changes, ramp up the color to over saturate it a bit.

The client will think it "just looks so much better".

Impromptu Sound Booths

If you don't have access to a proper sound booth or simply don't have time to get to one when the client notices a week later that their copy for the VO was wrong, you can record your VO in a car away from traffic without the engine running or inside a closet (preferably with lots of clothes around to absorb sound) or if time is of the essence (like I said, when the client suddenly reads the copy they handed you and hours before airtime they notice their mistake that only they'd know) by placing your talent and microphone under a thick blanket in a quiet room.

Be Evil, & Save Audio Sweetening Till The End

Here's a little evil tip: Save your audio sweetening for the end. Why? Well, have you ever had a client who keeps monkeying with the project making irrelevant changes and basically just toying with the edits for no real rhyme or reason?

What I do is save the audio sweetening and music levels until the very end. After seeing so many versions with poor audio, then suddenly seeing a version with music levels up, audio panned correctly (usually just centered if someone decides it's a good idea to have offset audio channel levels when audio was recorded to "save" the peaks...grrr) the client will think some miracle just happened and often they'll love the version. Evil yes, but so is making dozens of meaningless tweaks over a week.

Set Your Favorite Video Filter's Key Command

This one is quick and simple. If you use a filter regularly or just very often for a project you can set it up as a favorite filter with a specific key command. But, what's a little cooler is you can set your favorite filter to be the same key command all the time. The trick is after you drag a filter in your Effects window to your Favorites bin, rename it with a space before it's name so it's always listed at the top (in alphabetical order).

Now, that filter will always be Control + Shift + 2 even if you add more filters to your Favorites bin.

Zoom In For Color Correction

Really this tip applies to any close up work but it's especially handy for color correcting.

Launch System Preferences and go to Universal Access. Under the Seeing tab (are they still called tabs?) hit the Options... button under Zoom.

At the bottom of this sheet you'll see "When zoomed in, the screen image shows:" and three options. Adjust these to your liking but under it make sure "Use scroll wheel with modifier keys to zoom" is checked. The text box there is for you to choose what key(s) you want to hold down to zoom in and out with your mouse.

Now, when you're working in FCP and need to hit that specific pixel for color correcting or just to get a better view of something hold down your modifier key and scroll up with your mouse's scrolling wheel or ball and you'll zoom into your screen. Scroll or wheel the other way to zoom out.

My 16:9 DV Exports Are Squeezed!

When you bring 16x9 DV footage into FCP it loads it as 720x480 pretty much no matter what. So when you export your timeline with a quick Export To Quicktime Movie you end up with your 16x9 footage squeezed into a 4x3 space. Why? Blame all this non-standardness mess. So, how do you fix it?

First off don't Export To Quicktime Movie, instead use Export Using Quicktime Conversion.

Btw, I've assigned Command + E to "Export To Quicktime Movie" and Shift + Command + E to "Export Using Quicktime Conversion" because I can.

In Final Cut:

01) Make sure the thing you want to export is active (ie..timeline, sequence, viewer...)
02) In the menubar goto File>Export>Export Using Quicktime Conversion.
03) In the Save window that pops up hit Options.
04) In the next window, called Movie Settings, hit Settings under Video.
05) In the next window, called Standard Video Compression Settings (I think), under Compression Type select DV/DVCPRO - NTSC.
06) Then, in that same window at the bottom left set Aspect Ratio to 16:9. The rest of the settings are up to you but I like to choose Progressive and Best quality under the Compressor setting.
07) Hit Ok, hit Ok then hit save (after you make sure it's going to save it where you want it.

Done. Your footage will play back at 853x480 in a nice widescreen QT window. Yays!

QuickTime Player is Muddy & Blurry

Does it look like your QuickTime Player window is smeared with Vasoline™ when you try to look at something you've exported from FCP? Here's the trick:

01) Launch QT Player.
02) Tap COMMAND + , to bring up it's preferences.
03) Under General checkmark the box next to "Use high-quality video setting when available"

and you're done.

Random Green Frames

I was working on a small 30sec commercial that someone handed off to me which was mainly graphics and VO when I noticed that every time I rendered it a seemingly random and different each time frame was just full screen green.

Usually QuickTime does this when it can "read" a file or codec or something along those lines. Checking the timeline I saw that the background layer, the only thing to go green in a bad way, was a .mpg, specifically MPEG2 Muxed. Quicktime seemed to have an issue with it either rendering in the timeline or exporting to a QT Movie.

So, I tossed the offending .mpg into QT Player, exported it as a DV stream (this wasn't HD, obviously) imported it into FCP and replaced the old .mpg with it in the timeline and all was well after re-rendering and re-exporting.

The lesson here is despite what Apple and the FCP manual's tell you highly compressed codecs aren't the best thing to work with if there is a lesser compressed choice.

Yes yes, I'm aware of generational lossy-ness...