Okay so I just captured a video and I want to start editing it with my new external monitor.

I have my sony trv20 miniDV cam connected to the firewire port and then the composite video out to the monitor. (9" tv)

In FCE when I select View -> Video -> Firewire nothing happens. I still can't see the video on the monitor. The only settings are RealTime or Firewire, don't I want both though? Am I missing something here?

any help is appreciated. thanks.

Are you passing the signal through the camera? Some cameras don't support pass through, can you see video in the cameras viewfinder?

I am pretty sure I have the video pass through feature on my camera.

There is no video on the camera's viewfinder either, so video is definitely not coming out the firewire port.

thanks.

I don't use FCE, so with that said here goes. On FCP 3 (and earlier) there is a command to show all frames. I'm away from my office so I can't check the exact menu bar heading, but look for something similar. Try the settings under that option (might be something like single frame, show all frames etc.

Does it show in your instruction manual the capability to record camera to camera (using your camera as the recorder)?

I got it working!

Apparently on the camera's menu the DV out feature has to be turned off.

Seems kind of odd because you would have to turn it back on in order to capture. but whatever, editing I go!

Hi

I captured a larg-ish clip the other day and placed about 20 seconds of it into my sequence.

Is there an easy way for me to recapture the clip (just the 20 seconds of it that I'm actually using) so that FCE will easily re-link to it without me having to re-import it and do all the maipulation, filtering and blending etc again.

The reason is that I want to archive the work and that clip alone is 1.4 GB and most of it is unused.

How long have the current PBs been available? Does anyone know if a G5 powerbook is coming soon? I'm thinking of getting a G4, but I don't want to buy it, only to have newer models come out in a month or something....

I know that the G5s have a question about the heat they give off, and that might require some re-engineering in a notebook form factor for cooling purposes, but nonetheless, I wasn't sure how long the current ones have been in the marketplace (I did notice that Apple lowered their prices on them recently--usually a sign that they're trying to move them out...)

Thanks!!!!

G5 PowerBooks are not expected until after the first of the year. They may be announced at MacWorld SF in January and ship late winter. However, Apple surprised everyone by making some updates before the Holidays last year (early November), but I wouldn't expect that this year.

The G5 chip presents some serious technical issues that will need to be resolved. Not the least of which are power consumption and heat dissipation. Apple is rumored to be working on a dual processor G5 PowerBook, but that would not be available until 2005, if at all.

Glad to hear you got it figured out.

Jeff, when will we see a revised 15" G4 Powerbook that will have the same feature set and construction as its bigger and smaller brothers? I've been waiting because I have a Goldilocks-type preference for this "just right" sized laptop, but I don't want to buy yesterdays' model.

Some NLE's have an option to save a project with only the portion
of media you are using so you can delete the longer not needed
clips. I don't know if FCE has such a feature....

why would you export the clip and reimport it? I have also, on occassion, found a clip that was out of sync by one or two seconds. It is not the same phenomena as a clip that goes out of sync over time due to the strange Canon time code; it is an across the board sync mistake of one or two seconds. that sounds like your problem here. In that case you just move the separate the audio from the video in FCP, move the audio till it matches the video and tell FCP that the two are now in synch and lock them together. There is no need to export and re-import. You may wish to export it to tape so you have an in-sync master, but that's about it. Maybe I'm missing something here....

Ah, the $64,000 question. If something isn't announced by the middle of August, I would expect it in early November, just in time for the Holidays. Products run in cycles and they may want it in the hands of back to school students. It would not surprise me to see an announcement soon.

Thanks Rob - FCE manual doesn't seem to mention it... So, I guess from the lack of responses that it isn't possible. If this is the case could somebody please confirm - I will then get on and do it.

Thanks
Justin

Jeff, sorry for not replying to your post for so long - internet connection problems, I'm afraid! :-)
Yup, ran a defragment and system optimize and the problem went right away. BTW, both my drives (80 GB and 40 GB) are internal IDE 7200 RPM IBMdrives. The 40 GB carries all the software - OS and FCP - and the 80 GB carries all (and I mean ALL) the media.
For those using Norton Utilities for Mac maintenance - did you find a difference in system optimization using the 'General' and 'Multimedia' settings? I find the General setting gives smoother performance even when I only organized the media disk - curious, since the literature suggests that the Multimeia setting should actually work better in video editing systems.
Best,
Ram

With the advent of the new G5, I think imay be time to invest in an editing system. Could anyone share some thoughts on the new machine. Any glitches or bugs that I should be aware of? I have heard that AVID xpress dv pro has been known to crash on apples, has anyone had such an experience?

Any way to use FCP to reduce the hum from what I am guessing are mercury vapor lights in a large auditorium/hockey rink? I had no other option other than an on-camer shotgun mic but I have an audible hum from the overhead lights through much/all of my video. I have played with FCP audio filters to no avail. Anyone been able to use FCP to remove such hum?

Sonic Foundry's Noise Reduction 2.0 plug-in would be perfect for it- problem, however, being that....as far as I know it's a PC only plug-in. It works with any programs that can utilize Direct X. As far as I know Direct X is a PC'only thing....though I could be wrong.

df

Yes, you can use FCP to remove the hum. Have you tried the Hum Remover audio effect? While I have not used FCP for years, I was the fellow that wrote all of the audio effects. I don't have a Mac, so I'm going from memory.

While the SoundForge Noise Reducer works on hums, it also seems to take out lots of other stuff while it lends a robotic quality to the material if you try to reduce by more than 15 dB or so. For simple audio problems such as hums, it's better to remove the buzzes
with notch filters.

First, check the manual. I have a copy of the original manual, but the documentation of the Hum Remover is rather skimpy. It is designed to notch out harmonics of a hum, one by one, up to five. Typically, electrical hums are harmonics of 60 Hz. For most ground loops,the 2nd or 120 Hz component will be the most audible.

First, you have to identify the base frequency of the hum. Find a section of the audio with only the hum. Isolate at least a second. The more you isolate, the less often you will be listening to the loop. Then, identify
the hum. If you have some audio software that does spectrum analysis,
use the highest possible # of bands.
I am a PC user, so I use Cool Edit and SoundForge. The problem with both of these programs is that you really need
a LOT of bands to get an accurate frequency identification in the sub-100 Hz range. View the data logarithmically because the linear views do not display low frequencies very well.

Another method is by ear.
Go to the FCP three band equalizer or parametric equalizer, select a narrow band (high Q) and boost it maximally. Slide it around slowly in the 50-300 Hz region until a frequency pops out. Then, fine tune it until you have boosted that frequency maximally.
Then, increase the Q (reduce bandwidth) by max and hope you still have that frequency. If you do, you've found one of your gremlins. If not, nudge the frequency value around until you do. When you've made it the worst, then reverse the gain to minimum. One hum component should disapplear. This is a tedious method for all harmonics of a hum. Try the Hum Reducer tool after this. Don't remove too many frequency bands - only those that obviously contribute.
These notch filters are not selective and will remove everything in their path, including the hum.

Hello All,

In either FCP 3 or 4 has anyone been able to export clips / bin into a 'Batch List' (tabbed text for editing in Excel or the like) that also includes a clip's embedded markers?

I was hoping that 4.0 had included this but they still seem to be ignored, irregardless of how I select / export. I have 'post-logged' some tape long captures with extended markers and could really benefit from being able to manage and manipulate them in a spreadsheet.

All ideas and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Thanks,
Clayton

I haven't seen one yet, but from what I read it should be a big leap forward. I'm planning on updating to the dual when they start shipping in good numbers. Has anyone seen one yet?

Jeff, when you get one please put it though the paces and post a big review in this forum if you can. Maybe run a few of your own "personal benchmarks" on your existing machine now to compare the new one to later. Stuff like "How long does it take FCP4 to render a 20 second clip with these effects set to these standards" etc etc etc.

Beware, the new machines are quite large.

RE the size of the new enclosure, it is very big in appearence, but in reality it is not wider than the current G4s, only taller by 5 or 6 inches. The single processor models have a lot of empty, unused space inside, which seems really silly. I'd recommend not getting anything if you aren't going to get the dual processor model.

I use Avid Express DV on a Mac G4 dual 1.25 and have not had any problems. I am ready to get into a G5 also but I will wait a few months.

I have got locked up in FCP3 on my laptop (G4 powerbook 667) plenty of times. I have not figured out what it is yet. My desktop with Avid (which has a lot more power) is solid as a rock.

I must make 7 Beta sp dubs whenevr i make my Video News Realeas. Is there a way to Print to Video just once or must i perform that function for evey tape, as i have been doing?
thanks

Unless you can hook up 7 beta decks you've got to make 7 individual passes.

However, if you don't absolutely need the dead accurate timecode, just edit bars and tone and a slate into the head of your sequence. Hit record on your machine and just play from the timeline.

bogiesan

good lord,

thanks for responding despite my spelling. anyway, thanks for the info...time to price 7 beta decks LOL!

I am editing an event in FCP 4. It all comes from one tape, which i captured in one capture, which gives me one big clip. I went throught the master clip and organized my clips. I am finished with my edit and am just doing some color correction, but- it seems like when I apply a filter to one clip, it applies it to the master clip. So, if i apply a filter to more than one clip, I get both the "corrections". This is throwing everything off. Any suggestions? Im in a major hurry to get this finished before my deadline tonight.

Stephen

You should never capture on big clip, and now you know one of the reasons why. You will need to nest the clips to keep the effects separate.. Nesting is covered in the manual, the FCP online help (click the help button in FCP on the menu bar) and if you search this forum I have posted about nesting. You could recapture clips, but I think that would take longer.

You'll have to wait until it comes out. Final Cut Pro 4, which is what I'd run on the G5 (not Avid), is not stable yet. Previous versions (FCP3/OSX) were rock solid with some folks, while other people had common problems pop up and some people has systems that sometimes crashed. This is probably the same case with Avid, but I wouldn't know.

This machine looks like it's going to be hot though! It has impressive benchmarks, should be pretty quiet, and it should be a babe magnet :D

Is FCE robust enough to edit the HD content? My camera is now ordered from NY. I'm grinding out the rest of the research on the details as an early adopter.
My hope is the dual 800 G4-1.5 Gig RAM- will be an easy match for the datarate and rendering.

I am not sure how that is possible. Maybe I am doing something right. I don't capture everything as one big clip, but I have had instances where I will use two scenes from one clip at different places in the timeline and apply different effects to them. Neither is effected by the other.

Are you applying the filters BEFORE putting the clip on the timeline (is that even possible)? If I had one big clip, I'd set the in and out points for the first scene in the BIN and then drag it to the timeline. Then I'd set new in and out points on the file in the BIN and drag it to the timeline as well. I now have two clips in the timeline that FCP sees as different, and I can apply different effects to them as if they are two seperate physical files.

Final Cut Express (as compared to Pro) is DV only editor. Even the Pro version doesn't have support for direct transport stream decoding require by this camera. I imagine that under FCP it would be possible to convert the camera footage to uncompressed first then edit in that format. Other users are discussing this possibility.

Would anyone happen to know if there is somewhere in Houston that offers Avid (Media Composer and Xpress), Final Cut Pro, and/or After Effects training?

thanks.

the question isn't understandable to me. even if you capture one long clip, when you open it and set in/out points and drag that to the timeline and apply a filter, you won't affect other clips on the timeline. can you be more specific?

I set in and out points, then drag the contents of my browser into my timeline (all seperate clips at this point). From there, I apply the filter to each individual clip. It seems that the color correction was getting layered. With fcp 3, you could layer color correction (dont ask me how its helpful). if you applied any color correction to a clip, and add an additional 3-way color corrector filter, when you try to make adjustments, it would not be responsive. you set your white, but it doesnt turn white. anyway, that is what i am experiencing here.

Stephen

Anyone actually tried running soundtrack on an ibook? If not is there some other program where you can make a soundtrack and load the video in it that will run on an ibook?

Thanks in advance

Soundtrack requires a G4 processor, which iBooks lack. Sorry. There was another program that was reviewed highly (I've never tried it) called SonicFire, I believe.

thanks, jeff.
yes, i'm starting to realize what is required for uncompressed editing, and it is all out of my range. i guess i could get another $500-1000 into this project for an inproved signal, but i haven't found any options in the middle or low-end. is there any option that would allow my to work around 1:3? i'm working with a monochromatic image, so i'm a bit ahead of the game in avoiding gross pixalation.
i'm actually capturing my 16mm original frame-at-a-time with a jk optical printer that is wired to my mac to create quicktime sequences from the frame captures. (common sense would tell me to just take the footage down to the best xfer house i could afford, but i'm a hot rodder at heart and i want to do it myself!)

Final Cut Pro 4 has a filter called "time stretch" or "time bend" or something like that (it used to be a "Joe's Filter"). It is bizarre to say the least. Why would anyone use this? The only use I can see is immitating one of those super lame car/truck commercials with the "normal speed-->super duper fast zippy speed-->slow to normal speed" type of videography that they use over and over. Of course I don't see why anyone would use it like that unless they wanted to be the recipient of an incredibly violent beating, as that effect is bad and annoying.

Any other uses for this filter? Examples?

The structure and tone of your question's introduction hardly invites constructive responses.

Like nearly all such specialty filters, application of this one requires taste and keen judgement. Suffice it to say that there are occasional situations that can benefit from intermediate speed changes to affect visual/emotional accent. One example might be a wedding shot where you might want to slow the a few seconds of footage just as the bride and her father approach the alter.

Of course nobody would do this if they thought they might be "...the recipient of an incredibly violent beating..."

Curtis, I don't really "get" your post either, but think I can offer an example. I haven't upgraded to FCP 4 yet, but this filter sounds a bit like one that Apple was giving away awhile back called (I think) "Joe's Time Bender". I thought it would be useful to pace a bit of computer animation to music. The particular squence was a "flyover" of a fantasy landscape done with Bryce 3d and I wanted to arrive at certain points to correspond with the music. I ended up accomplishing this with regular edits though.

But I may yet need something like this as I fine tune computer animated sequences, time lapse nature footage, and slow motion action to fit the score of an opera we're doing. Just because you can't see a creative use for a software tool doesn't mean others cannot. I seriously doubt that anyone will use all the tools and effects included with a program like FCP, nor should they.

Boyd,
Just for the record, this filter does indeed appear to be the same as Joe's Time Bender. I have the full Joe's Filters set (a fabulous value, and Joe is a member here) and it seems to be the same.

<<"normal speed-->super duper fast zippy speed-->slow to normal speed">>

Let the record show...I like it. Every time I see this type of effect, I get goose-pimply and wiggle my toes in delight.

There's a lot of filters that one might think are "useless" included with virtually every peice of software. Look at photoshop, there's stuff included there that when I first started using photoshop a long time ago, I thought were useless and stupid, but overtime I realized I can make use of some of that stuff.

I've never used FCP before, so I don't get exactly what this time stretch filter does, is it just for speeding up and slowing down video? Whatever it does, it doesn't matter since it can be useful sometime, but you don't realize it. EDIT, oh never mind, John cleared it up, thats basically just like the volicity levels in Vegas. I've used that "technique" before, and if you use it correctly, it works nicely.

Somewhat off topic -

Anyone know when the new Powerbooks will be out and updated?

Mine died last nigth and I am trying to decide if I should wait or get one now.

Any ideas would be great.

- AR

I posted on this several weeks ago for Charles and others, nothing has changed as far as new announcements etc. It's still a waiting game. I suspect new 15 inch models before the holidays. Other than that, it'll be MacWorld in January for new 12 and 17 inch models.

Thanks.

It will be ashame to get a new 17"

It's all very hush hush.... I even have a friend at Apple - but no word as they are very tight lipped about it. I also think while supplies of the TiBook are still around it will most likely be around the holidays for sure. I know a new 12 inch PB is in the works and will possibly be revised to a smaller form factor 1" thick.

Anyway ... we are all waiting and I'm sure when Apple does it, it will be done right. Remember there are new chips in the wings possibly a faster G4 or even a G5 which would be my preference if IBM can deliver a low powered chip for PB and Apple can retool quickly.