For outputting to VHS, what should I let the levels peak at in Final Cut? Can I go to 0?

You can go to zero, but try to make sure it is only for peaks. If you don't hear any distortion, it should be fine for VHS, as long as you are recording in "Hi-Fi". The linear track will add noise and the levels will be somewhat decreased but shouldn't distort at these same volume levels.

Thanks. Appreciate it.

hey,

i am editing a wedding video with FCP 4, and i was curious as to what to do about capture. The ceremony is 45 minutes long, and i was wondering if it is better if i just capture the WHOLE thing as one clip or would it be better to capture it in segments, sync up the segments and then export it for DVD? Does the Mac have a file size limit or anything that would hinder me from just capturing the entire thing as one clip? (this is my first time with a mac...hehe....just made the big switch)

You shouldn't have any trouble with capturing your wedding as one long clip. OS 9, had troubles capturing scenes over 2gb.

thanks for the info, i will just capture it as one clip then.

Thank you for your reply. How do I get Final Cut Express to capture from the 3rd and 4th channel (ST -2 on my Canon XL-1s). If I attempt to capture the second time the original two audio tracks (channel 1 and 2) once again get recaptured. I am trying to use a wirless microphone on the 3rd and 4th tracks. It plays back just fine using the MIX feature on the audio outputs but does not transfer to FCE using the firewire cable

I use FCP, but in checking the FCE specs I don't see a limitation of capturing only 2 channels. You will need to change your capture preferences to reflect the 32kHz, 12 bit audio of 4 channel. You should see an option in the capture window to capture channels 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 once all the preferences are set correctly. You might want to use the FCE help feature also. Search audio capture and see what it displays.

Hi everybody!

I have a little problem that hopefully someone can shed some light on. I use the XL1 to capture video from and to export it back. No problem when I use the Log and Capture window and the Print to Video command. I also found that I can control the camera by simply playing what is on the timeline, which I like a lot since I can run the video through my camera to a broadcast moniter. Unfortunately it only seems to work half the time and I don't understand why. Has anyone else had this problem and come up with a solution?

Thanks!

Hi,

do you know if it's possible to capture a clip from a retail DVD movie playing in my G4's internal DVD drive and import it directly into FCP 3?

Cheers,

Simon.

Features on DVD are protected by international copyright laws and are also generally protected from direct duplication. While there may be ways to circumvent a dvd's copy protections we will not host such discussions at DVInfo.net.

It will depend on whether or not your camera was turned on/off when FCP starts. If FCP does not detect your camera then it will not output video down through firewire. Also, it will not do this if your external video settings are turned off (under preferences somewhere).

I have a stand alone DV converter box for this (Sony DVMC-DA1, though the DA2 is the current model). It works 100% of the time for playback, but does not capture well when you input analog via FCP4.

I've never seen the XL1 not work doing this same thing, though. What version of Final Cut Pro are you using and what does it do when it doesn't work?

Greetings,
are there any motherboard brands that would have compatibility issues with Premiere 6.5?
I'm assembling a new PC, and I have the choice between: ASUS, MSI and Gygabite motherboards (I had to exclude Intel because of RAM issues). do you have any preference?

Any motherboard that has issues with Premiere will also have issues with Windows. Motherboards for personal computers are not designed with applications in mind because the designer does not know what applications you will run. Only the OS is taken into consideration.

Any of those motherboards should work with Premiere.

Is anyone using the Blackmagic Decklink SD card on a Mac with FCP 4 ? I am considering buying it soon, but am looking for some reviews... Have you got experience with the "Jpeg Online" codec and color correction filters (better in 4:2:2 than with a standard DV codec ?).
Cheers,

JDB

Capture as one whole thing and use scene detection to split it into subclips.

is there a way to have final cut 3 count the edits in a timeline?

If you draw all your timeline contents into a bin you can see how many clips you have. Not sure if this will help you. What exactly are you trying to do?

just curious as to how many edits i have in my current project and im to lazy to count them.

Hey DV thundercats:

I am in the middle of editing a feature shot with the Panasonic DVX-100 in 24p advanced mode. I have some old 16mm film footage on VHS that I am trying to incorporate into my story. Does anyone know how to mix footage shot in 30 into a program set to edit in 24? I tried and it looks terrible and gives me massive split screens.

I would appreciate if anyone had any insight. Thank you.

-JOSH MITCHELL
http://wickidpissaboston.iuma.com

Or you could just change the in and out points on the master clip each time before you drop it on the time line.

Near as I can tell there is no Premiere Pro (version 7) for the Mac. We are using Premiere 6 right now. If there are not going to be further updates to Premiere for the Macintosh, would it be best to migrate to Final Cut Pro 4?

Strangely enough, it might be easier for us to get a new editing system with FCP4 then to ask for updates of system software. Particularly if our editing software is no longer supported.

We have a G4 (700someMHz model) w/20gig media drives OS 9.2
Thanks.

-Marcus

Apple had a promotion going where you send in your Premiere disc and get FCExpress for free or discounted Final Cut Pro.

Final Cut is a great program- much better than Premiere in my opinion. A lot of pros are using FCP. A single processor 700mhz G4 might be a bit slow, but it really depends on how much speed you need. You are not going to get much RT effects (1 layer maybe?) and the program will be sluggish on large projects.

There are some great NLEs on the PC side too. A PC can be very cheap and powerful if you build it yourself. If you're coming from the Mac side then that's probably not for you.

Maybe you can use cinema tools to remove 3:2 pulldown.

I sorta recall reading somewhere that Adobe has discontinued developement on Premier for Mac because of the impact FCP has made on Premier/Mac version sales.......


....but continues development on other Adobe products (I recall reading more licensed Photoshop/Mac licenses than other platform/sales)...so Adobe is still in the Mac software realm but has bitten the bullet when it comes to Premier...


...correct me if other information proves this wrong.

Everything is correct, Steve and Glenn. However, after scouring the Apple Store for the dates of the Premiere Promotion, it appears that it may have expired. I could find no information on the offer.

I don't have Cinema Tools right in front of me right now, so I'll try this from memory:

On your 16mm video, after it is transfered over to DV, make sure it has 3:2 pulldown. In other words, it should go:
frame-frame-frame-jitter-jitter (repeat)... you may need to select "High Quality" under the video attributes of the Quicktime file itself to see the jitter frames... otherwise DV QT's only show you a single field at a time and that's why they look fuzzy.

If the two jitter frames are the first two frames on the DV video (make it so they are), open it with Cinema Tools and see select "Reverse Telecine". Now you have a bunch of drop menus and radio buttons. See the set of buttons toward the bottom (there should be 5 in a row) that say something like (this is what I can't remember) AB BC BB CC or some jive like that? Well select the middle button. Don't change anything else. Press change or save or whatever button it is and Cinema Tools will create a version of your DV Quicktime with a REV suffix. You can import that into the 24 timeline and it'll work fine.

Go FCP - I left premiere with FCP version 1, and have enjoyed every minute of it. It also helps that I left premiere with the version 5 fiasco!

Hi all Need some advice on partitioning my little 60GIG drive for FCP and DVD studio Pro. Such as should I bother or can I set my little 60 gig drive up to work with these applications, or is it possible for it to run on a single drive with the OS and FCP AND media files all on the same drive
Thanks Dave LeBlanc

To some degree it depends on your OS. If you're not, you should be on OS X. Leave FCP in the default location, in the application folder. Do not move it to a separate partition. If you want to partition your drive and place your media on a separate partition, it won't hurt. But it won't speed anything up either. It may be less confusing for you to manage your media, but no overall improvement.

What you really should consider is installing another internal drive. Drives are getting real cheap and only getting cheaper. I bought a 160gb internal drive for $85 a month ago or so.

Hi Jeff
I am going to give it a try I am running FCP 4 & OSX10.2,6 I am worried about dropped frames and disk fragmentation I wonder how long I will last on a 60 min project with lot of color correction render filles Say your pictures are great looking I have a tape of an osprey diving and catching a fish from about 150 feet Thanks David LeBlanc

If you have recently switched. Do you mind sharing your experience and how you are adjusting to the Mac environment?

I grew up on Macs and used them until 1994, then when Windows95 came out I switched to windows. Been a user since. But now the OS10 is rocking and I think Apple has finally suppassed Windows. After test driving it at CompUSA I am hooked and plan on getting a G5 in a couple of months.

Well, not specifically a PC to G5 switcher here (I just bought a DP 1.25) but a switcher nonetheless.

I've been using PCs for the last 9 years and I must say that I am truly enjoying my first mac. The care that Apple puts into these machines and OS X really is visible. It's so cool to have a computer where everything feels really tightly integrated and things just work with ease.

It's the same way with the hardware. As soon as I got my G4 I put 3 new hard drives in it and it was pretty much a breeze. The care put into the case design and everything is just cool.

I can't say too much about editing yet as my copy of FCP is sitting on my desk waiting for more memory to arrive.

cheers, and have fun with your new mac

pc user since birth
i bought an ipod and fell in love
bought a 15" powerbook, and final cut pro 4
lovin it

os x is pretty good, with panther coming out soon it should be that much better..

you're in for quite a treat- that DVX100 u have and a Mac running FCP4 is an unbeatable combo- have fun.

I'm a lifelong PC user (well, after the Commodore 64 and then the Amiga) and occasionally tinker with Macs.

Recently I spent some time editing a short film on OSX with FCP 3 at a workshop in NYC, and I must say, until now, Macs had always turned me off. Now, if it were not for the fact that I am too comfortably efficient with PCs and I'm also a database and web developer for $, I'd be using it too. I'd rather stay ambidextrous though... If they weren't so 'spensive I'd have both.

The two options just have slightly different focuses, and are geared for different minds and the way they think. With OSX, now I can say I like them both.

Good luck to you!

I would not partition in that case because you want to have one big drive. If you have 12GB left on each partition you can't easily fit an hour of video into either partition.

With an 1 hour project you might run a little tight. You should be ok though. Make sure you have enough space for renders. If you run into trouble then export a self-contained FCP movie- you should have enough space for that. If that keep the room for a final export around it should be enough to avoid fragmentation.

It should be possible to run everything on one drive.

Hi,
Okay laugh but I have a Toast 6 question. In the middle of all DSP people. (I thought it might be quicker to use T6 for lighter applications.) It's like being in Germany and saying I don't drink beer. Anyway the question. Has anyone, any idea why- a file -from Compressor out of FCP4 exported as .m2v to toast is seen buy it (toast 6) as approx. twice the size? It will not burn as a result and I cannot seam to catch the problem. If I send it 2.02GB it sees it as 4.9(DVD GB's) 4.4GB's to a HardDrive.
(the audio is 40MB)of the 2.02. and is .AIFF
If I send it 1GB it burns and then reads the file as close to 1GB. Any thought given would be appreciated thanks
Pedar

The two partitions is not that big of an issue. You can specify what partition to capture to or render effects to. The software keeps track of the files and two partitions or multiple disks are not a problem.

Ted:

Thanks for the great feedback. It helped. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

I wanted to invite you to watch my new short film CELL PHONES & ACTION FIGURES on www.ifilm.com.

You can click below to see the film:
http://www.ifilm.com/filmdetail?ifilmid=2458986

It recently played at The New England Film & Video Festival and on The Independent Film Channel. Check out the story on me in IMAGINE NEWS MONTHLY:

http://imaginenews.com/Archive/2003/FEB_2003/01_FEATURES/18A_JOSH_MITCHELL.html

Let me know what you think. I look forward to your reaction.

-JOSH MITCHELL
http://wickidpissaboston.iuma.com

Josh-

Glad the info helped. However I have ALWAYS had major problems with getting stuff to play on iFilm. The site is horrible and does not seem to work in any of my Windows browsers (including IE) when I click on the 200k tab (nothing happens). When I use a Mac browser it opens a new window but then I get a broken Quicktime graphic, indicating that it cannot be played. This is quite common and is one of the reasons iHate iFilm.

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for a non-apple branded monitor for my G5 and wondered if anyone
has any experience with the following two displays. I've included the links below
to the review pages on both. Thanks, Dan


LG Flatron L1710B http://www.epinions.com/pr-LG_Flatron_L1710B_17_in_Flat_Panel_TFT_Monitor/display_~full_specs

NEC MultiSync LCD1760V (17 in.) Flat Panel (TFT) http://www.epinions.com/pr-Monitors_NEC_MultiSync_LCD1760V_17_in_Display_LCD1760V_BK

Has anyone here used or seen the AJA IO in action? It looks like it solves just about every I/O problem in FCP4 and seems to allow multi channel output with eight discreet channels.

For those of you who actually remember me - I have had to close my recording studio - it was a money pit (like I didn't know that before I started it).

The good news is that out of the ashes I have been able to ramp up some of my video gear, and have actually landed a freelance gig shooting some videos for a horse trainer. It may even get air time on the RFD Dish network. The pay's not great but at least it's a gig :)

Anyone with personal experience? I'd like your opinions...

Thanks,

Dan

Mark,
Sorry to hear about your music studio. On to new horizons, eh?

This is the product (http://www.aja.com/) to which you refer?

i would say so
i run final cut 4 on my powerbook with 512 and it runs pretty decent

It depends on how big your projects are and how much nesting you use. With a large 3-camera project (many edits) I found 256MB to be terrible, and 768 faster than 512.

The G5 uses dual channel RAM so you need to install RAM in pairs.

It sounds like it works except that there is a sync problem between the video coming out of the IO and sound coming out of the computer (something like that). There is no fix for that problem.

The response from people I know is lukewarm warm. It is too early to tell for certain, but I don't think it is living up to all the hype surrounding the product at NAB.