Buying RAM go over to Macsolutions.com as they have great prices. If you know of another that is better please post it as I am always looking for a better buy.

As for 10.2.8 I would not load at this time as it still has bugs. If the on the second release after they pulled the first one. "10.2.6 Combo" is the best and safest one at this time and probably the last as they have released 10.3.

Avid's Free DV is ideal for long-form (documentary, narrative, instructional) because it offers:

* Tools (multiple bins and clip-sift functions) to manage a large number of source clips.

* Script View enables you to assign text to each clip

* Audio Scrub trimming necessary for editing dialog

* VU meters to match levels

* JKL Jog/Shuttle Playback

* Professional dual monitor displays

* Two video tracks allows cutaways to be added non-destructively

* Dynamic trimming lets you trim by watching and listening to normal-speed playback.

* Real-time Color Balance filter (with DV output to a NTSC/PAL monitor)

* Appropriate real-time transitions (dissolve, dip-to-color, fade-to-color, fade-to-color).

* Both mouse and keyboard control

Other free editing applications, such as iMovie, do not have these critical features. In fact, neither do some expensive editing applications.

You can do real work with Avid’s Free DV.

While Free DV doesn’t cost money, it does have a steep learning curve. But, with the "Free DV QuickStart Long-form Oriented Tutorial" you'll be editing quickly.

Also, if you upgrade as Avid hopes you will to Xpress DV, Free DV QuickStart applies to it too. One of the great things about Xpress DV is Avid’s professional Color Corrector. Free DV QuickStart includes a Bonus Chapter on using the Xpress DV Color Corrector.


Free DV QuickStart covers both Mac and PC.

Please head to:
www.mindspring.com/~d-v-c
for more information.

We shot a subject with a striped shirt, which of course is a no-no, and it flickers. We're wondering if there is anything that can be done in final cut to remedy this flickering effect.

Thanks for the help,

Michael Bendixen

Apple sent out emails saying anyone who bought a G5 after August 16 can get Panther for $20.

My buddy bought a G5 on Monday and he gets a free upgrade.

Go to www.apple.com for details.

I already placed my order!

heath

Thanks for the update, Heath.

A- Use the flicker filter.

B- If that isn't good enough then apply blur.

Hey Guys,

I am a recent switchee to FCP (used to use Premiere 6.5) and am missing the wedding, commercial, sports, etc. templates that Premiere had. Does anyone know where I can find templates like these for FCP4? Or, are there any other cool add-ons that would be beneficial to have? Thanks in advance...

Clay...

I tried to find the answer to this on the Apple site with no luck, perhaps Jeff or Heath or someone can chime in.

I bought the new 15" Powerbook a few weeks ago. Would I be eligible for a discounted upgrade to Panther?

As I understood it, anyone purchasing a G5 after October 8th would be eligible for free Panther, but they made me pay anyway. I didn't understand it, I just did it...stupid me. Anyone know?

Charles,

I too made a recent purchase of a 15" PowerBook just before the October 8, cutoff date. My purchase date was Oct. 2, and I received it the 6th. I went to the OSX up to date page:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/

and then clicked on the appropriate link about halfway down the page (for me it was "US Customers" on the "For Macintosh Systems" side of the page). That took me to a form where I told them when and where I bought the machine, and gave them the serial number. It qualified me to make the purchase for $20 instead of the full $130.

Give it a shot - who knows, maybe yours will qualify, too...

Hello fellow Mac-sters! I'm ready to go mobile and am looking for some input from current users. My current setup, Sawtooth G4 dual 450, 1.2megRAM, Rage 128 pro AGP graphics, gigabit ethernet, 20gig system, 45gig 7200RPM work disk, DVD-RAM, 15" Apple studio LCD. Great setup, but not very mobile, I'm looking to make a lateral or upward step performance-wise and am wondering if this is possible with the 12" if I keep my 45gig drive and 15"LCD for in studio dual monitor setup. I'm willing to spend the extra dough for the 15" but would have to sell my LCD to make up for it. Also, is 512megs of RAM OK for FCE? What do you use for mobile setup? What has your experiences been and do you think an upward step in performance is possible with the 12"? Thanks!
Ryan

FWIW, I have one of the new aluminum 1ghz 15" powerbooks, an older G4/733 and a new G4/1.25 single. The powerbook seems a bit faster than the 733, but not dramatically faster. The 1.25ghz desktop is significantly faster than the 733 and a bit faster than the laptop. Using a fast internal drive in the G4 towers speeds things up for rendering and file copying as compared to external firewire 400 drives.

I would go up to 768MB on the powerbook, won't cost much more. Get the basic 256MB model, then add 512MB which you can very easily do yourself following the instructions in the manual.

We have a couple of the 12" G4 powerbooks at work but I haven't really played with them myself and we aren't running FCP or FCE on them. They are nice little machines, very portable. But the screen is not match for the 15" model IMO. If you really are on a tight budget maybe you should look at the new G4 iBooks? I assume the iBooks only offer video mirroring and not a separate monitor port however.

I have worked with an external monitor plugged into the 15" powerbook and it's a very nice option. If you have to sell your external monitor you could always pick up another one later when your finances are better. But I'd try to scrape up a few extra $$$ somehow and keep the monitor. You won't get all that much for it anyway, will you? Certainly a lot less than it would cost to replace later.

Now this is all based on experience with FCP3.04, have not used FCP4 or FCE. Perhaps the new versions are better optimized for OSX and dual processors? In that case you might not be gaining much over the DP G4/450.

But I do like the 15" powerbook, it's very responsive with OSX... will see how it runs under Panther in a few days :-) The battery life is a bit disappointing however, and I really liked the tactile feeling of my Titanium Powerbook better. The brushed aluminum has sort of an unpleasant feeling on your hands.

I posted this in another thread recently:

------------------

<<<-- Originally posted by Jeff Donald : I think the Panther deal was extended back into September. -->>>

Good tip Jeff! I got a new 15" PowerBook on Sept 24 and was disappointed to read about the October 8 cutoff date for the upgrade. But after reading your post I went to Apple's website and gave it a try anyway. If you go to this link you can click on the appropriate option towards the bottom of the page. You will then be asked for your Apple ID and password and be taken to a qualification screen where you enter your purchase date, store and serial number. I filled all this in and was told that I qualified. Note that the upgrade is not free however, it costs $20. After qualifying you can place the order through the Apple Store.

FWIW, I also tried entering the info for a PowerMac G4 that I bought on Aug 19, but Apple's website flagged this as an invalid serial number...

you can get lots of effects/filters plugins but I have never heard of Templates for FCP

www.versiontracker.com is a good place to look for effects for FCP and After Effects. And www.BorisFX.com have some nice plugins too.

From the threads on the Apple groups, Apple has been demoing a 64-bit optimized version of Final Cut Pro on a G5. Has anyone heard of a timeline for this new version?

May be one more reason to just bite the bullet and get the G5.

what is the SP referring to?

i have been given a dv consumer tape for a project.

Can i use the Sony dsr-45 to input video?

the subject line is a highlight feature from Sony's website.

SP = standard play
LP = long play

These are just like the designations on regular VCR's . However regardless of mode (DVCAM, SP, LP) the same data format is used. The tape speed is different, and a few other things in the case of DVCAM. But will all work interchangeably in your NLE environment. The DSR-45 can handle SP fine, not sure about LP (in the rare event that someone gives you a "consumer tape" recorded in that format).

I think you might see an FCP 4.5 within the next 6 to 8 months. It probably will be shown at NAB and released in June. But this is just my best guess.

Could Apple wait a bit longer, call it FCP 5 and make us pay for another upgrade?

A friend who has Final Cut 4 just showed me an enlarged mp4 that looks beautiful!!! I unfortunately do not have enough power to use Final Cut 4 and am alas - stuck in 3!!!
If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can use this compression system with 3 --please let me know.

Export sorenson3/mpeg4 audio under quicktime export. The sorenson3 video codec is better quality than the mpeg4 codec, but it takes significantly longer to encode.

Hi there. At the moment, I am only importing from my one camera. In the near future, I've been asked to film concerts, and recitials, and convocations, and other shows, requiring me to film with multiple cameras. Now, from the past, all I've done is taken the footage I liked the best from a particular angle, and just used it.

Now, I would like to actually step it up. I want to be able to view and import footage live from multiple cameras. Not only that, I would like to be able to see what each camera is viewing at a particular time.

Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks

A- Do a live edit and edit the stuff on the spot. This takes a lot of work and experience.

B- Or you could record all the cameras seperately and edit it in post. I've found this is be very time consuming. The procedure for doing this has been thrashed out pretty well on the lafcpug.org forum.

The best procedure seems to be something like this:
A- Sync all angles and lay them down. (TIP: use a flash when you shoot)
B- Resize and reposition them so they are all tiled on the screen. A fast system will not require rendering.
C- Play through your video and lay down markers and/or record voice-over to mark your edits.
D- Make all your edits and then return all tracks to their original size.

Do you mean export a movie? Sorensen 3 - is the "compressor" in Final Cut Pro this? I was wondering if this can be copied and then put as a plug-in into 3?

Compressor is almost like a stand alone program but you need FCP to get Compressor. There is an option in FCP4:File, export, using "Compressor" and choose all your options and/or make your own presets. But if you can't yet upgrade to FCP 4 and you want to use Sorenson 3 you can File, export, quicktime movie, look thru options and find soresnson 3 choose size and quality etc.

Does this make sense?

Hello, I'm a rookie who is using a Sony one chip camera and editing on IMovie2.1

Recently I was asked to video a freinds wedding. At first I turned it down because of my lack of experince. I had no idea as to how to video a wedding. My friend kept pushing and finally conviced me to do it. So I took my consumer camera and filmed the wedding which was outdoors. I then used IMovie and edited the footage into a 45 min movie. When I gave the wedding party a copy they were shocked because they weren't expecting much. They loved it. This whole event was very encouraging for me and gave me the idea to start a small video business. Of course, I will need to upgrade my equip and have been researching. I have a G3 Imac and considering moving up to a G4 and getting Final Cut Express. I thought FCE would be a good move from IMovie with the thought of working my way up to FCP. As for a camera, I'm thinking about the VX2000 or the new VX2100. I'm a little concerned about learning Final Cut Express. I'm hoping the learning process won't be to hard.
Anyway, I've now tried to take that 45 min video and produce a short sample video video which I can put on a new web site which I'm presently working on. Here is the sample I put together using IMovie....
http://homepage.mac.com/richsheikh/iMovieTheater14.html

Here are my questions....
Why is it that when PC users view my sample they see a much darker picture? How can I overcome this during the export process from IMovie 2.1 to Quicktime?

Final Cut Express.....How hard is the learning curve from jumping from IMovie to FCE? When upgrading my G3 Imac to a G4 what do I need sure is included in order to run FCE and FCP?

Please give you opinions. Thank you
Rich

Rich,

There is a gamma difference between PCs and Macs...and that's what causes your films made on a Mac to be darker for PC users. There are two easy ways around this...one would be to make a different version for PCs and Macs that is "sniffed out" automatically (Cleaner 6 allows you to do this). The user doesn't have to select between Mac and PC versions of the film, it plays automatically. Cleaner 6 allows you to alter the gamma for the PC version to make it match, or get pretty close, to the look of the Mac version.

Another way to do it is with a gamma filter in FCP. Very simple to do.

What's the learning curve for FCP? FCP is in a whole different ballpark than iMovie, but it's worth diving in and learning as you go. Look at it this way, you'll be able to create films of the same quality as iMovie immediately without having to learn hardly anything. But then as you do learn more about it...the filters, shortcuts, soundtrack, etc....you'll be glad you switched.

It worked out by downloading to my mac at work with a cable line (it would have been a 28hr. download on my home modem). Burned it to cd and installed at home. Thanks for your help. I really think it would have worked through the PC if I had the patience.

thanks!
btw, what happens to tape if it is in LP?
damaged?

Most decks will not read tapes that are recorded in LP. The camera that recorded the tape will be likely to read it but not cameras/decks from other manufacturers and perhaps not even decks/cameras of the same manufacturer.

LP mode tapes are also more prone to dropouts.

Hello

I'm having a problem that I've seen a lot of discussion on, both on this and other boards: titles in FCP look fine until rendered, then a lots of rough edges appear (both on desktop and external video monitor).

I've been playing around with render settings, the effect settings (font Helvetica, outline text, opacity 90%, changing edge values etc etc) even made my titles in after effects, but the problem remained. I then figured out that even if AE titles have this problem, it must have to do with the way FCP renders these files and then found that the only thing that seems to improve the rendered titles is changing the compression settings of the entire sequence from DV PAL to uncompressed! Obviously, this is not my favorite option because it'll mean I have to render the entire sequence before mastering to tape!

Any advice greatly appreciated!

FCP 4, G4 Powerbook 1 Ghz, 1 GB memory

Michiel van der Zeeuw
Amsterdam, NL

PS Boris Calliigrahpy also doesn't solve the problem
Michiel

Michiel,

I had the same problem until I bought the "Text Collection" plugin from http://www.chv-plugins.com. It creates beautiful text (but the render times can be pretty long).

One word of warning...this plugin has been updated for FCP 4 but is still buggy. You might want to wait a bit longer, if you think you might want to buy it.

10.3 promised to fix a bunch of issues. Did it? I haven't heard from anybody using it on this forum yet except "Be careful you don't cripple everything when you install" default folder buzz. Did 10.3 make the G5's run like a dream? How does Final Cut Pro 4 work with 10.3? Did 10.3 fix Quicktime 6.4? Does 10.3 make regular G4's faster?

10.3 looks awesome but I want to know how it performs in real life. Of course Apple will say it's great. Maybe I should wait for 10.5 because it will be way better anyway. :)

The school I teach at nor I, have G5's so I can't help there. But the 3 G4's I've installed on all seem snappier. By that I mean windows open faster, redraws seem faster. Feels like when you get your car tuned up. It feels faster. The most noticeable improvement is on my wife's G4 iMac (flat screen).

Will Final Cut Pro 3 run on Panther? I have a G5, but I'm awaiting my $20 Panther upgrade. Any idea if it will run FCP 3?

heath

Called an Apple store and got this:

Just an FYI to us FCP 3 users awaiting Panther to come in the mail (or just me). No need to upgrade to FCP 4 to enjoy it!

heath

This sounds good Heath. My copy arrived, but is still sitting in its Fedex envelope while I muster up the courage to install! ;-)

I keep hearing there are certain ways to install it. For some unknown reason, I can't seem to find my original G5 install disks. I hope my roommate (or I) didn't lose them...

heath

I have opened FCP 3.0.4 in Panther (Mac OS X 10.3) with the latest QuickTime 6.4 update and it seems to be working fine. I, needless to say, have not completed a project in it (currently using FCP 4.0.2) but initial tests seem positive.

Oh, and my old QPS 80GB Firewire drive is still a piece of crap after the Panther installation, but it is a working piece of crap. I did follow the rule of ejecting and disconnecting my Firewire drive before Upgrading to Panther. I normally do a clean install, but was feeling adventerous/lucky/lazy and seem to have gotten away with it.

So far...

I'm about to send some cash to my sister in the States so she can pick up the new OSX system, but before I send it, I wondered if anyone can tell me if the "i" programs are included in that (iMovie, iPhoto, etc.)...or whether I need to also get the iLife CD for those?

Also, is it worth it to get iLife? Are there lots of extra templates and stuff on the CD that you don't get with the downloaded versions? If you don't get any extras, or the ones you get are lame, I'll just forget it and use the download versions.

I just installed the Panther upgrade and all the iLife stuff was upgraded/installed.

iDVD is not included. It would be only on the iLife disk and not Panther. John, if your sister has kids you may want to remind her of the education discount. I got my copy of Panther for $70.

I've just released Film Effects for FCP, a 24p (3:2 pulldown)/ 25p plugin set with lots of film presets, all manner of options for changing the frame rate, intelligent DV chroma-upsampler, smart de-interlacer etc.
You can read more on my web site

www.nattress.com

Thanks,

Graeme

Jeff is quite right -- my mistake.

Thanks for the info! I'll see if my niece can get it at the student discount rate.

Got a quick one here. Can you export from FCE and import into FCP4? I don't think you can do an EDL from FCE can you? I've got a wedding I did in FCE on an iMac before I got my new Dual G5 w/ FCP 4. Anyone tried this before? I don't want to render the vid and then re-import, just like to export my edits/cuts from FCE to FCP4. Let me know if anyone has tried this, thanks!

Mike

I need to superimpose a graphic on video. Of course I can do it in FCP but this is a TV project and time is important so rendering the whole show in FCP is not a solution.

I have a Sony PDX10 and there is a PD150 available too... they can superimpose JPEGs in camera mode but unfortunately not in VTR mode, which would be a solution.

I have a Windows XP PC sitting next to a Mac with FCP, so perhaps there is a cheap card for the PC that will let me do this (S-video) in real time?

I feel I should have asked this on the PC linear editing board but... I trust Mac guys more... I mean I want something quick and dirty that will not require me to spend a week configuring the whole thing.

Then again, perhaps somebody knows of a way of hacking Sony cams to do chroma keying in VTR mode, or some software that will do realtime superimposing through the firewire output.

Any ideas?

Here is a crazy idea! Duplicate the FCE project, choose the duplicate and control click on it. Choose "Open With" and "Final Cut Pro 4". You will likely have to reconnect the media (you have moved the media to the new computer, right?).

Let us know how it goes.

You do not need Panther to fix QT 6.4 and FCP 4. Just run your software update. There is a fix for both Jaguar and Panther available.

I wrote a report on some speed tests you can see at emotiondv.com in the lounge, but what impressed me most was how much faster the new Preview is over Acrobat 6. I can now tell students to use the "Help" function in FCP without worrying I have condemned them to the Acrobat spinning beach ball of death.

Most reports I have seen show the G5 demonstrating the least speed gains. This is probably because its Ram and hard drive do not present a bottleneck of any kind.

The User interface is much improved, and once you learn to work with it, you will definitley experience a speed gain.

Good Luck,