I see that Apple has just made some changes to the eMac line including faster CPU and lower prices. The base model is now an 800mhz G4 with a 17" flat screen CRT for $800. IMO this would be a great entry point for somebody (like a student) who wants to make an entry into the mac video world. True there isn't any internal expansion capability, but for a Mac, that's a new amount of bang for the buck. You can always add firewire drives for more storage. And Final Cut Pro should be perfectly happy on an 800mhz machine. I run it on a 733 G4 desktop and 667 PowerBook G4 without problems (of course faster is always better though ;-)

For $1,000 you can move up to a 1GHz model, or $1,300 for 1GHz with a DVD burner. Glad to see that Apple isn't ignoring the low end.

The latest version of OS X is available for download via the System Preferences Software Update Panel. Here are tips (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8650) on how to download the file and avoid install problems.

These are the enhancements:

Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.2.5 in which a kernel panic message may appear if certain USB hubs or devices are connected.
Improves printing compatibility for PostScript OpenType fonts.
Improves compatibility for Maya Auto Paint and Paint Effects features.
Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.2.5 in which English is the default language and Asian language scripts are not be available in the International preference pane, if a script's font is not available.
Improves compatibility for MacSoft Unreal Tournament 2003 on computers with GeForce 2MX and GeForce4MX graphic accelerator chipsets.
Address Book now supports the Sony Ericsson T610 phone.


The combo update is available here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=70174

Thanks for the heads-up, Jeff.

I think it's interesting that as Apple's popularity slowly increases, so do its OS updates. I used to bemoan Microsoft's never-ending, and highly disruptive (to a large organization), service patches. Apple seems to be facing the same music.

From what I've been able to gather the USB hub problem has been a big issue for some users. Apple rushed this fix which is very nice of them to do and a little uncharacteristic. The delay between updates is usually longer.

In the old days this would have been a big issue. More than likely your computer would not have started and you would have spent countless hours tracking down the extension that was causing the conflict. No fun at all. Now days with OS X and it's UNIX underpinnings the system is very stable and runs. Some users may loose functionality of a device or two (usually legacy devices), but everything still works. Much nicer than the old days.

beta deck will not record video from on a timeline im working on. will print to video fine, then the tape will record the audio but no video. same with edit to tape as with the "hot roll."

checked some other projects and they all worked fine so its not the machine and i get no timecode messages.

did i some how encode the video wrong?
lots of very fast 18-25 frame cuts with blank spaces in between, as opposed to black.

ahhh, is that the problem? not reading the blanks?

Gary, I'm sure I can help but I'm not following your post at all. Can you explain in detail a little more what you're trying to do and what's not working. The last hot roll I had was in a restaurant.

I currently have two hard drives inside my Power Mac (Quicksilver dual 1 gig) and I know there is a space for a third drive.

My question is: do I need any type of PCI card to utilize a third drive? Or can I just install the third drive the same way I put the second one in?

I'm sure this info is in my Power Mac users manual, but everything is packed up right now for an upcoming move.

Also, any opinions on Maxtor drives? I just saw a really good price in a Best Buy ad. My second drive is a Western Digital and I've had no problems with it.

Thanks guys!

Hello Mike,
Yes, you will need to install a 2nd ATA adapter to install a 3rd internal drive. Given the cost of the drive and adapter, however, consider using an external Firewire drive instead of a 3rd internal drive.

Thanks Ken. I appreciate your speedy reply. You've been a great source of information as I've transitioned over to the world of Macintosh!

sorry, old tape term...a "hot roll" was what you did when your source tape had a broken control track or time code. you would then stick another tape in the record deck,and play youre source tape and "hot roll" you're rcord deck, creating a cohesive time code so you could the edit from the record tape. but you would lose a generation that way.

i meant it as just rolling my record deck and slapping the space bar and rolling the time line, as opposed to "print to video."

im thinking the problem is my tape isnt grabbing the video cause it cant get a hold of the control track from the time line cause just 18 frames in i have a blank space. after i return from my shoot this morning im gonna lay some black color in those spaces and see if that does the trick.

That indeed was the problem, sweetness on a stick!
thanks again for the forum, for if i had'nt had to write it down i would have never figured it out!

hello everyone, I have lurked here long enough.

I want to create a small transparent logo on the bottom of all my videos (like the comedy central globe). I am using Final Cut Express, and when I followed the tutorial in the book, the image comes out looking really crappy. and you really can't read it well.

Is there a trick to doing this? I used photoshop to make the logo and then imported it and set the opacity down a touch, it looks good on screen but when I preview it on a tv, it doesn't have the clarity I'm looking for.

Has anyone had really successful/professional results when doing this?

any help is appreciated.

I'm just wondering what would be a good mid range minidisc recorder that is mac compatible? Or is there something else that would be better for a second sound recording than mini disc?

Joe,
Do a Search on this, as it's a frequent and well-worn topic. Here's one recent long thread (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8161&highlight=minidisc).

Hi Ricardo, thanks for posting and welcome to DV Info. Rather than re-invent the wheel (or FCP tutorial) let me direct you to one of the best sets of online tutorials (http://www.lafcpug.org/tutorials.html#anchor5322147) for using FCP. LAFCPUG maintains a get resource of tutorials and articles about FCP. The tutorials mostly work for all versions, so don't be worried if you don't see the tutorial for your version of FCP. If you have any difficulties with any of the tutorials post back and I'll gladly help you over any bumps.

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is where this should go, but since I use a Mac, I figured this might be a good place to start!

I'm interested in getting into some FX and 3D work to integrate into DV movies. I've read a lot about After Effects, Combustion, Electric Image Universe, Lightwave and Commotion, etc... Can someone tell me which products compete with each other, and who people recommend? I think that After Effects and Combustion compete with each other for doing essentially the same thing, and that Commotion, Universe and Lightwave are all handling the same thing as far as 3D creation and artwork. Is this kind-of correct?

thanks for any help!!! :-)

The dual approach seems to make perfect sense to me. That's the way FCP is designed to work.

I too am worried I missed something! (See newest post on other thread.)

imo, After Effects is a great place to start. the entry price is pretty low, and you can upgrade to the Production Bundle later at no cost penalty. it gives a great combination of animation control, compositing, and Fun. =) a lot of work on tv is done with just AE, nothing more expensive than that.

I like how each Mac OS X update seems to be a beta release. It fixes problems people were complaining about in the previous release, but watch out because here come a bunch of new bugs! Sometimes it is scary to update, because you know the new system will have bugs, but you are not sure if they will affect you.

Usually the bugs are related to 3rd party software or hardware. As OS X becomes more popular, more vendors are producing hardware and software. This presents increasing problems and an increased likelihood that an update may have issues with specific products.

I always update within a day or two to get the performance benefits offered. For me the benefits out weigh the slight risk of new issues introduced by the update.

Hey,
Ok, here is a dumb one for you....
I got this mac g4 with voodoo64 and a aja with sdi in/outs.... how do i know all that stuff is configured right?

Michael Estepp

Do you have source material to feed in to FCP? If so, set your preferences and try to capture. If some options you need are greyed out, chances are something is installed wrong, or you need to upgrade some software etc. Are you building this system yourself? Most retailers would configure it and test it before delivery.

By reading the manual, or just test it. Sorry but I don't think anybody can figure out your computer settings but you.

I thought I would try a new Capturing technique for a narrative piece shot on film. I have 3 hour-long DVCAM tapes with the telecine transfer. I did Capture Now on each tape and "logged" by creating subclips from each massive media chunk.

However, I forgot to capture only the video on the first tape, so I have an hours worth of blank sound that, while taking up relatively little space, is getting in the way when I throw the subclips into the timeline.

The trouble is, I can't seem to get rid of the audio effectively (short of recapturing the whole tape). Media Mangager has no way (that I can see) of eliminating audio. However, Export and Batch Export destroy my Media Start/Media End points.

The only thing that seems to work is to throw all the subclips into a Sequence with the audio trackes locked, then drag those clips back out to a Bin. This works OK, but I was hoping to break the huge media files into a little ones.

Any ideas?

thanks,
Aaron

Hmm...one idea, off-hand, Aaron.

Use Quicktime Pro to cut the empty sound tracks off of the clips. Open QT, load one of the clips from their capture folder and then export without sound (making sure to use DV, best-quality at the original frame rate).

Then, in FCP, dump the original clips from their bin and import the mutes.

Eh?

Hm. Yeah, if I then take the soundless Quicktime file and reconnect it to the Clip in my bin, it might do the trick. It'll give it a try, but it'll take probably real time to export an hour long clip. I'll let you know how it turns out.

thanks!
Aaron

So I tried relinking the soundless QT file to the master clip, but that reset the Media In/Out points.

I really need some way to export the subclips themselves, but I don't think that's going to happen. Maybe in FCP4.

Thanks for your thoughts Ken,

Aaron

Hey folks,

After scouring the internet for a while, I've found that this is hardly a rare problem but I have yet to find a solution to my exact problem.

To begin: I have FCP 2 on CD and just bought my new Dual 1.25 GHZ OSX Mac.

I know FCP won't run in Classic but it did install successfully. I have my upgrade to 3.0 ready but here's the catch-22:

I can't run the upgrade to 3.0 (and thus, functionality in OSX) because it says I haven't registered/validated FCP 2.0. I can't register FCP 2.0 until I am able to at least open it. I can't open it because with the new Macs, we aren't given the possibility of booting to OS 9, just Classic.

What can I do? Am I reading the situation incorrectly? If not, is my only recourse to find a copy of OS9, install and register FCP 2 so that I can upgrade to 3.0?


Thanks for any advice you can give,


Joshua

You're in a bit of a pickle, Joshua. Sorry to hear it.

Jeff Donald and Donald Berube are our resident Mac gurus...they'll chime in soon, I'm sure. But in the meantime, try the support forums at Apple http://discussions.info.apple.com/ (do a search to see if someone has already asked the same thing).

*You'll have to register if you aren't already.

Good luck!

This starting to be more common place as the newer machines become dominant in the market place. Call Apple Care and they will provide a disk that will boot in OS X. I believe you'll need to send them a receipt for the product and the original disk.

Hello everyone

A friend of mine sent me some diagrams he'd done in Adobe Illustrator. They were jpeg's, 72dpi and at the correct frame size as stipulated in FCP help.

When I import the graphics, simple white lines greater than one pixel wide on black background, they look great in the Viewer and my television monitor until I hit the play button.

When the sequnce is played any line off the x and y axis appears distorted or 'stepped' as is the best way I can describe it.

Oddly enough I even saw this phenomenon after I'd filmed and then inserted as freeze frames some hand drawn images I made up during a rough edit.

It's got me foxed, any suggestions anyone?

Cheers

Simon

edit made in original post

Try reversing the fields and see if that helps.

Hi all,

I'm currently using Final Cut Express on a G4 desktop, with dual 450Mhz CPUs and a 15" Apple TFT Studio Display (1024x768 resolution).

I've decided to sell my desktop, and go mobile, with a Powerbook (moving to Japan soon, so small==good in my new mijikai - i.e. compact - apartment!). Ideally, I'd like to get one of the mid-range models, 15" with Superdrive, especially if they're going to get updated soon. The screen real-estate looks great for editing, and I'm hoping that by the time I buy, it'll have FW800 and FW400 ports.

But I'm seriously tempted by the 12" models; advantages are more portability, and cheaper of course.

Does anyone here have experience of using FCE on a 12" Powerbook? I suppose my main concerns are:

1) Screen real-estate. Is 12" too pokey? I'm used to using FCE at 1024 x 768 resolution, but on a larger display. Of course, I could always hook it up to an external monitor, but its VGA-only for the 12" model, right?

2) Speed. Coming from a dual-450, I'd imagine that a single-CPU 867Mhz G4 is about the same, performance-wise.

3) Slow HDD. I'm used to 7200rpm IDE drives (Seagate Barracuda IV, and WD 8MB cache), so I'm a bit concerned that the 4200rpm drives in the 12" ( I guess this applies to other models as well). I'd use an external FW drive for storage, but initial capture would be to the internal drive.

I know that some of these issues have been touched on in various Powerbook & iBook threads, principally:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6186

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6353

Anyway, I'd really appreciate any advice here, before opening my wallet!

as a novice pd150 owner, i must apologize in advance for the seemingly obvious question.

that said, thank u in advance for your patience

just shot my first series of talking heads for a client's project

the client wants the material edited in movie2 so she can have access to the rough cut

yesterday, i shot about 75min of material (1 full tape and about 15 mins of 2nd)

being a newbie pd150 owner, i wanted to take a look at the 1st tape and see the results so i can adjust for sunday's next day of shooting

but if i take out the 2nd tape which is still in the camera, won't i break the continous ttmecode?

if the timecode is broken, will that be a transfer issue using imovie2

the work-around is to have a minidv/dvcam player/recorder or use another minidv camera as a playback

unfortunately, those are not options for today.

bottomline: if i break the continuous timecode on the minidv will i incur loading issues in imovie2

any and all real world experience would be appreciated

thanks in advance

be well

rob katz
harvest film

iMovie handles broken timecode just fine. It ignores the unrecorded part and picks up again with the next sequence.

Since there is no problem with i-movie and broken code, as per the previous response, here is an experiment. When you replace the record tape in the camera, go into the menus for timecode. You will find "regen" as one of the choices available. Make regen the active. Then, play back the last portion of the tape just before the end of the recording and stop. You don't have to be at the last frame, just don't lose any important material. Now try recording and see if the code picks up where it left off.

Thanks Jeff

That's sorted it out.

I remembered I had been creating my new sequences to have 'no field dominance', needed in order to suit some footage I'd previsously shot that wobbled with 'lower field dominance'...

...I have remade the sequences with lower field dominance and this has sorted out the jpeg's. The wobbly footage, I have reverted back to lower field dominance and de-interlaced, which sorted out the wobble.

Technology eh?

Cheers again Jeff

Simon

I guess this is an appropriate forum for this question. My memory stick reader (for the vx2000) does not seem to work. I have installed the driver on a Mac, following the instructions. When I insert a Memory Stick, i get a Memory Stick icon that upon clicking provides me with two files (DCIM and MISC). DCIM opens to another file that then opens to the to the original two files (DCIM and MISC) etc. ad infinitum. MISC opens to a PC (AUTPRINT.BAK) file that I cannot access. Any ideas? Sony gave me the runaround.

I don't plan to take many stills, but it's a matter of principal, dammit! I want everything to work!

Thank you for any help.

Marcello

Hmm...Try reading a friends memory stick to see if you get the same problem. If it works correctly, then the problem is your memory stick itself.

Format the memory stick and try again.

*Note* This will ERASE ALL CONTENT ON THE STICK! Be careful, maybe you should make a copy of the content in a folder on your desktop just incase.

I guess the main point is, your memory stick reader is working (or at least it seems) the problem could be your memory stick...

Good luck

Are you using OS X? i never had any problems with the reader and i didnt install any drivers in OSX. i just plugged it into the USB port and insert the memory stick. image capture on the mac automatically launches and im good to go allowing me to DL any or all pix etc.

I don't think you really need drivers with OSX or 9.2x. However I've never used the Sony reader, I have a "Dazzle" reader that accepts memory sticks, compact flash, PC cards, SD cards, etc. and it works fine without having to install any drivers. Sometimes I've needed to reboot with the card already in the reader for it to appear however...

Newer Macs don't seem to have this bug, Marcello, but you are not alone. I was unable to load jpeg files into my G3 running 8.6, until I..... Well, here is a tutorial I put together on the dilemma:

Those of you who use a PC need read no farther. This brief lesson is regarding loading images to a memory stick for use in Sony cameras, such as the PD150 and the VX2000. This is a piece of cake for the PC folks who can use the software that comes with the Sony cameras, but unfortunately the software is not Mac compatible. When we try to upload images to the stick, they appear in the Mac, but will not load from within the camera. As many Mac users have discovered, the solution to this problem is not readily available on the Net.

I wanted to be able to place SMPTE color bars on the beginning of a tape, ala normal professional style shooting, and of course, the supplied camera bars are usable but do not contain some of the information that is useful for setting up a monitor in the field, or, in a post edit bay. Plus, there are times when it would be handy to be able to create a custom matte to be able to actually make the composite on the shoot, much like a matte painting. Anyway, I finally have the answer to the problem, thanks to a software called Graphic Converter from www.lemkesoft.com If you want to load accurate color bars to a memory stick, you should also download the free app, Test Pattern Maker from www.syntheticaperature.com. There are a lot of color bars floating around, and many of them are bogus. You can really make yourself crazy if you set up a monitor to incorrect color bars, and then wonder why your tapes all look weird. If you are curious about the bars you are using, import them to Photoshop and take a look at them, refering to the Info tab. You may find some strange levels. Anyway, once you have these two applications in your Mac, here is what you do:

With Test Pattern Maker, create the standard bars you wish to use, but be sure to make them 640X480 size, as those are the only dimensions you can import to the memory stick. You can make more than one set of bars, if you wish. One can be 0 setup and another 7.5. This opens up another discussion, and its your decision.

Next, open the newly created bars file in Graphic Converter. All you need to do is "save a copy" in the JPEG format pulldown. Be certain to give the copy a new name that is consistent with the files in the stick, such as, DSC00075. When asked, save at maximum quality. That's all there is to it. Unfortunately, you won't be able to get an icon with the file, even if you select that option. Maybe someone who is more computer savy than myself can figure that one out.

Now, to copy to the memory stick, simply drag and drop the new file to the memory stick in the folder which contains your still photos (that is, if you didn't save it directly from the Graphic Converter app). An important note; there must already be at least one saved photo in the file folder, otherwise there will be no folder. So if your memory stick is empty, take a still picture with your camera to create the folder, and you will be good to go.

Remember, you can create other graphics to import to the stick for compositing in the field, such as a "range finder." Sure, you could probably do it in post, but sometimes its just more fun to see the final composite when you shoot it. And often more helpful. You can also create a custom title which you can composite over the scene at the shoot. Since you can see the actual title at the shoot, you may think up ways to have your subjects interact with the title. Be sure to refer to the operating manual for tips on using chroma key or luma key stills for use with the memory stick.

I hope this brings back a smile to some Mac owners who have been cursing the Sony techs for their obvious snub.

Marcello, I hope this helps. Be sure to pay attention to the note about already having a photo on the stik.

with an xl1s, if i shoot in 4x3 with the guidelines on, how do you go about cutting to "create" a 16:9 movie? i will be using final cut pro. is there a specific fcp effect that will do this for me effortlessly? thanks!

Yes, there is a filter in FCP 3 that lets you mask to any of a number of cinematic aspect ratios.

thanks for the tip, ken. can you point the way? i'm looking through all the effects but can't seem to find one related to what i want done...

scratch that... found it under FXScript DVE's. thanks again, ken!

Alternately, you can create your own mask and apply it to your sequence easily. Our own Rob Lohman has an excellent page featuring calculators and masks for this purpose (http://www.geocities.com/robvisuar/calc.htm).

<<<-- Our own Rob Lohman has an excellent page featuring calculators and masks for this purpose (http://www.geocities.com/robvisuar/calc.htm). -->>>

that is indeed an awesome tool! thanks!

don't forget that your monitor will definitely be a factor in whatever video editing you do. ever try running final cut pro using 1024x768? NOT PRETTY!