I am not an avid Premier user (no pun intended), but don't you have to render most of its effects before you can view the rendered footage? Your post didn't explicitly indicate that you did so.

You are correct. I am moving up from (don't laugh) iMovie where rendering is something that is done automatically when an effect is applied. I don't do this for a living, but have a strong interest and am learning more all the time. Hopefully the advance to a professional level NLE will yield better results and not just frustrate me back to iMovie.

Thanks again.

Jeffyr

Jeff,
It has been years since I have used a Mac ( My therapy is coming along nicely...he he he!), but if you hold down your option key while scrubbing over the effect, it should preview it without rendering.

As you look at the timeline, you will notice a colored line over each clip. If it is red, it hasn't been rendered yet. It is green, you are good to go. Just hit enter, and it will render your storyline for a preview.
Keith

Thanks for the tip. I feel like user support for Premiere is almost non existant compared to FCP, but it is what I have to work with at my job (not related to video, but they bought it for screen grabs from video).

Anyhow.......Good luck with the therapy !

jeffyr

How would you guys get the audio into the Mac (or FCP)- the new Quicksilver Macs don't have an "audio in" mic plug on the sound card (built in). My 400mhz G4 does have an "audio in" but the 933mhz doesn't- how are you guys getting the audio in from the Mini Discs?

The audio in, got left out almost 2 years ago when apple went to quick silver models (733 etc.). The low cost way to do it is with an iMic from Griffin http://griffintechnology.com/ They are modestly priced and work well for simple projects. The best way is with a seperate board in a PCI slot. I don't have a recomendation, but it is a hot topic on several of the DVD authoring lists I suscribe to. I'll post a question on what others are using and I'll let you know.

Jeff

I posted what type of audio cards, devices are you using with your mac and the field was split three ways. The highend users are mostly using MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) * http://www.motu.com/ *rackmount devices. Several connect via FireWire. i think they start around $700. The middle ground was mostly DigiDesign units * http://www.digidesign.com/ * They are around $400 to $500 and are USB based. The lower end users were using various devices from Midiman. They also are USB and range in price from $50 to around $300.

I don't have any hands on expierence with any of these devices. However, I have had voice overs recorded in studios using MUTO and it is a very respected name. Digidesign, I think they are owned by Avid, is also used in many top studios.

Jeff

Joe,

Check out the Midiman site http://www.midiman.net/ They have cards for the Mac listed under the Digital Audio section. They list at $230. I don't know their street price. I think that the type card your looking for.

Jeff

The sound cards are a good choice. It makes no sense that it wouldn't have analog I/O Have you looked closely at the Digidesign Mbox? Yea, it's not a card but it is so small. I could see using it with an iBook to record audio in the field. It's features and specs are impressive for such a little unit.

Jeff

I know this is sorta off-topic- but does anyone know if the Apple iPod is fast enough to capture video to? Just wondering about using it with a Powerbook or iBook (pure curiosity)....anyone try?

i just purchased a dual 1ghz g4. i have not opened the box. should i send it back for a refund/exchange to get one that comes out in july at macworld?
i'll be using the computer to edit video, do color corrections, etc, for a feature film.

HI Jay.

If you had opened and started using your system my standard answer is to enjoy what you have and not worry about the next “great” update. But since Macworld is only a few days away, I would send it back if you can IMHO. In the last three months i got the twin 1ghz power mac and the iMac and have been enjoying them both.
All the best in whatever you decide to do.

Jim

let me know about that "good deal on a firestore."

thanks for the input. it may be that the computer i purchased will be good enough for what i need it to do.
i have my eye on uncompressed video b/c it sounds great, but who knows when i'll be able to afford it. my dream is to pull the signal straight off the chips of my pal xl1 and get it uncompressed all the way through my NLE and back to a digibeta master for printing to film.
...i dream on...

I am using a G4 dual processor 450MHz. It's almost 2 years old. It handles FCP 3.02 with no problems. Video is not that processor intensive. The Dual 1 GHz should be a screaming machine. The deals on the machines now will not apply to the new models. So, enjoy.

The limitation on uncompressed media is not the processor speed, but rather the HD speed. If you have extra money I'd load up on Ram, and build a super fast IDE internal RAID with a couple of 120gig drives and the Sonnett RAID card.

Jeff

I don't know of anyone doing captures with an iPod. You can boot from the iPod, so it's only a matter of time until you can capture to it. The newer 10 gig drive is a little more practical size wise. I think I saw something this past week that Toshiba (they make the iPods drive) is bring out their own MP3 player, but PCMCIA based and 20gig capacity. It will only be a matter of time now, until tape is a thing of the past.

Jeff

Vic,

FireStore product manager Matt McEwen has cc'ed me a copy of the e-mail he sent you. He is anxious to work with you to get your problem resolved. Have you responded to him yet?

unfortunately, the money i have for the feature is thin, and has to be spread across all departments (camera, lighting, sound, AND other expenses...food/lodging while in production, wardrobe, etc)...

what i'll probably do is:
1. shoot to mini dv tape
2. transfer footage to digibeta
3. input footage from digibeta into my mac (compressed, obviously)
4. edit
5. take master digibeta tapes and EDL somewhere where i can input the digibeta master footage uncompressed and compile it using the EDL (which was digibeta timecoded). then print a master on digibeta from the uncompressed digibeta that's on the computer....hopefully the hourly rate for doing this won't kill me.

i believe this is better than inputting the mini dv tape footage into my mac, then editing, then printing to digibeta. am i right?

as far as i can tell, this type of thing requires cinewave or digital voodoo.

p.s. bonus question:
what is the method for "taking the signal off the chips"
putting it directly into your hardrive, uncompressed.

I think you might be searching for the Holy Grail (or the religous artifact of your choice) of video. To the best of my knowledge no CODEC is available to take the data directly off the chip and into a computer. What NLE could read it? I read your previous post about seeing such a device. FCP, Avid, Premiere, etc all need a standard format that they can recognize (JPEG, MPEG, DV, DVCAM, DVPRO etc) so that they can manipulate the data. I don't see how they could do that with data off the chip. Sorry.

Digital is digital is digital. In theory, (a perfect world) taking data of your tape, into your computer and putting it back onto tape will result in zero loss of quality. It is digital all the way through. It is not a perfect world and each little component adds a little noise etc to your signal. This changes your signal and results in a loss of quality. However, the loss is so small, that if the signal is transferred carefully and with good components the loss will be negligable. Try a test, edit a couple minute piece on a computer and copy back to DV then copy to digibeta. Compare it to a direct DV to digibeta copy. The quality difference should be very little if any to the eye.

Jeff

Jay;

What part of Florida do you live in?

Jeff

i live in orlando.
thanks for the info. if you're in barnes and noble anytime soon, see if they have a copy of digital moviemaking by scott billups. on page 53, the picture of the "break-out accessory" can be found.
on the page before, he says, "For studio work, i often attach an RGB break-out box directly to my three-chip camera and feed the uncompressed RGB component signal directly into a Targa videographic board which digitizes, compresses and lays the video directly to disk. This method maintains a high level of color integrity..."

I will check the book, but I'm pretty sure I know what your looking for. Pro type broadcast cameras have a 26 pin out put. Among the various signals out put is an RGB signal. A very few, high end boards can accept RGB in ( the board on my old Avid had one). We also had a very high end encoder/transconder the would accept Betacam SP, S-Video, Composite and several other types of signals and converts them into RGB. We ran several subjective tests feeding the RGB signal from the 26 pin out put directly into the Targa board and feeding beta into the transcoder and looking at the results on broadcast monitors. The bottom line was we couldn't see a difference. My engineer told me that on a vectorscope he could see a difference in the chroma.

These type of devices are made and I believe Laird * http://www.lairdtelemedia.com/products/firewire.html#5000 * makes a decent one. The Targa board would take the RGB and convert it to the Avid JPEG Codec. The Avid software could then manipulate the data. When we went back to tape the transcoder would take the RGB from the Targa board and convert it to Betacam SP for masters.

Jeff

thank you very much. that's exactly the information i've been looking for...bottom line: it's not going to fit in my budget(s) any time soon, and i'm not missing out on anything for the kind of projects i'm doing.
as far as the book, it's a very good one if you're at my level of knowledge of the "digital cinema" enterprise. it does, however, seem to go in depth into some areas and stay shallow in others, which is frustrating.
thanks again.

if i want to shoot straight to a portable hard drive, using a laptop (instead of firestore), how much RAM and storage and everything else do i need on that laptop, just to get my footage past the laptop and into the hard drive? (i have a G4 at home to edit on).
i'll be using a pal xl1.
do these requirements change if i'm shooting digibeta/beta onto the hard drive? (i think they do, since it's more kbps).
another question: if dv can be stored at 13 gigs per hour of footage, what's the space/time ratio for "higher" formats, like digibeta/beta?
thanks guys.

I'm doing this from memory, so if I'm a little off, I hope someone jumps in and corrects me. Digital Beta SD is something like 30megs per second. This does not include audio. At the very least IDE RAIDS are required, something like 100 gigs per hour. Most operations would run SCSI, more expensive, but faster read/write. HD would require substantley more storeage and use the fiber optic SCSI.

The laptop is a great tool for capturing DV in the field. I know several shooters and producers doing just that with varying degrees of sucess. I would suggest the TiBook, the faster the better to get RT effects from FCP. The HOT internal drive is the 60GB drive with 5400 rpm speed. They only have 1 FireWire port. Some people connect a 7200 rpm portable and connect the camera to the drive. This configuration is getting mixed results. I think the more memory the better, 512MB would be the minimum I'd try. They support up to 1GB.

The little iBooks are not fairing as well. They are G3 processor based, so not as fast as the Ti's. Slower and smaller drives, less memory, slower bus, etc. etc. I think an iBook would make a good machine to off line on, but not well suited for capture of live video.

Jeff

I am considering making a DVD for 30-minutes video in iDVD.

Does anyone know about how much time it will take for
encoding in mpg-2 and burning DVD-R in PowerMac 800Mhz, or Dual 1GigHz?

iDVD is really a very good DVD burner and will handle the whole encode/burn automatically. In fact, the encode process starts as soon as you add clips to the project and continues in the background until completed. I've burned many DVD's with iDVD and, off the top of my head, I'd give the burn process less than an hour on a dual 1GHz. That is, start the burn before dinner and it will be completed by desert. The encode will take approximately the same time but will do so relatively unobtrusively.

Depending on the media you use, the Pioneer (Apple Super) drive is 1x or 2x in speed. On the older drives, the time may be affected if the firmware has not been updated on the drive. I get 2x speed with the Apple and Pioneer media.

Jeff

Less than an hours for burning DVD-R for 30 min video in PM 1G dual is great!

Does anyone know any reliable brands for DVD-R media and reliable dealers?

I heard the quality in same brand could be vary because the real manufacture could be different even in the same brand.

I heard that Apple's DVD-R media has some quaility problems recently after Apple switched its DVD-R manufacturer.

Does anyone know the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R?
I visited tapesource.com and they have DVD-R and DVD+R.

i've had no problems so far with the apple dvd-r discs. i've read on apple support page abut earlier discs having errors etc. but i think this problem has been taken care of. also the older discs had either a red or green apple on the inlay not the blue( i could be wrong here) and as far as i know still the cheapest at 5 for $25.

I've had the best luck with Apple, Pioneer and Verbatum. Apple switched suppliers earlier this year and for a short while would only burn at 1x, not 2. The last several boxes I bought burned 2x with no problem.

jeff

<<<-- Originally posted by Joe Redifer : What if I want full duplex digital audio going all over the place? USB's bandwidth isn't exactly stellar, especially when it has to share it with mouse, keyboard and printer functions. I will settle for zero compromises in my audio. -->>>

In that case you'll need to pick up a MAC with ProTools.

jizzer

http://www.digidesign.com

where you can get "uncompromised" audio quality. If your willing to compromise a little, there's the Digi 001, a $1000 rack-mount unit that interfaces to a PCI-card located inside your computer.

Good luck!

jizzer

p.s. oh yeah...the ProTools system will set you back about $10,000 for the entry level package. Nothing else even comes close (given your high standard for audio)

I use the Apple DVD-R and haven't had any problems.

I got two red apple DVD-R free with the G4 almost a year ago and since then I have bought Purple Apples and Blue Apples. I think the Blue Apples are the newest stock. In Australia $A55 for 5.
iDVD is good and easy but I'm gonna get DVDstudioPro soon.
I want 5.1 surround sound.

In reply to USB for audio; the MAC G4's (including the Cube) have two USB controllers, one can be dedicated to audio only giving the full bank width, which is CD standard at 16/44.1, and can even handle 24/48. To go higher, a sound card (with DA/AD converters in an external box) or firewire sys like the MOTUs. Sounddesigns has a box for under $500.00 the USB Pre 2.0 that will give two pro-quality mic inputs for post, two bal/unbal line ins and spdif in and out, along with tape out. Sample rate is upto 24/48, but only 16/48 if going through sound manager. Check it out. Al.

The USB pre is a "Sounddevices" product, not sounddesigns, my error; also Degidesigns has their new "M" Box out, which would work also, but is not designed for portable use & Glyph has a rugged firewire hard drive avail that matches the M Box. al.

While it is possible, it doesn't appear practical t me. Devices like my Wiebetech drive are similar in size (slightly bigger), 4 times the capacity and a lower cost.

Don't pay for the MP3 driver and audio out if you are going to use it as a storage device.

Just my .02

Jeff is right, the I-Pod would make an expensive storage drive, you should look and some of the new 2.5" firewire mini drives that are coming out. Also Toshiba makes PMCIA card hard drives that go up to 10 gig (same dirve as I-Pod). But, remember, theses dirves are not as fast as 3.5" (they usually run at 5400 rpm, vs 7200 which is best for video.) al.

I have had some trouble importing CD tracks directly into FCP 3.0 using the same method as I did with 2.0. Because of differences in the sampling rate, the tracks play erratically until I do a mixdown. The method I have been using in the meantime is pretty clunky but it works:

Import the track from the CD.
Export it as an AIFF file at 48 khz.
Re-importing that file.

Is there something simpler I could be doing?

<<<-- Originally posted by Aaron Frick : I just upgraded on my media100 from grafitti 1.0 to boris red 2.1 and every title I had in my system is now way out of whack. Any suggestions on how to open grafitti once I have installed red? -->>>

I was wondering the samething myself. The application seems excellent (except for the price). Before I go and drop the cash on it, I would sure like to hear some opinions on it.

Paul

Ok, my new G4 is on order and will be here in 10 days (bummed about the wait). The only thing that I have ordered with it is the following:

- Final Cut Pro 3
- DVD Studio Pro

What else will we need for cool VFX, titles, and web streaming? I am considering the following:

- Boris Red
- Commotion
- Cleaner

Would this be a good trio of apps? If not what would you suggest? Thanks in advance for your input.

Paul

What is the best way to transfer audio from a MiniDisc to a Mac G4? Is there a firewire connection or possible a board that I should consider?

Thanks,

Paul

What type of out puts does the MD have? If USB an OK solution is iMic by Griffin http://griffintechnology.com/ It adds a little noise in my opinion, but it is very modestly priced. You can also transfer to DV and then inport through the firewire. A media converter, like Dazzle's Hollywood Bridge converts analog to Firewire and Firewire to analog with good results. Higher end solutions are available from Degidesigns http://www.digidesign.com/ and MUTO http://www.motu.com/

Jeff

i have yet to order these plugins myself but i any boris product will work well within FCP and ive messed around a little with the commotion that came with FCP2 and its a really good compositing tool but im sure the full version can do much more.

Wow! Some pretty heavy software. Boris Red does not support OS X yet. There may be an upgrade path for FCP users so check out their site. It may save you some bucks. Cleaner is an excellant software based MPEG encoder. Better than Quicktime, but much slower. Commotion is not my favorite, because i don't know it and don't use it much. I prefer After Effects, it's somewhat similar to Commotion as are parts of Boris Red. I would combine Boris Red with AE for a more rounded video package. Commotion has some strong followers here, so i hope they will chime in.

Other software I use for video include, Echo Fire and Color Finesse http://www.synthetic-ap.com/ Automatic Duck http://www.automaticduck.com/products/index.html (Hey, I don't name 'um, just use 'um). There are a couple more i use now and then that just don't come to mind.

Jeff

I import and export in Quicktime to do the conversion. It works. I hope the next version of FCP has a more elegant method of dealing with audio variables.

Jeff

Steadihiccup, I have zero problems dealing with audio in FCP 2. What I do is use a simple shareware program called "Track Thief" to rip the tracks from a CD. Any CD ripping program will do however. Then just import the files into FCP and use normally with whatever other audio you are already using. No need to upconvert them to 48khz. You can mix and match the CD audio with the camera audio and do all sorts of stuff. Simply could not be easier, but people tend to think that they MUST upconvert the CD audio or do something complex for it to work. Nope. FCP takes care of you.

Maybe FCP 3 is worse than FCP 2? Sounds like it (pun not intended). Have you made sure to enable multiple audio tracks to play back from the timeline in the FCP preferences? My personal default is 8 tracks. It'll do that fine until I start to add more. You're not using a G3 are you?

Don't buy any software unless you know exactly what you are going to use it for. Experiment on the demos and trials first.

The strength of Commotion is in rotoscoping. Not all people need that and certainly not all projects.

Hi,
The quicktime method is also suggested in

------------------------------------------------------------------------*
JULY 02, 2002
Final Cut Pro Quick Tip #3

Import your music the right way
by Stephen Schleicher

Need to import audio files into your Final Cut Pro 3 project? At some point you will need to, and who wants to spend valuable time flipping through four different manuals to find the answer?

------------------------------------------------------------------------
it is available at
http://www.creativemac.com
select Tutorials from the menu at the left and scroll down to the acticle...

Anyone have any quick 'n' dirty tips/tricks on how to make plain ole' in-the-room recorded audio sound like it's "telephone" audio? We were going to record straight from the phone's earpiece but the talent can't do it today and we have the lines recorded "plain."

Any ideas are much appreciated!

Mark