NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

Jeff Donald · May 20th, 2003, 08:42 PM

It won't install twice, firm ware doesn't work like that. Just disable it in the Software update menu. Then it won't bother you any more.

Michael Estepp · May 21st, 2003, 06:24 AM

Hey

Im having continuous problems with my playback monitor. Im using mac osx 10.2.6 FCP and digiVoodoo with SDI OUTs, my playback has SDi also... The desktop shows in the monitor fine. In after Effects, it works fine. In FCP, it doesn't work at all, or it turns a solid color, or the image splits in three, leaving two distrorted versions at the top half of the screen and a black rectangle on the bottom. Weird. Any help would be appriciated? Need more info on my settings? Just ask specifics?
Thank you
Michael Estepp

Chris Kay · May 21st, 2003, 08:09 AM

Hello!

New to the forum but very excited...people here seem to really have a good line on information. I am running Final Cut Pro using an Aurora Igniter Card under OSX. I can get and would like to make use of the 22 MBS codec offered by the card but my external 7200 RPM Lacie's can't hack it. What would you recommend to allow me to make this happen. I'd prefer an external, but internal is fine.

Thanks!

Jeff Donald · May 21st, 2003, 08:55 AM

You could do an IDE RAID 0 (internal - less noise, more heat), or an external FireWire RAID O (less heat - more noise). The best performance, but the gap is narrowing, is SCSI in a RAID 0 config. The solutions I've outlined are from least expensive to most expensive. An internal IDE RAID 0 with two 200gb drives should be less than $800. A similar SCSI config would be around $3,000 and the FireWire would fall around $2,000.

Tell me a little bit more about your machine and I can make specific product recommendations for you.

Jeff Donald · May 21st, 2003, 08:59 AM

If you are connecting the SDI output from the digital Voodoo to the SDI input of the monitor you should be good to go. Is that how the cables are configured? Try swapping cables, check for the latest drivers for your card, and check with digital Voodoo support.

Chris Kay · May 21st, 2003, 09:23 AM

Jeff,

Thanks, that was exactly what I needed. It will have to be the $800 solution, which really isn't that bad.

Take care,

Chris

Zac Stein · May 21st, 2003, 09:29 AM

Western digital has new IDE hd's out that are 10,000 rpm, apparently they are very quiet and super fast.

http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=170451

That is a review of the drive, apparently it has really nice and fast read/write speeds, in the region of 40mb/s, which would be fast enough for your codec.

Anyways,

Good luck hunting for a solutions.

Zac

Jeff Donald · May 21st, 2003, 10:38 AM

These drives are not compatible with Apple hardware at this time. Also, they offer little improvement over 7200rpm drives in a sustained read/write test (only 8%). Sustained read/write (not average) of very large files is what is important for video use. The review linked to above, did not perform those exact tests. The most performance bang for the buck will be 200mb drives with a 8mb cache and RAID 0 config.

Michael Estepp · May 21st, 2003, 02:05 PM

HAHAHA thats funny.... Digital VooDoo Support... HAHA funny... They are in australia. You have to call during their business hours. Everytime I have called, (9 times over 3 months) their Support Techs have been on vacation. Something tells me they're never coming back. Anyway, Yes, my cables are going from SDI to SDi, I can take pictures of everything and post them if that will help.
Let me know.
Michael Estepp

Jeff Donald · May 21st, 2003, 02:47 PM

I see your dilemma. I talked to an acquaintance with a digital vooDoo card for OS X and he has troubles with certain features also. He said he has been persistent with their tech support and they have emailed patches for some of his issues. Unfortunately he had no suggestion for your monitor issue.

I am at a loss for further suggestions. Hopefully another member or guest will voice a suggestion or two.

Michael Westphal · May 21st, 2003, 05:52 PM

I do not have a digital vooDoo card, but the last time I saw something like that on an external monitor, I was using FCP1, and I had the Sequence settings wrong. They weren't set for NTSC output... And the monitor looked exactly as you describe, more or less.

Make sure your sequence is configured correctly for the digital vooDoo.

Duane Martin · May 21st, 2003, 09:33 PM

One of my favourite web sites to answer questions like this is BareFeats. They recently posted a test comparing various drive arrangements including a four drive Raid O arrangement with Firewire 800 drives and four seperate channels. Check it out at:

http://www.barefeats.com/fire36.html

Joe Lloyd · May 21st, 2003, 10:49 PM

Sorry to be posting this here, but I got myself a nice 120gb ata100 drive for my dual g4 1.25. I've read the manual and it says to pull the grey tab on the rear most drive carrier and pull up. I keep pulling the tab but the thing won't move at all. Anyone had any problems like this?

Thanks in advance

Ken Tanaka · May 21st, 2003, 10:52 PM

(If I understand what you're doing...) Did you first remove the screw that fastens the carrier to the chassis?

Joe Lloyd · May 21st, 2003, 10:53 PM

HAHAHAHA daaaaaaaaamn..... thanks.... ok this is why things like this should be done during the day :)

May 20th, 2003, 08:42 PM	#466
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	It won't install twice, firm ware doesn't work like that. Just disable it in the Software update menu. Then it won't bother you any more. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

May 21st, 2003, 06:24 AM	#467
Michael Estepp Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 95	EXTERNAL monitor Hey Im having continuous problems with my playback monitor. Im using mac osx 10.2.6 FCP and digiVoodoo with SDI OUTs, my playback has SDi also... The desktop shows in the monitor fine. In after Effects, it works fine. In FCP, it doesn't work at all, or it turns a solid color, or the image splits in three, leaving two distrorted versions at the top half of the screen and a black rectangle on the bottom. Weird. Any help would be appriciated? Need more info on my settings? Just ask specifics? Thank you Michael Estepp

May 21st, 2003, 08:09 AM	#468
Chris Kay New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 11	best internal/external drive for 22 MBS Hello! New to the forum but very excited...people here seem to really have a good line on information. I am running Final Cut Pro using an Aurora Igniter Card under OSX. I can get and would like to make use of the 22 MBS codec offered by the card but my external 7200 RPM Lacie's can't hack it. What would you recommend to allow me to make this happen. I'd prefer an external, but internal is fine. Thanks!

May 21st, 2003, 08:55 AM	#469
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	You could do an IDE RAID 0 (internal - less noise, more heat), or an external FireWire RAID O (less heat - more noise). The best performance, but the gap is narrowing, is SCSI in a RAID 0 config. The solutions I've outlined are from least expensive to most expensive. An internal IDE RAID 0 with two 200gb drives should be less than $800. A similar SCSI config would be around $3,000 and the FireWire would fall around $2,000. Tell me a little bit more about your machine and I can make specific product recommendations for you. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

May 21st, 2003, 08:59 AM	#470
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	If you are connecting the SDI output from the digital Voodoo to the SDI input of the monitor you should be good to go. Is that how the cables are configured? Try swapping cables, check for the latest drivers for your card, and check with digital Voodoo support. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

May 21st, 2003, 09:23 AM	#471
Chris Kay New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 11	Thanks! Jeff, Thanks, that was exactly what I needed. It will have to be the $800 solution, which really isn't that bad. Take care, Chris

May 21st, 2003, 09:29 AM	#472
Zac Stein Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 730	Western digital has new IDE hd's out that are 10,000 rpm, apparently they are very quiet and super fast. http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=170451 That is a review of the drive, apparently it has really nice and fast read/write speeds, in the region of 40mb/s, which would be fast enough for your codec. Anyways, Good luck hunting for a solutions. Zac

May 21st, 2003, 10:38 AM	#473
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	These drives are not compatible with Apple hardware at this time. Also, they offer little improvement over 7200rpm drives in a sustained read/write test (only 8%). Sustained read/write (not average) of very large files is what is important for video use. The review linked to above, did not perform those exact tests. The most performance bang for the buck will be 200mb drives with a 8mb cache and RAID 0 config. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

May 21st, 2003, 02:05 PM	#474
Michael Estepp Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 95	HAHAHA thats funny.... Digital VooDoo Support... HAHA funny... They are in australia. You have to call during their business hours. Everytime I have called, (9 times over 3 months) their Support Techs have been on vacation. Something tells me they're never coming back. Anyway, Yes, my cables are going from SDI to SDi, I can take pictures of everything and post them if that will help. Let me know. Michael Estepp

May 21st, 2003, 02:47 PM	#475
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	I see your dilemma. I talked to an acquaintance with a digital vooDoo card for OS X and he has troubles with certain features also. He said he has been persistent with their tech support and they have emailed patches for some of his issues. Unfortunately he had no suggestion for your monitor issue. I am at a loss for further suggestions. Hopefully another member or guest will voice a suggestion or two. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

May 21st, 2003, 05:52 PM	#476
Michael Westphal Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Baton Rouge, LA Posts: 166	shooting in the dark I do not have a digital vooDoo card, but the last time I saw something like that on an external monitor, I was using FCP1, and I had the Sequence settings wrong. They weren't set for NTSC output... And the monitor looked exactly as you describe, more or less. Make sure your sequence is configured correctly for the digital vooDoo. __________________ Michael A Westphal

May 21st, 2003, 09:33 PM	#477
Duane Martin Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Posts: 41	Comparison of speed options One of my favourite web sites to answer questions like this is BareFeats. They recently posted a test comparing various drive arrangements including a four drive Raid O arrangement with Firewire 800 drives and four seperate channels. Check it out at: http://www.barefeats.com/fire36.html __________________ Duane E. Martin Earth to Sky Productions Apple Certified Trainer - FCP

May 21st, 2003, 10:49 PM	#478
Joe Lloyd Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Auckland, NZ Posts: 202	Installing ata100 drive on dual g4 1.25 Sorry to be posting this here, but I got myself a nice 120gb ata100 drive for my dual g4 1.25. I've read the manual and it says to pull the grey tab on the rear most drive carrier and pull up. I keep pulling the tab but the thing won't move at all. Anyone had any problems like this? Thanks in advance

May 21st, 2003, 10:52 PM	#479
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	(If I understand what you're doing...) Did you first remove the screw that fastens the carrier to the chassis? __________________ Lady X Films: A lady with a boring wardrobe...and a global mission. Hey, you don't have enough stuff! Buy with confidence from our sponsors. Hand-picked as the best in the business...Really! See some of my work one frame at a time: www.KenTanaka.com

May 21st, 2003, 10:53 PM	#480
Joe Lloyd Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Auckland, NZ Posts: 202	HAHAHAHA daaaaaaaaamn..... thanks.... ok this is why things like this should be done during the day :)