NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

Curtis T. Stoeber · June 22nd, 2003, 04:19 PM

It will still be 720x480. It will be stretched (anamorphic).

Michiel van der Zeeuw · June 24th, 2003, 02:21 PM

hello

been busy getting to know FCP, like it a lot so far, but the slow refresh rate of the audio waveform is driving me nuts. I'm used to Media100 where displaying the waveform is no problem, but in FCP it really slows me down in editing. any suggestions?
G4 1Ghz 512 MB powerbook

thanks in advance & cheers
Michiel

Ken Tanaka · June 24th, 2003, 03:30 PM

I generally disable the audio waveform display in the timeline unless I really need it. While using the same PB model as you, I hadn't noticed it being distractingly slow, but it did slow things down. Toss another 512Mb in that thing!

Vince Denali · June 25th, 2003, 04:20 PM

Try using the three band EQ and cutting some lows or mid
frequencies. If you cut mid frequencies, you will generally
remove speech. You can identify prominant resonances
by boosting the mid band to max with a medium Q setting.
Sweep it around until something "blows" up. Then, reduce
the Q setting to focus in on a smaller band of frequencies
while sweeping the filter frequency. Once you're sure you've
boosted some prominant resonances, change the boost into
a cut. This is difficult on spaced sound liked speech, but it's
the best you can do with FCP.

Josh Martin · June 25th, 2003, 05:30 PM

Hey there people,
Just wondering if there is something special you have to do to edit HD footage from this camera in final cut pro 3. Also, since this camera has only one chip, has anyone noticed that the color isn't as good on the AG-DVX100? Please advise. Thanks

Jeff Kilgroe · June 25th, 2003, 06:20 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Josh Martin : Hey there people,
Just wondering if there is something special you have to do to edit HD footage from this camera in final cut pro 3. Also, since this camera has only one chip, has anyone noticed that the color isn't as good on the AG-DVX100? Please advise. Thanks -->>>

I can't help you on the Final Cut 3 issue. And with this camera, I would recommend converting the MPEG2 stream to an uncompressed video file (needs lots of disk space) or some compressed form with frame based compression, regardless of which platform or NLE you use. The uncompressed format comes highly recommended (if your system and editing software can cope with it) due to the amount of noise that's already present as this can help in running operations to smooth out the noise and the video won't further degrade through editing.

As for the single-chip design of the JVC HD camera, the color reproduction is rather good. Colors are accurate and rich, but highlights blow out very easily compared to 3-chip models and it doesn't have the shadow detail capabilities of the 3-chip cameras. The AG-DVX100 is an amazing camera, it's really a cut above the other 3-chip cameras out there in the less than $10K range. It blows the JVC HD1/HD10U out of the water. I demoed a HD1 for 2 days and it was essentailly a run of the mill consumer camera, but with HD capability. I also demoed a DVX100 right after and I purchased the DVX100 after comparing the two. So far, I'm getting better results up-rezing the progressive video out of the DVX100 to 720p than I got out of the 720p native capability of the JVC! The JVC's real advantage is the 16:9 native CCD and the ability to do 480p60. However, the [over]compression noise, lower color range and DSP that chokes on pans and busy scenes or fast light changes, not to mention the lack of true manual control relegates the JVC camera to a substandard unit.

I still commend JVC for being the first to release the first entry into what is sure to become a niche market for affordable HD camcorders. I still want an HD capable camera, but I'll wait for Canon, Sony and Panasonic before I buy. With my XL1s and new DVX100, I'm happy as can be (for now).

Steve Mullen · June 25th, 2003, 07:04 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Jeff Kilgroe : <<<-- Originally posted by Josh Martin : I can't help you on the Final Cut 3 issue. -->>>

Yes you can edit with FCP 3 -- and even better with FCP 4.

I've developed a procedure and so has Paul. More to come later when i can say more.

Christopher Giglio · June 26th, 2003, 07:48 AM

Hello,
I'm beginning to import video shot in Frame mode from my GL-2 using FCP connected via a firewire cable. Looking through the FCP manual, it states "For DV captured via FireWire; always set field dominance to Lower (Even.) For non-interlaced video set the field dominance to None." In my understanding, Video shot in Frame mode is both DV and non-interlaced, so I'm not sure how to set the field dominance. Thanks for any help.
Chris

(I'm cross-posting this on the GL-2 thread too.)

Adrian Douglas · June 26th, 2003, 08:09 AM

The Canon frame mode is in fact interlaced and not a true progressive image. When you import you should import lower field first.

Chris Korrow · June 26th, 2003, 08:37 AM

Thanks for the reply Vince, though I wish I'd had it in January. That project is long gone but the advice is still good. Still working on getting great audio. Good mics have sure made a big difference. Thanks again, Chris

Alfred Tomaszewski · June 26th, 2003, 11:29 AM

i am just wondering if anyone has any idea of when they will switch the imac, emac, and powerbooks to G5 processors. will they then move the ibook to a g4?

Vince Denali · June 26th, 2003, 11:52 AM

Sorry Chris. I just joined the group a couple of weeks ago.

Actually, I was the fellow that wrote the audio plugins (reverb, EQ, etc.) for Final Cut Pro. It was a challenging project due to the design of their timeline code, so I'm just happy the stuff worked.

I'm hoping people are making use of the Hum Remover. It really
simplifies the removal of all sorts of hums with harmonics.

Kevin Burnfield · June 26th, 2003, 12:01 PM

Okay I'm sure someone out there has a great, easy and quick answer for this one. (G)

I just picked up a slightly used Sony PVM-1380, 13" video monitor.

I've got a Radeon 8500 AGP card in my G4 from which I'm coming out from the s-video port. (right now I have it adapting from S-Vid to rca to BNC till the s-vid to BNC cable comes)

I hooked the monitor up to my XL1S and fed it the true color bars from it. I followed the calibration instructions I found on the web and I was pretty pleased with the results.

I played some video from the camera and was also pleased with the results.

Then I hooked it up to my Mac and fired up FCP. Set it to use the monitor as the play back... and the video looked like crap.

The good news about this is that I hooked the camera back up to the monitor and used the picture to calibrate my NEC 21" computer monitor to show the video in FCP VERY closely to the real video. Quite happy about that.

Again though: the video coming over from the computer is off. Too deep, not deep enough. Color off... all sorts of issues.

Any suggestions, ideas, opinions?

As I said, I'm really pleased with the picture coming from the camera and it will make a great set monitor... but I'd also like to get some editing use out of it.

TIA

---------------------------------
Edited to add
----

I plugged the monitor into the camera while I 'print to tape' ed and I see the picture is where it should be on the monitor coming from FCP... to the camera... to the monitor. (shrug)

Boyd Ostroff · June 26th, 2003, 12:43 PM

Not familiar with the Radeon 8500, but I have a Radeon 7000. It comes with a control panel "Mac2TV" which gives you quite a bit of control over the s-video port. You should be able to adjust your monitor using these controls. However I don't understand why you're having the problem in the first place... Have you set FCP to playback at the highest quality?

Caveat: I'm running FCP 3 under MacOS 9.2

Kevin Burnfield · June 26th, 2003, 01:07 PM

OS X. Don't think the ATI tools like that exsist for it.

The video that is going into my camera across the firewire and from there into my monitor is right on the money... There's got to be some settings for the card I guess. I"ll see if I can look around for it.

June 24th, 2003, 02:21 PM	#647
Michiel van der Zeeuw Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 27	audio waveform in FCP hello been busy getting to know FCP, like it a lot so far, but the slow refresh rate of the audio waveform is driving me nuts. I'm used to Media100 where displaying the waveform is no problem, but in FCP it really slows me down in editing. any suggestions? G4 1Ghz 512 MB powerbook thanks in advance & cheers Michiel

June 24th, 2003, 03:30 PM	#648
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	I generally disable the audio waveform display in the timeline unless I really need it. While using the same PB model as you, I hadn't noticed it being distractingly slow, but it did slow things down. Toss another 512Mb in that thing! __________________ 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

June 25th, 2003, 05:30 PM	#650
Josh Martin Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 29	editing footage from the GR-HD1U Hey there people, Just wondering if there is something special you have to do to edit HD footage from this camera in final cut pro 3. Also, since this camera has only one chip, has anyone noticed that the color isn't as good on the AG-DVX100? Please advise. Thanks

June 25th, 2003, 06:20 PM	#651
Jeff Kilgroe Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 681	Re: editing footage from the GR-HD1U <<<-- Originally posted by Josh Martin : Hey there people, Just wondering if there is something special you have to do to edit HD footage from this camera in final cut pro 3. Also, since this camera has only one chip, has anyone noticed that the color isn't as good on the AG-DVX100? Please advise. Thanks -->>> I can't help you on the Final Cut 3 issue. And with this camera, I would recommend converting the MPEG2 stream to an uncompressed video file (needs lots of disk space) or some compressed form with frame based compression, regardless of which platform or NLE you use. The uncompressed format comes highly recommended (if your system and editing software can cope with it) due to the amount of noise that's already present as this can help in running operations to smooth out the noise and the video won't further degrade through editing. As for the single-chip design of the JVC HD camera, the color reproduction is rather good. Colors are accurate and rich, but highlights blow out very easily compared to 3-chip models and it doesn't have the shadow detail capabilities of the 3-chip cameras. The AG-DVX100 is an amazing camera, it's really a cut above the other 3-chip cameras out there in the less than $10K range. It blows the JVC HD1/HD10U out of the water. I demoed a HD1 for 2 days and it was essentailly a run of the mill consumer camera, but with HD capability. I also demoed a DVX100 right after and I purchased the DVX100 after comparing the two. So far, I'm getting better results up-rezing the progressive video out of the DVX100 to 720p than I got out of the 720p native capability of the JVC! The JVC's real advantage is the 16:9 native CCD and the ability to do 480p60. However, the [over]compression noise, lower color range and DSP that chokes on pans and busy scenes or fast light changes, not to mention the lack of true manual control relegates the JVC camera to a substandard unit. I still commend JVC for being the first to release the first entry into what is sure to become a niche market for affordable HD camcorders. I still want an HD capable camera, but I'll wait for Canon, Sony and Panasonic before I buy. With my XL1s and new DVX100, I'm happy as can be (for now). __________________ - Jeff Kilgroe - Applied Visual Technologies \| DarkScience - www.darkscience.com

June 25th, 2003, 07:04 PM	#652
Steve Mullen HDV Cinema Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 4,007	Re: Re: editing footage from the GR-HD1U <<<-- Originally posted by Jeff Kilgroe : <<<-- Originally posted by Josh Martin : I can't help you on the Final Cut 3 issue. -->>> Yes you can edit with FCP 3 -- and even better with FCP 4. I've developed a procedure and so has Paul. More to come later when i can say more. __________________ Switcher's Quick Guide to the Avid Media Composer >>> http://home.mindspring.com/~d-v-c

June 22nd, 2003, 04:19 PM	#646
Curtis T. Stoeber Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Lakewood Colorado USA Posts: 150	It will still be 720x480. It will be stretched (anamorphic).

June 25th, 2003, 04:20 PM	#649
Vince Denali Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Santa Clara, CA Posts: 33	Try using the three band EQ and cutting some lows or mid frequencies. If you cut mid frequencies, you will generally remove speech. You can identify prominant resonances by boosting the mid band to max with a medium Q setting. Sweep it around until something "blows" up. Then, reduce the Q setting to focus in on a smaller band of frequencies while sweeping the filter frequency. Once you're sure you've boosted some prominant resonances, change the boost into a cut. This is difficult on spaced sound liked speech, but it's the best you can do with FCP.

June 26th, 2003, 07:48 AM	#653
Christopher Giglio Tourist Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: New York, NY Posts: 4	setting field dominance with Frame mode DV Hello, I'm beginning to import video shot in Frame mode from my GL-2 using FCP connected via a firewire cable. Looking through the FCP manual, it states "For DV captured via FireWire; always set field dominance to Lower (Even.) For non-interlaced video set the field dominance to None." In my understanding, Video shot in Frame mode is both DV and non-interlaced, so I'm not sure how to set the field dominance. Thanks for any help. Chris (I'm cross-posting this on the GL-2 thread too.)

June 26th, 2003, 08:09 AM	#654
Adrian Douglas Trustee Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Chigasaki, Japan. Posts: 1,660	The Canon frame mode is in fact interlaced and not a true progressive image. When you import you should import lower field first. __________________ Adrian DVInfo.net Search for quick answers Where to buy? From the best in the business...DVInfo.net sponsors

June 26th, 2003, 08:37 AM	#655
Chris Korrow Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Whidbey Is, WA Posts: 326	Thanks for the reply Vince, though I wish I'd had it in January. That project is long gone but the advice is still good. Still working on getting great audio. Good mics have sure made a big difference. Thanks again, Chris

June 26th, 2003, 11:29 AM	#656
Alfred Tomaszewski Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Shelby Twp., MI Posts: 112	When will they switch the rest of the computers to G5s? i am just wondering if anyone has any idea of when they will switch the imac, emac, and powerbooks to G5 processors. will they then move the ibook to a g4?

June 26th, 2003, 11:52 AM	#657
Vince Denali Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Santa Clara, CA Posts: 33	Sorry Chris. I just joined the group a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I was the fellow that wrote the audio plugins (reverb, EQ, etc.) for Final Cut Pro. It was a challenging project due to the design of their timeline code, so I'm just happy the stuff worked. I'm hoping people are making use of the Hum Remover. It really simplifies the removal of all sorts of hums with harmonics.

June 26th, 2003, 12:01 PM	#658
Kevin Burnfield Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Princeton, NJ Posts: 363	external monitor hell... Okay I'm sure someone out there has a great, easy and quick answer for this one. (G) I just picked up a slightly used Sony PVM-1380, 13" video monitor. I've got a Radeon 8500 AGP card in my G4 from which I'm coming out from the s-video port. (right now I have it adapting from S-Vid to rca to BNC till the s-vid to BNC cable comes) I hooked the monitor up to my XL1S and fed it the true color bars from it. I followed the calibration instructions I found on the web and I was pretty pleased with the results. I played some video from the camera and was also pleased with the results. Then I hooked it up to my Mac and fired up FCP. Set it to use the monitor as the play back... and the video looked like crap. The good news about this is that I hooked the camera back up to the monitor and used the picture to calibrate my NEC 21" computer monitor to show the video in FCP VERY closely to the real video. Quite happy about that. Again though: the video coming over from the computer is off. Too deep, not deep enough. Color off... all sorts of issues. Any suggestions, ideas, opinions? As I said, I'm really pleased with the picture coming from the camera and it will make a great set monitor... but I'd also like to get some editing use out of it. TIA --------------------------------- *Edited to add* ---- I plugged the monitor into the camera while I 'print to tape' ed and I see the picture is where it should be on the monitor coming from FCP... to the camera... to the monitor. (shrug)

June 26th, 2003, 12:43 PM	#659
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Not familiar with the Radeon 8500, but I have a Radeon 7000. It comes with a control panel "Mac2TV" which gives you quite a bit of control over the s-video port. You should be able to adjust your monitor using these controls. However I don't understand why you're having the problem in the first place... Have you set FCP to playback at the highest quality? Caveat: I'm running FCP 3 under MacOS 9.2

June 26th, 2003, 01:07 PM	#660
Kevin Burnfield Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Princeton, NJ Posts: 363	OS X. Don't think the ATI tools like that exsist for it. The video that is going into my camera across the firewire and from there into my monitor is right on the money... There's got to be some settings for the card I guess. I"ll see if I can look around for it.