NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

Ricardo Vigil · July 14th, 2003, 03:59 PM

Okay so I just captured a video and I want to start editing it with my new external monitor.

I have my sony trv20 miniDV cam connected to the firewire port and then the composite video out to the monitor. (9" tv)

In FCE when I select View -> Video -> Firewire nothing happens. I still can't see the video on the monitor. The only settings are RealTime or Firewire, don't I want both though? Am I missing something here?

any help is appreciated. thanks.

Jeff Donald · July 14th, 2003, 04:21 PM

Are you passing the signal through the camera? Some cameras don't support pass through, can you see video in the cameras viewfinder?

Ricardo Vigil · July 14th, 2003, 04:32 PM

I am pretty sure I have the video pass through feature on my camera.

There is no video on the camera's viewfinder either, so video is definitely not coming out the firewire port.

thanks.

Jeff Donald · July 14th, 2003, 06:39 PM

I don't use FCE, so with that said here goes. On FCP 3 (and earlier) there is a command to show all frames. I'm away from my office so I can't check the exact menu bar heading, but look for something similar. Try the settings under that option (might be something like single frame, show all frames etc.

Does it show in your instruction manual the capability to record camera to camera (using your camera as the recorder)?

Ricardo Vigil · July 14th, 2003, 06:40 PM

I got it working!

Apparently on the camera's menu the DV out feature has to be turned off.

Seems kind of odd because you would have to turn it back on in order to capture. but whatever, editing I go!

Justin Morgan · July 15th, 2003, 08:27 AM

Hi

I captured a larg-ish clip the other day and placed about 20 seconds of it into my sequence.

Is there an easy way for me to recapture the clip (just the 20 seconds of it that I'm actually using) so that FCE will easily re-link to it without me having to re-import it and do all the maipulation, filtering and blending etc again.

The reason is that I want to archive the work and that clip alone is 1.4 GB and most of it is unused.

Joel Brian · July 15th, 2003, 09:00 AM

How long have the current PBs been available? Does anyone know if a G5 powerbook is coming soon? I'm thinking of getting a G4, but I don't want to buy it, only to have newer models come out in a month or something....

I know that the G5s have a question about the heat they give off, and that might require some re-engineering in a notebook form factor for cooling purposes, but nonetheless, I wasn't sure how long the current ones have been in the marketplace (I did notice that Apple lowered their prices on them recently--usually a sign that they're trying to move them out...)

Thanks!!!!

Jeff Donald · July 15th, 2003, 02:15 PM

G5 PowerBooks are not expected until after the first of the year. They may be announced at MacWorld SF in January and ship late winter. However, Apple surprised everyone by making some updates before the Holidays last year (early November), but I wouldn't expect that this year.

The G5 chip presents some serious technical issues that will need to be resolved. Not the least of which are power consumption and heat dissipation. Apple is rumored to be working on a dual processor G5 PowerBook, but that would not be available until 2005, if at all.

Jeff Donald · July 15th, 2003, 02:23 PM

Glad to hear you got it figured out.

Charles Papert · July 15th, 2003, 10:58 PM

Jeff, when will we see a revised 15" G4 Powerbook that will have the same feature set and construction as its bigger and smaller brothers? I've been waiting because I have a Goldilocks-type preference for this "just right" sized laptop, but I don't want to buy yesterdays' model.

Rob Lohman · July 16th, 2003, 03:24 AM

Some NLE's have an option to save a project with only the portion
of media you are using so you can delete the longer not needed
clips. I don't know if FCE has such a feature....

Bud Kuenzli · July 16th, 2003, 10:55 AM

why would you export the clip and reimport it? I have also, on occassion, found a clip that was out of sync by one or two seconds. It is not the same phenomena as a clip that goes out of sync over time due to the strange Canon time code; it is an across the board sync mistake of one or two seconds. that sounds like your problem here. In that case you just move the separate the audio from the video in FCP, move the audio till it matches the video and tell FCP that the two are now in synch and lock them together. There is no need to export and re-import. You may wish to export it to tape so you have an in-sync master, but that's about it. Maybe I'm missing something here....

Jeff Donald · July 16th, 2003, 01:25 PM

Ah, the $64,000 question. If something isn't announced by the middle of August, I would expect it in early November, just in time for the Holidays. Products run in cycles and they may want it in the hands of back to school students. It would not surprise me to see an announcement soon.

Justin Morgan · July 17th, 2003, 02:58 AM

Thanks Rob - FCE manual doesn't seem to mention it... So, I guess from the lack of responses that it isn't possible. If this is the case could somebody please confirm - I will then get on and do it.

Thanks
Justin

Ram Nagarajan · July 18th, 2003, 09:32 AM

Jeff, sorry for not replying to your post for so long - internet connection problems, I'm afraid! :-)
Yup, ran a defragment and system optimize and the problem went right away. BTW, both my drives (80 GB and 40 GB) are internal IDE 7200 RPM IBMdrives. The 40 GB carries all the software - OS and FCP - and the 80 GB carries all (and I mean ALL) the media.
For those using Norton Utilities for Mac maintenance - did you find a difference in system optimization using the 'General' and 'Multimedia' settings? I find the General setting gives smoother performance even when I only organized the media disk - curious, since the literature suggests that the Multimeia setting should actually work better in video editing systems.
Best,
Ram

July 14th, 2003, 03:59 PM	#751
Ricardo Vigil New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Location: Tempe, AZ Posts: 8	external video issues. Okay so I just captured a video and I want to start editing it with my new external monitor. I have my sony trv20 miniDV cam connected to the firewire port and then the composite video out to the monitor. (9" tv) In FCE when I select View -> Video -> Firewire nothing happens. I still can't see the video on the monitor. The only settings are RealTime or Firewire, don't I want both though? Am I missing something here? any help is appreciated. thanks.

July 14th, 2003, 04:21 PM	#752
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Are you passing the signal through the camera? Some cameras don't support pass through, can you see video in the cameras viewfinder? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 14th, 2003, 06:39 PM	#754
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	I don't use FCE, so with that said here goes. On FCP 3 (and earlier) there is a command to show all frames. I'm away from my office so I can't check the exact menu bar heading, but look for something similar. Try the settings under that option (might be something like single frame, show all frames etc. Does it show in your instruction manual the capability to record camera to camera (using your camera as the recorder)? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 15th, 2003, 08:27 AM	#756
Justin Morgan Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: London Posts: 189	Final Cut Express Re-capture Hi I captured a larg-ish clip the other day and placed about 20 seconds of it into my sequence. Is there an easy way for me to recapture the clip (just the 20 seconds of it that I'm actually using) so that FCE will easily re-link to it without me having to re-import it and do all the maipulation, filtering and blending etc again. The reason is that I want to archive the work and that clip alone is 1.4 GB and most of it is unused.

July 15th, 2003, 09:00 AM	#757
Joel Brian Tourist Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3	New Powerbooks?? How long have the current PBs been available? Does anyone know if a G5 powerbook is coming soon? I'm thinking of getting a G4, but I don't want to buy it, only to have newer models come out in a month or something.... I know that the G5s have a question about the heat they give off, and that might require some re-engineering in a notebook form factor for cooling purposes, but nonetheless, I wasn't sure how long the current ones have been in the marketplace (I did notice that Apple lowered their prices on them recently--usually a sign that they're trying to move them out...) Thanks!!!!

July 14th, 2003, 04:32 PM	#753
Ricardo Vigil New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Location: Tempe, AZ Posts: 8	I am pretty sure I have the video pass through feature on my camera. There is no video on the camera's viewfinder either, so video is definitely not coming out the firewire port. thanks.

July 14th, 2003, 06:40 PM	#755
Ricardo Vigil New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Location: Tempe, AZ Posts: 8	I got it working! Apparently on the camera's menu the DV out feature has to be turned off. Seems kind of odd because you would have to turn it back on in order to capture. but whatever, editing I go!

July 15th, 2003, 02:15 PM	#758
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	G5 PowerBooks are not expected until after the first of the year. They may be announced at MacWorld SF in January and ship late winter. However, Apple surprised everyone by making some updates before the Holidays last year (early November), but I wouldn't expect that this year. The G5 chip presents some serious technical issues that will need to be resolved. Not the least of which are power consumption and heat dissipation. Apple is rumored to be working on a dual processor G5 PowerBook, but that would not be available until 2005, if at all. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 15th, 2003, 02:23 PM	#759
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Glad to hear you got it figured out. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 15th, 2003, 10:58 PM	#760
Charles Papert Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 6,810	Jeff, when will we see a revised 15" G4 Powerbook that will have the same feature set and construction as its bigger and smaller brothers? I've been waiting because I have a Goldilocks-type preference for this "just right" sized laptop, but I don't want to buy yesterdays' model. __________________ Charles Papert www.charlespapert.com

July 16th, 2003, 03:24 AM	#761
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Some NLE's have an option to save a project with only the portion of media you are using so you can delete the longer not needed clips. I don't know if FCE has such a feature.... __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 16th, 2003, 10:55 AM	#762
Bud Kuenzli Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: North Pole, Alaska Posts: 197	reimport? why would you export the clip and reimport it? I have also, on occassion, found a clip that was out of sync by one or two seconds. It is not the same phenomena as a clip that goes out of sync over time due to the strange Canon time code; it is an across the board sync mistake of one or two seconds. that sounds like your problem here. In that case you just move the separate the audio from the video in FCP, move the audio till it matches the video and tell FCP that the two are now in synch and lock them together. There is no need to export and re-import. You may wish to export it to tape so you have an in-sync master, but that's about it. Maybe I'm missing something here.... __________________ on the Internet, when you get where you're going you still don't know where you are

July 16th, 2003, 01:25 PM	#763
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Ah, the $64,000 question. If something isn't announced by the middle of August, I would expect it in early November, just in time for the Holidays. Products run in cycles and they may want it in the hands of back to school students. It would not surprise me to see an announcement soon. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 17th, 2003, 02:58 AM	#764
Justin Morgan Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: London Posts: 189	Thanks Rob - FCE manual doesn't seem to mention it... So, I guess from the lack of responses that it isn't possible. If this is the case could somebody please confirm - I will then get on and do it. Thanks Justin

July 18th, 2003, 09:32 AM	#765
Ram Nagarajan Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: New Delhi, India Posts: 107	Jeff, sorry for not replying to your post for so long - internet connection problems, I'm afraid! :-) Yup, ran a defragment and system optimize and the problem went right away. BTW, both my drives (80 GB and 40 GB) are internal IDE 7200 RPM IBMdrives. The 40 GB carries all the software - OS and FCP - and the 80 GB carries all (and I mean ALL) the media. For those using Norton Utilities for Mac maintenance - did you find a difference in system optimization using the 'General' and 'Multimedia' settings? I find the General setting gives smoother performance even when I only organized the media disk - curious, since the literature suggests that the Multimeia setting should actually work better in video editing systems. Best, Ram