NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

[Ted Springer]

I'm sure this has been discussed many times, and I tried a search and couldn't find anything too relevant, so here goes:

I am going to be doing a project soon that will be broadcast. I will use an XL1 and edit with Final Cut Pro. No big deal here as I know how to use both. But the main thing I am worried about right now is broadcast legal colors. Is there a way in Final Cut Pro to make sure everything stays in this range? Is there anything else I should know about doing work for broadcast working with the equipment listed above?

[Michael Westphal]

I've been buying LaCie Drives since their very first SCSI "Cirrus" drives. They have always performed well and been very reliable. I have a pair of old "Tsunami" drives stashed away with old projects on them. Currently I have two of the Blue and Silver firewire drives online, storing video projects.

However, I haven't yet seen a Porche drive, but the specs look fine. I'll be needing more space soon, and these are on the list.

LaCie usually includes very good software with their drives, Silverlining is good stuff, although I haven't needed it with OSX.

[Glenn Chan]

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/cc_legal_fcp3.html
That has info on using scopes and the 3-way color corrector and the broadcast safe filter.

If your camera has zebra stripes you can use them to avoid overexposure.

[Glenn Chan]

You can more easily add additional storage to the G4 than the G5. The G4 has an extra PCI slot and more drive bays. The 1.8 G5 uses PCI-X slots which might give an advantage for certain types of storage that involve RAID. You only need RAID if you need the protection against data loss from hard drive failure. If you can recapture if a hard drive fails then you don't need RAID.

Regarding G4 versus G5: My *guess* is that the G5 is faster. If dual 1.25 = a single 2.125 G4 (second processor adds 70% clock speed) then it would be 18% higher clock speed than the G5, but the G5 probably does more work per clock cycle and it has a faster architecture (faster FSB and other things).

For some G5 VS G4 benchmarks...
http://njfcpug.org/g5_benchmarks.html
http://www.creativecow.net/forum/read_thread.php?threadid=401783&forumid=8

You also have to consider whether you need the speed. If you're just doing cuts and dissolves then you don't really need it!

[Rob Wilson]

Todd,

On my DSR 45, you have a choice to set the time code source in the "TC/UB Set" menu. Choosing external on the "DV IN TC" option will use the time code suppled by the DV source. Great for dubbing duplicates. I'm guessing your deck should function in a similar way with menus that are also similar.

[Rob Moreno]

Hi, all.

Dissappointed with FCP4's inability to run on my iBook so I can edit in Offline RT mode during my train commute to work, I decided to try hacking the program to get it to install and run. After about an hour of tinkering, I got it to work!

I put the hacking details on my website.

www.robmoreno.com/fcp4.html

I hope this helps any of you who purchased FCP4 only to find out that it cannot be used with a G3 Mac.

Cheers!

[Jeff Donald]

The aluminum 15 inch PowerBooks have finally arrived. Read about them here. Basic improvements bring the 15 inch inline with the 12 and 17 inch PowerBooks.

[Jeff Donald]

Apple has released the long awaited wireless keyboard and mouse. Details are here. OS 10.2.6 or higher is required. This probably has to do with the latest implementation of BlueTooth

[John Locke]

Nice to know about...thanks for the info, Jeff.

But when...oh when...will 10.3 be released?

[Jeff Donald]

My best guess on 10.3 is sometime next month. It won't be any later than January.

[Rolland Elliott]

I want to create a picture montage type video. Composted mostly of still pictures that are zoomed in, panned across and rotated on screen .

See this company's work for example:
http://www.bluecoremedia.com/movieclips.html

Will a program like Final Cut Express allow me to do this?

the pictures would come from high end 6megapixel digital cameras and be in jpeg format.

Please let me know!

Thanks, Rolland

[Darrell Hinton]

Does the upgrade 4.0.2 that is on the Apple web site include all of the upgrades that were released on the 4.0.1 version? Or do I need to download the .1 upgrade also? I didn't see a link on the Apple site for the .1 upgrade so I figured that .2 included all of the previously upgraded items as well, but I just wanted to make sure.

[Jeff Donald]

I believe it does contain prior upgrades. It will say if you read the "Read Me" file Apple has posted next to the download. It will not install if 4.01 is required. It won't find the necessary components.

[Glenn Chan]

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/basic_fcx_keyframing.html

Yes. That article has info on how to do it. Skip the first bit because it applies for opacity and sound volume keyframing.

Ken stone's site also has an article on the difference between FCE and FCP3. It also has an article on preparing images for Final Cut Pro. Remember to read it for tips on scaling the picture properly to account for non-square pixels.

[Mark Newhouse]

I don't know about FCE, but what you want to do is relatively simple in FCP. However, there is an application that does this, and does it well, called Still Life from Granted Software:

http://www.grantedsw.com/still-life/

In addition to the panning and scanning, it does a great job of batch importing photos from iPhoto libraries and will automatically calculate the duration of images needed to match a given song, or series of songs. And, of course, you can always set that manually.

And then you can export the whole thing into a variety of formats, including those that FCP (and I'd assume FCE) can use.

And it only costs $25!