NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

[Ken Tanaka]

You'll at least need to tell us what editing system and version you are using.

[Rick Banfield]

Sorry,
FCP 3 on g4 twin processor, 1gig ram

Rick Banfield

[Ken Tanaka]

Rick,
Hard to know the cause of your scrubber jerkiness. Here are the two thoughts that come to my mind.
- Un-rendered footage effects?
- Your capture/scratch drive (i.e. where the footage and/or rendered footage is located) is getting full or is badly fragmented.

Re: the green check mark, it sounds like you may have turned-on the broadcast-safe checker, which will indicate the status of footage with such marks.

[Glenn Chan]

Turn off range check.

View--> range check I believe.

[Glenn Chan]

Steve, only some cameras support recording all 4 channels live. The XL1s comes to mind. Other cameras will only let you record 2 channels at once and the other 2 channels are for dubbing over later (kinda useless).

With most cameras the on-board mic is disabled when you have an external mic plugged in. There is an exception including the Sony zoom mics (which aren't very good).

In FCP you can have lots of tracks but the output is ultimately stereo sound.

[Glenn Chan]

Matrox has been very late in coming up with drivers for OS X and Panther drivers are not out yet. The card's RT abilities weren't very useful when FCP*3* came out and even less useful now that FCP4 came out.

I definitely wouldn't pay $600USD for one. There are a lot of folks trying to ditch their cards- just get it used if you really want one.

You might want to look into the Powerlogix processor upgrades for your Mac instead although your Mac may not be as fast as the latest G4s of same processor speed.

[Michael Botkin]

Just wanted to let you guys know how my situation turned out. I have my PC, iMac, and G5 networked together. I dragged the FCE project file from the iMac to the G5 and 2x clicked on it. FCP 4 opened and said "File format is outdated, would you like to update?" I clicked yes, and it opened the entire project, sequences etc. in FCP4 and AUTOMATICALLY changed the target path of my source footage over the network to the iMac. I played my footage in the timeline, and the freakin thing played back in realtime, with the effects! You gotta love the Mac's. Keep in mind I never copied the source files over from the iMac, and I can even export with the files still on the iMac w/ no dropped frames.

Michael

[Jaime Valles]

Hello, all! Just a quick question about this monitor:

http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/detail.asp?dpno=248019

I found this monitor on sale at PCMall, and it looks good on paper (DVI connection, good contrast & viewing angle). Right now, I have about $750 to spend on a monitor for doing heavy video editing on Final Cut Pro 4. I had been thinking about a 22" CRT, but now I'm wondering if a dual display setup with the Sony monitor above would be better. Here are the Pros & Cons of each, as far as I can tell:

22" CRT (Mitsubichi Diamond Pro 2070SB):

Max resolution: 2048 x 1536 @ 85 Hz (recommended 1600x1200)
More accurate color
4 Port USB hub
Weight: 65.7 lbs
Takes up a LOT of space
Not energy efficient/lots of heat output
VGA connection
2 gray horizontal lines across the screen (Wires for the aperture grille)
About $700

2 15" Sony LCD monitors (SDM-S53/B ):

Max resolution: 2048 x 768 widescreen (both monitors combined, I think)
DVI connection for both (adding 1 ADC-to-DVI connector)
Weight: 10.1 lbs each
Energy efficient/little heat output
Takes up VERY LITTLE space
Not as color accurate as a CRT
Possible dead pixels
About $700

So, there you have it. Believe me, if I could afford a 20" Apple Cinema Display, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. But I just can't. I've heard of a lot of people using a dual display setup and loving it, but it usually involves 17" LCDs, not 15" ones. I'm guessing the widescreen nature of the dual display is good for video editing timelines, bins, etc., but maybe one BIG desktop without a split in the middle is better for that.

I'd really appreciate any feedback on this, as I'll be making this purchase later this week. Thanks!

[Boyd Ostroff]

I can't comment on these specific monitors, but I do use both a 15" Samsung SyncMaster 151MP LCD screen and an Apple 21" (CRT) studio display. I think the Apple screen is actually a trinitron. I run the CRT at 1600 x 1200 and the LCD at 1024x768.

All I can say is that the image on the Apple 21" CRT is way, way better than the 15" LCD. And for the sort of things I do (like CAD, 3D modeling, etc) I find the 1600x1200 screen much more productive. I wouldn't consider swapping my 21" screen for 2 cheap LCD's, but that's a personal preference.

My CRT also has those faint lines, but I thought only the Sony Trinitrons had that. Am I mistaken, or does Mitsubishi get their screens from Sony? And yeah, those big CRT's are large and HEAVY! Had to send mine in to repair a bad power supply a couple months after I got it, and when it came back from Apple all the paperwork refered to it as the "Moby Display". Apt name. ;-)

[Matthew Kaplan]

I used a DVX-100 to make my short film. On the advice of people on this board, I record to both channels, but kept channel one a bit lower than channel two so I could pick and choose which one sounded better (just in case the audio popped on channel two during a take).

I noticed that when I play it back, the audio pops a lot and I assume it's because they channels are slighlty off and one of them gets a bit louder.

So I assume I should pick either channel one or two and get rid of the other one?

then should I take the one channel of sound and make it a stereo pair?

How do you do that?

Thank you.

[Jaime Valles]

Yeah, the Mitsubishi Diamond Pro monitor has a trinitron screen, I believe. I know it has the 2 faint lines across it.

http://www.necmitsubishi.com/products/home/mitsubishi_index.cfm

I figured I'd be better off with the 22" CRT for image quality. I've just never seen LCD with digital connectors for that cheap, and they're Sony! I guess before I buy anything I should actually see the display in action. I'm still leaning more towards the CRT, but if anyone can present a valid case for the 2 LCDs, I'm all ears (or eyes, I guess).

Thanks, Boyd!

[Boyd Ostroff]

First you may need to unlink the audio from the video using the Link command from the Modify menu. Furthermore, you may also need to unlink the two stereo channels using the stereo pair command in the Modify menu.

Once you've done this, double-click on each of the audio tracks; it opens in the viewer. There are two controls at the top of the window, "level" and "pan". They can be adjusted either numerically or with the sliders. If you only want to use one track at a low level, or not at all, adjust the slider accordingly. Then use the pan slider to position the other channel where you like in the stereo image.

I guess I should clarify: these techniques work in FCP3... you don't actually mention what software you're using...

[Rich Sheikh]

I'm looking to buy an external dvd burner for a G3 imac. Anyone know which is best to buy for a mac running OS9.1 ? Also, will software come with the unit?

[Jeff Donald]

Some external burners come with software and some don't. iDVD will not work and would be pretty slow on a G3. It should work fine for burning data to DVD's for archiving.

[Stephan Verdier]

I just upgraded my system to FCP4 and I'm using an AG-DVX100. When I was printing to tape under FCP3 the camera was able to receive the regen TC from the timeline. Under FCP4 I can't get the regen TC as preset on the timeline. I only get 00:00:00:00 during the whole recording.

How can we resolve this problem ?

Also, is FCP4 and the AG-DVX100 capable of a remote Print to Tape. Now, I must start my recording manually.