NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

[Jeff Donald]

This update has a long list of improvements, so here goes:

These are some of the enhancements that are part of Mac OS X 10.3.2 Update:

Address Book and Mail enhancements

Mail moves messages marked as junk to the Junk mailbox more reliably.

In Address Book, you can now configure Exchange synchronization with either a hostname or full server URL, including a (https://) URL to automatically use SSL.

Improves syncing between Address Book and Microsoft Exchange.

You can now move an email to a different mailbox if you use an email server that previously didn't allow this and an "The destination mailbox does not exist" alert would appear.

Improves results when using Mail with a .Mac or IMAP account and an SSL connection.

Networking enhancements

Improves results when looking for SMB-based servers in the Network view.

Resolves an issue in which the Mac OS X firewall could no longer be available if you perform an upgrade installation of Mac OS X Panther.

Allows automatic configuration of proxy servers via Proxy Auto Configuration (.pac) files.

Resolves an issue that could prevent the computer from getting a DHCP lease after certain kernel extensions were unloaded and reloaded.

Improves DNS for Mac OS 10.2 clients that use a shared Internet connection from a Mac OS X Panther computer.

Resolves an issue with getting or maintaining an IP address via DHCP, under certain conditions.
Addresses an issue in which the L2TP VPN could not connect with leftover racoon.pid.

Print and fax enhancements

The size of printouts from certain applications, including Safari, has been fixed.

Addresses an issue in which an "No pages were selected to be printed in this document" alert appears when printing from Mail or Safari, before the application unexpectedly quits.

Improves compatibility for Microsoft Virtual PC 6.1's emulated printing features.

You can now save faxes in a folder whose name includes a 2-byte character.

Addresses an issue with some USB PostScript printers, including the HP Laserjet 2300, Lexmark E310, and GCC Elite 21, in which a "Printer not responding" message appears when you add the printer in Printer Setup Utility, or when you try to print.

Improves compatibility for Brother HL 1240 printers when used on an AirPort network with Rendezvous; an alert message with "-9672" could appear when adding the printer.

Addresses an issue in which an application could unexpectedly quit when sending a fax to several recipients.

Improves compatibility for some Lexmark printers when they print an A4-sized page.

Improves reliability of Mac OS X Panther's fax email delivery feature.

Finder and other enhancements

Addresses issues that could keep a disk image from appearing in the Finder when you open its file.

You can now eject a FireWire-based volume from the Finder without entering an administrator password.

Improves security of background applications when Screen Saver is on, and when entering a Screen Saver password.

The Repair Permissions utility no longer reports a permissions issue with the printer.conf file.

Character Palette no longer appears when you log in or after the computer wakes from sleep.

iTunes will keep importing songs from an audio CD if you switch to another account.

FileVault no longer prompts to recover unused disk space each time you log out; it will now ask only when needed.

A FontBook collection's name, if it included a slash, or solidus, character ("/"), could cause issues; you can no longer use a slash in a FontBook collection's name.

Addresses an issue in which a PowerBook G4 computer may stop responding when a Classic application's window is moved.

The consonant of the first character for certain words entered using the Simplified Chinese ABC input method is no longer ignored.

Improves compatibility for CH Products' joysticks and flight yokes.

Improves compatibility for MagTek credit card readers.

Improves reliability of third-party FireWire audio hardware devices.

More reliably recognizes some FireWire devices, including the iSight camera.

You can update via the Software Update panel in preferences. Do not update via the panel, but rather choose to download the update. The stand alone installer is not yet available, but Ill post a link when it is.

[Michael McConnell]

Sweet, Im goin to check the site out now--

[Matthew Kaplan]

I just bought soundsoap. I own Final Cut Pro 3, but I have no idea what I did with my Peak DV disc.

Is there a way to use soundsoap with Final Cut Pro 3 WITHOUT Peak DV?

If so, could someone please tell me how.

Thank you.

[Christopher C. Murphy]

I bought Soundsoap too, but it kinda stinks. I'd suggest using Adobe's Audition (used to be Cool Edit Pro) or something else with more options. Soundsoap doesn't have any options worth the money - it's to basic for something that requires lots of tweaking. I found that Cool Edit Pro was really good and also the Wave plugins that can be used with Digital Performer and ProTools are good too.

Chris

[Michiel van der Zeeuw]

Hiya

Before I start testing and playing around with settings, I was wondering if someone can tell me what the best export and render settings are between FCP and After Effects.

I'm editing in FCP 3 with 25 fps DVCAM PAL footage, and want to have my FCP-exported (and subsequently) AE rendered files to come as close to that format as possible.

Thaks in advance - sorry to be lazy ;-)

[Graeme Nattress]

For that workflow, I like to export uncompressed out of FCP (Animation codec 100%) and render back out to that codec from AE, take the video back into FCP, and finally render out to DV to go to tape. It sounds painful, but it preserves the quality as best as I know how.

Graeme

[Jeff Donald]

QuickTime 6.5 is available via Software Update in System Preferences. The update is also available as a stand alone installer here.

Improvements are listed as:



QuickTime 6.5 delivers a number of new features and important updates, including:
• Creation and playback of mobile multimedia in the new 3GPP2 format.
• Creation and playback of mobile multimedia in the popular AMC format.
• Improved text track support.
• Enhanced DV playback options.
• Enhanced support for iMovie, iDVD, and Final Cut Pro.

[Ted Springer]

What is the AMC format? If I don't know what it is, it can't be that popular. They make it sound like everyone uses it.

Anyone gonna take the plunge? I am curious what "Enhanced DV Playback Options" are. What could that possibly mean?

Final Cut Pro 4.1.1 is also available, but it is only for Chinese people. Not sure why it shows up in my Software Update panel. Livetype is also updated as well as iTunes.

[Ted Springer]

At work we use a lot of external firewire drives to move tons of data around from Mac to Mac. All connectors are 6-pin to 6-pin. They all also require external AC power to operate. I thought that the 6 pin firewire configuration had the extra two pins to transfer power. So why do I have to plug the drives in to an AC outlet to work? Shouldn't they get their power from the system? If not, then why are they using 6-pin? Couldn't they use 4-pin connectors?

[Boyd Ostroff]

We have a couple smaller firewire drives (10 or 20 GB IIRC) at work that we bought nearly 3 years ago to backup a mac server. They are indeed powered by the firewire cable and have always worked fine on our old G4/450. But they're the very slow old notebook drives. I don't know if they are still made, but I thought some of those tiny "pocket drives" were also like that. Again, I suspect they're slow mechanisms, and those little drives are also usually expensive.

I've asked the same question around here before and never gotten much response. I'd love to have an external drive to plug into my powerbook that was fast enough for editing. But I'm sure that would suck down the battery pretty fast (if the powerbook is even capable of powering a drive that way).

Just judging by how warm some of my full size 160 GB firewire drives get it makes me wonder if the firewire interface is capable of delivering that sort of current. The brick on one of those says it delivers 5v @ 1.5a and 12v @1.5a.

[Jeff Donald]

The better external FW drives incorporate a fan also. The FW buss does not provide enough power to run a fan, drive and controller etc. There are several small, portable drives available that are buss powered and allow editing via FW. Ken uses the Wiebe Tech drives for this, I believe.

[Ken Tanaka]

Approximately a year ago an article was published indicating that Walter Murch was using Final Cut Pro to edit "Cold Mountain". With the introduction of the film, Apple has published its own interview on their site. A 16 month editing job...ughh! I hope they weren't paying him by the hour.

[J. Clayton Stansberry]

There's also an interview in Post Magazine this month, which can be found at the following link...

http://www.postmagazine.com/post/art...l.jsp?id=79165

Can't wait to see the movie!!! Score FCP! :)

[Matthew Kaplan]

Are all those programs you listed for the mac?

I assume so, just wondering.

Which one is the best to get.

So far soundsoap is doing a decent job.

[Neo Castillo]

Imovie 3.0+ is free for download. there is no need to buy OSX if you dont want or need to. Just DL thought Updates in the systme preference or support on apples site.