NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2004

Olaf Olgiati · February 17th, 2004, 08:06 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Graeme Nattress : Unless you've bought MB already, you could take a look at my Film Effects package (www.nattress.com) which will do all that you need while remaining inside FCP and getting faster render times too.

Cheers. Just downloaded the demo for your page. I'll surely give it a try

Patricia Kim · February 17th, 2004, 03:15 PM

I still have WMP for Mac v.7 on my PB and it plays asf files taken from the sd card on my cam - but I have a Panasonic, not a Canon.

Eric Martin Jarvies · February 17th, 2004, 05:10 PM

hello,

i am currently trying to determine what i/o card/box i need to purchase, as well as a jbod drive system capable of playing back high res files. as such, this is my situation:

i need to take a series of images(stop frame animation) that are 2k scans(35mm) ... not telecine, but actual sequencial RGB files(raw or tiff). these files will be individually edited(special fx, compositing, etc.) and then they will need to be downsized to hd so i can play them as movies and view the quality of the footage itself, and the footage/frame/sequencial images with compositing/fx added to them. the final product will be a DVD, and a digital intermediate 35mm film print. therefore, it is extremely important i am able to edit these 2k image files so they can be output back to film, as well as be downsized to hd, sd, and dv for dvd and tape output.

can anyone offer some real world, sound advice as it relates to being able to do this realistically and without a great deal of problems? i have a dual g5 2 gig computer with 8gb of ram.

i am considering the decklink hd card and the xraid from apple. perhaps 8 u320 scsi jbod drives in a dual channel casing with dual channel card. i have looked at cinewave, pinnicle, aja, etc., but really cannot determine which setup will best serve my needs. any help is greatly apreciated.

eric

Nick Moore · February 18th, 2004, 07:01 AM

Hello,

i have a fully legit copy of FCP4 that i need to use but my iBook, 900 mhz will not run the programme what whould users reccomend,

i think the ibook is not up to FCP, no? well what could i get for about a grand, like, i would like a powerbook but this is out of my range, a G5 is similar price, basically for good editing on FCP 4 what machin do i need to get

ive been looking at a G4 desktop, arounf 80gb hard druve/1.25 Ghz processor/ 768 mb ram, what does this sound like/????

Cheers All

Nick

Boyd Ostroff · February 18th, 2004, 07:16 AM

I'm running FCP3 on a system like this, but with more RAM (G4/1.25 ghz/1.28 gb RAM). I haven't tried FCP4, but have no doubt that it would run. These machines should still be available new for around $1,300. You will also want a second hard drive, either internal or firewire, bad idea to edit video from your system drive. I use a second 160MB internal drive and a bunch of firewire drives.

Jeff Donald · February 18th, 2004, 07:53 AM

FCP 4.x requires a minimum of a G4 processor to run. I believe your iBook uses a G3, hence the inability to run FCP 4. I agree with Boyd on the use of a dual processor G4 Power Mac and an economical solution. You might also look into the eMacs, as some users report fair performance with FCP 4. The new iBooks use G4 processors and might be an option if you need portability. Real Time video performance will be limited, but the iBook is an option.

Alexis Vazquez · February 18th, 2004, 12:23 PM

I run once FCP 3 in a PowerBook G3. I uninstalled cause it was a friend who install it (as a favor) but it did run well.

Chris Korrow · February 18th, 2004, 12:34 PM

I'm Using a G4/1ghz eMac with 768mb ram and am very satisfied, though I'm going to be maxing out my ram soon. Chris

Rob Lohman · February 18th, 2004, 05:48 PM

I'm not a Mac specialist at all but don't you need the Cinema Tools
for this with the high resolution hardware that Apple sells ($$$)?
I've seen some demos of that on IBC last year.

Eivind Vaa · February 18th, 2004, 11:49 PM

I copied a quicktime file from one disk to another on my mac the other day, it's an hour's worth of video, and makes up half of my 2 hour sequence in Final Cut. I just dicovered that the file, now in it's new position, has changed from being a quicktime file to just showing up as a plain document file, thus rendering half of my project offline. The size is identical with the movie (ca. 13 gigs).

This happened on my G5, with OSX and FCP4. Any help greatly appreciated!

Marko Sullivan · February 20th, 2004, 02:37 PM

I agree with Richard, for 5k, look into buying an Avid Xpress DV turnkey solution. I've been editing with Media 100 and Avid Media Composer for years (for the Media100 it wasn't by choice - I was assigned the position to edit with it because my old company bought one and they'd be damned if that room wasn't getting booked). I've found that professional production houses (at least around Boston) use some form of Avid. If you're not an Avid editor, you're not really taken seriously. I know some of you might be offended, but that's just the way it is.

Paul Moore · February 20th, 2004, 11:27 PM

Well i have an idea. I cant tell you why it happend but i might be able to help u get it back. make a copy of the file like it is now and put it in a safe place. Then take one of the copies and just tell the OS to open it as a quicktime document by default. If the data isnt trashed you should be back in business. You might have to find the media again in FCP but if it works im sure that wont be much of an issue.

Carl Russo · February 20th, 2004, 11:55 PM

Thanks to you all for your input!

As someone who wants to edit my own stuff--as oppsed to seeking a pro job in post-production--my main concern is a good-looking final piece with ease of use, maximum of options and minimum of system crashes. In the end, content is king, right?

Also, is the G5 so different in design that it can't be considered the the succeeding generation of the G4?

Gratefully yours,
Carl Russo

Ram Nagarajan · February 21st, 2004, 07:14 AM

Evind, Paul's absolutely spot on: In 99% of the cases, this is an OSX file system goof up. You can rename the file if you need to, CTRL + click it, and choose the programme you wish to open the file with with the commnad you'll see on the menu that opens up. You should be able to open the file then. In FCP, choose the reconnect media option by CTRL-clicking on the offline media file, selecting reconnect media, and relinking it to the file you have (hopefully) recovered. If you've renamed the file, be sure the Mathcing name only option is unclicked, or it won't let you select the renamed file.
Hope this helps! Best of luck!
Ram

Shaggy Franks · February 21st, 2004, 07:20 AM

Hi,

I kinda have a big Problem with Capturing.
Using Canon XL1s, PowerBook 1.33Ghz aka 17 inch and Final Cut Pro 4

Ok when I start to Capture the Footage (Firewire Pal or/and Firewire Pal Basic)
it will just stop during the Capture but the DV is still rolling.
After a bit I'll get a error (can't remember what is was) something about drop frame or Tape has reached the end of the Tape. Which is not true or it will just sit there and fill my Hard drive up with
non usable DV files.

Oh yeah my scratch disk is a LaCie 120Gig.
Connection: Xl1s to LaCie to PowerBook.
I also tried straight to the Powerbook.

um help

Thanks

P.S. i already tried reinstalling FCP, didn't help :)

February 17th, 2004, 08:06 AM	#211
Olaf Olgiati New Boot Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: London, UK Posts: 5	<<<-- Originally posted by Graeme Nattress : Unless you've bought MB already, you could take a look at my Film Effects package (www.nattress.com) which will do all that you need while remaining inside FCP and getting faster render times too. Cheers. Just downloaded the demo for your page. I'll surely give it a try __________________ -- Bye, Olaf Olgiati http://www.milliwaysmovies.com

February 17th, 2004, 05:10 PM	#213
Eric Martin Jarvies Tourist Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Cabo San Lucas, BCS Mexico Posts: 4	best playback card for sequencial rgb files direct to dvd master hello, i am currently trying to determine what i/o card/box i need to purchase, as well as a jbod drive system capable of playing back high res files. as such, this is my situation: i need to take a series of images(stop frame animation) that are 2k scans(35mm) ... not telecine, but actual sequencial RGB files(raw or tiff). these files will be individually edited(special fx, compositing, etc.) and then they will need to be downsized to hd so i can play them as movies and view the quality of the footage itself, and the footage/frame/sequencial images with compositing/fx added to them. the final product will be a DVD, and a digital intermediate 35mm film print. therefore, it is extremely important i am able to edit these 2k image files so they can be output back to film, as well as be downsized to hd, sd, and dv for dvd and tape output. can anyone offer some real world, sound advice as it relates to being able to do this realistically and without a great deal of problems? i have a dual g5 2 gig computer with 8gb of ram. i am considering the decklink hd card and the xraid from apple. perhaps 8 u320 scsi jbod drives in a dual channel casing with dual channel card. i have looked at cinewave, pinnicle, aja, etc., but really cannot determine which setup will best serve my needs. any help is greatly apreciated. eric __________________ eMj

February 18th, 2004, 07:01 AM	#214
Nick Moore Tourist Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 4	MAC for FCP4 Hello, i have a fully legit copy of FCP4 that i need to use but my iBook, 900 mhz will not run the programme what whould users reccomend, i think the ibook is not up to FCP, no? well what could i get for about a grand, like, i would like a powerbook but this is out of my range, a G5 is similar price, basically for good editing on FCP 4 what machin do i need to get ive been looking at a G4 desktop, arounf 80gb hard druve/1.25 Ghz processor/ 768 mb ram, what does this sound like/???? Cheers All Nick __________________ we must continue to fight for the freedom we allready possess

February 18th, 2004, 07:53 AM	#216
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	FCP 4.x requires a minimum of a G4 processor to run. I believe your iBook uses a G3, hence the inability to run FCP 4. I agree with Boyd on the use of a dual processor G4 Power Mac and an economical solution. You might also look into the eMacs, as some users report fair performance with FCP 4. The new iBooks use G4 processors and might be an option if you need portability. Real Time video performance will be limited, but the iBook is an option. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

February 18th, 2004, 05:48 PM	#219
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	I'm not a Mac specialist at all but don't you need the Cinema Tools for this with the high resolution hardware that Apple sells ($$$)? I've seen some demos of that on IBC last year. __________________ 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

February 17th, 2004, 03:15 PM	#212
Patricia Kim Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii Posts: 453	I still have WMP for Mac v.7 on my PB and it plays asf files taken from the sd card on my cam - but I have a Panasonic, not a Canon.

February 18th, 2004, 07:16 AM	#215
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,801	I'm running FCP3 on a system like this, but with more RAM (G4/1.25 ghz/1.28 gb RAM). I haven't tried FCP4, but have no doubt that it would run. These machines should still be available new for around $1,300. You will also want a second hard drive, either internal or firewire, bad idea to edit video from your system drive. I use a second 160MB internal drive and a bunch of firewire drives.

February 18th, 2004, 12:23 PM	#217
Alexis Vazquez Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: USA Posts: 188	I run once FCP 3 in a PowerBook G3. I uninstalled cause it was a friend who install it (as a favor) but it did run well.

February 18th, 2004, 12:34 PM	#218
Chris Korrow Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Whidbey Is, WA Posts: 326	I'm Using a G4/1ghz eMac with 768mb ram and am very satisfied, though I'm going to be maxing out my ram soon. Chris

February 18th, 2004, 11:49 PM	#220
Eivind Vaa Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Norway Posts: 35	Help needed! Movie file identity crisis! I copied a quicktime file from one disk to another on my mac the other day, it's an hour's worth of video, and makes up half of my 2 hour sequence in Final Cut. I just dicovered that the file, now in it's new position, has changed from being a quicktime file to just showing up as a plain document file, thus rendering half of my project offline. The size is identical with the movie (ca. 13 gigs). This happened on my G5, with OSX and FCP4. Any help greatly appreciated! __________________ Eivind Vaa

February 20th, 2004, 02:37 PM	#221
Marko Sullivan Tourist Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 2	I agree with Richard, for 5k, look into buying an Avid Xpress DV turnkey solution. I've been editing with Media 100 and Avid Media Composer for years (for the Media100 it wasn't by choice - I was assigned the position to edit with it because my old company bought one and they'd be damned if that room wasn't getting booked). I've found that professional production houses (at least around Boston) use some form of Avid. If you're not an Avid editor, you're not really taken seriously. I know some of you might be offended, but that's just the way it is.

February 20th, 2004, 11:27 PM	#222
Paul Moore Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Morrisville, PA Posts: 30	Well i have an idea. I cant tell you why it happend but i might be able to help u get it back. make a copy of the file like it is now and put it in a safe place. Then take one of the copies and just tell the OS to open it as a quicktime document by default. If the data isnt trashed you should be back in business. You might have to find the media again in FCP but if it works im sure that wont be much of an issue.

February 20th, 2004, 11:55 PM	#223
Carl Russo New Boot Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: San Francisco Posts: 15	Thanks to you all for your input! As someone who wants to edit my own stuff--as oppsed to seeking a pro job in post-production--my main concern is a good-looking final piece with ease of use, maximum of options and minimum of system crashes. In the end, content is king, right? Also, is the G5 so different in design that it can't be considered the the succeeding generation of the G4? Gratefully yours, Carl Russo

February 21st, 2004, 07:14 AM	#224
Ram Nagarajan Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: New Delhi, India Posts: 107	Evind, Paul's absolutely spot on: In 99% of the cases, this is an OSX file system goof up. You can rename the file if you need to, CTRL + click it, and choose the programme you wish to open the file with with the commnad you'll see on the menu that opens up. You should be able to open the file then. In FCP, choose the reconnect media option by CTRL-clicking on the offline media file, selecting reconnect media, and relinking it to the file you have (hopefully) recovered. If you've renamed the file, be sure the Mathcing name only option is unclicked, or it won't let you select the renamed file. Hope this helps! Best of luck! Ram __________________ First they laugh at you Then they fight you Then they negotiate with you ...Then you win!

February 21st, 2004, 07:20 AM	#225
Shaggy Franks Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Georgia Posts: 76	Capturing Problems Hi, I kinda have a big Problem with Capturing. Using Canon XL1s, PowerBook 1.33Ghz aka 17 inch and Final Cut Pro 4 Ok when I start to Capture the Footage (Firewire Pal or/and Firewire Pal Basic) it will just stop during the Capture but the DV is still rolling. After a bit I'll get a error (can't remember what is was) something about drop frame or Tape has reached the end of the Tape. Which is not true or it will just sit there and fill my Hard drive up with non usable DV files. Oh yeah my scratch disk is a LaCie 120Gig. Connection: Xl1s to LaCie to PowerBook. I also tried straight to the Powerbook. um help Thanks P.S. i already tried reinstalling FCP, didn't help :)