NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2004

Glenn Chan · April 14th, 2004, 01:24 PM

Instructions at http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/index.html

Get a 7200rpm drive instead of a 5400rpm. Bigger capacity drives are slightly faster, have more storage (which you can easily use up, and you are very unproductive when you don't have enough), sometimes give a better GB:$ ratio, and are more futureproof. I'd lean a bit towards getting a bigger drive than you think you need.

Seagate, Western Digital, and Hitachi are good. You can wait out for a hot deal on hard drives by checking hot deal sites. Look at expired deals to see what kind of capacity you can expect. Otherwise check pricewatch/resellerratings.com and newegg.com for a new drive (newegg.com is the least hassle of all the choices and the other choices aren't too much cheaper).

Jonathan Posch · April 14th, 2004, 04:33 PM

Thanks for the info, checked out the apple site. Do I need a ATA hard drive or a Scsi, can I
have two ATA hard drives fitted in my G4 at once?

Glenn Chan · April 14th, 2004, 04:45 PM

Get ATA, not SCSI.

2- Yes, you can get 2 in there.

Alfred Okocha · April 15th, 2004, 11:43 AM

I was just finishing a project.. Had sent the audio to be cleared up and then it was supposed to be delivered.

Today when I got the audio back I realised that I must have thrown away the wrong data in an attempt to free up some space on my harddrive.

So.. I logg everything back in, but alot of it is just not on place.. Some is alright but the vast majority is slightly off sync or completley diferent track..

Please tell me there is a divine FCP "undo stupidity and restore and fix to what I had" button.
I really didn't want to spend more time on something that was supposed to be finished..

O dear...

Peter Wiley · April 15th, 2004, 12:28 PM

If you did your log and capture properly you should just see that all the clips have gone "offline" and it will just be a matter of importing the clips again from tape.

Alfred Okocha · April 15th, 2004, 01:10 PM

Well they did go "off line" But when once on-line again, things had happened for the worse..

Paul Chun · April 15th, 2004, 02:01 PM

I tried to capture some footage from my TRV900 last nite and my G4 couldn't recognize my camera. I tried it on my PC and it worked fine. When I plug in my camera to my Mac via the firewire I noticed that the viewfinder shows DV IN on it, but Final Cut doesn't recognize the camera.

I'm wondering if the firewire port on my 900 is screwed up and needs to be replaced. I tried my PD170 and that worked fine. I called Sony for the firewire connection board in the camera and they want about $50 or so plus 2 weeks time to order the part. Anyone else have a similar problem and found a solution? I've tried resetting the camera but that doesn't work. Suggestions?

Jean-Denis Borel · April 16th, 2004, 04:16 AM

I am shooting footage with a SONY DSR-PD170P (pal) and capturing into FCP 4.0 with an older VX-1000 for a pre-edit. I tried to use the start/stop detection after capuring an entire tape, but FCP tells me it doesn't see any start/stop mark in the time information on the tape, so it can't put markers into the clip.
Does the PD170 make such marks ? (I guess yes...)
or maybe does the VX-1000 not read or recognize tem ?
or even maybe my software configuration has got something wrong...
does anyone know someting about it ?
cheers !

Glenn Chan · April 16th, 2004, 05:10 AM

The date/time has to be set on the camera. This is non-intuitive but true in my experience.

If you didn't set it... then DV start/stop detection won't work. The easiest thing to do would be to manually log and capture, or to capture the whole thing and add markers on your own and then make subclips.

Jean-Denis Borel · April 16th, 2004, 08:10 AM

Ok, I will have a look in the settings / menu to see where it can be set. If anyone has got an idea that can help me, I'd be most grateful !

Kevin Lawson · April 16th, 2004, 11:04 AM

I have found some Sony products like being turned on before booting the mac, and others don't care.

I know it shouldn't be so, but... they're Sony... THEY don't have to care. ;)

Ken Tanaka · April 16th, 2004, 11:09 AM

Kevin's suggestion is a good one.

Failing that, be sure to look at Apple's support pages and message boards to see if anything specific to the camera is listed.

Failing that, I would try the old method of trashing your FCP preferences (Search for tips in this section of the forum).

Good luck.

Paul Chun · April 16th, 2004, 11:43 PM

Well, I got it fixed! I took apart the entire camera and pulled out the circuit board with firewire port on it. Put everthing back together and hooked it up and it worked. Wierd!!!

Now my problem is that I captured 4 hours worth of tape and my Mac has a problem booting now. I determined it was a problem with the 2nd hard drive with my video on it, I couldn't repair it and resorted to erasing the entire drive and starting over. Not sure why it does this but this is the 2nd time.

Nicholi Brossia · April 17th, 2004, 11:21 AM

I'm attempting to import a .TIF image into Final Cut Express. FCE doesn't directly import a .TIF image, so I'll have to convert it in another program. The desktop icon preview shows the image correctly, however everytime I open the image in Preview, it changes to very psychodellic colors and anything exported from there also results in the same wacky colors. I know the original file is correct because Quicktime opens it properly as a 2 frame movie. I can export the image as a .TGA from Quicktime, but does anyone know what's going on with Preview?

Paul Chun · April 17th, 2004, 09:49 PM

I just captured my 5th tape from a series of tapes that I am editing and pulled some of the video into the timeline in Final Cut Express 2. The audio is out of sync with the video. The other tapes are fine and I've tried to recapture this one tape several times but it is always out of sync. Anyone know why this is? I'm assuming that I'm dropping frames as is it being captured. Any reason for this? Is it my computer or my camera/tape?

April 15th, 2004, 11:43 AM	#484
Alfred Okocha Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: London Posts: 427	Oh dear.. what a mess. I was just finishing a project.. Had sent the audio to be cleared up and then it was supposed to be delivered. Today when I got the audio back I realised that I must have thrown away the wrong data in an attempt to free up some space on my harddrive. So.. I logg everything back in, but alot of it is just not on place.. Some is alright but the vast majority is slightly off sync or completley diferent track.. Please tell me there is a divine FCP "undo stupidity and restore and fix to what I had" button. I really didn't want to spend more time on something that was supposed to be finished.. O dear...

April 15th, 2004, 02:01 PM	#487
Paul Chun Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii Posts: 132	Problem with recognizing camera I tried to capture some footage from my TRV900 last nite and my G4 couldn't recognize my camera. I tried it on my PC and it worked fine. When I plug in my camera to my Mac via the firewire I noticed that the viewfinder shows DV IN on it, but Final Cut doesn't recognize the camera. I'm wondering if the firewire port on my 900 is screwed up and needs to be replaced. I tried my PD170 and that worked fine. I called Sony for the firewire connection board in the camera and they want about $50 or so plus 2 weeks time to order the part. Anyone else have a similar problem and found a solution? I've tried resetting the camera but that doesn't work. Suggestions?

April 16th, 2004, 04:16 AM	#488
Jean-Denis Borel New Boot Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Switzerland Posts: 12	problem with DV Start/stop detection I am shooting footage with a SONY DSR-PD170P (pal) and capturing into FCP 4.0 with an older VX-1000 for a pre-edit. I tried to use the start/stop detection after capuring an entire tape, but FCP tells me it doesn't see any start/stop mark in the time information on the tape, so it can't put markers into the clip. Does the PD170 make such marks ? (I guess yes...) or maybe does the VX-1000 not read or recognize tem ? or even maybe my software configuration has got something wrong... does anyone know someting about it ? cheers !

April 16th, 2004, 08:10 AM	#490
Jean-Denis Borel New Boot Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Switzerland Posts: 12	thanks ! Ok, I will have a look in the settings / menu to see where it can be set. If anyone has got an idea that can help me, I'd be most grateful !

April 16th, 2004, 11:09 AM	#492
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	Kevin's suggestion is a good one. Failing that, be sure to look at Apple's support pages and message boards to see if anything specific to the camera is listed. Failing that, I would try the old method of trashing your FCP preferences (Search for tips in this section of the forum). Good luck. __________________ Lady X Films: A lady with a boring wardrobe...and a global mission. Hey, you don't have enough stuff! Buy with confidence from our sponsors. Hand-picked as the best in the business...Really! See some of my work one frame at a time: www.KenTanaka.com

April 14th, 2004, 01:24 PM	#481
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	Instructions at http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/index.html Get a 7200rpm drive instead of a 5400rpm. Bigger capacity drives are slightly faster, have more storage (which you can easily use up, and you are very unproductive when you don't have enough), sometimes give a better GB:$ ratio, and are more futureproof. I'd lean a bit towards getting a bigger drive than you think you need. Seagate, Western Digital, and Hitachi are good. You can wait out for a hot deal on hard drives by checking hot deal sites. Look at expired deals to see what kind of capacity you can expect. Otherwise check pricewatch/resellerratings.com and newegg.com for a new drive (newegg.com is the least hassle of all the choices and the other choices aren't too much cheaper).

April 14th, 2004, 04:33 PM	#482
Jonathan Posch New Boot Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: England Posts: 12	Thanks for the info, checked out the apple site. Do I need a ATA hard drive or a Scsi, can I have two ATA hard drives fitted in my G4 at once?

April 14th, 2004, 04:45 PM	#483
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	Get ATA, not SCSI. 2- Yes, you can get 2 in there.

April 15th, 2004, 12:28 PM	#485
Peter Wiley Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Lewisburg PA Posts: 752	If you did your log and capture properly you should just see that all the clips have gone "offline" and it will just be a matter of importing the clips again from tape.

April 15th, 2004, 01:10 PM	#486
Alfred Okocha Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: London Posts: 427	Well they did go "off line" But when once on-line again, things had happened for the worse..

April 16th, 2004, 05:10 AM	#489
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	The date/time has to be set on the camera. This is non-intuitive but true in my experience. If you didn't set it... then DV start/stop detection won't work. The easiest thing to do would be to manually log and capture, or to capture the whole thing and add markers on your own and then make subclips.

April 16th, 2004, 11:04 AM	#491
Kevin Lawson New Boot Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Northboro, MA Posts: 21	I have found some Sony products like being turned on before booting the mac, and others don't care. I know it shouldn't be so, but... they're Sony... THEY don't have to care. ;)

April 16th, 2004, 11:43 PM	#493
Paul Chun Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii Posts: 132	Well, I got it fixed! I took apart the entire camera and pulled out the circuit board with firewire port on it. Put everthing back together and hooked it up and it worked. Wierd!!! Now my problem is that I captured 4 hours worth of tape and my Mac has a problem booting now. I determined it was a problem with the 2nd hard drive with my video on it, I couldn't repair it and resorted to erasing the entire drive and starting over. Not sure why it does this but this is the 2nd time.

April 17th, 2004, 11:21 AM	#494
Nicholi Brossia Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 389	.TIF problems I'm attempting to import a .TIF image into Final Cut Express. FCE doesn't directly import a .TIF image, so I'll have to convert it in another program. The desktop icon preview shows the image correctly, however everytime I open the image in Preview, it changes to very psychodellic colors and anything exported from there also results in the same wacky colors. I know the original file is correct because Quicktime opens it properly as a 2 frame movie. I can export the image as a .TGA from Quicktime, but does anyone know what's going on with Preview? __________________ Nicholi Brossia

April 17th, 2004, 09:49 PM	#495
Paul Chun Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii Posts: 132	Video out of Sync I just captured my 5th tape from a series of tapes that I am editing and pulled some of the video into the timeline in Final Cut Express 2. The audio is out of sync with the video. The other tapes are fine and I've tried to recapture this one tape several times but it is always out of sync. Anyone know why this is? I'm assuming that I'm dropping frames as is it being captured. Any reason for this? Is it my computer or my camera/tape?