NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2004

Ken Tanaka · April 28th, 2004, 06:14 PM

Tom,
This is actually a very handy feature of FCP, called "Offline RT". Discussed recently. See this thread for more pointers to what's involved.

Frederic Lumiere · April 28th, 2004, 07:13 PM

Carlos,

"but then, what's the point in editing in NTSC or PAL from HD footage? it's like working on a 1/4 size proxy."

In my opinion, there is only one reason you'd want to edit in full resolution HD: If you own a high def monitor and you watch your edits in HD realtime. Otherwise, you're looking at the same size clips anyway, might it be full 16:9 DV or Third HD on a cinema display.

After going back online, you can do color correction which doesn't require realtime playing.

Charlie Wu · April 29th, 2004, 01:12 AM

i have a question about cutting quicktime mov. files together. maybe this question is answered in the previous treads, but i couldn't search it out.

i have got some footages from my friend in mov format and need to put it together. i was able to drag it directly into final cut pro but it needs to be rendered for playback. just a 50meg file takes forever to render.
i wonder is it rendering to change the format to AVI or ?? why is it take such a long time to render such a low resolution file?

Matt Stahley · April 29th, 2004, 10:24 AM

If you just need to cut it and do straight edits this can be accomplished in Quicktime Pro alone.

Suzanne LaBrot · April 29th, 2004, 10:39 AM

Hi All,

I'm trying to lay back some footage to miniDV using my camcorder. I know the camera is capable as I've recorded back to it using the G5 dual at school. I'm now at home with a G4 single processor. The footage is playing back in the system fine, but it comes thru the camera stuttering with pixels. Can I change any settings in my system to get rid of this problem? I'm working with FCP4.

Thanks,
Suz

Torrey C. Harris · April 29th, 2004, 10:50 AM

anybody seen it in action? any info

torrey c. harris

Jeff Price · April 29th, 2004, 10:52 AM

I know I can view edits on TV if I run the firewire to the camera and then connect the camera (or deck) to the TV but is that the only option?

The graphics board on the G5 has two outputs. Apple makes a DVI to TV adaptor (s-video, RCA video, no audio) but does that somehow just pick up the TV part of the signal in editing software? I talked to the salesman at the Apple store and he seemed to think that all it would do is allow me to set up a TV as a second monitor - not much help.

Suggestions?

Thanks.

Boyd Ostroff · April 29th, 2004, 03:41 PM

You can use a video monitor/TV connected to an additional monitor port without problem. If you have the monitor connected and working then just go into the FCP A/V settings dialog and your second monitor will appear on the drop down list of external video devices. Just choose it from the list instead of firewire and FCP will send the previews to that device. Another option would be to add a second PCI graphics card that has s-video output (assuming these are G5 compatible... not sure here, but I have one that works fine on my G4).

I also use a Sony standalone DVD recorder that has firewire input. I send video over firewire from FCP and have my monitor connected to the component video output of the recorder.

Boyd Ostroff · April 29th, 2004, 03:46 PM

Final Cut Pro uses Quicktime (MOV) as its native file format, however they must be 720x480 and compressed with the DV codec to avoid rendering. If that's what your file is but you still need to render then there must be a mis-match between the file and your FCP sequence settings.

But if the .MOV file has been compressed with some other codec (like Sorenson) or if it's a non standard size (like 320x240 for example) it will require rendering. Or at least that's the case with FCP 3 on my G4's. Perhaps FCP 4 on a faster machine would provide some sort of RT extreme preview, but I think you would need to re-render for final output regardless.

Alfred Okocha · April 29th, 2004, 06:25 PM

Do you have any problems with it? I'm upgrading my comp to 768.. According to specs only 512 is necessary isn't it??

Thanks.

Ignacio Rodriguez · April 29th, 2004, 08:23 PM

Can you not set FCP to use a different output codec for the project? (i.e. the same codec as the .mov) thus it might not have to render averything. I used to do this with Premiere on the Mac. I don't have FCP4 at hand right now so I can't test this.

Shane Ross · April 29th, 2004, 09:54 PM

Wow. I didn't know you could do that...

However...

If you want to be able to judge your colors correctly, and external monitor routed thru your camera or deck would be the only way to go. The footage viewed thru a CRT monitor are not as true as those thru an NTSC monitor.

Kevin Burnfield · April 30th, 2004, 07:49 AM

well, if you own 4.0 you get an upgrade to HD automatically.

I haven't edited any HD footage yet but all the other upgrade elements seem pretty nice.

Little speed increases, refinement of a few tools.

nice upgrade for free!

here's a great review of it:

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

Kevin Burnfield · April 30th, 2004, 07:53 AM

Uh..... I think you need to check you link, it goes to some airline.

The keyboard you get from EZ is a regular keyboard but it has all the shortcuts on custom color keys so it's easier to see them and use them.

If your USB keyboard works connected to your powerbook (ie: you can type, all the keys work like a mac-made keyboard) then there is no reason you can't just replace the keys or add tags to them for the shortcuts.

I bought an EZkeyboard for FCP and like it--- it's helped me get my shortcuts down so I can use it or another keyboard quickly.

The thing I also like is the Shuttle Pro. I don't use the pre-sets buttons as much but I love having the jog shuttle wheels available to me.

Kevin Burnfield · April 30th, 2004, 08:01 AM

you can NEVER have enough RAM.

The more RAM you have, the smoother things will run, the faster things will run, the more actions FCP specifically can load into memory at once and speed them up.

Max it out.

One thing to look at is finding the REAL specs on how much memory a computer can hold. My older G4 says it can only handle something like 768 but it holds a gig of memory.

April 28th, 2004, 06:14 PM	#556
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	Tom, This is actually a very handy feature of FCP, called "Offline RT". Discussed recently. See this thread for more pointers to what's involved. __________________ 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 29th, 2004, 01:12 AM	#558
Charlie Wu Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Long Beach, CA USA Posts: 64	mov file editing i have a question about cutting quicktime mov. files together. maybe this question is answered in the previous treads, but i couldn't search it out. i have got some footages from my friend in mov format and need to put it together. i was able to drag it directly into final cut pro but it needs to be rendered for playback. just a 50meg file takes forever to render. i wonder is it rendering to change the format to AVI or ?? why is it take such a long time to render such a low resolution file? __________________ Charlie Wu

April 29th, 2004, 10:39 AM	#560
Suzanne LaBrot New Boot Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 15	Getting pixelated/choppy playback when recording Hi All, I'm trying to lay back some footage to miniDV using my camcorder. I know the camera is capable as I've recorded back to it using the G5 dual at school. I'm now at home with a G4 single processor. The footage is playing back in the system fine, but it comes thru the camera stuttering with pixels. Can I change any settings in my system to get rid of this problem? I'm working with FCP4. Thanks, Suz

April 29th, 2004, 10:50 AM	#561
Torrey C. Harris Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Holden,La Posts: 246	final cut pro hd anybody seen it in action? any info torrey c. harris __________________ Take a kid hunting or fishing and you won't have to hunt for him or her later on in life. The outdoors were created to enjoy not look at through a glass window.

April 29th, 2004, 10:52 AM	#562
Jeff Price Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Chico, California Posts: 357	Viewing on TV while editing? I know I can view edits on TV if I run the firewire to the camera and then connect the camera (or deck) to the TV but is that the only option? The graphics board on the G5 has two outputs. Apple makes a DVI to TV adaptor (s-video, RCA video, no audio) but does that somehow just pick up the TV part of the signal in editing software? I talked to the salesman at the Apple store and he seemed to think that all it would do is allow me to set up a TV as a second monitor - not much help. Suggestions? Thanks. __________________ Jeff Price Flickerflix Nature Videos flickerflix@yahoo.com

April 28th, 2004, 07:13 PM	#557
Frederic Lumiere Wrangler Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Point Pleasant, NJ Posts: 437	Carlos, "but then, what's the point in editing in NTSC or PAL from HD footage? it's like working on a 1/4 size proxy." In my opinion, there is only one reason you'd want to edit in full resolution HD: If you own a high def monitor and you watch your edits in HD realtime. Otherwise, you're looking at the same size clips anyway, might it be full 16:9 DV or Third HD on a cinema display. After going back online, you can do color correction which doesn't require realtime playing.

April 29th, 2004, 10:24 AM	#559
Matt Stahley Major Player Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Waynesboro, PA Posts: 648	If you just need to cut it and do straight edits this can be accomplished in Quicktime Pro alone.

April 29th, 2004, 03:41 PM	#563
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	You can use a video monitor/TV connected to an additional monitor port without problem. If you have the monitor connected and working then just go into the FCP A/V settings dialog and your second monitor will appear on the drop down list of external video devices. Just choose it from the list instead of firewire and FCP will send the previews to that device. Another option would be to add a second PCI graphics card that has s-video output (assuming these are G5 compatible... not sure here, but I have one that works fine on my G4). I also use a Sony standalone DVD recorder that has firewire input. I send video over firewire from FCP and have my monitor connected to the component video output of the recorder.

April 29th, 2004, 03:46 PM	#564
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Final Cut Pro uses Quicktime (MOV) as its native file format, however they must be 720x480 and compressed with the DV codec to avoid rendering. If that's what your file is but you still need to render then there must be a mis-match between the file and your FCP sequence settings. But if the .MOV file has been compressed with some other codec (like Sorenson) or if it's a non standard size (like 320x240 for example) it will require rendering. Or at least that's the case with FCP 3 on my G4's. Perhaps FCP 4 on a faster machine would provide some sort of RT extreme preview, but I think you would need to re-render for final output regardless.

April 29th, 2004, 06:25 PM	#565
Alfred Okocha Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: London Posts: 427	Do you have any problems with it? I'm upgrading my comp to 768.. According to specs only 512 is necessary isn't it?? Thanks.

April 29th, 2004, 08:23 PM	#566
Ignacio Rodriguez Contributor Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Santiago, Chile Posts: 932	Can you not set FCP to use a different output codec for the project? (i.e. the same codec as the .mov) thus it might not have to render averything. I used to do this with Premiere on the Mac. I don't have FCP4 at hand right now so I can't test this. __________________ Ignacio Rodríguez in the third world. @micronauta on Twitter. Main hardware: brain, eyes, hands.

April 29th, 2004, 09:54 PM	#567
Shane Ross Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Los Angeles, USA Posts: 539	Wow. I didn't know you could do that... However... If you want to be able to judge your colors correctly, and external monitor routed thru your camera or deck would be the only way to go. The footage viewed thru a CRT monitor are not as true as those thru an NTSC monitor.

April 30th, 2004, 07:49 AM	#568
Kevin Burnfield Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Princeton, NJ Posts: 363	well, if you own 4.0 you get an upgrade to HD automatically. I haven't edited any HD footage yet but all the other upgrade elements seem pretty nice. Little speed increases, refinement of a few tools. nice upgrade for free! here's a great review of it: http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage...hd_jordan.html

April 30th, 2004, 07:53 AM	#569
Kevin Burnfield Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Princeton, NJ Posts: 363	Uh..... I think you need to check you link, it goes to some airline. The keyboard you get from EZ is a regular keyboard but it has all the shortcuts on custom color keys so it's easier to see them and use them. If your USB keyboard works connected to your powerbook (ie: you can type, all the keys work like a mac-made keyboard) then there is no reason you can't just replace the keys or add tags to them for the shortcuts. I bought an EZkeyboard for FCP and like it--- it's helped me get my shortcuts down so I can use it or another keyboard quickly. The thing I also like is the Shuttle Pro. I don't use the pre-sets buttons as much but I love having the jog shuttle wheels available to me.

April 30th, 2004, 08:01 AM	#570
Kevin Burnfield Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Princeton, NJ Posts: 363	you can NEVER have enough RAM. The more RAM you have, the smoother things will run, the faster things will run, the more actions FCP specifically can load into memory at once and speed them up. Max it out. One thing to look at is finding the REAL specs on how much memory a computer can hold. My older G4 says it can only handle something like 768 but it holds a gig of memory.