NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2004

Shane Ross · May 28th, 2004, 06:29 PM

www.apple.com/powermac/specs.html

•ADC and DVI connectors; DVI to VGA adapter included.

Now all you need to get is an ADC to VGA adaptor (Dr. Bott - $20-$30) and you are set.

Stylianos Moschapidakis · May 29th, 2004, 10:48 PM

So, I finally got the APC BX 800VA. Unfortunately the manual is not very helpful and neither could I find an answer to my question below on APC's web site. According to the instructions before you use a UPS unit, you need to charge it for 8 hours. So what I did was plug the unit into a grounded outlet but I didn't turn it on because soon after it was plugged in, it started making a sort of a "ticking" noise which, I assume, is supposed to when it charges. About an hour later I checked the unit and it felt warm. So my question is this: Is this the right way to charge the unit's battery before use? Should I have turned it on?

Thank you.

Joe Cirino · May 29th, 2004, 11:02 PM

I have exported a few stills from FCP4. Of course I would like to De-interlace in photoshop. How would I do this so that the fields are one again?

Any idea or knowlede for a first timer?

Thanks
Joe

Andrew Hogan · May 29th, 2004, 11:13 PM

click filters, video, deinterlace and try the different options for best result

Graeme Nattress · May 30th, 2004, 05:46 AM

APC have really good tech support - just phone them up and get your answer direct.

However, on the APC units I have at home and work, I've never read that I had to charge them - just plug the battery in, plug the gear in, switch on and go....

But really, phone them up!

Graeme

Rob Belics · May 30th, 2004, 06:04 AM

Yes. They need to be charged before use.

The ticking sound you hear could be the relays inside doing their job thinking they are protecting an attached computer. The unit gets slightly warm while charging and in use but should never get hot.

Yours sounds normal to me.

J. Clayton Stansberry · May 31st, 2004, 04:17 PM

I was wondering how those of you that have two seperate computers (1 at work, 1 at home, etc.) deal with editing/programs/files/sharing/etc. I currently have a PC for work and Mac for home (editing) and am toying with the idea of getting a iBook to have at work (and where ever else) and keep the G5 at home. But, I hate having some info on one computer and all my other stuff on another one. Any suggestions would be welcomed! Thanks in advance...

Clay

Boyd Ostroff · May 31st, 2004, 04:32 PM

I have 3 Macs: two G4 desktops and a G4 Powerbook. One of the desktops is getting old (733 single, running OS 9) so I really only use it as a backup and also to do 3d or video rendering when I have a big project.

So on the other desktop I run a program called "Personal Backup X". I have two main folder heirarchies with all my personal an business files in them (probably 15,000 files), and I use this program to do file sync between the laptop and desktop machines. Basically the software compares the contents of these folders between machines and copies files in both directions as needed to keep them identical. Seems to work very well. I have a LAN at home with 100MBS ethernet and plug the powerbook in there, enable personal file sharing, then login to the laptop from the desktop machine and run the file sync program. The desktop machine is sort of like the "master" and there is nothing important on the laptop that isn't duplicated on the desktop.

I don't backup my software generally speaking since I have all the original disks. But every few months I do a full disk copy of the desktop machine's hard drive to an external firewire drive. When I'm being especially conscientious I take one of these drives to the office and keep it there in case of a catastrophe at home.

Now for the big files, like video and 3d animation, it isn't practical to backup as much as I would like. So I generally keep a backup of current projects on a firewire drive, and for the rest I just have the DV tapes. But a bunch of this stuff is also backed up to my old G4 machine.

Important business related files are backed up to one of our servers at the office, and the server gets a daily backup from the IT dept. I can access the file server remotely over IP from home if needed, and this also provides a way to share files with other staff on and offsite (but not big files like video). I think the same things would work pretty well for you in a mixed PC/Mac environment; you could just enable SMB windows sharing on your laptop, mount it on your PC and copy files, or there are various products out there to allow sharing in the other direction.

Jeff Patnaude · June 1st, 2004, 10:37 AM

Been having some problems with certain transitions on FCP 3.0, and was wondering if anyone else had the same problem and/or knew of a work-around?

(I have a G4 dual 1 gig with 240 gigs, and 1 gig of ram)
Two video layers, and I'm adding a "page peel" effect. Nothing. It just shows up as a cut. Yup- done the render, tried changing some of the values too. Nuttin.

Several other Quicktime fx seem to do that too.

Anyone else?

Jeff Patnaude

Jeff Donald · June 1st, 2004, 06:00 PM

How many tracks of video are you using?

Cannon Pearson · June 2nd, 2004, 05:35 AM

I captured a tape that I shot this weekend using the capture now command. It seemed like everything worked ok, but it only plays back the first clip on the tape which is about six minutes long. I checked the file size of the clip and it was 12.5 GB. I tried opening it in Quicktime and reimporting into my project, but I still had the same problem.

I guess that I'll have to recapture the tape. I was wondering if anyone else has seen this and knows how to keep it from happening again.

Also, the second tape I captured worked fine.

Jeff Patnaude · June 2nd, 2004, 08:09 AM

I have 6 tracks, but only using the two for the edit.

Kevin Burnfield · June 2nd, 2004, 08:40 AM

to be honest, I've never tried doing a transition from one video layer to the next but I'm guessing that is what you are doing: transitioning from the end of a clip on V1 to a clip on V2 ?

I'm not sure you can do that BUT you could generate some transparent slug (like generate a lower third clip but not have any text in it) on the same layer as the clip you want to transition out from and it might just do the page pull to a transparent clip which would reveal the video underneath.

Not at my system right now to see if that works but it should. I've used empty generator clips to do stuff like that before.

Joe Lloyd · June 2nd, 2004, 01:16 PM

Started encoding Return on the King from msv to Divx using quicktime on my 1ghz powerbook 2 days ago. Almost 75% complete now... hahahaha I fugured it would only take 3 hours.
But it's for a good cause I want to put every scene in FCP and switch it with Danny Devito in the movie "Whats the worst that could happen" where he's going on about a ring..

Theres my good morning story to everyone.

Kevin Crockett · June 2nd, 2004, 04:20 PM

I'm thinking about purchasing a 933 or 1 ghz i-book for rough editing while on the road. I'd appreciate any experiences from any current ibook owners.

Also, how's the ibook perform with drawing programs like Canvas or Illustrator?

Thanks for the help!!

May 29th, 2004, 10:48 PM	#707
Stylianos Moschapidakis Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Cambridge, MA/Crete, Greece Posts: 189	Help needed w/ an APC UPS So, I finally got the APC BX 800VA. Unfortunately the manual is not very helpful and neither could I find an answer to my question below on APC's web site. According to the instructions before you use a UPS unit, you need to charge it for 8 hours. So what I did was plug the unit into a grounded outlet but I didn't turn it on because soon after it was plugged in, it started making a sort of a "ticking" noise which, I assume, is supposed to when it charges. About an hour later I checked the unit and it felt warm. So my question is this: Is this the right way to charge the unit's battery before use? Should I have turned it on? Thank you. __________________ Stelios G.M.

May 29th, 2004, 11:02 PM	#708
Joe Cirino Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: United States Posts: 101	Stills taken from video I have exported a few stills from FCP4. Of course I would like to De-interlace in photoshop. How would I do this so that the fields are one again? Any idea or knowlede for a first timer? Thanks Joe

May 30th, 2004, 05:46 AM	#710
Graeme Nattress RED Problem Solver Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Ottawa, Canada Posts: 1,365	APC have really good tech support - just phone them up and get your answer direct. However, on the APC units I have at home and work, I've never read that I had to charge them - just plug the battery in, plug the gear in, switch on and go.... But really, phone them up! Graeme __________________ www.nattress.com - filters for FCP

May 31st, 2004, 04:17 PM	#712
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	Dealing with 2 computers... I was wondering how those of you that have two seperate computers (1 at work, 1 at home, etc.) deal with editing/programs/files/sharing/etc. I currently have a PC for work and Mac for home (editing) and am toying with the idea of getting a iBook to have at work (and where ever else) and keep the G5 at home. But, I hate having some info on one computer and all my other stuff on another one. Any suggestions would be welcomed! Thanks in advance... Clay __________________ I understand everything about nothing.

June 1st, 2004, 10:37 AM	#714
Jeff Patnaude Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Duluth, Georgia Posts: 248	Fcp 3.0- Problems With Transitions Been having some problems with certain transitions on FCP 3.0, and was wondering if anyone else had the same problem and/or knew of a work-around? (I have a G4 dual 1 gig with 240 gigs, and 1 gig of ram) Two video layers, and I'm adding a "page peel" effect. Nothing. It just shows up as a cut. Yup- done the render, tried changing some of the values too. Nuttin. Several other Quicktime fx seem to do that too. Anyone else? Jeff Patnaude

May 28th, 2004, 06:29 PM	#706
Shane Ross Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Los Angeles, USA Posts: 539	www.apple.com/powermac/specs.html •ADC and DVI connectors; DVI to VGA adapter included. Now all you need to get is an ADC to VGA adaptor (Dr. Bott - $20-$30) and you are set.

May 29th, 2004, 11:13 PM	#709
Andrew Hogan Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Canberra AUSTRALIA Posts: 169	click filters, video, deinterlace and try the different options for best result

May 30th, 2004, 06:04 AM	#711
Rob Belics Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 581	Yes. They need to be charged before use. The ticking sound you hear could be the relays inside doing their job thinking they are protecting an attached computer. The unit gets slightly warm while charging and in use but should never get hot. Yours sounds normal to me.

May 31st, 2004, 04:32 PM	#713
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,801	I have 3 Macs: two G4 desktops and a G4 Powerbook. One of the desktops is getting old (733 single, running OS 9) so I really only use it as a backup and also to do 3d or video rendering when I have a big project. So on the other desktop I run a program called "Personal Backup X". I have two main folder heirarchies with all my personal an business files in them (probably 15,000 files), and I use this program to do file sync between the laptop and desktop machines. Basically the software compares the contents of these folders between machines and copies files in both directions as needed to keep them identical. Seems to work very well. I have a LAN at home with 100MBS ethernet and plug the powerbook in there, enable personal file sharing, then login to the laptop from the desktop machine and run the file sync program. The desktop machine is sort of like the "master" and there is nothing important on the laptop that isn't duplicated on the desktop. I don't backup my software generally speaking since I have all the original disks. But every few months I do a full disk copy of the desktop machine's hard drive to an external firewire drive. When I'm being especially conscientious I take one of these drives to the office and keep it there in case of a catastrophe at home. Now for the big files, like video and 3d animation, it isn't practical to backup as much as I would like. So I generally keep a backup of current projects on a firewire drive, and for the rest I just have the DV tapes. But a bunch of this stuff is also backed up to my old G4 machine. Important business related files are backed up to one of our servers at the office, and the server gets a daily backup from the IT dept. I can access the file server remotely over IP from home if needed, and this also provides a way to share files with other staff on and offsite (but not big files like video). I think the same things would work pretty well for you in a mixed PC/Mac environment; you could just enable SMB windows sharing on your laptop, mount it on your PC and copy files, or there are various products out there to allow sharing in the other direction.

June 1st, 2004, 06:00 PM	#715
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	How many tracks of video are you using? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

June 2nd, 2004, 05:35 AM	#716
Cannon Pearson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 123	FCE Capture Weirdness I captured a tape that I shot this weekend using the capture now command. It seemed like everything worked ok, but it only plays back the first clip on the tape which is about six minutes long. I checked the file size of the clip and it was 12.5 GB. I tried opening it in Quicktime and reimporting into my project, but I still had the same problem. I guess that I'll have to recapture the tape. I was wondering if anyone else has seen this and knows how to keep it from happening again. Also, the second tape I captured worked fine.

June 2nd, 2004, 08:09 AM	#717
Jeff Patnaude Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Duluth, Georgia Posts: 248	I have 6 tracks, but only using the two for the edit.

June 2nd, 2004, 08:40 AM	#718
Kevin Burnfield Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Princeton, NJ Posts: 363	to be honest, I've never tried doing a transition from one video layer to the next but I'm guessing that is what you are doing: transitioning from the end of a clip on V1 to a clip on V2 ? I'm not sure you can do that BUT you could generate some transparent slug (like generate a lower third clip but not have any text in it) on the same layer as the clip you want to transition out from and it might just do the page pull to a transparent clip which would reveal the video underneath. Not at my system right now to see if that works but it should. I've used empty generator clips to do stuff like that before.

June 2nd, 2004, 01:16 PM	#719
Joe Lloyd Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Auckland, NZ Posts: 202	The little powerbook that could... Started encoding Return on the King from msv to Divx using quicktime on my 1ghz powerbook 2 days ago. Almost 75% complete now... hahahaha I fugured it would only take 3 hours. But it's for a good cause I want to put every scene in FCP and switch it with Danny Devito in the movie "Whats the worst that could happen" where he's going on about a ring.. Theres my good morning story to everyone. __________________ Catalina Productions http://www.catalina.co.nz

June 2nd, 2004, 04:20 PM	#720
Kevin Crockett Regular Crew Join Date: May 2004 Location: FL. Posts: 71	Ibook And Fce I'm thinking about purchasing a 933 or 1 ghz i-book for rough editing while on the road. I'd appreciate any experiences from any current ibook owners. Also, how's the ibook perform with drawing programs like Canvas or Illustrator? Thanks for the help!!