NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2004

[Glenn Chan]

You could avoid problems by converting all of the vx1000 audio to 16bit 48khz. This takes time however... I don't know of any quick shortcuts.

[Glenn Chan]

1- What you see in Final Cut doesn't have too much to do with how your video will actually look. Hook up a TV to your editing system (highly recommended if you don't know of the various issues that can pop up).

2- I believe Final Cut isn't that good at scaling images down past 50%. If you don't want to do any pan and scan stuff, then resize the images to 720X534 in Photoshop (batch actions can help here) and then import them.

kenstone.net has multiple articles on prepping Photoshop images for Final Cut. Search for "Graphics - Photoshop"
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage...age_index.html

[Bob J. Trimmer]

I have just purchased FCE2, and I would like advice on which tutorials are best.
I would like a DVD to help walk me through the different stages. Being used to
IMovie I find myself somewhat confused. If anyone has one for sale or could direct me to a good source please let me know.

Thanks for helping.
Bob Trimmer
bdtrimmer@connpoint.net

[Lucas Baumann]

awesome man. thanks a lot. that gives me a lot of options and hopefully I'll figure something out. first thing I'll try is exporting and seeing how it looks on a tv.

thanks again.

[Matt Elias]

Having trouble with a batch capture of about 16 clips. FCP 4 split some clips up into about 3 smaller clips. However, when the three smaller are played in a row they do not act like the original clip. Instead, there seems to be some dropped frames between these smaller clips.

Is this a problem relating to programs on my Mac that poll the system or a network at specific intervals, like Mail etc?

Would it help to re-capture all of the clips?

(Using a dual G4, 1.25 Ghz by the way)

[Jeff Donald]

Yes, accessing a network, such as the internet, or mail, even anti virus programs will inhibit the proper function of FCP during capture. How do you have FCP set to handle dropped frames?

[Paul Chun]

I have Final Cut Pro 4.0 on my old G4 400 mhz and tried upgrading to the HD version. When I try to capture video and play a clip back, it crashes the program and closes it without saving the capture. This does not happen before upgrading to the HD version.

Is my computer underpowered and thus creating this problem? Anyone having a similar problem? Any suggestions for a fix? I'd love to get a dual 2.5 G5 but I may have to wait a while. I also have DVD Studio Pro 3 but it won't run on my G4 since it does not meet the minimum requirements. :(

[Jeff Donald]

The first things to check are your ram (384 MB minimum) and OS (10.3.2 or later). SoundTrack and Rt Extreme will not work, you processor is too slow. If you machine passes those minimum I would trash the preferences following the instructions at the top of this forum and if that doesn't fix it you'll need to reinstall FCP.

[Paul Chun]

Jeff I meet the minimum requirements, my G4 is a 400mhz with 768 megs of RAM, I have a 2nd HDD which I keep all the video. I've done a clean install and ONLY have FCP HD installed along with DVD SP 3. Before I install the HD patch, I can capture and playback the captured clips fine. After the upgrade to 4.5 HD, I can capture find, but upon playback of the capture clips, I get the spinning ball and then FCP shuts down and I lose everything. I'm at a loss at this point and not sure what the solution is aside from getting a new and faster 2.5 dual G5. Anyone out there with the same problem or suggestions?

[Mustafa Davis]

Hey Jeff,

I use the Contour Shuttle Pro keyboard and love it. The colors make a difference for me. I can basically hit shortcuts keys without even really looking down at the keyboard now. The colors sort of jump out at you. I'm sure its not needed, but I have found it an added bonus.

[Matt Elias]

FCP set to report dropped frames - not sure if there are additional ways to handle the frames.

Another weird thing happened to other clips. Two of these clips were out of sync w/ audio once they were in the timeline. They played fine in the viewer, but when they played in the timeline, the audio was a few seconds off. I recaptured these clips, and after that the original clips played fine in the timeline. So the clips went from out of sync to back in sync.

I'm thinking this may be resulting from the external HD I'm using, correct?

[Jeff Donald]

Sync issues are generally associated with dropped frames. What external HD are you using? what other FireWire devices do you have connected?

[Bryan McCullough]

My church is getting a new G5 to replace the G4 that they have now. They are currently running FCP 1 on it.

If they buy the 4.5 upgrade, do they have to first install FCP 1 on the G5 or do they just need the serial number from FCP 1 when installing 4.5?

Thanks!

[Jeff Donald]

They should just need the serial number. The install is on a DVD now.

[Bryan McCullough]

Thanks Jeff.