NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2004

[Chris Korrow]

There are now 2 options for a 2GHz G5. One with NVIDIA & one with Radeon. Is there much of a difference? Is one better than the other???
Chris

[Jeff Donald]

The NVIDIA FX5200 is standard. The 2 ATI cards are upgrades, as is the NVIDIA 6800 that is required to run the new 30" screen. Both the top end ATI and NVIDIA are so wide they fit over one of the PCI-X slots. This could be an issue if you need to add cards for networking, audio, SCSI etc.

The upgrades aren't necessary for plain old DV unless you hope to use the 30" screen.

[Glenn Chan]

Compositing apps may take advantage of the video card acceleration (may speed up real-time previews, but not renders). For video editing you should probably get the cheapest card.

[Matt Elias]

I'm using a Western Digital. The only other firewire device connected is my cam I use for importing (Canon ZR70 mc).

I moved the project onto my internal HD and the entire proect now seems to be out of sync w/ audio - very frustrating.

I'm wondering if it's a problem w/ the G4. I just got it back from the shop after it was giving me problems. They replaced the logic board, and when I took it home it was still buggy. I brought it back for another repair - they claimed that Apple sent a bad logic board. So the logic board has been replaced twice and I wonder if they really have fixed my mac? This may be the source of the aduio sync problem, I don't know?

[Chris Korrow]

So if I'm getting this right, there's not a significant difference between the two in normal DV applications? But if I have the choice should I choose the radeon in the older 2GHz G5 or the NVIDIA in the new 2GHz G5 at more or less the same price?

Thanks Guy's & thank's Jeff - 7239 post's... that's about equal to writing "War & Peace".

[Matt Elias]

Ran DiscWarrior and Disc Utility last night - everything seems to be working fine. Thanks for the advice.

[Chris Lucey]

I am still very much a newbie in the whole editing realm. I am currently in the middle of Tom Wolskys Workshop for Final Cut Express. I know it is the next step but is it worth getting imersed ASAP in Final Cut Pro HD or should i carry out on the route i am on ? I plan on having a GS400 once out in Canada and currently run a Dual 2.0 G5. I know the FCP is way more advanced but watching the Apple propaganda on their site sure makes one interested. My ultimate goal is to make extreme sledding/ATV DVDs and other similiar projects.

[Boyd Ostroff]

I haven't used FCE, but am still working in FCP3 on a G4. Have just started up another large project, and while I'm sure the newer versions have lots of cool stuff, I just don't feel much need to upgrade. The fast G5 will tilt this equation for you. Does the latest version of FCP render faster and provide more RT effects as opposed to FCE? I'd imagine so, but do you need any of this?

My point is that if you don't know whether you need to upgrade then you probably don't need to upgrade. If you're just starting out and can't yet put your finger on a specific feature that you need, then why change? Apple has been rolling out lots of FCP updates it seems, so I'm completely happy that I sat out FCP 4 for example. If you wait a little longer there will be another, even cooler must-have version.

Your mileage may vary however. If you're someone who's only happy if they have the latest and greatest, and if you can afford it, then go for it....

[Kevin Burnfield]

I think the thing to do is read up on the differences between express and Pro and ask yourself if your current projects would benefit from FCP or not.

For most people here, they are independent filmmakers or production folks and for most of us the bottom line is the all mighty dollar.

I've passed on upgrades for my computers so I could buy a couple of lights, a new microphone or something like that.

IMO, It's all a matter of what you want to do and what you need to get there. That's how I decided on the expense of FCP.

One fantastic thing about APPLE though is that they will let you upgrade to the latest version from ANY previous version of FCP. That means if you can find an old, _unregistered_, copy of FCP 1.2 you can upgrade to FCP HD 4.5 for only $399.00. Something to keep in mind.

[Dave Perry]

I use FCP HD at work and FCE at home. I've used it since it came out and still use version 1.01.

I do DV at home and that's the only codec FCE works with. At work we do uncompressed 10 bit.

I think FCE is a great app and am very happy with it. Also, the switch from FCE to FCP is pretty easy. The interface is very similar.

[Dave Perry]

Thanks Jeff. I found it and it did what I needed.

[Nicholi Brossia]

A while back, I used Avid at school and enjoyed its ability to manipulate audio pitch. It could speed up audio without giving it a high-pitched, chipmunk effect or could just change the real-time pitch to higher or lower. Is there a way to accomplish this in Final Cut Pro?

[Brian Gauthier]

so here is my big question for the day... I mainly edit on an AVID System and am trying to pass on something i have edited to someone on FCP 4HD... what i have done is dumped my sequence to a dv tape that has 32k 12 bit audio and split it across the 4 tracks...

now i am trying to digitize the footage in FCP while keeping the audio in a split format...

example
a1 nats from camera
a2 sound efx / sub music
a3 main music
a4 vo and sound bites...

i have tried to configure the capture preset to 32k and 12bit and it keeps mixing the four tracks to a stereo pair on me no matter what i try to set in the preferences...

anyhelp would be greatly appreciated...
Brian Gauthier

P.S. as a last ditch effort i guess i can just lay down the sequence 4 times each with a different audio track on it to get it split... and then go ahead and digitize it back into FCP 4 times, but it sounds like its a big waste of time to accomplish this simple task of split audio...

[Jeff Donald]

I don't do a great deal of this type of work, but I know my students use SoundTrack to adjust the tempo without effecting the pitch. GarageBand may also have this feature, I don't know for sure.

[Jeff Donald]

You can't do the audio in one pass. Capture audio 1 & 2 in one pass, with the video. Audio 3 & 4 can be captured in a second pass. Be sure the source (camera?) is not mixing the audio.