NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2002

[Paul Sedillo]

Jeff,

I have a Sony (forgot the model number). It is from 1999, so it is a bit older. The other option that I am considering is to use my PC and burn a CD. Then import into Final Cut.

The MUTO option seemed interesting. Not sure if I want to drop a the money on it just quite yet.

[Chris Hurd]

I thought it was physically impossible for a Steadicam operator to hiccup. Or sneeze, or cough for that matter.

[Charles Papert]

Chris, that's because we haven't yet made good on our plans to go drinking during one of those trade shows (going to the LA DV expo, incidentally?)

Haven't blown too many takes yet with sudden bodily emissions--although I can only hint at the the unpleasantness of operating with a full bladder (think of those times you had to suffer during a lengthy shot before you could go to the bathroom; now imagine having a firm and relentless pressure on your nether regions throughout...oy vey).

[Chris Hurd]

LA DV Show! In beautiful downtown Burbank! I'm there; let's go.

[Steve Nunez]

Hey fellas,

I've been working with FCP for awhile now and have noticed something strange about FCP3 when it renders a dv clip....let me explain:

When I take a dv clip and cut it to make a certain portion of the clip play in slow motion (by reducing speed)- the resulting clip gets rendered out and becomes lighter than the rest of the clip- it's pretty noticeable and when the clip plays ~~it's easy to see where i've cut and reduced the speed to create the slow-motion effect....anyone experience this or have a solution to bring the brightness and contrast back to the level of the source clip?

Thanks

[David C. Scott]

Jeff - Thanks very much for the informative reply. I wish someone would write the definitive user manual for the XL1 and XL1S - something that goes well beyond the manufacturer-provided material.

[Jeff Donald]

The most common cause for this is the sequence setting. FCP>sequence>settings>video processing>Always render in RGB should be un checked. Having the boxed checked will wash out colors, cause video at edit points to flash and some other nasties that don't come to mind right away.

Jeff

[Adrian Douglas]

Mark, apply a hig pass filter, boost the 1-2.5k bands of your graphic eq and cut the rest. That should get you the effect you are after.

[Ken Tanaka]

You mean a high-pass filter, don't you Adrian?

[David Slingerland]

hello
I am working on a project where the client wants to distribute a cd, so i am outputting from fcp.
i want to know what kind of output i need to do if i want to be able to play a cdrw on a household pc , without jitters and other problems, i know its got to be small but what format mpeg1, or 3
please help

[Steve Nunez]

Thanks JT-

just went started FCP3 and tried what you've suggested- it seems as if the box has a small X in it- bit it's greyed out and I cannot uncheck it- or that option is not available.......not sure what it is- but I'll look further into this option- thanks again.

[Jeff Donald]

I don't think you can change a sequence setting part way through. You'll have to create a new sequence with the box unchecked. If it's small just delete and start again. If large, export the sequence, then uncheck the box, import the old sequence. I think that's how I had to do it. I use the RGB render with After Effects, it uses a different color space.

Jeff

[Jeff Donald]

Are you going to make a VCD or SVCD? VCD is MPEG 1 and SVCD is MPEG 2. FCP can make a Quicktime and quicktime can make MPEG files. What software are you using to burn CD's? Do you have Cleaner?

Jeff

[Rob Lohman]

I would go with VCD mpeg1 if you can get away with that quality.
This is the only thing that plays by default on any PC. The only
problem here is the VCD format which Media Player does not
recognize by default I think. It does understands the .DAT file
on the VCD if you drag it on Media Player, but people need to
know that. So if your target is only PC I would just burn a data
CD with an mpeg1 file on it (file format will not be VCD compliant).
Be sure to encode the mpeg1 file to VCD specs so that you know
everyone can play it (even if you are not burning it as an VCD).

SVCD has two problems in my eyes. You need either an MPEG2
codec installed (which Windows hasn't by default) or you need
a software/hardware DVD player. You probably cannot assume
everyone will have this, or know how to play it!

Then there finally is DiVX (mpeg 4).... If you encode in this format
to AVI it will ONLY (more or less) play on Windows and you will
need to include the propriate DiVX codec (which might get you
into licensing issues)....

All in all I think a simple mpeg1 file on a data CD will be the best.
You can even include an autorun.inf file that starts the movie
automatically (use the command: start movie.mpg).

Is there any reason you are using CD-RW? These are much more
expensive than blank CD-R's and people can erase (ie, re-use)
these!

[Steve Nunez]

Jeff,

thanks for the info.

Still having a difficult time changing the render option- I can change it with the OfflineRT (PhotoJpeg) NTSC sequence setting (and rename a new setting) but I can't change the DV NTSC setting- any ideas why? This is the setting I want to change the most as DV is the type of video I work with.

Thanks.