NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2007

David Sayed · October 17th, 2007, 11:16 PM

I have a Canon HG1 (AVCHD) and an XH-A1 (HDV) and want to edit using FCS2.
I have a MacBook and am contemplating an iMac (2.4GHz, 4GB RAM) for running FCS2. Looking at the software requirements, apparently trying to edit AVCHD on anything but a Mac Pro will not work.
Is it simply the case that it will be slow on an iMac or will it refuse to work at all?
If I really need a Mac Pro, then FCS2 is out of the running for me I'm afraid.

James Brill · October 22nd, 2007, 07:43 PM

I have an avi file that is 652x272. I want to put it in a SD timeline to be put on a dvd and played on a SD television but still look good and have no compression artifacts. Would Magic Bullet's Instant HD do the trick or am I just SOL?

Ivan Barbarich · October 24th, 2007, 05:52 PM

We are a multimedia company specializing in the production of royalty free footage. We have a workflow issue that needs to be resolved and everywhere we turn seems to be a dead end. Really hoping that someone here has had a similar problem and has found a solution/workaround and wouldn't mind sharing their knowledge.

Here's our scenario...

We are shooting the bulk of our footage against a green screen on a Panasonic AG-HPX500 P2 camera. The footage is coming out of the camera via sdi and into an Ultimatte 11 compositing device (http://www.ultimatte.com/UltimatteMain/11%20Main.html). From there it is ingested into final cut pro 6 via sdi and a Black Magic Decklink HD Extreme capture card for (hopefully) a live capture.

Now here's the problem...

Our preferred capture format is 720p/60 or 720p/50 uncompressed 8 bit but the only format that we can capture live using the above method is 1080i/50 - Apple ProRes or DVCPro. All other formats inform us that there is no video input (yes, when we try to capture 720p in Final Cut the camera is set to the same).

The whole thing is just very frustrating. Any answers/workarounds to my questions or any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Jeff Kolada · October 26th, 2007, 02:09 PM

We are shooting a student tv show on the sony v1u in 30pHDV. We are keeping log-sheets to import into FCP for capturing.
Unfortunately when we capture the footage from the batch list, FCP decides that half of our shots should only capture one frame and then go on to the next one. I'm guessing it has something to do with the batch list trying to read in 29.95 and not 30p, but I really don't know what's going on, and we have 10 hours of footage already labeled and organized in the spreadsheet batch list.

Help?

Adam Woodworth · October 26th, 2007, 08:21 PM

I don't see any way to disable automation playback in Soundtrack Pro 2. I.e., disable the volume envelope so you can hear the audio without the envelope, but not delete the envelope, just disable it.

Anyone know if this is possible? I know Digital Performer can do it, which is why I ask about STP.

Shaughan Flynn · October 27th, 2007, 05:32 PM

I blogged my experience with installing 10.5 and testing out the FCS apps and some Adobe apps as well.

You can see it at http://bscenefilms.blogspot.com

Elmer Lang · October 27th, 2007, 11:51 PM

I was hoping there is a way to install Garageband Symphony on another drive. It needs 10 gigs and demands a startup hd while I wanna put it on a FW or SATA drive. If I install on startup drive can I move to FW/SATA or will that screw up GB's way of seeing things? I could re-add them, but was hoping someone has experience that way.

Vince Halushka · October 28th, 2007, 12:09 PM

I was capturing a pile of clips last nite with no issues. I turned on the Mac this am to get through the last 4 tapes and my preview window is disabled. How do I re-enable the preview window so i can capture again. The project is dv-pal capture if that matters. The FCE still controls the camera and reads vtr ok..just no preview and therefore no capture???

Kevin Sullivan · October 29th, 2007, 05:30 AM

Before I ask my question, let me state, we have never transfered files from FCP to Avid before. Now that is out of the way:

We have a potential client that is working inhouse on Avid Liquid with Panny 200 P2 MXF files. On other other hand, we work on a FCP Pro 2 system with a variety of file formats in the ProRes HD timeline.

For integration purposes, they have requested that we give them an MXF output of the final project and also of any specific clips they might need. (I do not understand why, since Avid is an open timeline system. Right?)

It seems to me that MXF files are not the correct workflow or possible from FCP . Also, the Avid should be able to handle a HD quicktime file which would be better quality. I could give them a xml file and the tapes but, we are half a world apart. Files would be better because we can transfer them.

Anyone got an idea of the best workflow? Besides changing operating systems.

Thanks in advance for any enlightment on this.

Kevin Sullivan
Lead Baku International
Azerbaijan

Brian Boyko · October 29th, 2007, 02:45 PM

As part of my project, I'm thinking about contributing to a side-project - problem is they're probably filming in PAL while I'm filming in NTSC. Should I record as 24p or 60i - I don't have access to a PAL camera.

Mike Sarner · October 29th, 2007, 07:57 PM

Editing HDV in FC 5.1 for the first time. All of my clips and timeline seem to loop back to the beginning of clip/timeline when they reach the end. is there an option to eliminate this?

John Lutz · October 30th, 2007, 04:41 PM

I am about to purchase a 24" iMac Leopard/2.4/2GB/320Gig Parallels 3.0/XP Home, this will be my first Mac.
I want to run Final Cut Studio 2 on the Mac side.
Also I would like to run Vegas 8, HDV Rack,Ultra 2, on the PC side.
Which should I use Parallels 3.0 or Bootcamp (which comes with Leopard)?
If Bootcamp, then the Mac systems drive needs to be partitioned to run XP Home (I figure about 100 gig for XP Home),correct?
That leaves about 220gig for Mac software. I will use external drives for video storage for both.
Please let me know what you think?
John

Chris Hocking · October 31st, 2007, 01:54 AM

I was just wondering what's the easiest way to get your surround sound mix out of FCP to Compressor?

When you setup FCP using the 5.1 preset (L, R, C, LFE, SL, SR) how do you get it out of FCP into Compressor? I would have thought you'd just export the audio as AIFF's (separated by channel)? However! That will create only four Quicktime files (L+R, C, LFE, SL+SR). This is a problem because when you manually drag in surround files to Compressor, each channel needs it's own file. Sure you can easily manually fix this, but surely Apple has an EASIER workflow?

Can you just export a Quicktime movie and import into Compressor? The program I see is that Compressor seems to use different channel orders?

Is there an easy method, or should I just manually sort it out? (You can also export as a Quicktime movie with 5.1 sound and then assign each channel manually using Quicktime Pro)

Chris!

Gary Williams · October 31st, 2007, 09:15 AM

Can anyone post what the best setting are to avoid the 5 second break in tape I have my post roll set at 1 and pre roll set at 1 is there any other setting I need to change to improve the ingest from my camera. Thanks Gary Williams

Chris Harris · October 31st, 2007, 05:34 PM

Soundtrack Pro 1.1 (from Final Cut Studio 1) doesn't seem to want to index .caf Apple Loops, only the .aiff ones. Unfortunately, iLife 08's Garageband loops are in .caf format. I've never had this problem before since the iLife 06 that came with all my Macs used aiff, but now that I'm doing a clean Leopard install, no iLife 06 for me, and STP 1.1 doesn't like that... I think. Anyone else come across a workaround? Or am I just missing something?

October 17th, 2007, 11:16 PM	#256
David Sayed Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 35	Hardware for editing AVCHD in FCS2 I have a Canon HG1 (AVCHD) and an XH-A1 (HDV) and want to edit using FCS2. I have a MacBook and am contemplating an iMac (2.4GHz, 4GB RAM) for running FCS2. Looking at the software requirements, apparently trying to edit AVCHD on anything but a Mac Pro will not work. Is it simply the case that it will be slow on an iMac or will it refuse to work at all? If I really need a Mac Pro, then FCS2 is out of the running for me I'm afraid.

October 22nd, 2007, 07:43 PM	#257
James Brill Major Player Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Goleta, CA Posts: 299	Wanting to up rez something. I have an avi file that is 652x272. I want to put it in a SD timeline to be put on a dvd and played on a SD television but still look good and have no compression artifacts. Would Magic Bullet's Instant HD do the trick or am I just SOL?

October 24th, 2007, 05:52 PM	#258
Ivan Barbarich Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 47	Workflow Issues We are a multimedia company specializing in the production of royalty free footage. We have a workflow issue that needs to be resolved and everywhere we turn seems to be a dead end. Really hoping that someone here has had a similar problem and has found a solution/workaround and wouldn't mind sharing their knowledge. Here's our scenario... We are shooting the bulk of our footage against a green screen on a Panasonic AG-HPX500 P2 camera. The footage is coming out of the camera via sdi and into an Ultimatte 11 compositing device (http://www.ultimatte.com/UltimatteMain/11%20Main.html). From there it is ingested into final cut pro 6 via sdi and a Black Magic Decklink HD Extreme capture card for (hopefully) a live capture. Now here's the problem... Our preferred capture format is 720p/60 or 720p/50 uncompressed 8 bit but the only format that we can capture live using the above method is 1080i/50 - Apple ProRes or DVCPro. All other formats inform us that there is no video input (yes, when we try to capture 720p in Final Cut the camera is set to the same). The whole thing is just very frustrating. Any answers/workarounds to my questions or any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

October 26th, 2007, 02:09 PM	#259
Jeff Kolada Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 78	30p Batch List in FCP? Capture Hell.... We are shooting a student tv show on the sony v1u in 30pHDV. We are keeping log-sheets to import into FCP for capturing. Unfortunately when we capture the footage from the batch list, FCP decides that half of our shots should only capture one frame and then go on to the next one. I'm guessing it has something to do with the batch list trying to read in 29.95 and not 30p, but I really don't know what's going on, and we have 10 hours of footage already labeled and organized in the spreadsheet batch list. Help?

October 26th, 2007, 08:21 PM	#260
Adam Woodworth Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cambridge, MA Posts: 55	Disable automation playback in Soundtrack Pro I don't see any way to disable automation playback in Soundtrack Pro 2. I.e., disable the volume envelope so you can hear the audio without the envelope, but not delete the envelope, just disable it. Anyone know if this is possible? I know Digital Performer can do it, which is why I ask about STP. __________________ Bourbon: It's hard being a small time gangster. http://www.bourbonmovie.com

October 27th, 2007, 05:32 PM	#261
Shaughan Flynn Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 272	FCS + Leopard I blogged my experience with installing 10.5 and testing out the FCS apps and some Adobe apps as well. You can see it at http://bscenefilms.blogspot.com __________________ B-Scene Films

October 27th, 2007, 11:51 PM	#262
Elmer Lang Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: NY, NY Posts: 319	Garageband Symphony: Any way to install on an other drive? I was hoping there is a way to install Garageband Symphony on another drive. It needs 10 gigs and demands a startup hd while I wanna put it on a FW or SATA drive. If I install on startup drive can I move to FW/SATA or will that screw up GB's way of seeing things? I could re-add them, but was hoping someone has experience that way.

October 28th, 2007, 12:09 PM	#263
Vince Halushka Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Yellowknife canada Posts: 74	FCE Capture questions I was capturing a pile of clips last nite with no issues. I turned on the Mac this am to get through the last 4 tapes and my preview window is disabled. How do I re-enable the preview window so i can capture again. The project is dv-pal capture if that matters. The FCE still controls the camera and reads vtr ok..just no preview and therefore no capture???

October 29th, 2007, 05:30 AM	#264
Kevin Sullivan New Boot Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Baku, Azerbaijan and London Posts: 14	MXF output (FCP to Avid workflow) Before I ask my question, let me state, we have never transfered files from FCP to Avid before. Now that is out of the way: We have a potential client that is working inhouse on Avid Liquid with Panny 200 P2 MXF files. On other other hand, we work on a FCP Pro 2 system with a variety of file formats in the ProRes HD timeline. For integration purposes, they have requested that we give them an MXF output of the final project and also of any specific clips they might need. (I do not understand why, since Avid is an open timeline system. Right?) It seems to me that MXF files are not the correct workflow or possible from FCP . Also, the Avid should be able to handle a HD quicktime file which would be better quality. I could give them a xml file and the tapes but, we are half a world apart. Files would be better because we can transfer them. Anyone got an idea of the best workflow? Besides changing operating systems. Thanks in advance for any enlightment on this. Kevin Sullivan Lead Baku International Azerbaijan

October 29th, 2007, 02:45 PM	#265
Brian Boyko Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 773	My camera does 24p HDV or 60i/NTSC - and the output needs to be 50i PAL... As part of my project, I'm thinking about contributing to a side-project - problem is they're probably filming in PAL while I'm filming in NTSC. Should I record as 24p or 60i - I don't have access to a PAL camera.

October 29th, 2007, 07:57 PM	#266
Mike Sarner New Boot Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: California Posts: 6	HDV Clips Looping in FC Editing HDV in FC 5.1 for the first time. All of my clips and timeline seem to loop back to the beginning of clip/timeline when they reach the end. is there an option to eliminate this?

October 30th, 2007, 04:41 PM	#267
John Lutz New Boot Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ Posts: 23	Vegas 8 on a new 24" iMac, New to a Mac I am about to purchase a 24" iMac Leopard/2.4/2GB/320Gig Parallels 3.0/XP Home, this will be my first Mac. I want to run Final Cut Studio 2 on the Mac side. Also I would like to run Vegas 8, HDV Rack,Ultra 2, on the PC side. Which should I use Parallels 3.0 or Bootcamp (which comes with Leopard)? If Bootcamp, then the Mac systems drive needs to be partitioned to run XP Home (I figure about 100 gig for XP Home),correct? That leaves about 220gig for Mac software. I will use external drives for video storage for both. Please let me know what you think? John

October 31st, 2007, 01:54 AM	#268
Chris Hocking Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 595	5.1 from FCP6 to Compressor? I was just wondering what's the easiest way to get your surround sound mix out of FCP to Compressor? When you setup FCP using the 5.1 preset (L, R, C, LFE, SL, SR) how do you get it out of FCP into Compressor? I would have thought you'd just export the audio as AIFF's (separated by channel)? However! That will create only four Quicktime files (L+R, C, LFE, SL+SR). This is a problem because when you manually drag in surround files to Compressor, each channel needs it's own file. Sure you can easily manually fix this, but surely Apple has an EASIER workflow? Can you just export a Quicktime movie and import into Compressor? The program I see is that Compressor seems to use different channel orders? Is there an easy method, or should I just manually sort it out? (You can also export as a Quicktime movie with 5.1 sound and then assign each channel manually using Quicktime Pro) Chris!

October 31st, 2007, 09:15 AM	#269
Gary Williams Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Rocklin, California Posts: 287	What are the best settings to shorten the breaks in tape in final cut from HD-100 Can anyone post what the best setting are to avoid the 5 second break in tape I have my post roll set at 1 and pre roll set at 1 is there any other setting I need to change to improve the ingest from my camera. Thanks Gary Williams

October 31st, 2007, 05:34 PM	#270
Chris Harris Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: San Francisco, California Posts: 487	Soundtrack Pro 1.1/Garageband 08 issues... Soundtrack Pro 1.1 (from Final Cut Studio 1) doesn't seem to want to index .caf Apple Loops, only the .aiff ones. Unfortunately, iLife 08's Garageband loops are in .caf format. I've never had this problem before since the iLife 06 that came with all my Macs used aiff, but now that I'm doing a clean Leopard install, no iLife 06 for me, and STP 1.1 doesn't like that... I think. Anyone else come across a workaround? Or am I just missing something?