NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2007

Martin Kornfeld · February 2nd, 2007, 08:59 AM

I'm planning on purchasing a 24inch imac intel with external hard drive (LaCie Big Disk Extreme with Triple Interface - 500GB External FireWire 400/800 and USB 2.0 Hard Drive with built-in RAID 0 Array - 7200rpm 16MB Buffer).
Question1: Does this drive have loop through for connecting camera through to computer.
Question 2: Do most or all firewire drives have loop through?

Question3: Does this seem like a good way to go for up to mid-level sd/hdv/hd editing?

Thanks in advance for advice.

Marty

Neil Boone · February 2nd, 2007, 10:25 AM

Does FCP have the ability to ingest 35mm anamorphic footage? If so what pulldown needs to be used to view it correctly? An associate mentioned to me that FCP can't pull this off but I wasn't sure and haven't messed to much with pulldown issues myself. Any place to learn about pulldown? And does anyone know how FCP deals with 35mm footage (delivered on DVCAM or DVC-PROHD, or a hard drive from a film facility)

Douglas Joseph · February 3rd, 2007, 06:30 PM

Hey, guys... I've run into a major problem; any help would be great! I have to meet a deadline real soon! Here's what's happening. I shot some footage with the jvchd100, 24p, SD. If I watch the footage on the lcd screen of my camera, it looks fine. When I capture the footage, then import into my timeline, and drag the cruiser over the footage to preview it, it looks fine. However, after I render it, It glitches up; a bunch of horizontal lines form. My sequence preset is: DV NTSC 48 KHz Anamorphic. My capture preset is DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic. Devic Control Preset is FireWire NTSC. And under user preferences, for render control I have filters, frame blending for speed, and motion blur all checked... I also right clicked the footage on the time-line, went to the project properties, format... and the Vid Rate is at 29.96 fps and there is also a field dominance lower (even). Also, all the other footage I shoot is fine. However, this tape is from a different day, could it be something with the pull down removal? Perhaps I shot in 2:3 one day and 2:3:3:2, the other? I can't remeber if I did. If anybody has a solution to fix this issue, it'd much appriecated. Thanks so much.

I figured it out. Delete!

Marc Yreux · February 5th, 2007, 06:08 AM

Here is my Pb.
I have no Pb to tranfer my footages (25 ips) from my XH A1 on to my computer' hard drive.
Then I have no Pbs using FCP 5.1.2.
When I transfer back my footages from FCP to XH A1 something strange occurs :
looking on camcorder's viewscreen during acquisition, everything looks fine but when I later read the tape, there is a 1 second image freeze at each scene change.
On top of it, when I ask the camcorder to copy time code from source (FCP), an improper and fixed value is registered.(only loast 2 digits are flashing up and down between 2 same values)
Last but not least, this Pb do not occurs when using iMovie HD.
Have the feeling something is wrong with Timecode. It seems that at the end of each sequence, FCP believes it reachs the end ot the movie and freeze last picture before realising shows goes on !
Have contacted Apple in France who is investigating.
Anybody faced same PB?
Thanks

Ralph Sturgess · February 5th, 2007, 07:08 AM

I have about 4 hours of clips cut down from 40 hrs of 720p footage that I've been working on for about 2 months. I'm now trying to edit a montage of said footage but now whenever I playback the footage certain clips will start to glitch out and start to stutter over and over, the playhead keeps going, the canvas just stutters or it zooms in or it stutters and then the viewing area is divided into 4 quadrants with the top left one going blank. This is driving me nuts. I've set the playback quality to low and still this crap happens. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm dealing with a lacie terabyte external. While editing the 40 hours of footage this problem didn't occur but now when I try editing this new thing these glitches occur and I have no idea what's causing them or how I can make it go away and have normal playback so I can edit the damn thing. Can someone please help!?

Tim Pearce · February 8th, 2007, 09:00 PM

Hi,
I'm trying to output a file from Final Cut Pro to Quicktime and I have gotten some strange results.

FILE>EXPORT>QUICKTIME CONVERSION>VIDEO SETTINGS
Compression Type: Motion JPEG B
Quality: Best
SOUND SETTING (I left as default)

The attached clip is done with Compression Type H.264 and Quality Low so that I could get the file size small enough to post it here. The strange results that I get with the H.264 file are the same as Motion JPEG B. Changing the quality setting results in the same problems. I also tried Sorenson Video and MPEG-4 Video - which gave the same result as the others. I did try the DV/DVCPRO - NTSC compression which gave me a file without problems. I would however prefer that it be a Motion JPEG B type of file. The short example clip is part of a longer scene of about 1 minute that has been sped up 1600%.

I am using:
QuickTime™ Version 7.1.3,
Final Cut Pro 5.0.4
Mac OS X 10.4.8
1.67 Ghz PowerPC G4
1GB DDR SDRAM
250 GB Lacie external drive (20GB free)

Thanks for any advice!
Tim

William Hohauser · February 9th, 2007, 05:25 PM

I've had different experiences with the Apple DV to Video adapter depending on the computer I am using. My laptops will put out a very good picture just by attaching it but my G5 outputs a terrible image. I tried several times to calibrate the output using the Display preferences but would always end up with strange color gradations.

Since I need to make DVDs of works in progress for clients and HDV requires some sort of rendering to output, I want to be able to run a video signal straight to a DVD recorder without the time wasted on a render. The MacBook Pro makes this easy but I don’t edit long form projects on it. I did a search and found a simple tool to help me calibrate the G5 video output.

I am certain this method will help anyone would needs a quick and economical output of their HDV project from FCP without rendering back to HDV tape.

What you need is an Apple DVI to Video Adapter on the second monitor port.
A television monitor.
A waveform monitor.
A pure RGB black to RGB white gradient going horizontally. A wonderful photography site called Dry Creek Photo has a GIF you can download (http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/C..._gradient.htm). This GIF has two gradients going in opposite left/right directions which is a help.

First calibrate the TV monitor using a regular video signal (color bars).

Make sure you can send the computer video to both the TV monitor and the waveform monitor. Either via a DA or by looping. Remember to terminate the signal if your monitor doesn’t do it automatically!

Place the gradient on the TV screen and open the Display Preference in System Preferences. I found that 800 x 600 interlaced works best on this particular G5 to display HD video. Click on “Options” and check “Overscan”. The “Best for Video” box introduces some softening of details, that’s your call.

Click on color and pick NTSC/PAL. Click “Calibrate”. At this point you might find it necessary to move the gradient and the calibration windows around so you can get as clear a view of the gradient as possible. The waveform should have an X pattern on it that’s created by the gradient GIF. The waveform of the calibration window will also be visible but that won’t disturb the calibration.

Ignore the first step with the oval (you should have set the TV monitor to a regular video signal before starting this). The next set of steps has a slider to the left of the gray Apple logo in a box. Do not follow Apple's instructions as these only work for computer monitors. You'll be observing the waveform from now on for calibration. Adjust each slider to make the X pattern’s lines as straight as possible. You’ll see how each step changes a different part of the gradation. Ideally the white area should hit 100% while the black will stop at 7.5%. To the right of the Apple is a box with crosshairs, this adjusts color balance. I didn’t need to change this but if you do you’ll want to eliminate any chroma on the X pattern. You can see this on the waveform monitor if it’s set to “Flat”. The lines of the X should be sharp, not fuzzy. A vectorscope will work only if the GIF and the calibration window are the only images on the screen.

After you finish the slider steps you’ll come to a Gamma adjustment. Adjust it so the X is as straight as possible. The color point step is the same as the color balance, eliminate any chroma that might be in the x pattern.

Save the calibration.

That’s it. An acceptable image for production screeners.

Now there are a few things to remember. This is not a perfect video signal! There is a bit of image level compression introduced, black levels start at 7.5 and white tops at 100%. HDV starts at 0% and goes over 100%, at least to 110% depending on the camera. The color looks good but I would not use it for color correction!

Great for creating temporary client screeners and you’ve spent all of $30.

Brett OBourke · February 10th, 2007, 01:49 PM

I'm thinking of taking a class. Can anyone in South Florida recommend a place to do so? I found a listing for a company called Future Media Concepts, anyone ever heard of them and know if they are any good?

thanks,

Brett

Michael Althaus · February 12th, 2007, 02:57 AM

Hello,
I am looking for information about building a cluster with Xserves or Mac Pros. I have a client which needs to convert hdv and uncompressed SD video into mpeg-4 (h.264) clips very fast. I thought building a cluster might be a good idea. Does anybody have any experience with it? Is it even a good idea or are there other (better) options.

Thank you,

Michael

Douglas Joseph · February 12th, 2007, 11:47 PM

Hey, guys. I'm unable to capture footage shot in 720p hd, 24p with the jvc hd110. I have the newest version of FCP. Is there a particular capture preset I need to use? I keep getting the error that no device is detected. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Jonathan Lennard · February 13th, 2007, 09:08 AM

After suffering with downgrading HD to SD work for export onto a demo reel..I discovered that it's very easy to export to DVstream and maintain proportions. Of course I am losing quality by downgrading to SD, but am losing more than if I was exporting to a quicktime .mov (DVpal)? More simply, is a DVstream got the same info. in it than a quicktime .mov of the same size?

Neil Rostance · February 13th, 2007, 12:14 PM

Just a thought.

Has anybody found any good resources for this?

Neil

Luca de Sensi · February 13th, 2007, 06:07 PM

Hi all!
I'm thinking of upgrading a little bit my FCP/ProTools setup:
I have a Quad G5 with an old Apple Cinema Display and an Epson video projector connected. Right now I'm looking into stepping up to a 3 way video set up (22" Cinema, Epson and a 17" lcd as second desk monitor).
Has anyone tried anything like this? Does anyone have any idea wether I might be better of with a second graphic card (GeForce 6600) or splash on a Hdmi I/O (Decklink Intensity, not yet supported on the G5)? Any thoughts or ideas appreciated!!!
Thanx,
Luca

Douglas Joseph · February 13th, 2007, 08:32 PM

Hey, everyone. I'm going to try to explain this the best I can. All right, when I export my project from FCP, as a QT movie, everything is in frame; nothing is cut off. However, after I print to a dvd through iDVD a few inches are cut off on the sides... Here are my settings: Compression: H.261, Frame rate: 24: dimesinons 647x410 (current). Under the size tab in movie setting for exporting, I have the option to choose preserve aspect ration using letter box... Should this be checked? I'm jumping all around here: Also, in my timeline for final cut pro, the opening sequence plays in widescreen (there are black bars) the rest of my footage play in final cut pro without black bars, but there's nothing cut off. After it's been burnt to a dvd, the opening sequence plays with black bars... but the rest doesn't, and sides are cut off. This is so weird, because in the QT movie this ISN'T happening. It's only after it's burnt to a dvd... Hopefully one of you gurus out there can figure this out... This is an event I shot, and has to be sent out in a couple days... :S

Gary Siu · February 14th, 2007, 02:56 PM

Hi. Anyone experience using the Jive5 three drive internal enclosure for the Power Mac G5? I'm concerned about: 1) heat build up running three more drives - SATA at that (they do tend to run hotter). 2) Can the OEM power supply handle the extra current draw? 3) Would the fans not be constantly running? 4) Is it necessary to get the four plug PCIe card as I intend on RAID 0 striping - can they be strung together before going into the card requiring only one cable to the board? Any thoughts from those who have used this set-up. Thanks.

February 2nd, 2007, 08:59 AM	#16
Martin Kornfeld Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Santa Rosa, CA Posts: 49	canon a1-FW hard drive-FCP connection question I'm planning on purchasing a 24inch imac intel with external hard drive (LaCie Big Disk Extreme with Triple Interface - 500GB External FireWire 400/800 and USB 2.0 Hard Drive with built-in RAID 0 Array - 7200rpm 16MB Buffer). Question1: Does this drive have loop through for connecting camera through to computer. Question 2: Do most or all firewire drives have loop through? Question3: Does this seem like a good way to go for up to mid-level sd/hdv/hd editing? Thanks in advance for advice. Marty Last edited by Martin Kornfeld; February 2nd, 2007 at 11:47 AM.

February 2nd, 2007, 10:25 AM	#17
Neil Boone New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Wilmington, NC Posts: 19	Pulldown Does FCP have the ability to ingest 35mm anamorphic footage? If so what pulldown needs to be used to view it correctly? An associate mentioned to me that FCP can't pull this off but I wasn't sure and haven't messed to much with pulldown issues myself. Any place to learn about pulldown? And does anyone know how FCP deals with 35mm footage (delivered on DVCAM or DVC-PROHD, or a hard drive from a film facility)

February 3rd, 2007, 06:30 PM	#18
Douglas Joseph Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Zanesville OH Posts: 205	Help, Urgent. Glitch in footage after render... Hey, guys... I've run into a major problem; any help would be great! I have to meet a deadline real soon! Here's what's happening. I shot some footage with the jvchd100, 24p, SD. If I watch the footage on the lcd screen of my camera, it looks fine. When I capture the footage, then import into my timeline, and drag the cruiser over the footage to preview it, it looks fine. However, after I render it, It glitches up; a bunch of horizontal lines form. My sequence preset is: DV NTSC 48 KHz Anamorphic. My capture preset is DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic. Devic Control Preset is FireWire NTSC. And under user preferences, for render control I have filters, frame blending for speed, and motion blur all checked... I also right clicked the footage on the time-line, went to the project properties, format... and the Vid Rate is at 29.96 fps and there is also a field dominance lower (even). Also, all the other footage I shoot is fine. However, this tape is from a different day, could it be something with the pull down removal? Perhaps I shot in 2:3 one day and 2:3:3:2, the other? I can't remeber if I did. If anybody has a solution to fix this issue, it'd much appriecated. Thanks so much. I figured it out. Delete! __________________ "Warriors... Come out to play..." www.importexporthd.com Last edited by Douglas Joseph; February 4th, 2007 at 10:40 AM.

February 5th, 2007, 06:08 AM	#19
Marc Yreux Tourist Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Le Mont Saint Michel- France Posts: 1	Transfer to tape from FCP to XH A1 Here is my Pb. I have no Pb to tranfer my footages (25 ips) from my XH A1 on to my computer' hard drive. Then I have no Pbs using FCP 5.1.2. When I transfer back my footages from FCP to XH A1 something strange occurs : looking on camcorder's viewscreen during acquisition, everything looks fine but when I later read the tape, there is a 1 second image freeze at each scene change. On top of it, when I ask the camcorder to copy time code from source (FCP), an improper and fixed value is registered.(only loast 2 digits are flashing up and down between 2 same values) Last but not least, this Pb do not occurs when using iMovie HD. Have the feeling something is wrong with Timecode. It seems that at the end of each sequence, FCP believes it reachs the end ot the movie and freeze last picture before realising shows goes on ! Have contacted Apple in France who is investigating. Anybody faced same PB? Thanks

February 5th, 2007, 07:08 AM	#20
Ralph Sturgess Regular Crew Join Date: May 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 35	Playback Glitching I have about 4 hours of clips cut down from 40 hrs of 720p footage that I've been working on for about 2 months. I'm now trying to edit a montage of said footage but now whenever I playback the footage certain clips will start to glitch out and start to stutter over and over, the playhead keeps going, the canvas just stutters or it zooms in or it stutters and then the viewing area is divided into 4 quadrants with the top left one going blank. This is driving me nuts. I've set the playback quality to low and still this crap happens. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm dealing with a lacie terabyte external. While editing the 40 hours of footage this problem didn't occur but now when I try editing this new thing these glitches occur and I have no idea what's causing them or how I can make it go away and have normal playback so I can edit the damn thing. Can someone please help!?

February 9th, 2007, 05:25 PM	#22
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	HDV editing - Calibrating the output of Apple's DVI to video adapter I've had different experiences with the Apple DV to Video adapter depending on the computer I am using. My laptops will put out a very good picture just by attaching it but my G5 outputs a terrible image. I tried several times to calibrate the output using the Display preferences but would always end up with strange color gradations. Since I need to make DVDs of works in progress for clients and HDV requires some sort of rendering to output, I want to be able to run a video signal straight to a DVD recorder without the time wasted on a render. The MacBook Pro makes this easy but I don’t edit long form projects on it. I did a search and found a simple tool to help me calibrate the G5 video output. I am certain this method will help anyone would needs a quick and economical output of their HDV project from FCP without rendering back to HDV tape. What you need is an Apple DVI to Video Adapter on the second monitor port. A television monitor. A waveform monitor. A pure RGB black to RGB white gradient going horizontally. A wonderful photography site called Dry Creek Photo has a GIF you can download (http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/C..._gradient.htm). This GIF has two gradients going in opposite left/right directions which is a help. First calibrate the TV monitor using a regular video signal (color bars). Make sure you can send the computer video to both the TV monitor and the waveform monitor. Either via a DA or by looping. Remember to terminate the signal if your monitor doesn’t do it automatically! Place the gradient on the TV screen and open the Display Preference in System Preferences. I found that 800 x 600 interlaced works best on this particular G5 to display HD video. Click on “Options” and check “Overscan”. The “Best for Video” box introduces some softening of details, that’s your call. Click on color and pick NTSC/PAL. Click “Calibrate”. At this point you might find it necessary to move the gradient and the calibration windows around so you can get as clear a view of the gradient as possible. The waveform should have an X pattern on it that’s created by the gradient GIF. The waveform of the calibration window will also be visible but that won’t disturb the calibration. Ignore the first step with the oval (you should have set the TV monitor to a regular video signal before starting this). The next set of steps has a slider to the left of the gray Apple logo in a box. Do not follow Apple's instructions as these only work for computer monitors. You'll be observing the waveform from now on for calibration. Adjust each slider to make the X pattern’s lines as straight as possible. You’ll see how each step changes a different part of the gradation. Ideally the white area should hit 100% while the black will stop at 7.5%. To the right of the Apple is a box with crosshairs, this adjusts color balance. I didn’t need to change this but if you do you’ll want to eliminate any chroma on the X pattern. You can see this on the waveform monitor if it’s set to “Flat”. The lines of the X should be sharp, not fuzzy. A vectorscope will work only if the GIF and the calibration window are the only images on the screen. After you finish the slider steps you’ll come to a Gamma adjustment. Adjust it so the X is as straight as possible. The color point step is the same as the color balance, eliminate any chroma that might be in the x pattern. Save the calibration. That’s it. An acceptable image for production screeners. Now there are a few things to remember. This is not a perfect video signal! There is a bit of image level compression introduced, black levels start at 7.5 and white tops at 100%. HDV starts at 0% and goes over 100%, at least to 110% depending on the camera. The color looks good but I would not use it for color correction! Great for creating temporary client screeners and you’ve spent all of $30. __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

February 10th, 2007, 01:49 PM	#23
Brett OBourke Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Chicago Posts: 72	FCP Class in Miami/South Florida? I'm thinking of taking a class. Can anyone in South Florida recommend a place to do so? I found a listing for a company called Future Media Concepts, anyone ever heard of them and know if they are any good? thanks, Brett

February 12th, 2007, 02:57 AM	#24
Michael Althaus Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Santa Monica Posts: 27	cluster with Xserve/Mac Pro Hello, I am looking for information about building a cluster with Xserves or Mac Pros. I have a client which needs to convert hdv and uncompressed SD video into mpeg-4 (h.264) clips very fast. I thought building a cluster might be a good idea. Does anybody have any experience with it? Is it even a good idea or are there other (better) options. Thank you, Michael

February 12th, 2007, 11:47 PM	#25
Douglas Joseph Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Zanesville OH Posts: 205	Can't capture 24p HD Hey, guys. I'm unable to capture footage shot in 720p hd, 24p with the jvc hd110. I have the newest version of FCP. Is there a particular capture preset I need to use? I keep getting the error that no device is detected. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much. __________________ "Warriors... Come out to play..." www.importexporthd.com

February 13th, 2007, 09:08 AM	#26
Jonathan Lennard New Boot Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: new York usa Posts: 22	DVCPRO 1080P export to .DV, am I losing quality? After suffering with downgrading HD to SD work for export onto a demo reel..I discovered that it's very easy to export to DVstream and maintain proportions. Of course I am losing quality by downgrading to SD, but am losing more than if I was exporting to a quicktime .mov (DVpal)? More simply, is a DVstream got the same info. in it than a quicktime .mov of the same size?

February 13th, 2007, 12:14 PM	#27
Neil Rostance Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Lace Market, Nottingham, UK Posts: 194	Long shot...downloadable DVD Studio Pro 4 templates? Just a thought. Has anybody found any good resources for this? Neil

February 13th, 2007, 06:07 PM	#28
Luca de Sensi Tourist Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 4	Fcp And Multiple Video Cards Hi all! I'm thinking of upgrading a little bit my FCP/ProTools setup: I have a Quad G5 with an old Apple Cinema Display and an Epson video projector connected. Right now I'm looking into stepping up to a 3 way video set up (22" Cinema, Epson and a 17" lcd as second desk monitor). Has anyone tried anything like this? Does anyone have any idea wether I might be better of with a second graphic card (GeForce 6600) or splash on a Hdmi I/O (Decklink Intensity, not yet supported on the G5)? Any thoughts or ideas appreciated!!! Thanx, Luca

February 13th, 2007, 08:32 PM	#29
Douglas Joseph Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Zanesville OH Posts: 205	Can't get footage 16:9 on iDVD Hey, everyone. I'm going to try to explain this the best I can. All right, when I export my project from FCP, as a QT movie, everything is in frame; nothing is cut off. However, after I print to a dvd through iDVD a few inches are cut off on the sides... Here are my settings: Compression: H.261, Frame rate: 24: dimesinons 647x410 (current). Under the size tab in movie setting for exporting, I have the option to choose preserve aspect ration using letter box... Should this be checked? I'm jumping all around here: Also, in my timeline for final cut pro, the opening sequence plays in widescreen (there are black bars) the rest of my footage play in final cut pro without black bars, but there's nothing cut off. After it's been burnt to a dvd, the opening sequence plays with black bars... but the rest doesn't, and sides are cut off. This is so weird, because in the QT movie this ISN'T happening. It's only after it's burnt to a dvd... Hopefully one of you gurus out there can figure this out... This is an event I shot, and has to be sent out in a couple days... :S __________________ "Warriors... Come out to play..." www.importexporthd.com

February 14th, 2007, 02:56 PM	#30
Gary Siu Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Richmond, BC Posts: 90	Sonnet's G5 Jive pro's con's? Hi. Anyone experience using the Jive5 three drive internal enclosure for the Power Mac G5? I'm concerned about: 1) heat build up running three more drives - SATA at that (they do tend to run hotter). 2) Can the OEM power supply handle the extra current draw? 3) Would the fans not be constantly running? 4) Is it necessary to get the four plug PCIe card as I intend on RAID 0 striping - can they be strung together before going into the card requiring only one cable to the board? Any thoughts from those who have used this set-up. Thanks.