NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2002

[DaveWatson]

Thanks Martin. I'm afraid I have failed to learn all the tech stuff, I'm on the creative side.

I do know that the Avid 9000 gives us a show that has a 1 to 1 ratio and zero compression. I have to stay away from compressed masters because the fooage can be compressed once and not look bad, but compressed twice looks like a show shot on VHS.

Problems is, more and more of the networks I deal with are going to auto systems where they load the footage on a server where it is compressed.

Best,

Dave

[Daniel Berube]

I concur with Martin in that you should take a look at the uncompressed options that the AJA Kona card and FCP 3 give you. You can learn more about the AJA card at: http://www.aja.com/. The Kona card is the first 10bit uncompressed card built from the ground up to work with OS X. What do you presently have for storage?

Final Cut Pro is a pixel pusher. It'll take whatever you throw at it. For that reason, FCP gives you a lot of options when you consider how many third party uncompressed cards currently supprt it. And FCP 4 is now entering beta stage and I look forward to what that will bring us as editors.

Right now I am editing in 5:1 compression because I presently do not need more. But I am thankful that FCP does not constrict me to one set of solutions as the Avid does when you choose to upgrade.

A lot of networks are using FCP uncompressed in their production workflows. MTV is a great example.

If you would like to learn more about uncompressed options with FCP, let me know and I'll post some links for you.

Seriuously give FCP and an uncompressed card a look as your solution to your uncompressed needs.

[Todd Dilley]

I have heard that Final Cut Pro is the best editing program for the Canon XLS-1.

--Does Final Cut Pro work on any computer as long as it has the
DV terminal that conforms to IEEE 1394 for digital transfer?

--What wire do I need to connect my Canon XLS-1 to my computer in order to use Final Cut Pro? Please provide a link to where I can purchase this wire if possible.

Thank you

[Daniel Berube]

<<<-- Originally posted by Todd Dilley : I have heard that Final Cut Pro is the best editing program for the Canon XLS-1.
-->>>

Todd,

Welcome!

Final Cut Pro is absolutely the best editing program on the Macintosh for editing with a Canon XL1S.

You need a 6 pin to 6 pin FireWire cable to connect your XL1S to a Macintosh equipped with FireWire.

Here are the minimum requirements for FCP 3 on the Macintosh:
- Macintosh computer with a 300-MHz or faster PowerPC G3 or G4 processor and built-in FireWire
- 500-MHz or faster single or 450-MHz dual processor Power Mac G4 or PowerBook G4 required for G4 realtime effects
- 667-MHz PowerBook G4 required for mobile G4 realtime effects in DV format
Mac OS 9.2.2 or Mac OS X v10.1.1
- QuickTime (included)
- 256MB of RAM (384MB recommended for G4 realtime effects)
- 40MB of available disk space required for installation

I believe you can purchase a firewire cable from one of the DVInfo.net sponsors:
- Professional Tape and Communications Supply
http://www.pro-tape.com/
- Zotz Digital
http://www.zotzdigital.com/

[Marc Betz]

FCP is the best program to edit xl1s footage on a MAC.

If you have a pc there are at least 10 others.

[Todd Dilley]

Thank you Dan for the great information on Final Cut Pro.

I do have one more question about Final Cut.

Are you able to turn your footage into black and white or add titles on the screen?

I just wanted to make sure because I have heard you can.

Thank you for your time.

[Todd Dilley]

If you don't have a Macintosh are you able to use Final Cut Pro?

[Paul Sedillo]

Sorry but the answer is no. It is a Mac only application.

[Martin Munthe]

If your greatest needs is to turn the footage into B/W and add some titles you don't need FCP. You can do it with iMovie wich is free and a simple plug and play app.

FCP is a pro app that handles complex compositing work with keyframe animation, has mattetools, support for third party plugins and AE plugins, FX script editor, OMF export and so on... You cold almost make a Star Wars movie with it if your stubborn enough.

Other options on the Mac are Avid Xpress DV, Cinestream, Premiere and Media100.

[Steve Nunez]

You'll need a 4/6 pin Firewire cable- not 6/6 as mentioned earlier.

[Daniel Berube]

Apologize for the typo, I was thinking of the Mac when I typed it. Of course, 4 pin coming out of the XL1S and 6 pin going into the Mac.

iMovie is perfect for B&W and titles, but I sense you have the DV bug and soon you will want more than iMovie gives you. I reiterate that FCP is the best solution for DV filmmakers on the Mac.

Happy filmmaking and do ask more questions, Todd!

[Daniel Berube]

Todd,

Final Cut Pro was originally developed by Macromedia and subsequently purchased by Apple and developed further into a Mac only app. It's one of the great reasons to own a Macintosh. If you are thinking of editing on the PC, I recommend that you switch your questions over to the "Non-linear Editing for the PC" forum, you will be better served there.

Again, the minimum requirements for FCP:
- Macintosh computer with a 300-MHz or faster PowerPC G3 or G4 processor and built-in FireWire
- 500-MHz or faster single or 450-MHz dual processor Power Mac G4 or PowerBook G4 required for G4 realtime effects
- 667-MHz PowerBook G4 required for mobile G4 realtime effects in DV format
Mac OS 9.2.2 or Mac OS X v10.1.1
- QuickTime (included)
- 256MB of RAM (384MB recommended for G4 realtime effects)
- 40MB of available disk space required for installation

I encourage you to look further into what the Macintosh can do for you as a creative person and filmmaker!

Happy Filmmaking,

[Chet Hardin]

I am about to embark upon encoding my final cut pro project to dvd.
I have no idea what to do. I will be using a g4 867 with os x. The dvd software will be the standard, idvd.
final cut pro 1.2.
Help?

Hello,

First time with this group so let me say that I have found the forum interesting and look forward to learning more about the group as well as the subject.

As part of a project I shot some fifty hours of mini DV with a TRV900. Now I am attempting to log and capture these tapes in FCP 3 and have encoutered the "abort on batch capture because of timecode breaks".

The process of trying to capture around the breaks is laborious, and I'm still unsure what has generated all the breaks.

I've learned that one solution would be to dub the whole fifty hours of tape, creating a new master archive, all with continuous time code. The quotes I've gotten for this are around $25 to $30 per tape. Expensive, and then I still would not have two sets of media (cloning) that would allow for collaborative editing with shared project files or EDLs.

Anyone have experience with solving this?

Seems that FCP should have some algorithum that would recoginize a timecode break and interpolate a continuous code if instructed.

Look forward to meeting some of you in Boston this Thursday over at BU.

Thanks so much, Doug.

[Matt Stahley]

its pretty simple just export your movie IN FCP to a FCP movie with the highest render settings etc. then in iDVD just drag your FCP movies into the window and iDVD will take over from there . you can also import any video/audio for your background menu etc and set motion buttons for the movies.
iDVD will do all the mpeg encoding automatically as soon as u import the movies.