That's very odd Jerry. I used to use AE a lot and don't ever remember a lot of jumping. How slow are you trying to get? Maybe the clips need to be longer than 4 seconds to get the smoothness you want. what type of color effects? If you go into extremes it will cause banding and noise.

How in God's name do I open the MPEG 2 window pane?
I'm about to shoot something.
1.2.1

nevermind, got it.
And I didnt shoot anything.

If I have a project of any major nature ($$$) I try to designate one specific external Firewire drive for this job (after ascertaining that this drive has enough room) and capture everything to it, plus do all my rendering and save all versions of the sequence, and other media used in the job like audio and Photoshop files there.

Then I don't have to worry, I can plug it into literally any computer that has FCP installed, carry the job between locations easily, return a rented computer on-location and finish up at the home office etc. or just not worry if something goes wrong with the computer.

Help. I'm working on an 8-minute industrial that captured into FCP just fine, but now am hearing a 16-frame audio drift when working on the timeline and when I go to export to either QuickTime or Compressor.

The video was captured 8-bit uncompressed 4:1:1 from a DigiBeta deck to an XRaid. Editing was done on a G5 connected to the XRaid and all was well.

The entire Capture Scratch folder, supplemental media and the project file were copied to a LaCie Big Disk Extreme 500Gb drive over Firewire 800, a total of 350Gb of material.

I brought the drive home and attached it to my Dual 1.42Gh G4. I have another LaCie 500Gb that I use for my Final Cut Pro render/cache files attached in a daisy chain over Firewire 800 to the previously mentioned firewire disk.

The project is nested. The main edit is in its own sequence. That sequence is nested into "master" sequences that include color bars, a slate, and a broadcast safe filter. The master sequences also include a monolithic mastered stereo audio track that was done outside.

The sequence containing the main edit, with all of the original audio plays back fine. However, on the master sequence, the mastered audio track drifts to a lag of about 15 frames at the end of the 8 minute spot.

Attempts to scale the audio just seem to cause unpredictable results when I export -- sometimes the audio leads, sometimes it lags.

I'm absolutely pulling my hair out. I don't think this is a disk throughput or CPU issue as the lead/lag is encoded that way in the QuickTime -- I believe this is true as when I start/stop or scrub through the QuickTimes the lead/lag is always the same.

I've read everything on "audio drift" and "audio sync" I could find -- can anyone shed light on what might be happening?

Thanks,
Cameron

Nesting can cause problems with the audio. Have you any "old" un-nested versions you can try? I try to save several copies when I start to nest sequences. Copying files can also lead to sync issues. Did you use the Media Manager to move the files?

Well, the nested edit sequence is pretty messy so I'm not sure I want to layback the audio track onto that. However, while playing around with the sequences, I created a new sequence, nested the edit sequence in, and then layed in the audio track. And, surprise, the audio sync'd up perfectly (I checked it against the orginal audio.)

So, although serendipity is a great thing, and I'm back in business, I'd sure like to know what is going on.

Thanks,
Cameron

I don't have a good answer, other than nesting occasionally cause audio sync issues. I'm sure apple is aware of this and it will be addressed in future versions.

I can't open my Audio/Video Settings.

I get this mssage (General Error 34)

I thought if I made a new project it would go away, still there.

I have read, trash the prefs, delete bad audio, delete a empty layer on a photoshop graphic.

My son had started a slide show using bmp's & a Aiff music track

Any clues?


Thanks

Which program are you using?

FCP 4.5

Thanks for the lead about the nested sequences. That's what led me in the right direction.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Cameron

I've moved your thread to our Mac editing forum. Hopefully there
are some people here who can help you out. Good luck!

<<<-- Originally posted by Cameron O'Rourke : Thanks for the lead about the nested sequences. That's what led me in the right direction.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Cameron -->>>

Not sure if it would help, but have you tried mixing down the audio before nesting your sequence to the master?

Peter

I'm shooting on the xl2 in 24p mode and I'm wondering do I need to change the settings on my FCP system? Before this I was shooting with an xl1-s. running FCP 4.5. Thanks

Steven,

Have you tried trashing your preferences? Instructions located as a sticky at begining of this forum.

I'm not sure what the name of it is, but does anyone have an effect/filter (or just know how to do it) to make it look like someone is turning the TV off on the video?

Basically when you turn a TV off you see the picture squashed into the center and a final little "blip" as it goes completely black. I'd think this is used a lot, so is there a prebuilt effect for this or anyone know how to do it? Thanks.

I use 3 frames of static followd by a quick circle wipe.

This is of course the way old TVs in the 1950s actually looked when they were turned off. All you need to do is get one of those and do a kinescope (a-la-2004)...

Another way is to use a horizontal squeeze or wipe filter/transition and then a vertical move with the same properties all in succession. Once the image is about a 1/4" horizontal, apply the vertical squeeze move to finish it off with a zoom out like a circle wipe. You may have to do the first and then composite it as a separate file and then apply the vertical. It will almost look like an offset crosswipe but really fast. I guess this could be done with the orientations reversed as well.

Hi,

Mr. Nattress has a demo available at his website for the standards conversion plugin set. I have not used that particular set, but I do have two others of his and have been very impressed with them.

Hope this helps.

Jeremiah Hall

thanks Jeremiah - my problem is I haven't purchased a pal camera yet , just thinking about it and investigating workflows because I live in an ntsc world. I also have nattress' film effects 1.5 and yes , it is very good. thanks

I wondered if anyone has seen similar problems, or has suggestions for what I can do to resolve a problem in iDVD 4. I've tried searching here but didn't come across anything exactly like this.

When I launch iDVD 4 it seems to run slowly, and as soon as I try to change to a new theme or click the slideshow option, I get the neverending whirling pinwheel and the entire program either slows down immensely or just doesn't respond at all (mostly it just doesn't respond at all). The hard drive seems to be working overtime, and it takes over all the other tasks on the computer-- and even takes a long time to force quit. I've tried several things such as turning off the "Motion" option, trashing the iDVD preferences file, repairing permissions and restarting, and deleting all iDVD files and reinstalling the iDVD program from scratch... with no luck.

One other thing is that I had iDVD3 previously installed and wonder if I have some file mix-up going on which may be confusing the new program. But I'm not sure how to make sure I've purged all the old version 3 files, or if that's even necessary (doesn't seem like it should be).

Has anyone seen anything similar, or have suggestions for what to try?

I'm running iDVD 4.0.1 on a G5-1.8 single processor on OS 10.3.6 with 1 GB of RAM.

Thanks for any help.

Hi,

I gues in Audio/video Settings - sequence preset - you can choose DV NTSC 48 kHz - 24. But I don't see that in the capture preset. And do you have any idea how to choose a 24p sequence that is also anamorphic?
Because I can only choose:

- DV NTSC 48 khz - 24 OR
- DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic

There's like no combination! even not for PAL (I work with PAL)

greets

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know how to work with 24p AND 16:9 in FCP HD?
There is a sequence preset: DV NTSC 48kHz - 24,
and one DV NTSC 48kHz Anamorphic, but no combination of those two?

Greets

The way that the Nattress converter and Atlantis work are very different. I've seen both on the same footage that one of my converter users gave me and they were both great, but very different.

The Nattress converter tries to preserve the inherent interlaced nature of the video through the conversion, hence if the source is interlaced the output has the same smooth motion, whereas if the source is progressive, the output is again interlaced for smoothness, but it still looks progressive, like when 3:2 gets added to film to get to NTSC, it still looks progressive, even though the output is interlaced.

Atlantis, as a first step, always de-interlaces the video, so then it does a pulldown to convert the frame rates. This means that if your source footage is interlaced, then the output look always progressive. In that respect, although Atlantis produces nice results, it's not respecting the original nature of the footage, and hence limits it's application to more specialist uses. It's like everything you do goes through a film look.

However, some people may find that useful, so I'll look at implementing that method in a future version.

Best thing to do is try the demos!!

Graeme

How much hard drive space is available? You may need to trash other files than the preferences. You may want to read over this article (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25398) on the Apple Support Site on troubleshooting software issues.

There's 100 GB of hard drive space remaining. I'll try some of the troubleshooting and problem isolation steps that are suggested in that Apple article, and hopefully get it to work.

Tim: I moved your question to the Mac forum since I think you'll get more response and it really wasn't XL-2 specific. I don't use the XL-2 and am still on an earlier version of FCP, but I think anamorphic 16:9 is selected with a simple checkbox. If so then you could start with the 24p settings and just click that checkbox to acheive what you want.

You might also wan to search Apple's support site as well. This may be a known issue, but I'm unfamiliar with it.

Does anyone know of a cheap little app that'll apply a rough key to a live DV feed? Preferably one that'll let you play a movie behind it but I'd be very happy just with a still. It's to make it easier to line up blue/greenscreen shots.

There used to be a handy thing with the old A/V Macs where you could key out a particular color where ever it appeared on your screen. I had hoped with the big DV evolution that something similar would exist on OS X but the only solutions I can find are expensive and geared toward the meteorlogical set.


-j

Video Toaster rules at this.
If that's out of the question you can find many used switchers on ebay for little to nuthin.

Hi, I'm making a promo for an artist and she asked me to include some old material from her old proomo CD. It's a mpg file. When playback the sound is there and all is well. When I import it to FCP I have to render it to playback and there's no audio track..? I tried using QT to export it to another format but QT reports that there's no audio track..

What's happening? What can I do?

Thanks.

FCP can't demux a MPEG1 file... meaning, an MPEG1 file puts the video and audio together... so when you import it into FCP you only get the video. There is a free tool to break the MPEG1 into 2 files... or, if you already have the video, open the MPEG1 file in QT and export the movie as an audio file as a workaround... I think that should work.
http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/mpegstreamclip.html

Ha, what a life saaver program, thanks that worked beautifully!

thanks Graeme - maybe I'll just get both just in case !

Aspect the Horizontal and vertical at the same time and when you get close to the center apply a white border to the wipe. This simulates the white blip as it turns off.

And where would I find that checkbox?
I dont find it anywhere in FCP HD.

greets

I don't know if this is the same as what Michael is saying but using a squeeze or pinch filter and keyframing the vertical and horizontal in one move would probably be easier than what I said earlier with compositing a couple of different moves.

Since I haven't upgraded to your version all I can do is tell you how it works under FCP 3. Under the FCP menu choose Audio/Video Settings and click on the capture presets tab. The currently selected one appears highlighted with a check next to it. I'm assuming this will be the 24p option in your case. Click the Edit button (if a padlock icon appears next to the preset then FCP will automatically create a copy which you can edit and re-name as desired). In the edit screen there should be an anamorphic 16:9 checkbox which you would enable.

Like I said, this is all based on the earlier version so perhaps they've changed something in FCP HD. If so then hopefully someone else will chime in on this.

Thanx Boyd.

I tried this in fcp HD and I'ts the same.
Thank you verry much!

Greets Tim

I’m switching from Vegas to FCP 4.5 HD and I’m using footage shot in 24p on a DVX100. I captured my footage using the advanced option (pulldown removed) Now when I put the footage into a 24fps sequence it wants me to render, but not if it’s in a 29.9fps sequence.

Can someone please help me understand this. If the footage is 24p and I’m using a 24fps sequence, why should I have to render before viewing?

Thanks,
Fred

is it possible to watch my fx1 in HD quality directly on my apple cinema display 20"?
and in case that its possible
what kind of cable adapters or interfaces do i need
to connect the FX1 with the apple display

thanks for help

christian

Welcome aboard DVInfo.net Fred!

I did a search (see the button in the upper right and the link in
my signature) in this Mac forum on 24p and the first page yielded
these threads that might help you futher on what the correct
workflow should be for 24p in FCP:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35601
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35492
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31712

I also did a search in this forum on "24p AND render" and got
the following threads which are more specific to your problem:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14433
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14323

Christian: welcome aboard DVInfo.net! I have moved your thread
to our Mac editing forum because it is much more likely that people
in here will know what kind of inputs are on the screen and how
you could convert other signals into signals it accepts.

Good luck with your quest!

The HDLink from Blackmagic Design will do this, although I have never seen one myself http://www.blackmagic-design.com/site/hdlink.htm

The HDLink only has SDI in, so it will not work with the FX1.

Thanks! I'll check those out and see if they help.

OK, I've checked out all of those threads, and it seems I'm not the only one that has this problem. But it doesn't seem like anyone has an answer yet.

One thing that is weird is the footage is 24pa captured with the pulldown removal, but when I click on the clip in my bin and go to item properties it says 29.97. And it still wants me to render before I can view it in a 24fps or 23.98fps timeline.

Anyone?

I'm trying to figure out the best way to digitize audio from a Sony TCD-D8 to my desktop G4. I'm interested in any suggestions on how best to connect these two pieces of equipment and get the audio in the timeline.

Thanks very much in advance.