FCP 4 > all video out to NTSC monitor now B&W
 

Hello,

Just when I think I've got things running well something else toasts out...

OSX 10.2.6
FCP 4
Aurora Igniter X

The techs. at Aurora said I had to re-install everything...the card drivers...OS and FCP...really hpoing I don't have to do that...any ideas, as always are appreciated!

Take care,

Chris

ergonomics on the Mac?
 

Hi all. Anyone else out there have RSI? Editing long hours has gotten my right hand hurting quite a bit.

What are people using in terms of mice/trackballs, keyboards, A/V shuttles, keyboard trays, chairs?

I figure this must be a common problem in our community.

Right now I'm using a Logitech TrackMan trackball and a Apple Pro Keyboard.

-Aaron

Aaron...

I work at an all-mac newspaper and a couple of people have been diagnosed with RSI.

It's hard to say what causes it. In my own case I'd noticed that I was pressing too hard on the mouse button and was developing an irritation in my palm. It requires only a very light pressure to activate it, so I made a conscious effort to tap lightly and avoided developing a repetitive strain injury.

Also, several years ago I'd started using a Wacom tablet and have since stopped using a mouse entirely. If I need finer position control I'll use a track ball.

Position of the mouse and height of the desk can make a difference. The keyboard and the mouse should actually be a lot lower, just around elbow level, so that you don't have to reach upward. It also lets you keep your hands in line with your forearms.

Here's a URL with some helpful info:

www.usda.gov/oo/target/pdfs/beingcomfortableatwork.pdf

Dean Sensui
Base Two Productions

16:9 XL1s and Adobe After Effects
 

I was just experimenting with 16:9 and editing in FCP is fine but how do I set the right screen size in After Effects? It seems like the none of the presets are the right size. Can someone help me?

thanks,
H

Arrrrggghhhh!

I spent three days futzing with this problem, trying to reconfigure my computers so that they would recognize my drive again, when all along the problem was a bad Firewire cable.

It was a cable that I have relied on for 3 years or more...which may be part of the problem.

Lesson learned: Check the simple stuff first!

It will still be 720x480. It will be stretched (anamorphic).

audio waveform in FCP
 

hello

been busy getting to know FCP, like it a lot so far, but the slow refresh rate of the audio waveform is driving me nuts. I'm used to Media100 where displaying the waveform is no problem, but in FCP it really slows me down in editing. any suggestions?
G4 1Ghz 512 MB powerbook

thanks in advance & cheers
Michiel

I generally disable the audio waveform display in the timeline unless I really need it. While using the same PB model as you, I hadn't noticed it being distractingly slow, but it did slow things down. Toss another 512Mb in that thing!

Try using the three band EQ and cutting some lows or mid
frequencies. If you cut mid frequencies, you will generally
remove speech. You can identify prominant resonances
by boosting the mid band to max with a medium Q setting.
Sweep it around until something "blows" up. Then, reduce
the Q setting to focus in on a smaller band of frequencies
while sweeping the filter frequency. Once you're sure you've
boosted some prominant resonances, change the boost into
a cut. This is difficult on spaced sound liked speech, but it's
the best you can do with FCP.

editing footage from the GR-HD1U
 

Hey there people,
Just wondering if there is something special you have to do to edit HD footage from this camera in final cut pro 3. Also, since this camera has only one chip, has anyone noticed that the color isn't as good on the AG-DVX100? Please advise. Thanks

Re: editing footage from the GR-HD1U
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Josh Martin : Hey there people,
Just wondering if there is something special you have to do to edit HD footage from this camera in final cut pro 3. Also, since this camera has only one chip, has anyone noticed that the color isn't as good on the AG-DVX100? Please advise. Thanks -->>>

I can't help you on the Final Cut 3 issue. And with this camera, I would recommend converting the MPEG2 stream to an uncompressed video file (needs lots of disk space) or some compressed form with frame based compression, regardless of which platform or NLE you use. The uncompressed format comes highly recommended (if your system and editing software can cope with it) due to the amount of noise that's already present as this can help in running operations to smooth out the noise and the video won't further degrade through editing.

As for the single-chip design of the JVC HD camera, the color reproduction is rather good. Colors are accurate and rich, but highlights blow out very easily compared to 3-chip models and it doesn't have the shadow detail capabilities of the 3-chip cameras. The AG-DVX100 is an amazing camera, it's really a cut above the other 3-chip cameras out there in the less than $10K range. It blows the JVC HD1/HD10U out of the water. I demoed a HD1 for 2 days and it was essentailly a run of the mill consumer camera, but with HD capability. I also demoed a DVX100 right after and I purchased the DVX100 after comparing the two. So far, I'm getting better results up-rezing the progressive video out of the DVX100 to 720p than I got out of the 720p native capability of the JVC! The JVC's real advantage is the 16:9 native CCD and the ability to do 480p60. However, the [over]compression noise, lower color range and DSP that chokes on pans and busy scenes or fast light changes, not to mention the lack of true manual control relegates the JVC camera to a substandard unit.

I still commend JVC for being the first to release the first entry into what is sure to become a niche market for affordable HD camcorders. I still want an HD capable camera, but I'll wait for Canon, Sony and Panasonic before I buy. With my XL1s and new DVX100, I'm happy as can be (for now).

Re: Re: editing footage from the GR-HD1U
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Jeff Kilgroe : <<<-- Originally posted by Josh Martin : I can't help you on the Final Cut 3 issue. -->>>

Yes you can edit with FCP 3 -- and even better with FCP 4.

I've developed a procedure and so has Paul. More to come later when i can say more.

setting field dominance with Frame mode DV
 

Hello,
I'm beginning to import video shot in Frame mode from my GL-2 using FCP connected via a firewire cable. Looking through the FCP manual, it states "For DV captured via FireWire; always set field dominance to Lower (Even.) For non-interlaced video set the field dominance to None." In my understanding, Video shot in Frame mode is both DV and non-interlaced, so I'm not sure how to set the field dominance. Thanks for any help.
Chris

(I'm cross-posting this on the GL-2 thread too.)

The Canon frame mode is in fact interlaced and not a true progressive image. When you import you should import lower field first.

Thanks for the reply Vince, though I wish I'd had it in January. That project is long gone but the advice is still good. Still working on getting great audio. Good mics have sure made a big difference. Thanks again, Chris

When will they switch the rest of the computers to G5s?
 

i am just wondering if anyone has any idea of when they will switch the imac, emac, and powerbooks to G5 processors. will they then move the ibook to a g4?

Sorry Chris. I just joined the group a couple of weeks ago.

Actually, I was the fellow that wrote the audio plugins (reverb, EQ, etc.) for Final Cut Pro. It was a challenging project due to the design of their timeline code, so I'm just happy the stuff worked.

I'm hoping people are making use of the Hum Remover. It really
simplifies the removal of all sorts of hums with harmonics.

external monitor hell...
 

Okay I'm sure someone out there has a great, easy and quick answer for this one. (G)

I just picked up a slightly used Sony PVM-1380, 13" video monitor.


I've got a Radeon 8500 AGP card in my G4 from which I'm coming out from the s-video port. (right now I have it adapting from S-Vid to rca to BNC till the s-vid to BNC cable comes)


I hooked the monitor up to my XL1S and fed it the true color bars from it. I followed the calibration instructions I found on the web and I was pretty pleased with the results.

I played some video from the camera and was also pleased with the results.

Then I hooked it up to my Mac and fired up FCP. Set it to use the monitor as the play back... and the video looked like crap.

The good news about this is that I hooked the camera back up to the monitor and used the picture to calibrate my NEC 21" computer monitor to show the video in FCP VERY closely to the real video. Quite happy about that.

Again though: the video coming over from the computer is off. Too deep, not deep enough. Color off... all sorts of issues.

Any suggestions, ideas, opinions?

As I said, I'm really pleased with the picture coming from the camera and it will make a great set monitor... but I'd also like to get some editing use out of it.

TIA

---------------------------------
Edited to add
----

I plugged the monitor into the camera while I 'print to tape' ed and I see the picture is where it should be on the monitor coming from FCP... to the camera... to the monitor. (shrug)

Not familiar with the Radeon 8500, but I have a Radeon 7000. It comes with a control panel "Mac2TV" which gives you quite a bit of control over the s-video port. You should be able to adjust your monitor using these controls. However I don't understand why you're having the problem in the first place... Have you set FCP to playback at the highest quality?

Caveat: I'm running FCP 3 under MacOS 9.2

OS X. Don't think the ATI tools like that exsist for it.

The video that is going into my camera across the firewire and from there into my monitor is right on the money... There's got to be some settings for the card I guess. I"ll see if I can look around for it.

Hey Vince,
Great to know that your on the list. Looking forward to getting FCP4 tomorrow. Did you do any work on it?

Only guessing
 

Who (here) can really know until it happens?

The G5 is big and requires a large volume to provide for cooling devices, fins and fans and such. Until this package can be made smaller, you won't see them in smaller Macs. AND the cost is also a bit high for cheaper boxes. Maybe if Apple used solid state cooling devices, they could stick a G5 in a smaller box, but that might imply a different power source than batteries.

The G4 is available NOW in a small iBook sized laptop.
The G3 iBook fits its niche nicely. I would expect them to disappear sometime soon, and maybe the price will drop on the G4 PowerBook.

Nope. I just worked on FCP in 1998-99.

Installing 160 Gig HD on G4 - D'oh!
 

Hey Fellas,

Just got my G4 about three months ago and just picked up a Western Digital 160 gig HD, 7200 RPM with 8 meg cache.

After some fiddling, I found the release latch on the drive bay that holds the original 80 gig HD.

I've tried setting the jumpers on this new HD at "Slave" and at "Cable Select" and plugging it into the additional 40-pin, female cable that the original HD uses to plug into the mobo.

When I boot up, no error messages but no second hard drive on the desktop. I hit info on the HD icon just to see if maybe it subsumed the 160 gigs to make it a 240 gig drive but it did not.

What should I do? I could try the other 3.5" bay, which actually has two bays and plugging into that connector. Or I could try the controller that came with the HD but I can't even find a spot to plug it in on the mobo - all the avail slots are much longer PCI slots than this one needs.

You can chat me on AIM at DaGrouch99 if you want to walk me through it - (I'll be chatting on my PC while working on Mac).


Thanks,

Joshua

Joshua,
It sounds like you've not yet formatted the drive for Mac OS. See this thread.

You're my hero.
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Ken Tanaka : Joshua,
It sounds like you've not yet formatted the drive for Mac OS. See this thread. -->>>

Ken, you rock man. I wish that somewhere on that WD installation sheet they'd have given me some indication of looking in the Disk Utility for the HD. Oh well.

Moving all my current media off the original HD as we speak and will proceed on to next project.

Thanks a million,


Joshua

you may want to reconsider...read charlie white's review at:
http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/Htm/DVEditHomeSet1.htm

Thanks Dean,

I know that I hit the spacebar too hard with my thumb and that my arm rests are too hard.

Anyone else have RSI experience? I'm just trying to wade through all the mis-information.

thanks,
Aaron

One of the things to try is learning to use the mouse in both hands. That way you can switch off. It seems difficult at first, but it's not nearly as tough as learning to write with both hands! Having a cordless mouse makes this easier. In your case, you have a trackball--try using that with your "other" hand. (Is a non-dominant hand a submissive hand?)

In yoga class we do a stretch that works wonders for computer users. Get on your hands and knees with your fingers spread wide apart and your thumbs stretched out pointing towards each other. Then gently rock your body frame back and forth, pressing into the front of your palm--the idea is to stretch your hand backwards, reducing the angle your hand makes with your forearm to 90° or less. Easy does it! Flexibility will come with time, and you'll find RSI symptoms reduced as well.

The exercise may be enhanced by reversing your hands so that your fingers point backward toward your knees, then sitting back on your legs. Like all yoga, improvement comes with repetition, not strain.

This link contains more exercises you may or may not find to be useful.

I use a PC at home and work (and a Mac occasionally at home). My biggest concern is a tingling in my elbow...the same arm that I use to muse with. I figure that I'm putting pressure on it as it rests on the desk. Elbow mats, if anything, seem to make it worse.

But it may also be exacerbated by the fact that I sometimes carry a heavy briefcase.

I don't own a DVX100 but have seen it blown up to 35mm and projected on a 40" screen, where it totally fell apart and displayed such awful DV pixelation, ghosting and other motion atiifacts that I would NEVER choose to use it for anything other than small screen work. The JVC has many times more picture resolution than the DVX100, and though I haven't seen it on a large screen yet, my feeling is that it will hold up much much better due to the HD resolution. The color on it is also excellent and I haven' t seen a problem with shadow detail, just with highlights blowing out, which can be controlled wth ND filters. the camera controls are pretty consumerish though.

It will be at least a year before G5's can be made that consume less power and have less of a heat issue. I would expect G5's in Powerbooks by the middle to end of 2004.

New G3's (IBM product) are coming that will be used in iBooks for another generation or two. Motorola has just released a new G4 that will power the iMacs, eMacs and Powerbooks for the coming year. The new G4's use less energy and run color, but have only a slight speed bump.

Crashes while capturing
 

I am using FCP 3.0.4 on an Imac 800 mhz. When I try to capture to a partition that still has about 3 gigs left I keep getting the same thing. as soon as it starts capturing the image stalls in the capture window and I get the beach ball. When I force quit and check the capture folder there is a clip that is nearly 3 gigs. It seems to use the remnants of the drive for one (unusable) clip.

I had this problem a few months ago when I was trying to capture to an external firewire drive-then I read something about the imac using the same Firewire port for both input/outputs so I stopped trying that and only capure to my internal drive. Now this...Any theories about this? It's driving me crazy!

DVD-SP motion menu
 

How do i lay a .PSD file over top of a looping video clip to create a menu in DVD studio pro 1.5.2.? Or is this not possible? Thanks for any info.

I know this has been covered and is in Apple's DVD list. I have a link to it here about a month or so ago (sorry I'm late for an appointment and don't have time to look). You also need a blank layer and the layers need to be flattened first.

Try log and capture, rather than batch capture. If that doesn't do it, you are trying to capture a clip longer than the space you have or perhaps an error on your drive (directory error etc.). Three gigs is only about 15 minutes of space. Use Disk Warrior on the questionable drive if you suspect a drive error.

Filling up a drive more than 80% is also not recommended. Dropped frames can occur and system errors can also occur.

XL1 plus Lacie D2 FW HD Owners?
 

Xl1 (not s)
Lacie D2 FireWire hard drive

Anybody with the same set-up as me?

If so can you capture to the drive with the camera connected to the hard drive which in turn is connected to your Mac? If so please can you let me know. And specifically what size hard drive you have and what Mac. Mine is the 200GB version drive and a TiBook 1GHz/SD.

This is following on from my earlier post here: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=11326

I still can't capture when it's connected in this way on either on my TiBook or B&W G3, in either FCP 3 or iMovie.

Tested the drives speed using the included Lacie software and that seems to be fine, but according to Lacie it could be my XL1. According to them some cameras saturate the FireWire bus, or something like that, which will not allow me to successfully capture in this way.

Went over to a friends the other day to see his set up and he could capture with his XM2 (GL2), 150GB Lacie D2 FW HD connected in a similar fashion to his CTR iMac.

When I get a chance I'll take my kit over to do some testing with his cam and drive, but until then could anyone with the same set-up as me please let me know how successful your captures have been. I'd be most grateful.

Thanks. I was using log and capture so maybe do to that partition be nearly full or maybe due to some other disk error...

I read your other post and links. I, too have tracked down dropped frame and stutter issues to bad FireWire cables. I would try a different cable before anything else. You may save yourself a lot of frustration. I would also wipe your media drive and partition it, rather than having one large partition. Put nothing but media on the one partition. Mixing media with other files is asking for trouble.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for replying. I picked up a new 4-6 pin cable to connect my XL1 to the FW hard drive, which didn't solve the problem. Perhaps the FW cable from the hard drive to the Mac could be at fault? I'll check that out next, as well as your other suggestions.

What gets me is that all these years I've been using a Mac as well as capturing video through FW I was always the one who never had any problems. Now that I've advised some friends on what to get I have the problems and they're fine!