I went up to the local CompUSA to buy some ink jet paper and to my surprise they had a 1.6 GHz G5 in stock. Photoshop was installed, so I ran some informal tests on certain filters and such that I run frequently. WOW. I have no clue how it will stack up in the real world vs. P4's etc. But it smokes my G4 dual 450. I can only imagine how fast the dual 2 GHz will be.

Question about Final Cut Pro
 

Well as many of you may already know from some of my other posts I've been painstakingly trying to decide between an XL1S and a DVX100. Well so I finally decided to go with the DVX100 for it's 24/fps capabilities. But then, of course, I discovered something that makes the decision not so easy again. See, I was planning on getting a new Powerbook G4 with a SuperDrive and extra RAM to do my editing on. And Apple has a special going on where if you purchase any new computer before September 19, you can get Final Cut Express for only $99 (it retails for $249, I think). So I had been planning on getting FCX, with my new computer. Well, I recently found out that FCX is not compatible with the DVX100's 24/fps mode (this is correct, isn't it?) Which means that now I would have to purchase the Final Cut Pro edition, which I wouldnt mind having, but by the time you add up the price of the DVX100, the Powerbook, and the FCP it will end up costing me over $7,000. Which, needless to say, is A LOT of money. But anyways to my question, I am new to the digital video world, so I am a little worried that FC Pro could be overwhelming. I am skilled with computers and I am a fairly quick learner. As long as all the information I will need to use the program is presented in the manual, I think I could figure it out. But I just wanted to ask y'all how hard you think it would be for someone to pick up on Final Cut Pro with no former experience in anything other than iMovie? Also, was my information correct about FCX not being compatible with 24/fps? Thanks for any help.

Matt -

Find the 3rd party RAM. Then call me, I have a new company that I'm sure I will be needing your help with.

- AR

I don't think FCE works in 24PA, but it may work in other modes, certainly 60i, and 30P. Are you a student? Have you looked at student discounts on the Apple gear?

Sounds like the datarate is too high if you're getting jerky playback off of the cd. You'll need to save it at a lower datarate to play it off of the disc well.

If you need to autorun your QT file and dont have director or something then maybe download the LiveStage Pro demo(I'm sure there is still one) as it's a full version. Make a few autorun files that start generic names of QT movies. Like start.mov, movie.mov etc but anything really. So you can use the autorun over and over just name your QT file whatever you called it in LiveStage Pro and the puppy will autorun fullscreen or whatever you want.

Jake

FCP is a fairly easy program to learn and use. I learned it in about an hour, however I have used AVID, Adobe, Matrix, Toaster Flyer(Old), and media 100. I am a student and some of my classmates have no experiance with anything and they seem to pick it up very quickly and by their second project, seem to be near experts and are showing me shortcuts and new things. Give it a try, I think you will find it fairly easy to catch on.

YOu will be fine. If you have been an computer guy for a while, and esp. an Apple guy, you will have NO problem picking up on FCP.

The great thing is that after you get comfortable with it, you will still learn to do new and better things.

Enjoy your new toys!

Another bug fix for FCP 4
 

Final Cut Pro v 4.0.2 Update is in your Mac OS X Software Update Control Panel.

This update is "strongly recommended for all users working with DV and DVCPRO50 devices. This update resolves an issue in which certain Final Cut Pro configurations would generate repeated frames during Edit to Tape operations."

Taking exam 9L0-908
 

Anyone have any information on this exam? The FCP4 certification exam. I see it on certifications.apple.com but when i call prometric they tell me they don't have an FCP4 certification exam. Im lost now....

ken stone's final cut pro site has useful information for final cut pro and final cut express. be sure to know how to capture properly in FCP, as it is not as easy as in iMovie.

The interface is pretty easy to pick up. Knowing how to use all the tools will make your life a lot easier (slip edits, roll edits, select all tracks forward, nesting, etc.).

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_homepage_index.html

Contact Apple. It could be FCP 4 is so new or the person you spoke to didn't know about the exams. This has come up before here and I think it took several calls to the School to get the exam situation clarified.

thank you for your input. sorry i didn't get back sooner. i never got an update email unfortunately.

i actually just re-posted this type of question. i did this stupid little project last week. and the footage looked fine on camera and TV/monitor but when captured i lost a lot of quality and contrast and all that. used firewire on a dual 500 G4. it was almost unacceptable.

i dont understand how i could look fine on screen and totally different when captured.

so im looking for the highest possible quality capture device that i can afford. for some things i will be going to VHS. but for one of my big projects it will be on DVD. im just afraid that what i shoot and the way it looks on my monitor when the camera is just running into that isn't what im going to be capturing by using just firewire and FCP.

should i look for a software solution or hardware and what of each in particular.

then for hooking up my b-cast monitor i can just run that through a s-vid card or DV deck and itll work like i want it to? i have a dual monitor tower and want the b-cast monitor to just show me what would show up on the TV. so i dont need any other kind of card or equipment to use it in that way?

sorry for all the questions at once.

thank you again. J.

You can just hook up your monitor to your deck.

2- Are you capturing DV? If you are using the presets/defaults and not offline RT then it should be the highest quality possible (it's sort of like a digital transfer so there is no generation loss).

FCP doesn't always show what your footage actually looks like. Check on your broadcast monitor to see what your stuff looks like.

Studio Artist
 

Has anyone played with the program Studio Artist? I have been playing around with animating some street fair footage I shot. I can get good results on a single frame in Photoshop but the thought of doing 30 frames/second....

It looks like this software may apply the same filter to all frames in a QT movie so would be much faster.

All comments appreciated.

I have been using Studio Artist for a couple of years now, although I am far from what I would consider proficient. The possibilities with this thing are endless. Yes, I have taken a video clip and "painted" on it. The result can be as easily disappointing as it can be remarkable. There is quite a good tutorial that comes with it, in fact probably one of the best I've ever seen. If used sparingly and tastefully, Studio Artist can be a great tool.

thanks for the input. i need to definitely get a new b-cast monitor then.

just wondering what the solutions are for DV and capturing at the highest quality possible. i was under the impression that Dv is compressed then when you capture it essectially compresses it again in the machine automatically.

is this not the way it is?

any monitor suggestions?

or DV deck suggestions. do i need this to do anything other than have a VHS and or DV tape thing. i wont be doing any offline editing.

thanks for the input.

J.

G5 benchmarks
 

The first dual 2 GHz G5s are trickling down to the masses. Here are some real world benchmarks -

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G5/Powermac_Dual_g5.html

I haven't seen any real world FCP benchmarks yet. Even the iMovie benchmarks used here are really 'real' world and are disappointing. Apparently no real performance gain versus a dual 1.25 G4 as iMovie does not seem to processor aware.

FCP 4 updates - available for manual downloading
 

FCP 4 updates are now available for downloading without going through the software update process -

http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/download/

Apple has a long history of exaggerating capabilities. The truth in their machines performance is usually smack dab between what they say it does and what naysayers say it does.

The main thing to note though, is with these new chips, along with the new chips slated for arrival soon for PCs are of a different type than what software companies have fully developed for. Give it a year or two and software companies will be releasing new versions, packs and patches that optimize their apps for these new platforms. THEN, we'll be seeing some wowy performance.

Way to soon to tell. Wait for the real testers. Also note that the machine was a stock setup, on 512mb ram. Barely enough to do video in my opinion.

Whats the latest QT to run with...
 

What is the latest version of QT I can run with 10.2.5 and FCP 3.0.4?

Should I go to 10.2.6 and QT 6.3?

My DVDSP2 should be coming today and I want to make sure I get the latest and greatest w/o goofin up the FCP.

You don't have a choice. DVDSP2 requires OS 10.2.6 and QT 6.3 I have no problem with FCP 3 and those versions of QT and OS. When you upgrade to 10.2.6 go to Apples site and download the combo version update. Mac Fixit is full of stories about problems that are resolved by using the combo update. But it's a big one, about 85mb.

After Effects
 

Good Morning,

I've been trying to find the system requirements for Adobe After Effects
5.0 but I can't seem to get them on the web. My question is as follows:
ss AF 5.0 compatible with Mac 9.2 or do I have to be running Mac OS 10.
Also, if there is anyone interested in selling a copy of After Effects that is
compatible with Mac OS 9.2 let me know. As always, thanks for eveyone's
help. Glen

G5 1.6 ghz--problems with ram, can't edit great
 

So, the two 128 mb chips are in slots 2 and 3 (four slots total, 1 and 2 are in one spot on the logic board, 3 and 4 are about 3 inches down from 1 and 2), so I put a 512 mb chip in slot one, no detection. I put it in slot four, no detection. My roommate goes to apple's support page--have to be paired up.

So I put one 128 mb chip in slot one, so there is a 128 mb chip in slots one and two. Mac didn't boot up at all (power went on, no chime...). Moved it back to the original configuration, booted up. So, since I have one 512 mb chip of ram, will it not detect anything until I buy another one and put it in?! Do you really have to load up ram in pairs?!?! DAMN!

And my burner's tray got stuck. One apple store girl said, not another G5! (I don't think she meant that problem, just another G5 with a friggin' problem..)

A little FYI and a question.

heath

stretching letterbox to anamorphic
 

I am having trouble stretching letterboxed footage from a Panasonic DVX100 to anamorphic, i.e 33.33% vertical stretch. I tried After Effects, but the results were disappointing.
I then tried using Photoshop on a still frame from the footage, and the result is spectacular. Obviously, either AfterEffects' stretching algorithm is useless, or I have done something wrong.
Could anyone help me please. What is the best way to stretch footage. I have AfterEffects 5.5 and Final Cut Pro 3

The burner is a standard Pioneer burner (there is a rumor that some are getting
Sony burners) and trays get stuck. Possibly defective in manufacture or misaligned during shipment.

The ram question is best directed towards Apple or the ram vendor. This is the first I've heard of the ram only in pairs for G5's. Perhaps direct this question to Apple. I suspect it may be incompatible or defective ram chip.

G5's--it's official, Ram has to be put in in pairs
 

I talked to a genius and he said ram can't be put in one at a time in the G5, but it has to be put inside in pairs.

In the 1.8 ghz and dual 2 ghz, it has two 256 mb chips instead of one 512 mb. My 1.6 ghz machine has two 128 mb chips (I remember when 128 mb was huge, as was 256 mb).

heath

Some programs don't actually show you what your footage looks like (i.e. Final Cut Pro). You should check on a NTSC monitor or export a frame and look at it in Photoshop or something.

Some stretching algorithms are better than others. Also, it can depend on how you apply it. In Photoshop it is better to resize in small steps.

You can do this in Final Cut Pro. Click on a video clip in the timeline to bring up its attributes in the left preview window (depending on how you have your FCP GUI set up). Click the "Motion" tab. Click "Distort" or "Distortion" (I don't have FCP right in front of me). See all those numbers? Take any number that says "240" and change it to "310". Likewise if it says "-240" then change it to "-310". You will have to render it from there.

To the best of my knowledge AE 5.0 works on 9.2.2 Adobe has a forum you can ask, have you tried them? Sorry I can't be more specific, I moved to OS X over 2 years ago.

5.5 runs under OS9.2.2. Pretty sure 5.0 does as well. AE6 doesn't, according to Adobe's website.

Thanks. Glen

Thanks very much for your help, both of you

Analogue footage: what happened to the colour?
 

I'm currently converting a couple of my Dad's old VHS tapes to digital, and from there to DVD, via FCE.
The VHS tapes are themselves copies of some older format; they're documentaries of an expedition my Dad went on in 1971, driving Range Rovers from Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego.

I have to dub the VHS tapes onto MiniDV first of all (using a Sony MiniDV deck), because for some reason I can't capture the analogue footage directly in FCE. All tapes are PAL format.

Anyway, the first tape went fine; I could capture with no problem, and the footage looks fine (if a bit grainy & old). However, when I tried to capture the dubbed footage from the second tape, the captured footage was black & white; I tested the VHS tape first on a VCR & TV, so I know it should have colours!

Both tapes are PAL format, and I used exactly the same equipment & settings for both sessions of dubbing & capture.

So why is one tape fine (and in colour), while the other appears only in black & white?

exporting project to VHS
 

I need to get my project from my Mac G4, running on OSX, to VHS...I presently am also firewired to a Panasonic AG-1000. I heard that you should be able to simply hit play in your project window, then hit record on the device you are recording to. However, as there are no outputs from a Mac comparable to a standard VHS deck, do I attempt to play my project through my DV deck(which does have RCA outputs to the VHS deck) as a kind of interface to the VHS deck? How do I go about getting my rough project to VHS?

You should use your deck to convert from DV to analog. Print to tape is supposed to help when printing off to DV tape (because it adds in black in the beginning) but playing from the timeline will also work (just make sure your playhead is parked on a black frame before playing your project on the timeline).

FCP: Viewing Gamma S curve
 

With FCP 3.0, how can you view the gamma curve? The only thing I've found for adjusting levels and curves are numerical inputs.

Thanks for the info...however, will the VHS deck record with such a configuration? In other words, does the DV deck simply just have to be turned on, with outputs leading from it to the VHS deck, to get a successful VHS tape to record the project? I guess I'll give it a shot...

I don't think FCP has curves.

CHV has a free plug-in for curves I believe. see http://www.digitalzoo.com.au/lunchtime/ for a list of where to get filters.

Good link. Thanks, Glenn. I'll check out CHV.