I'll check my version tonite, I'm at the 'day job' right now.

Yup this will be a FCP media drive. I was hoping to head to CompUSA or something at lunch to pick up a drive. Is this just a plug and play kind of thing?

It is pretty much plug and play, except be sure to have the drive set to "cable select". After that you can boot back up and use the Apple Drive Utility to get the drive ready, which takes all of 5 seconds if you are slow (maybe not that quick, but it SEEMS quick if you are used to building Windows PCs). It doesn't have to comb the entire drive surface like it does when you add a drive to a Windows PC.

In FCP, what would happen if...
 

... I wanted to replace a current 2 second audio file that's looped repeatedly in a sequence with a new audio file of exactly the same duration?

The original covers a couple of minutes total in a sequence by placing the same 2 second file end to end on one audio track repeatedly. I'd like to use a different audio file and have ensured that the duration of the new file is exactly the same as the original. So, if I simply delete the original file and replace it with the new file...and name it exactly the same name as the original...will everything be kosher? Or will that gum up the works?

We have 3 internal 120 gig drives on one dual gig processor G4, plus the 120 gig system drive, and then some 120 gig external firewire drives. You want to get 7200's. I was told there is no need to partition with OSX, but you can if you want to.

I'll send one to you as soon as I get it.

It can be done but you will need to delete the file (or move it) and fire up the program, it will ask you to reconnect the media. Then you can navigate to the new file, and you will probably need to rerender the whole sequence.

p.s. make sure the new file is EXACTLY the same duration as the original.

Or you can just close FCP and overwrite the current file it uses
with a new one with the exact same lenght? FCP should never know
you replaced it with another.

When he opens the FCP project it will reference the OLD render files and display those instead. I have done this before and it seemed like Voodoo to make it dump the old shot, but rerendering the file "forces" FCP to replace the render file so you can see it properly.

Radeon 9000
 

I have a 867QS single G4/1.25 GB ram/10.2.3/FCP3.0.4/Geforce2 MX and was wondering if it is possible for me to replace the Geforce with a Radeon 9000 for the S-video connection etc that it provides.Would i be able to utilize the s-video for an external NTSC tv while using FCP?
Would there be any compatibility issues with my G4 and this current video card?
Thanks for any info.
Matt

The version that has S-Video out is a PCI card so you could use it AND your Gforce (as far as I know the AGP version only has DVI and VGA), you could also buy the less expensive Radeon 8500 instead if you so desire, or for that matter any ATI Radeon PCI that has S-Video out. The problem with using the Primary card for video out is that it mirrors your desktop so the desktop resolution would have to be set at 720x480 60Hz (not very nice looking).

Ahh i get it now. I wasnt sure if it mirrored the desktop or could display a seperate image.Thanks for the info. I will continue to use the pass thru on my sony pc-110 which i currently use as a deck. Can long powered(AC) on times cause any type of damage to a camera?

Re: Radeon 9000
 

I have a G4/733 with a Radeon 7000 Mac Edition in a PCI slot. Have been very happy with this setup as it lets me add a second computer monitor as well as s-video out. Each screen can have its own independent resolution and color profile. The "ATI Displays" control panel gives you lots of control over the s-video and I generally set this as my external video in FCP. Am able to get nicer output for s-vhs tapes this way by tweaking the color, brightness, screen size, etc. You may want to look into this option as I think its cheaper than the 9000 or 8500.

Powerbook
 

hey, i've been thinking about upgrading from my g4/500 single to a new 15inch 1ghz powerbook. my question is this, in that setup, how do people usually capture their dv? i currently have my deck-cam plugged into one FW port, and i capture to a 7200rpm Western Digital FW drive plugged into the other port. i've read that it can be sketchy daisy-chaining the cam and drive. does anyone use this same setup and have any advice for me? also, do you think i'm safe for the single processor or will i need dualies to run all the tricks in FCP4?

- brian

Hello Brian,
I have the 1GHz PowerBook and have not had trouble capturing DV footage from a cam to a daisy-chained FireWire drive. I've used both a 5400 rpm and a 7200 rpm drive for capture with the PowerBook and had no trouble with either.

how to
 

Hi guys... i have a powerbook g3 with firewire ports. I use a sony dcr trv103 and canon xl1s. I can capture but i cant play back to the cameras via firewire. Do you guys know of a way to do that? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanx

Vince

Vince,
I'm not sure what the trouble may be. But I suspect it may be related to the cam's certification status with FCP 3.x. Generally this indicates a camera's full compliance with the IEEE 1394 protocol.

Need Closed Captioning ? New software available.
 

Leapfrog Productions has just released Closed Captioning software for OSX. A free demo is available here.

NTSC Standard = 720 x 480 ?
 

Is this the standard resolution the GL2 captures video in? If I save a frame in iMovie3, it defaults to 640x480. I've seen this 720 x 480 number used in several threads, and assumes it was the NTSC standard, but I just happened to notice these settings for new images in PS7:

720 x 540 Std. NTSC 601
720 x 534 Std. NTSC DV/DVD
864 x 486 Wide NTSC 601
864 x 480 Wide NTSC DV/DVD
768 x 576 Std. PAL
1024 x 576 Wide PAL
1280 x 720 HDTV 720P
1920 x 1080 HDTV 1080i

No option for 720 x 480. Any ideas? Thank!!

Kirk

To my knowledge, the only thing that NTSC demands is 480 lines. It isn't concerned with the resolution of each line (720, 640, etc.) because it is analog.

Digital NTSC (DVDs) is supposed to be 720 x 480, as is the DV format, so that's where the number comes from. The pixels have an aspect ratio of approximately .9 for 4x3, and 1.2 for 16x9.

I'm assuming you mean Photoshop when you are talking about
PS7? What people generally do is manipulate pictures in Photoshop
at a different resolution than video. The resolutions you name
for NTSC should be resampled/resized to 720x480 in your NLE
which will result in a 0.9 pixel aspect instead of the computer
default of 1.0. Just use it at that resolution and have your NLE
resize the images (Premiere -> Lock aspect ratio).

i'm glad to hear that there's no problems. of course those new dual 1.42's are looking pretty sweet... =)

Anything that would make that job easier is worth it. I've only taken one genuine swing at it with DVD Studio Pro. Painful. Tedious. A job one is sentenced to by a court rather than elects to undertake.

Do they only make it for OSX? No free demos for me and my PC?

Firewire drives... good/bad for DV?
 

Has anyone had any experience with Maxtor 120GIG firewire external drives with 911 princeton chipset casings for an Express DV setup?

or any fierewre drives used for digital video.

How do they respond? Do they work well if a hub is used to connect multiple drives?

The only thing that I know is that some people on the board
use firewire drives (or normal harddisk in a firewire case) without
any problems. I do not have the answer to your other questions...

Firewire drives on are virtually essential for video work, and do very well. I have several, most from WiebeTech but also an 80 Gb Maxtor. Look for 5400rpm minimum rotational speeds, wih 7200rpm being preferred, and the best onboard cache you can get. I also look for bus-powered drives which take all of their power from the Firewire bus.

I use several firewire drives, including a 7200 RPM Maxtor 80 GB. It works fine under MacOS 9 with Final Cut Pro. I had some problems awhile back using a 120 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM drive, but only when running Final Cut Pro under MacOS X. It worked fine under MacOS 9. I don't have problems when daisy chaining several of them together but haven't tried using a hub.

Sorry, no experience with these on a PC. with the software you mention.

iMovie2 Blur
 

I was wondering if any one else has experienced this situation. I firewire a tape into iMovie2, creating the clips, save the project and quit the program( by the way, at this point all clips look perfect).
If I open iMovie2 and look at the clips about 10 % look like a tv screen that's blurred, snow , fuzz etc.
When I click the clip, on the shelf, it looks perfect when I play the clip from the shelf, it looks perfect.
Now eventhough it has this fuzzy look when sitting there, I never see the fuzz otherwise.

Any suggestions????

I have anXL-1, G-4 450DP , 512 ram, 210 gigs

Bruce

FCP3 on G4 450DP??
 

One of our editing suites is a G4 450DP with 1Gh RAM and (still) running on OS9. We want to upgrade to FCP3. Can anyone give us any advice on whether this will result in a stable system, will FCP3 run smooth, should we install OSX to use FCP3 (especially since we're considering buying a RTMAC, which still doesnt run on OSX)?
What would be the best configuration to consider???

Welcome Raymond!
 

I think that FCP3 will run fine on your G4 450DP, although certainly not at zippy as it would on later systems. I believe that my colleague, Jeff Donald, remarked that he uses that G4 450DP with no trouble.

Forget the RTMac. Speaking as someone who has an RTMac in a box, I say save your money. For all practical purposes it seems to be an abandoned product. Matrox has promised OS-X compatibility for a year and a half. Nothing. Subsequent versions of FCP promise to expand real-time processing anyway.

Re: moving to OS-X, I highly recommend it. Although FCP3 will operate smoothly on either OS-9 or OS-X, the latter is the more stable platform and, to be sure, the sole Mac platform prospectively. It's rumored the FCP4 will likely only run on OS-X so you might as well make the investment in time now.

Welcome, again, to the DVInfo Community Raymond!

I currently run FCP3.0.4 on a Dual500 under OSX 10.2.3 and since our systems are similar (I even have a gig of RAM) I can vouch for it being reletively painless. It is also much more stable and snappy than FCP2 or 3 on OS9.
I also agree to save your money on the Matrox card, my office had 3 of them and they were useless after the upgrade to 3. If you need the analog input buy a media converter.

I do use a Dual 450 as my personal editing system. It is extremely stable on FCP 3.0.4 and Quicktime 6.1. The RTMAC is a waste. Beta versions of the drivers for OS X were to have been shown at DV Expo NYC in January. Anyone know if they were shown? I have upgraded the video card in the AGP slot and maxed out the Ram at 2 gigs. I would also upgrade the stock hard drive to 120 gig 7200 rpm. There are several options for upgrading the processors if you want.

You really need to reflect on the types of work you need to do with this new system. When FCP 4 is introduced, this system will not be able to take advantage of all the features FCP has to offer. Apple will probably introduce new IBM processors this fall. G4's will become G5's, or whatever, and the dual 450 will be over 3 years old at that point. It will be a workable system until then.

Me? Well I'm waiting for the new processors, then it'll be time to replace this system.

were do they look fuzzy at? In the viewer window?

Hi Bob,
They appear in the shelf, timeline and clip viewer.I t appears in frame 1 or 2 of the clip and if it is removed, may or may not show up in that clip or even a new one. The odd part of it is that if you click on the clip (fuzzy) and hit the play arrow, it plays cearly from frame one till the end of the clip.
it doesn't damage the clip at all. If you click on the timeline tab with let's say 3 fuzzy clips, they all play perfectly.

Any help would be appreciated .

Thanks

i'm using FCP 3 on 10.2.3 on a single G4/500 and its quite stable and seems fast enough most of the time. those new 1.42 dualies are looking pretty nice tho. i just need to convince the accountant ( aka mrs pink ) that i need one...

720X480 is standard for ntsc DV. 720X486 is standard for NTSC.
720X540 is NTSC square pixel.
confusing huh?

grin

NTSC = Never The Same Color!!

:)

I am using a Maxtor Firewire Drive (7200RPM, 120Gig) and its being filled up. No problems.

PC is a 1.7GHz, Pentium 4, 512MB RDRAM, Two 80Gig Drives.

My NLE is Avid Xpress DV 3.5 and all is well.

I am thinking about another one in the near future.

Hope this helps!

Cheers!

Derrick

That's the pixels..., then there's the resolution! That's another can of worms.

FCP3 on G4 450DP
 

Thanks to all of you!! This is very usefull information...

Jeff, what options for upgrading the processors do you mean? <br>We wanted to use the RTMAC for the second monitor, what other options are there for using a second monitor??