OSX pre-order info
 

I'm about to send some cash to my sister in the States so she can pick up the new OSX system, but before I send it, I wondered if anyone can tell me if the "i" programs are included in that (iMovie, iPhoto, etc.)...or whether I need to also get the iLife CD for those?

Also, is it worth it to get iLife? Are there lots of extra templates and stuff on the CD that you don't get with the downloaded versions? If you don't get any extras, or the ones you get are lame, I'll just forget it and use the download versions.

I just installed the Panther upgrade and all the iLife stuff was upgraded/installed.

iDVD is not included. It would be only on the iLife disk and not Panther. John, if your sister has kids you may want to remind her of the education discount. I got my copy of Panther for $70.

Film Effects for FCP
 

I've just released Film Effects for FCP, a 24p (3:2 pulldown)/ 25p plugin set with lots of film presets, all manner of options for changing the frame rate, intelligent DV chroma-upsampler, smart de-interlacer etc.
You can read more on my web site

www.nattress.com

Thanks,

Graeme

oops
 

Jeff is quite right -- my mistake.

Thanks for the info! I'll see if my niece can get it at the student discount rate.

Export FCE and Import to FCP 4
 

Got a quick one here. Can you export from FCE and import into FCP4? I don't think you can do an EDL from FCE can you? I've got a wedding I did in FCE on an iMac before I got my new Dual G5 w/ FCP 4. Anyone tried this before? I don't want to render the vid and then re-import, just like to export my edits/cuts from FCE to FCP4. Let me know if anyone has tried this, thanks!

Mike

I have a PC sitting around and need to superimpose a graphic in realtime, any advice?
 

I need to superimpose a graphic on video. Of course I can do it in FCP but this is a TV project and time is important so rendering the whole show in FCP is not a solution.

I have a Sony PDX10 and there is a PD150 available too... they can superimpose JPEGs in camera mode but unfortunately not in VTR mode, which would be a solution.

I have a Windows XP PC sitting next to a Mac with FCP, so perhaps there is a cheap card for the PC that will let me do this (S-video) in real time?

I feel I should have asked this on the PC linear editing board but... I trust Mac guys more... I mean I want something quick and dirty that will not require me to spend a week configuring the whole thing.

Then again, perhaps somebody knows of a way of hacking Sony cams to do chroma keying in VTR mode, or some software that will do realtime superimposing through the firewire output.

Any ideas?

Here is a crazy idea! Duplicate the FCE project, choose the duplicate and control click on it. Choose "Open With" and "Final Cut Pro 4". You will likely have to reconnect the media (you have moved the media to the new computer, right?).

Let us know how it goes.

You do not need Panther to fix QT 6.4 and FCP 4. Just run your software update. There is a fix for both Jaguar and Panther available.

I wrote a report on some speed tests you can see at emotiondv.com in the lounge, but what impressed me most was how much faster the new Preview is over Acrobat 6. I can now tell students to use the "Help" function in FCP without worrying I have condemned them to the Acrobat spinning beach ball of death.

Most reports I have seen show the G5 demonstrating the least speed gains. This is probably because its Ram and hard drive do not present a bottleneck of any kind.

The User interface is much improved, and once you learn to work with it, you will definitley experience a speed gain.

Good Luck,

In FCP, any sequence you have created is a template. A sequence can be dragged or copied from one project to another. Clips in sequences can be changed simply by copying the new clip and control clicking on the clip you want to replace in the sequence template and choosing "Paste Attributes" and "Content". Filters, motion effects, etc. are thus preserved. You do not need to keep the original media on your hard drive as FCP will remember all the attributes for a clip even without the media existing. First time the "Reconnect" dialogue comes up on starting a project, just tell FCP to "forget about it" on the bottom left of the dialogue box.

Do it once, use it forever, hope the clients don't know each other.

Good Luck,

Duane,

Thanks for the advice. I assume you are talking about opening a project, importing over it and using what you have already set up. In this case, the save as command is a life saver.

But, I was wondering about templates that you can change, i.e. an opening wedding picture that you can put the date on with frilly crap around it and their picture or some video can be in the middle of it. Premiere has them built in. Do I just have to create my own in Photoshop? Or, does some third party software company produce something of this nature?

Maybe versiontracker has what I need...i'll go check it out now...thanks Andrew.

Does anyone else know of others?

Clay...

Go to the Education part of Apple.com and her school should be listed. Education discounts are only available through the web store.

<<<-- I assume you are talking about opening a project, importing over it and using what you have already set up. In this case, the save as command is a life saver.-->>>

Well, no Clay, that is not what I am suggesting at all. Sorry I was not more clear. What you are suggesting would result in your having a bunch of unneccesary clips in the browser that are not related to the project you are currently working on.

Have a look at my original posting. Copy your SEQUENCE only from one project to the next. Just the sequence. Try an experiment by doing what you have suggested and what I have suggested and see the difference.

The Premiere templates must exist as a file somewhere. Have you tried opening them in FCP? Sorry, but I am not familiar with this aspect of Premiere.

There are known issues with FCP3 projects being imported into FCP4. One of them is that the project takes longer to load because FCP4 has to do a A/V sync check.

I think you can get around this stuff by making a clean FCP4 project, getting all the edits in (maybe through media manager or copy and paste), and recapturing footage.

Duane,

I will try them both to see the difference. As I said I am new and just learning and expirementing. I see what you are talking about, though. There is all kinds of new stuff to learn! Can't wait. Thanks.

Clay...

Vegas Video to FCP
 

I have a video that was cut on Vegas (PC) that I need to transfer over to my Mac (FCP). Is there a way to bring that video into FCP with everything in place (timeline, clips, music, effects, etc...)? What is "CMX 3600 EDL" all about?

Thanks for the input.

FCP video transitions
 

When attempting to perform a transition, whether it be a dissolve, wipe, etc., I am, occasionally, unsuccessful. I get a message "not enough content for edit", or I am locked into a one-frame transition rate, instead of the usual one-second rate. I've been told to try it with snapping off, but to no avail. It seems to me that I indeed have enough duration within the clips in question, so why will it not perform the transition edit? Other times it will...

Yes, this can be annoying when starting out with an NLE. Basically you're not leaving enough footage at the head of one clip and the tail of the other for the transition to be applied. A 1 sec cross dissolve, for example, will need at least 15 frames (NTSC) on both sides. If the -out- point of your starting clip and/or the -IN- point of your ending clip are at the clip's boundary the transition will fail.

When shooting a dramatic work always try to overshoot each take by a few seconds at the beginning and end, in part to accommodate such editing requirements.

I don't think there is a direct export or import application between the two programs. CMX is a type of linear editor. Does Vegas support any EDL formats? FCP supports many of the popular EDL formats.

Jeff, I was told by the Vegas editor that we should be able to do this using "CMX 3600 EDL". What way would you suggest trying to do this?

Thanks,

I think the editor was referring to rebuilding the project using the EDL. You will still have to recapture all the footage and many of the dissolves may need to be rebuilt, as well as titles. I would try a small, sample edit and see how well the export/import goes. Avid and FCP play much nicer together. I've not heard of too many people going between Vegas and FCP or Avid. Is there a real reason to do this? Can't you finish in Vegas?

I have a 12" Powerbook that I use with a 15" LCD and I'm running FCP4 on it. The render times seem a little long to me, butmy main editing system is a PC with a DV Storm realtime system, so I rarely ever need to render with that, so I really have nothing to compare it to. But I have to say that I have been very satisfied with ithe powerbook, even though the screen is a little small if I need to edit on it without an external monitor. The portability is great.

I have a 12" PowerBook hooked to a 17" LCD that I use for editing. Works great for me as it's the fastest Mac I own.

I just got a 15" PowerBook at work, and it is noticeably faster (867 MHz vs. 1.25 GHz), but I don't have FCP on it, so I can't make comparisons.

If screen real estate is important, I'd go with the 12" and keep the 15" monitor. The 12" are at 1 GHz now, and can take more RAM, etc. than my first generation model, so things will be more similar speed wise for you anyway.

DSR-11 playback questions
 

Hey everyone. I recently got the DSR-11 dv deck, and so far, for everything I've needed it for, it's worked really well. However, all I've needed it for was importing from my minidv tapes.

Now, I am needing it for playback. What I'd like to be able to do, is watch what I see in my timeline in final cut pro on my TV or a NTSC monitor. How would I go about doing this. Are there any special settings I have to be on, or can it even do that?

Also, I am having some problems recording from FCP onto a minidv tape. Do I need to be on any special settings for that, too? One last thing, do I have to be on any type of settings to record on my regular VCR to put it onto a VHS?

Thanks

With my DSR-11 deck I simply run the Firewire out from the Mac to the FireWire port on the DSR-11 and then run the video and audio outs to my NTSC monitor.

Pretty simple actually.

For some systems, you may need to change the DV input mode on the deck menu system, but as I have not needed to do this, I can't tell you how :)

That's what I thought. And that is how I figured it would work. However, maybe because I have it going into my TV at the moment, it was not working.

Do you have to do anything special in FCP to have the video display on your monitor, or does it just work? Also, what monitor are you using?

Thanks again

I am not 100% if this will work or not, as I have never tried it, but I believe you can use Quicktime Pro to embed a Picture File into your audio to avoid this. If not, just bring it into FCP (Or whatever program you are using) and export your audio with a video track that contains your image. (I am not sure if this will work with an .mp3 though as there is no image information embedded in them from what I know, you will probably have to go with a .mov extension on it)

Make sure of the following:

The deck needs to be on and connected via Firewire before you start up FCP.

View (menu item)
External Video
All frames

Sometimes this is set to "off" and no picture will go out to the deck.

To test the picture from the deck to the DV, just play a tape.

Thanks again. I played around in FCP, and figured it out.

I appreciate the help a lot.

Is there a FAQ for FCP 4.0 and 24PA
 

I finally upgraded to FCP 4.0 and DVDSP 2.0 which means I can finally shoot 24PA and do something with it. I have gathered it is pretty involved getting from 24PA raw footage to a Progressive Scan DVD.

If a FAQ exists with some guidelines and someone could point me to it I would really appreciate it.

Greg Matty

16:9 Cropping?
 

Hi Mac users,

If footage is shot with a camcorder than doesn't have true 16:9 but instead masks the footage with black bars above and below the video (letterbox), can the black lines be removed for DVD or web use? In other words I don't want to see the black bars- just video, is this possible within FCP3 or Quicktime?

(I'm aware of the resulting resolution loss because of the smaller video area-)

Also, would it be safe to assume that rendering times (of effects and transitions) would be shorter when using letterboxed footage because of the non-changing black lines above and below the video frames? My theory is that there would be less "video" area as the black lines comprise areas of non changing video- resulting in less calculations for effects or transitions- is this correct thinking? If so- this would be at least 1 positive aspect for shooting in letterboxed mode as opposed to true optical 16:9!

Thanks to anyone who can provide feedback to these inquiries.

If I understand you correctly, you want to take letterboxed 4:3 video and turn it into anamorphic 16:9, right? This is easily done in FCP using the distort property of the motion tab. I haven't tried it myself, but with a little experimentation you should be able to change the y coordinates of the image corners (that default to 240 and -240) such that the letterboxed section fill the full 4:3 frame. After rendering the results you could drop it into an anamorphic 16:9 sequence and you'd be all set.

I'm not sure about your rendering time question. But there is one thing to be careful of when working with letterboxed video. If you apply color correction or make other adjustments to your clips you may also alter the black bars of the letterbox. It will look strange in the resulting video if the black area changes color and brightness. I've had this problem before, and ended up matting off the top and bottom of the finished sequence to make sure the black letterbox bars were consistent throughout the entire video.

Boyd,

Thanks a million- you understood me perfectly. I kinda assumed this would be easily doable but wanted to make certain.

Thanks again.

Ready to move up
 

I'm a rookie who is using a Sony one chip camera and IMovie 2.1 for editing. Believe it or not, I've been making money with my entry level equip. I'm interested in Buying a 3 chip camera and moving up to FCE for editing. Any ideas as to which 3 chip camera would be a good choice and easy to operate? I prefer a low light camera. I was thinking about the VX2000. For editing it seems logical to move up to FCE and then FCP. How much of a learning curve would I have with FCE compared to IMovie?

Here is my IMovie homepage with samples of some of my work. I have much to learn but everyone tells me I'm ready to move up.

Samples....http://homepage.mac.com/richsheikh/Menu17.html

capture problem!
 

Hello,
i need to capture some analog footage from vhs, and i'm trying to achieve this with a miro motion dc30 video card and final cut 3.0

The problem: i can preview my footage with log capture, [so i think i have the right audio/video settings], but! when i choose capture now, all i get is a black capture window, with the message allocating disk space.
and the only way to get rid of this message (final cut isn't responding to anything) is a forced quit of the program!

final cut does writes data to my harddisc, but it is a file that quicktime doesn't understands,
I have used final cut and log capture with the canon xm1 and had absolutely no problems at all!

i hope someone can help me or has some advice because i can't find the
solution......
wessel
amsterdam.

_


Phil_A
Re: video capture problem (miro motion dc30) [Re: Validsub_forms]

Hi
If you can't see the footage when you're at 'capture now' then it's not going to disc (least, not in a form that's playable I guess). There was a problem some versions back with capture now seizing if the limit wasn't set, but that I think was for audio only transfers. Can only suggest you check settings, as ever (ie that you've got the correct codec & TV standards, and are set to capture sound and vision), maybe trash your FCP preferences which can cure stubborn bugs that don't make sense.
Phil



Post Extras: _ _ _
Validsub_forms

Hi phil,
I have been changing some settings -[AUDIO/VIDEO]
but it is not going to work!

[those f[*]r's of pinnacle could at least update their drivers, final cut 1 !!, ]

anyway I did some testings:
- first the original dv settings [without the canon xm1] and than capture now. no footage is captured of course but after pressing esc. [final cut still reacts] a message: unable to read the movie file just captured. logical but just to make sure....

- than if i choose digitizer: miro motion. the problem is there!
even if i change the different capture settings or don't play the vhs tape and just press capture now , i get allocating disc space, a freezed fcp. and lots of captured data that quicktime can't read.

It just doesn't make sense, final cut can show me the vhs footage [log capture] but can't capture it.
how wonderful live can be!

If somebody reeds this and has some advice please react. i'm getting a little bit desperate here..............



thanks.

wessel/ [fcp.3, G4 450mhz, OS 9.2.2, miro motion dc30]
amsterdam.

The DVX100 has about the same low light capabilities as the PD150 (pro version of the VX2000- same optics) from the dv.com review. That might be a bit pricey for you (check the bhphotovideo.com prices). It has some film look options, progressive shooting modes, and great audio. The venerable VX2000 is still one of the best for low light shooting.

Final Cut Express is pretty easy to learn. Get yourself a book or read tutorials online at kenstone.net and read the FCE manual (might need to print that out). You're spoiled because iMovie is so easy to use.

There's lots of great advice over at the lafcpug.org forum.

minidisc and mac
 

Heres a question

I want to record some sounds playing on my powerbook with my minidisc player, once Ive done this I load up virtual PC to use sony's stupid software to get the track on the computer and I get an error saying it wont check in, after reading the help it mentions items recorded on another computer cannot be checked in. So I'm thinking the software thinks the dvd player on OS X is a different computer than virtual pc and isnt letting me. Is there a way around this? Are there mac resources for minidisc on the web somewhere? Any minidisc/mac related sites would be appreciated

Thanks

FCP Upgrade Coming Soon?
 

According to Think Secret -

(http://www.thinksecret.com/news/fcpupgrade.html)

Apple is working on a major upgrade to Final Cut Pro promising double-digit speed increase to G5 users (I've seen this confirmed elsewhere as Apple has been demoing this version to user's groups).

Other fixes/improvements are mentioned in the article.

I just hope this upgrade will:

1) fix all the bugs in 4.02
2) run on Jaguar
3) not be a paid upgrade

Come on Apple, help us remember why we love you!