NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

Al Smith · October 29th, 2003, 07:27 AM

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,

Jeff Donald · October 29th, 2003, 07:38 AM

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?

Jeff Chandler · October 29th, 2003, 04:08 PM

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.

Mark Newhouse · October 29th, 2003, 04:36 PM

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.

Joshua Cohen · October 30th, 2003, 12:37 AM

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

Stephen Schleicher · October 30th, 2003, 08:06 AM

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 :)

Joshua Cohen · October 30th, 2003, 09:19 AM

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

Kray Mitchell · October 30th, 2003, 10:24 AM

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)

Charles Papert · October 30th, 2003, 11:11 AM

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.

Joshua Cohen · October 30th, 2003, 03:48 PM

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

I appreciate the help a lot.

Greg Matty · October 30th, 2003, 03:56 PM

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

Steve Nunez · October 30th, 2003, 09:04 PM

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.

Boyd Ostroff · October 30th, 2003, 09:18 PM

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.

Steve Nunez · October 30th, 2003, 09:24 PM

Boyd,

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

Thanks again.

Rich Sheikh · October 31st, 2003, 07:01 AM

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

October 29th, 2003, 07:27 AM	#1261
Al Smith New Boot Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: South Jersey Posts: 14	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, __________________ Make It Happen!!!

October 29th, 2003, 07:38 AM	#1262
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	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? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

October 29th, 2003, 04:08 PM	#1263
Jeff Chandler Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Mesa, Az. Posts: 167	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. __________________ Jeff Chandler

October 29th, 2003, 04:36 PM	#1264
Mark Newhouse Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 63	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. __________________ --Mark

October 30th, 2003, 12:37 AM	#1265
Joshua Cohen Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Roslyn Heights, NY Posts: 50	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 __________________ Ye who asks a question remains a fool for five minutes, ye who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.

October 30th, 2003, 08:06 AM	#1266
Stephen Schleicher Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Hays, KS Posts: 188	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 :) __________________ Stephen Schleicher www.stephenschleicher.com

October 30th, 2003, 09:19 AM	#1267
Joshua Cohen Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Roslyn Heights, NY Posts: 50	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 __________________ Ye who asks a question remains a fool for five minutes, ye who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.

October 30th, 2003, 10:24 AM	#1268
Kray Mitchell New Boot Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Calgary, AB Posts: 18	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) __________________ iThink, therefore iMac ---------------------------------------------------- www.emotiondv.com DV Discussion for the rest of us

October 30th, 2003, 11:11 AM	#1269
Charles Papert Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 6,810	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. __________________ Charles Papert www.charlespapert.com

October 30th, 2003, 03:48 PM	#1270
Joshua Cohen Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Roslyn Heights, NY Posts: 50	Thanks again. I played around in FCP, and figured it out. I appreciate the help a lot. __________________ Ye who asks a question remains a fool for five minutes, ye who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.

October 30th, 2003, 03:56 PM	#1271
Greg Matty Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Kirkland, WA Posts: 177	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

October 30th, 2003, 09:04 PM	#1272
Steve Nunez Trustee Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 1,418	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. __________________ Steve Nunez-New York City www.stevenunez.com

October 30th, 2003, 09:18 PM	#1273
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	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.

October 30th, 2003, 09:24 PM	#1274
Steve Nunez Trustee Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 1,418	Boyd, Thanks a million- you understood me perfectly. I kinda assumed this would be easily doable but wanted to make certain. Thanks again. __________________ Steve Nunez-New York City www.stevenunez.com

October 31st, 2003, 07:01 AM	#1275
Rich Sheikh Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: San Diego Posts: 34	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