Small Scale DVD Production: What Do I Need?
 

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22545

:-)

Thought I'd cover some territory and save some time.
I'm hoping to order DVDSP2 and whatever else I'll need, and have it by the weekend. I repeat: is my computer enough for these programs (FCE,DVDSP,TOAST,....)? Any other programs that I need to start dvd authoring and production? Help! Please!

Shawn

Hard disk size? Lots of disk space and RAM really help when editing video and creating dvds. A quick check of the boards will probably show quite a few discussions involving firewire drives for storage, etc. (I have two extra drives, and I only use iMovie and iDVD, so...)

I don't have a program suggestion but I looked at your other thread and have something to add.

You'll want something to make your DVD's look nice because you don't want to write on them with felt pen. Oh, and don't use labels - many people have had problems putting labels on DVD's. Get yourself a printer that prints directly to them. It depends on what quality level, run size, and bank balance you have which will influence what you buy. There are nice thermal printers for several thousand bucks, but I recently bought a Canon i865 inkjet printer for NZ$430. It's absolutely perfect for what I do. I only run off a few DVD's at a time so I don't know if it will be robust or quick enough for you.

The quality is impressive for my needs and at about 1 minute a disk, I can handle that.


Cheers
Aaron

Thanks for the replies!

What would you say a healthy amount of RAM is?
I will check around on what others have said here, it's just that I'm trying to get up and running by the weekend, and so am asking dumb questions as well as doing the research.
Thanks again.

Have I got enough processing power to, I don't know, not cause problems?

Shawn

It sounds like the card has a dead output on one side. Here are the sets to follow to try to revive it. Good luck.

DANGER! This procedure exposes you to high voltages that can result in death or serious injury. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS PROCEDURE IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN CERTIFIED AS AN APPLE-AUTHORIZED TECHNICIAN.
1. Check all video cable/card connections and connector pins.

2. Remove all third-party devices.

3. Reseat the video card.

4. For the Power Macintosh G4 (PCI Graphics) computer, check jumper block at J25. Make sure it is the correct color for the processor type, that it includes all required inner metal clips, and is installed in the correct direction. See "Processor Module" in Service Source Take Apart for more information.

5. Clear parameter RAM. Hold down Command-Option-P-R during startup but before "Welcome to Macintosh" appears

6. Reseat SDRAM DIMMs. Make sure DIMMs are PC-100 DIMMs.

7. Remove all SDRAM DIMMs and try replacing them one at a time to test. Replace any bad DIMMs.

8. Power Macintosh G4 (PCI Graphics): Reset Cuda chip. Refer to article 95065: "Power Macintosh G4 (PCI Graphics) Resetting the Cuda Chip".

9. Reset the logic board:
- Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics/Gigabit Ethernet): Refer to article 95037: "Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics/Gigabit Ethernet): Resetting the PMU on the Logic Board.
- Power Macintosh G4 (PCI Graphics): Refer to article 95066 "Power Macintosh G4 (PCI Graphics): Resetting the PCI Logic Board".

10. Test with known-good monitor. Replace monitor if necessary. Refer to appropriate monitor manual to troubleshoot defective monitor.

11. Replace video card.

12. Replace processor module.

13. Replace logic board.

Hey, I have a powerboook G4 with 512mb of ram and have had quite alot of success with both FCE and DVDSP. In november I recorded my high schools production of Annie, edited two camera angles togeather and color corrected. Outputed the two hour movie into compressor. Compressed for DVDSP and burned about 60 disks all togeather and the computer never skipped a beat. I have never tried toast so I do not know how that plays into the equation.

Brian

I get dibbs on Jason's Mac!

Good news, Brian, glad to hear it.

Can't be too careful these days.

DVD-R's in G4
 

My G4 wont recognise blank DVD-R's and just spits them out after trying to read them for about a minute. It even happens with the Apple DVD-R's they supplied when I bought my G4. Can anyone offer any solutions as I dont wanna have to put it in to Apple again because of the downtime.
Any help is appreciated!

Thanks, Tim

I've heard this is a drive failure (hasn't happened to me personally)...
make sure they're not dvd+r's and if they're dvd-rw's use disk utilities to erase them.

My guess is that it's a faulty drive. I'd think you could yank it and mail it in...

get a usb drive for the time being or if you have a dual optical grab a dvd read drive and then you have two...

could i ask which software you're using and at which point you're inserting the disks?

Which SuperDrive do you have?

can you still burn CDRs?

find in the finder
 

Anybody ever experienced the following Cant find my OMFI Mediafiles(avid) in the finder when i use find, however the files are there when I open the disk...(or when I use the command "reveal file" in Avid Xpressdv.
It seems to be the only thing my os cannot find...