Printers use DPI to show how much info they put in an inch of space so you get measurements like 300 dots per inch. The higher the DPI the more detailed the print.

A video signal simply tells you how many pixels you are getting (more or less), and not how densely those pixels are packed, so 72 DPI isn't a real measurement. A TV can be 12" or 40" and still only show the same number of pixels. A DVD playing Standard Definition has 720x480 resolution. As for HD...

From: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/learn/about/chapters/0,,2076_3105627_3105648,00.html

1080i and 720p
How do 1080i and 720p compare? 1080i actually has higher resolution than 720p, but doesn't render motion quite as well. 720p-with its progressive scanning-delivers smoother motion (especially important for fast-moving action, such as in sports) but has lower resolution than 1080i. Still great, but lower. (Don't worry; any HDTV receiver can receive both formats, and a true HDTV television can display both formats.)

Pixels
Another way to compare the two is by looking at their pixel count (pixel is short for "picture elements", the individually addressable areas of light and shadow on your screen). The 720p format creates an image with 720 lines, each with 1280 pixels, so it has a resolution of 1280 x 720. The 1080i format creates an image with 1080 lines, each with 1920 pixels, so its resolution is a higher 1920 x 1080. Denser pixels = a better picture.

Consumer cam/mac edit question
 

Hi everyone,
I want to get my 12 yr old son a tapeless camera for christmas.
Are there any of these types of cams that dont burn an MPEG4?

Will Imovie import MPEG4?
I have an Imac G3 w/ a 400 MHz and 512 MB.
OS 10.2.8
Firewire ans USB ports.
Also, cheap is a plus.
Am I spitting in the wind here?
thanks

I think it will be difficult to do this with iMovie unless you have a DV camera with firewire. AFAIK iMovie only works with 720x480 DV, so you would need to convert the MPEG somehow. QuickTime Pro can probably do that, but it would involve a number of steps along the way. I got my daughter a cheap Sharp ViewCam when she was a few years older than your son. She and her friends had lots of fun making videos (some were really good in fact). They edited on an iMac just like you described, although I think it was a 600mhz G3 using a firewire interface. A 400 mhz machine might be borderline.

I believe there are some inexpensive USB based devices that can capture analog video that might do what you want. I had one of these in the days before iMovie came out. It captured relatively low res (something like 320x240) from any camera with composite output and came bundled with editing software from Strata (something like "Videoshop" I think). It was all very inexpensive and might be enough for a beginner.

Download genarts sapphire.
The glows are wonderful and mixed with other tratments and masks, you can get some pretty wonderful looks. There is no template for this. Play and cerate.
If you can't afford sapphire effects, you can fake glows by duplicating layers, adding brighness n saturation, burs and opacity changes.

Matthew,

Also play around with Effect>Render>Beam

Apply this effect to a black solid in your comp and set the transfer mode to Add. There are different parameters you can change like start/end width, softness, color, etc. Get the beam looking how you like then just animate its position.

Or better yet. Try filming an actual photocopier :) You never know.

peace
jes

Training for Final Cut HD
 

Does anyone know who makes the best training DVD's?

I'd prefer those that you sit and watch the tutor giving a demonstration on film rather than me reading and doing tutorials.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Jonathan

Check out the Magnet Media DVD at the LAFCPUG store; it is quite good. There are others there, as well.

http://www.digitalmediatraining.com/products/fcphd/index.html

Apple's Motion trial version
 

http://www.apple.com/motion/trial/

Nice 30 day free trial! Some with older machines note before you do the hefty download that you might want to check the specs and see if your machine can handle it http://www.apple.com/motion/specs.html


Motion PowerStart Now Shipping! * LA Motion User Group

The only time I've seen this happen is when you have ALSO recorded some regular DV on the same tape. Don't mix DV and DVCAM on the same tape. I've seen people burn bars and tone at the head in DV (even on another camera or deck when bulking up for a shoot) then switch to DVCAM or reuse a tape that had been used for DV previously. Also, are you moving the tape at all between the stop and start? Meaning, do you stop the tape while recording, view it, then record some more? Make sure you use "end search" if so.

discovering vignetting in full frame playback
 

Talk about fixing it in post...

I just got back from the other side of the globe where I shot in 16:9 anamorphic squeeze mode (DVX100A) and noticed, upon digitizing (FCP 3) that seen in full frame a lot of footage has some curved vignetting on the left side of the screen (especially upper and lower corners). This was caused by a mattebox error, which I failed to notice on location as it was cropped out of the camera viewfinder and LCD.

Should I worry about this showing up on wide screen televisions, or will it naturally be cropped in any non-NLE/pro monitor playback environment? If this is an issue, what are my best options? I know I can crop it out on FCP by blowing up the shot, but I fear this will greatly affect the resolution.

Any thougths would be appreciated.

Also, to avoid this happening again, does the anamorphic 16:9 viewfinder adaptor available for the DVX show the full frame?

Many thanks in advance.

Just about all prosumer cameras overscan unfotunately. The anamorphic viewfinder adaptor is just a lens that squeezes the existing image into proportion, it can't change the overscan problem.

My 16:9 LCD monitors (Sony 17" and Samsung 22") both overscan by about 3%, which is pretty comparable to the viewfinders on my Sony cameras. Since you're on a Mac you might want to download the free program "Test Pattern Maker." It creates 720x480 JPEG's of a variety of charts, one of which is an overscan chart. By sending this chart to your camera from FCP via firewire you can see how much the viewfinder or a monitor overscans: http://www.synthetic-ap.com/downloads/tpmmdown.html.

Instead of stretching the video to eliminate the vignetting you could crop it a little which would result in some very narrow black bars that probably wouldn't be too noticeable, if they show at all on a consumer TV.

FCP to an old TV
 

I'm trying use an older TV as a preview monitor to FCP. By "older" i mean that the TV only has a coaxial input - no RCAs. To get the video from FCP to the monitor, I'll go FW to a Dazzle! bridge, then RCAs from the bridge to a VCR, then coax from the VCR to the TV.

Is this a good idea or should I just front $70 and go get a cheap TV that has RCA inputs?

I'd invest in a new telly.

Graeme

Thanks very much Boyd. I couldn't have hoped for a clearer, more helpful response.

I'm looking into cropping as you suggested, though I'm not certain that eliminating the vignetting on one side of the frame with black bars on either side would be any less distracting, in the event that a given monitor displays that much of the image.

I see that I need to create a new sequence to crop and center a shot - though I am still not clear on how to reintigrate these shots afterwards into the original timeline, among the uncropped shots.

Hi
More a question that answer!
Wouldn't your set give huge latancy and additional noise to the signal?
I have tried using a TV with FCP though FW to Canopus to TV and found moderate latancy,
Cheers
Nigel

It probably wouldn't look the best Nigel, but I figured that if I can make it look good through that system, then it would look awesome on better systems.

when I was a staffer at CMT, we had old 25" Magnavox consumer TVs as the client monitor in every linear suite. Never told lies on title safe, showed how certain colors would bleed and we even turned down the studio monitors and listened through the little mono speaker every now and again while mixing. Not a bad thing to have at home.
Swing by radio shack and grab an RCA to coax adapter.

Mark I think your dead right there which was my plan, however the latency I was getting put me off, it seemed to make my "contour" shuttle behave like spagetti mixing!

Having said that, what I was concerned about in your message was noise induced by the "multiple" connections through a multitude of devices,
but Grinner seems to have answered that one nicely, thanks Grinner.

Me I went out and bought a sony trinitron TV and run it straight out of my mac's S video port now. Nice colours, crisp image and no latency noticable really. But I have to watch it's tendancy to gointo "dynamic mode" on switching on with the S vidio plugged in, as that blows seeing what I have really have for a sony inhancement.

Cheers Mark and again for the advice grinner.

nig

Shake 3.5
 

hey ive been trying to learn shake and its quite confusing. i was wondering if anybody knew a place with good tutorials or good books on it. thanks

Apple Pro Series training books..

soundtrack quality
 

I have been working in soundtrack to add some beats to a project I am currently doing. I have however noticed that the quality compared to other tracks(from cd or from the net) is rather poor....Is there anybody out there that has worked with soundtrack for a film or series? I have some interesting samples from Powerfx that came straight of a cd so I am suprised about the poor quality.

Complicated Effect in FCP HD. Please Help
 

I am having trouble wrapping my brain around an effect I am creating.
I need to have 20 full res frames of video fly in and twist (they can move as 1 wall of video or independently, either will work for me) and then come toward camera, maintaining their relationship to one another until one of my 4 center frames completely fills the screen in full resoulution. These 20 frames are individual pieces of video, so a simple multiplication effect won't work.

I have tried layering all 20 tracks, nesting and throwing a BCC DVE on and reducing to 15%, but then when I click in to position my individual tracks, they blow back up to 100% and I cannot see far enough out on the edges to create a proper placement.

Any ideas, filters I may not have that will do the trick easily, filters I do have but have not yet used?

Please help, under a deadline.

Thanks,

Evan

Got my answer from the local FCPUG.

Thanks to anyone who at least thought about it.

Hi8 to DV - Tips ?
 

Any tips for shooting Hi8 then converting it to DV ? I am trying to get the best quality possible until i can get my GS400.

Get an analog to digital converter?

Footage Reverses In Dissolve
 

Shot on Canon XL2 at 24P - 16:9
Loaded in Firewire / DV NTSC Anamorphic codec
Have selected "none" in the field order pulldown box of my sequence preferences. Footage looks STELLAR!

I have slowed some footage down (on the sequence side).
When dissolving to another slow-mo clip, the previous clip plays at 2x REVERSE!

I have also experienced the outgoing footage freeze-framing on the dissolve out.

Now, I have found ways around this (still perfecting before I post a solution). But I wanna know why it does this. This is doofy.

Cheers!
Luke

Some Sony D8 cameras are backward compatable and will play out footage shot on a Hi 8 camera. This can be transfered to another DV deck or computer by firewire.

Editing 24p with non 24p in the same sequence?
 

Hey all. I'm shooting a project in a few weeks with multiple cameras. The main one is the XL2 on which i'll be shooting in 16x9 24p. but there are also supplementary handicam type things that will be getting secondary shots that i'll use from time to time. Is there an effective way to cut the 16x9 24p shots with the 4:3 regular dv shots so that it doesnt look horrible? I know that you'll be able to tell the difference in quality, I just don't want to a) drag down the quality of the 24p or b)compress the 16x9 (i'd rather stretch the 4:3). How should I capture both of them?

I don't know about HD, but when I first got into FCP, I sat in on a few classes at the Apple stores. The classes were free and really helped me wrap my head around the entire subject. Then, I stayed after and asked the guy teaching about specifics. Now, when I have questions, I call that individual. He's always happy to get off the sales floor and talk NLE with me.

I should have did this in the first place, but I called the canon tech support and they told me that the canon GL2 is only compatible with final cut 4 and later and you have to be running mac os 10.1 to 10.3.

so it looks like i'm in for an upgrade.

thanks for trying to help out chris!!

Never saw that one coming. Glad to hear you've got it figured out.

Peace!
Chris

I too have recognized this. Not sure what to do. Garage band . . . same thing. My guess is these weren't meant to do professional work. Not entirely sure though.

Note: I'm not a Mac or FCP user, but these are some of my general
thoughts about these things.

If you just have a couple of shots of 4:3 footage I would stretch
them to 16:9 indeed. If you have a lot of 4:3 shots I would
convert everything to 4:3 letterbox.

However, if at all possible I would record all the camera's at the
same settings. Because I assume that those 4:3 camera's will
also not be doing 24p? That's probably gonna be troublesome
to incorporate and have it look good (unless it is some sort of
making of where you are mixing footage, doesn't make a difference
too much then I'd say).

Best thing you can do (as always) is TEST your workflow before
you commit to the ways you are going to do things. Test, test
and do some more testing! <g>

Good luck!

iDVD cross compatability question::::
 

Hey all,
I am trying to burn my iDVD project. (i know it's no pro-sumer software but that's what i have to use) Here's my scenario and question:

I have a Powerbook with iDVD 4 and a compiled project that sits on an external drive. My Powerbook doesn't have a Superdrive, so my options are: open the project on someone else's system that has a superdrive and burn it there, or get an external DVD writer hooked up to my Powerbook and burn locally. Option 1 is more viable to me since my friend has a Powerbook with a Superdrive and I don't have access to an external DVD writer. The only issue is this: My friend doesn't have iDVD 4. I have heard that iDVD 4 creates a product that looks much better than 3. If I compile my project in iDVD 4, let everything encode with the "best quality" setting, then Archive my project AND include the theme, can I then transfer the Archived project (image i assume) to my friend's Powerbook and burn it from there with iDVD 3 with no picture degradation or other discrepancies?


___Luc

1st scenario:
Last I checked, iDVD won't burn to an external DVD burner, it has to be internal. That might have changed, but that was pretty standard. You CAN of course work in iDVD on one computer, archive it, and move it to a machine that DOES have an internal burner.

Try patch burn if you want an external burner with iDVD: http://www.patchburn.de/faq.html#PB3Frage2

2nd scenario:
Because iDVD4 has newer features than iDVD3 I don't know if it is backwards compatible, or will work as long as you use a version 3 theme and do not use any new features like autoplay. Thing is, I think the Archive is an only an iDVD4 feature, so I would guess it won't work because iDVD3 doesn't know what to do with an Archived project.

Good luck...

export...fce2 doesn't load.. image frozen!help!!
 

hi
about one week ago' i made a short movie with fce2.When i exported the movie, fc didn't load normally (with the blue line running..).Infact, when i opened the movie, there were only the sound, but the image was freezing.After, i tried to erase my short movie from final cut and to reimport and re-edit it.that time fc exported the movie without problems.
Now, i've make another short video with fc, i try to export but the blu line running doesn't appear..it loads immediatly, without loading.When i open the video, i see another time the image freezing, and i only listen to the sound.
i've a dual 1.8 G5 power mac with 1 giga of ram.
Do you think i've a defective final cut??what is the reason of that probel??
I export with the option "make quicktime movie", so no compression.
please, help me to know what's the problem..i don't' understand!

p.s i also tried to delete the preferences, as suggested by another thread, but my short move doesn't' appear anymore...only sound!

thanks so much
joseph

How do I make scrolling titles go backwards in FCP?
 

I tried hitting reverse in the scrolling titles I made in FCP, but the titles themselves went blank and there was nothing there.

Any other solutions?

THANKS!

heath

If you are using the simple scrolling text built-in to FCP (Video Generators->Text->Scrolling Text), there is a popup at the bootom of the Controls for you to choose the direction.

If you are using Title3D, then I think you must keyframe the position.


Mike.

THANKS! It says Up or Down, can't believe I didn't notice it before.

heath

Why cant i capture??
 

hi all,

My system

iBook G4 1GHZ
768 RAM
80 G internal HDD
40 G 5600RPM external HDD
Final Cut Express 2
Firewire card that comes with iBook
PD150

My Problem: Ok i dunno which version my camera is, but i tried capturing in both NTSC DV and PAL DV and the capture is just not good...there are always drop frames, thus FCE stops captures. Why??? Is my system too slow??? I shot all my footage in 1/60 or faster shutter as its bright daylight.

I tried iMovie, it "'allow" the capture but i can tell there are drop frames and it sucks.

ALSO: when i do playback in the camera, the sound is not smooth, sometimes i hear it sometimes i dun. I believe its because its an old camera. but i am sure the footage is good because sometimes i hear the "full" audio during playback for the exact same footage IN the camera.

where is the problem?!?! Help!