XL2 23.98P & Final Cut Pro HD
 

Anyone know the answer to this?

We are shooting at 23.98P standard def anamorphic and caturing to FCP HD (in standard def) using DVCPRO50 anamorphic 2:3:3:2 as advised. FCP is working with the 16x9 (1280x720) just fine but when we create a numbered image file in targa to go to the effects house it squeezes the image and there appears to be no custom size option. I am told by a filmout transfer house that the sqeezed files are normal but the FX house needs them 1280x720.

Also we're now wondering why we needed the pulldown if we are recording and editing 24P.

If anyone knows the solution to this it would be greatly appreciated!

Larry

I think I might be able to help with the squeezed images. You are not forgetting the difference in pixel sizes are you? DV is recorded at 720x576 but you may find that you are not using square pixels.

Pal DV widescreen pixel aspect ratio is 1.4568 so your image would have to be 720x1.4568 pixels wide.

So check the pixel aspect ratio in your edit package then resize the image accordingly.

NTSC DV is 720x480. Your edit and capture should be at that format. You should not use FCP to scale the video to anything else as it's scaling is poor. Use the DV NTSC easy setup for 24p advanced removal for capture. Edit in anamorphic. Bump timeline to uncompressed, re-render, export 720x480 and use something like AE or Shake to scale to 720p and output to image seq.

Graeme

Mine seems sharper, too. Been in deep audio window layout and editing so I hadn't even noticed it till I saw this post.

I wonder when FCP 5 is coming out.

FX1 capturing discovery!
 

I was fiddling around with my friend's FX1 and I launched Final Cut Pro. I then opened the log and capture window and discovered that there was video in the window!!! Now, before anyone gets excited, it was doing a digital down-convert from HDV 1080i to DV 480i, via firewire (much nicer than the component-only HD10).

So, if you want to skip doing the capturing, demuxing, etc. of HDV and you know you're going to an SD or DV final output, maybe just set the FX1 to do a firewire digital down-convert to 480i (keep it as 16x9) and capture away. It still looks great, even down-converted.

Me, I'll stick with HDV and output to HD and SD/DV, but this is a nice feature that should work on any NLE that captures via firewire.

heath

So does the camera itself do this in real-time so no rendering is required to see the footage in the editing application? So essentially the workflow, if you're fine with the down-conversion, would be exactly the same in this scenario as regular DV?

And following that, if you're never going to film and never going to have your film projected on a big screen, only to exist on DVD for TVs, would there be a down side to just editing in the down-converted format?

Forgive me, I'm new to the HDV thing because, quite frankly, I've been very skeptical of it so far. Waiting for people like you to tell me that it's all it's cracked up to be before I invest any grey matter in it :)

I believe the FX1 has a 2 second delay via firewire but I didn't really look at it. This is according to our FX1 vs. Z1 comparison chart.

heath

Bad RAM is one of the worst items to trouble-shoot. Even though I'm a total bargain hunter, I have never skimped on RAM. I have always used LifeTime Memory because they do work directly with Apple engineers and have the Lifetime warranty. Even if you ever did get a bad stick (which I haven't in over 10 orders) they will ship you a replacement while you still have the questionable stick. That's service. Read their web page "about us" on the site. Lifetime Memory - About Us

Over the years I have referred my friends, co-workers and students to a guy named Virgil, maybe he can beat that price (maybe not, but it's always worth a try!). Remember they're not the least expensive, but you get a Lifetime warranty and the peace of mind knowing that this is quality stuff. Shop around!


Their number is 1-800-233-6233 ext 159. Virgil at Lifetime

Does the sample rate of your audio match that of your sequence?

12bit = 32kHz
16bit = 48kHz

Check your camera and see what Bit rate you're recording at. If you're mixing them up, ie. shooting 12 bit, but capturing in FCP native 48kHz you're gonna have issues, FCP has a heck of a time converting on the fly.

Also try turning off "Image + Wireframe" if you're not using it. (Click in the Canvas and choose View>Image)

Click in your Canvas Window and Press "Shift Z" for Zoom to fit

Make sure no windows are overlapping.

Delete any Empty Tracks.

Turn off Audio Waveforms in the Timeline (CMD+Option+W)

What kind of DV device are you using?

That's a wicked fast computer and should not be choppy. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks for all the info. I'm using a sony TRV900 as the deck. I'll try your suggestions.

Thanks again,
Fred

Thanks guys, giving it a try.

Larry

De-interlacing XL2 50i (PAL) with Final Cut Pro 4
 

First time I have posted on this great forum! I recently purchased the XL2 in Australia (PAL version), and am relatively new to camcorders and the like.

I have read on this forum that you can slow-motion in 60i (or in my case 50i) by de-interlacing the frames. How is this done?

I have a PowerMac G5 2.5GHz with Final Cut Pro 4 - can this setup do this?

Also, I am very interested in the 16x and 14x manual lens for the XL2, does anyone have any recommendations? I have read that the 16x lens now has a servo driven iris, where the 14x does not? Would I be better purchasing the 14x for the fully manual features?

Any help is appreciated.

FCP Workflow/Settings for 16 x 9 Capture/Export
 

Just wondering what everyone is doing to get 16 x 9 in and out of Final Cut Pro.

I captured everything widescreen and it seemed to work fine, but I could not get it to a widescreen QT file. Everything I tried, it would make it 4 x 3. Anyone want to share their capture and export settings?

Thanks in advance!

Kevin

You could test your RAM with the version of memtest for Mac.
http://friskythecat.tripod.com/
It took me a little while to figure it out.

Or if you have a PC you could test it with memtest86 or microsoft's RAM diagnostic tool. You should probably overclock the computer (temporarily!) though as that is a much better test for your RAM.
http://www.memtest86.org

Problems with testing RAM are:
A- A stick of RAM will perform differently in another motherboard.
B- RAM running in dual channel perform slightly worse depending on the stick its paired with. (Not a big deal, just label the sticks.)
C- Your RAM's 'threshold' before it starts producing errors depends on temperature. A memory diagnostic program like Memtest86 may not find errors. But you can get errors once your computer starts rendering and heating up. Some PC users report that prime95 (a stress testing program) finds errors while memtest86 did not. IME I've found something similar.

2- You can run RAM at lower timings for better performance. These timings are programmed into the sticks and on PCs can be overridden through your BIOS. There are 4 timings that make a performance difference (written as something like 3-4-4-8), with the CAS latency timing being the most important (so you see CL2-2-2-5, or CL2 / CL3 / CL2.5 RAM).

With video editing, RAM timings make no effect on rendering performance. (I tried with a PC/Vegas.)

Running RAM at its more conservative timings is likely ideal as it gives you more headroom against crappy RAM and/or RAM failure. I know that Crucial RAM is set to the most conservative settings possible (3-4-4-8).

3- In any case, RAM rarely rarely fails (although it has happened). Sometimes you may get a stick that's dead on arrival (probably more likely with lower quality generic RAM).

You should probably pay more attention to user error and making backups, as those things are much much more likely to prevent problems.

I'm assuming that you are watching the Quicktime files on your computer monitor... actually it isn't even 4:3 when viewed this way, I think you see 720x480 square pixels. Quicktime doesn't really seem to "understand" 16:9 unless it's being sent to a device which can decode it (like a widescreen monitor). If you want to view 16:9 on a computer monitor you will need to render it in the correct proportions for a square pixel device. For NTSC that would be 854x480.

If you set the properties for your clips to anamorphic 16:9, then set your sequence to 16:9 everything will look right within FCP as you edit. The resulting video will only look right when viewed on a 16:9 screen however. On a 4:3 monitor it will be squashed into the 4:3 frame. And if you open the clips directly in Quicktime (eg: NOT inside FCP) they will just be 720x480.

Hmm, not sure I understand. I thought I've seen plenty of QT's that are rendered out 16 x 9. Many of the movies you download from Apple's movie trailer site are 16 x 9, aren't they? That's all I was trying to do, unsuccessfully.

Any ideas?

Leaving the Log and Capture window open will also slow things down...

I know little about the deinterlacing except that FCP4 has a filter to do that. Its function would probably be to create a sort of filmeffect. It does not slow your footage down there is a simple slowmotion possibily in FCP4 called slowmotion, works much better I think. As for the lenses, I own a manual 14 zoom lens, if you are going to buy one I would get the 16 because it has a servo motor for the ZOOM. The 14x has not. But if you have never worked with that kind of lens (manual lens) you would be crazy to spend all that money. I would advise you to buy the wideangle instead, its a great lens and easy to use

Benjamin: I've moved your thread to our Mac editing forum since
it really has nothing to do with the XL2, but everything with FCP.

When importing into FCP be sure that you set up the capture preferences for anamorphic video. If you forget to do this you can later change the pixel shape to convert to anamorphic.

Similarly when you create a new sequence make sure that the preferences are set to create an anamorphic sequence (sorry I can't be more specific - I don't have FCP on this machine).

If you have captured with another program and you just want to look at the files in Quicktime go to Movie > Get Movie Properties. Under the Movie menu in the window that opens in response to Get Movie Properties select Video Track. In the other menu (will say Annotations when the window opens) pick Size. Now hold down the sift and Apple keys while dragging the lower right hand corner of the frame. Each time you release the mouse the new size will appear in the window. Adjust until the aspect ratio is 16:9 (i.e. 1920 x 1080; 960 x 540 etc. While you are here be sure to set quality to high. Now save the file. In the future it will be displayed in the proper aspect ratio. Note: All this requires Quick Time Pro

What do all of you use for backups?
 

I'm on FCPHD, a 1st gen. dualie G5, with 500Gb internal SATA and a Lacie Bigger Disk (1Tb) external Firewire 800.

Before moving to FCP, I used Media100, and I used Retrospect to backup entire project files on DLT tape, programs: bins, media, graphics, AfterEffects projects and renders - the works. The thinking was that if I ever needed to revisit a project, I could just copy it back onto a drive whole, and start editing again as if I had never left.

The first problem with that was that the DLT IV tape only held between 20-40Gb of data, they are fairly pricey, and they are awfully slow. It could take 2 days just to archive a project, and just as long to bring it back.

My plan was that I would use Retrospect to DVD-R's for archiving, as they are cheap and fast. But I'm running into a few problems. My last few projects were 20, 50 and 60Gb, so I'm spending as much time swapping DVDs every 20 minutes or so, days on end, to archive these projects. I also didn't realize that a Retrospect backup isn't viewable in the Finder, so you have to use Retrospect to bring back even an individual file.

I'm starting to think that I shouldn't include DV footage that is still on the field tapes. As long as the timecode is still solid, I should be able to use FCP to batch digitize the footage back into the bins and reconstruct the program. That will cut down the size of the archive quite a bit, and still allow me to resurrect an entire project.

So, here's the question to all you FCP/OSX users: Do any of you do this same kind of archiving? What software/hardware do you use? What is your strategy for making a complete backup?

It really is a problem. My only solution has been to buy more and more firewire drives (total of 8 so far), and eventually accept the fact that a project is "done." Then I export the edited final copy to tape.

The last 500gb drive I got was a bit over $200 and will keep me going a little longer... :-)

Efficient workflow of adding subtitles in FCP HD
 

hi all,

After playing around of Livetype, and the text effects stuff in FCP HD, i came up with the following conclusion. Please, let me know if I understood FCP correctively...at least in the workflow for adding 1000 lines as subtitles.

1) Use Razor Blade too, make cuts at points where I want subtitle to appear, disappear, or change to next line
2) Use lower Third text, since it automatically puts text within title safe area at bottom. I read from other posts someone suggested using 3D text instead but i never figure out why(finding X,Y position, etc etc). Let me know what i am missing out
3) Then, with a lot of paitence, type the lines in the viewer, and drag them into those little "cuts" in the time line. since i have aredy cut them up into where i want the lines to appear, just dragging a line into a cut will save me a lot of time, RATHER than adjusting how long a subtitle going to appear after i drag the line into timeline.

Is the the most efficient way of adding subtitles? I just need good old school subtitles...no fancy jumping and color changing words. i am talking about 1000+ lines...

thanks!!!

A lot of people seem to export the finished movie back to DV tape
and save all other work that can't be re-captured from original
tapes (like project files, masks, music mixes etc.) to CD or DVD.

Some people also buy a harddisk for a client or project (or a large
one for several) and once it is full put it on the shelve.

I have mostly worked on medium to small things, so I'm backing
it all up to DVD+R at the moment.