Will FCP 3 work with Panther?
 

I'm still running 0S 9 and would like to get into OSX.
Have heard a couple of reports that Panther has run FCP 3, but haven't heard much more than that.

Has any one ventured to use FCP 3 w/OS X.3 and really given it a good workout?

It's working ok so far!

Graeme

I recently moved my FCP3 from MacOS 9.2 to MacOS X 10.2.8. You will obviously need to reinstall from the CD's. Then go to Apple's website and download the latest OSX version of FCP3, it was 3.0.4 I believe when I did it. You will also need to purchase the pro version of Quicktime 6 (or does Panther include QuickTime Pro?).

Everything seems to work fine under OSX with FCP3 for me. I just got the Panther upgrade but haven't installed it yet. Glad to hear from others that it seems to work however!

Panther does not include QT Pro, but FCP 4 does.

sony dcr trv 19 lacie audio loss fcp3
 

Here's an interesting problem
I've got a g4 dual 857 with 512 mb and I use a lacie 160 gb external. I was having problems using a canon zr40 to capture/output b/c of canon's firewire problem.

I borrowed a friends sony dcr trv 19 and it worked flawlessly, I used it probably 20 times to output footage, etc off the FCP3 timeline. No problems what so ever.

So I bought a Sony dcr trv 19, counting on the same performance. It works fine for filming and capturing, but if I output anything over 30 minutes, there's always one small audio drop. That is, it will just cut the audio for a split second and continue. It only will do this once, so you can imagine how frustrating that is. It seems like the hardrive stops just quickly enough to drop the sound. I've checked my system preferences and all sleep modes are off on the drive.

I dont think it's the tape b/c I've tried different ones and always get the same problem.

I'm thinking of buying a new ieee cable but wanted to put this out and see if anyone else has seen it. I've searched here on this topic, but have yet to run into this.

any and all posts are greatly appreciated.

Make sure sleep is set to never, hard drive spin down is unchecked. Make sure the get time from internet is unchecked. It wouldn't hurt to have 1 GB of ram. I consider 512mb as the bare minimum. Did you mix down the audio? How full is the drive. Make sure the drives are formatted HFS+.

still not solved
 

Hey Jeff,
yeah, made sure all sleeps/spin down/ "put hard drisk to sleep when possible" are all unchecked. The audio was/is again mixdown and I got a drop even earlier on my last attempt. (though at least it was less wasted time)

the 160 drive is at 20 gb right now, so perhaps clearing more off that might make a difference? It's pushing the 90% mark. Maybe defragging the drive? I just bought the drive in July and have done three small projects with it, so I wouldn't think to defrag it yet, but I might be wrong. I'm using 10.2 and the drives are HFS+.

I don't even have an internet connection on the mac (it's strictly for editing)

I rearranged the daisy chain having the camera in the back of the drive, reversing the order on the back of the g4, to no avail.

So from what your saying, I should be thinking of upgrading the ram and probably defrag?

Again thanks for any input on this.

Are you saying the drive is 90% full? That is probably your problem. Drives over 80% full may exhibit dropped frames and other undesirable effects. Defragging usually doesn't help a great deal. You really just need to free up some space. More ram will help in many areas, but drive space is your real issue.

Can someone please help with color correcting?
 

I posted this on LAFCPUG but noone responded.

I've got a fairly old VHS tape I transfered to miniDV and then to my computer. Running FCP3. I need to take this and put it out to DVD. It's very old, grainy and all the colors are muted.

I'm trying to do some kind of color correction, but I don't seem to be effecting the media at all.

Wha's the best way to approach this and what wuold teh steps be. Also, any ideas why I'm not seeing any changes I make? I've changed contrast all teh way up and all teh way down and it doesn't seem to make an effect.

Any help would be great

Try to see if the color corrector works at all. Try using it on a normal clip and check for changes in contrast, brightness and saturation.

I have noticed this when trying to adjust color on old 8mm footage (the tape format, not the film format). It just can't do much if there isn't much color information in the image to begin with. I ended up not color correcting any 8mm footage because it didn't make much, if any difference. When I started transferring Hi8 tape that were recorded with a better camera, then the color corrector started making tons of improvements. It all depends on your source.

Well you might not like the results but SOMETHING should be happening. You don't list your procedure. Are you doing all this?

1. Create a new sequence and open it
2. Drag the clip to the timeline
3. Open the effects tab in the browser and drag the color corrector filter on top of your clip ON THE TIMELINE
4. Double-click the clip on the timeline, it opens in the viewer.
5. Go to the color corrector tab, make some changes

For some reason, the changes don't always seem to show when you first do this in FCP3. So try moving the cursor to a new point on the timeline. Now you should see something change as you play with the controls in the color corrector.

You will need to render your sequence to see the final results. And the color corrected version will only be in that sequence you created. The original clip is not affected in FCP is a non-destructive editor.

GLITCHES on ext video
 

I have read many letters on the apple users site, and many people are going nuts, and I think the common thread is FCP3 OR F, using OSX and the update to Quicktime 6.3. Seems Quicktime 6.3 has caused the problem.
There are users tearing their hair out, and getting nowhere. All ok in os9.
Can you offer any suggestions? I am running osx1.5 but others have same problem with later versions.
Regards
Rick

My suggestion is to update to a more current version of the operating system. I haven't used 10.1.5 in more than a year. But it was one of the more stable OS's to use with FCP.

One of the more common causes of problems is updating one software component and not others. So, if you're using QT 6.3 with an older version of FCP and OS X it is not uncommon to cause problems.

I've not heard of any major issues with QT 6.3 In fact Apple has a downgrade to QT 6.3 from 6.4 (which has caused some known issues) available. The QT 6.4 issue is a stuttering on playback.

I'm using QT 6.3 on MacOS 10.2.8 with FCP 3.0.4 and it sure seems rock solid to me. After working exclusively under MacOS 9.2 in FCP I made the switch to 10.2.8 in October and was a little scared of the unknown. But I must say it was an easy transition.

I agree with Jeff, you really need to get a newer version of OSX, and if you're still using FCP3 make sure you've downloaded the newest version (which I believe is still 3.0.4).

Gray screen on startup,old Mac dead?
 

Have a G4 400 sawtooth running FCP3 and OS9 w/1gig ram. Had it doing an overnight render, this morning when I checked it the screen was fozen. I could'nt get the program to quit so I restarted w/small button on the front. Light gray screen filled monitor w/verbage in upperleft corner. Verbage was somthing like -G3 firmware installed...type Mac-boot to start...type shutdown to shutdown.... Anyway I typed Mac-boot and about 1/2 of my desktop came up. The top of the screen was darkblue.
I completely shut of power to the G4 for a couple of minutes and powered back up. Gray screen came back up w/same verbage.

They was an odd sound coming from box, hard drive maybe?
(OS is on it's own drive.)

Every experiance anything like this?

Thanks, Ted

Do you have a repair disk like Disk Warrior or TechTool? If not I would go to a nearby Apple retailer (Apple Store or CompUSA) and purchase either. I'm not a big fan of Norton and would only use it as a last resort.

Boot from the install disk that comes with the software and run the repair program. This should fix any OS issues. If it's a hardware issue TechTool may also troubleshoot that as well. If the computer won't boot off the disc, hold down the C key at startup.

Have you installed any hardware or software recently? If so, disconnect the hardware, remove ram etc. Then try to boot your machine.

You could also try to install a copy of your OS on the other drive. Boot off your OS install disk and install on another drive (not just a different partition, a different physical drive). Then boot from the different drive and run basic Mac repair routines (Zap PRam, rebuild desktop, Apple Disk Utility). You still may need TechTool or Disk Warrior.

Errors on long renders can also indicate defective Ram. Try removing all ram except the stick that originally came with the computer and see if it boots.

This sounds a lot like what happened to me, but with a newer G4/1.25Ghz. It died while doing a backup of 100GB of DV files overnight to an external firewire drive.

>> They was an odd sound coming from box, hard drive maybe?

Same thing; it was my dead 80 GB primary internal drive (only a month old). I was able to boot off the install CD, but the drive was dead. Not having the time or patience to deal with warranty service in the middle of a big project, I picked up a new 80 GB drive, dropped it in, and was back up and running a few hours later.

Jeff,Boyd
The problem was my startup drive(IBM deskstar 37 gb 5400rpm).
After 3 years it crapped out. I'd heard it make odd noise a couple of weeks ago but had ignored it. Did'nt know which of 4 drives it was anyway. Next time I run into this I'll check it out before I have complete disk failure. I partitioned a former media drive (60 gb deskstar) and have got 9.2.2 back on, will add Panther soon.

Should be back in buisiness soon, Thanks for the help.
Merry Holidays!

FCP3: outline for typewriter text?
 

hello

Is there a way (in FCP3) to give typewriter text an outline? Right now, I'm adding a drop shadow but I'd prefer to have a proper outline.

Many thanks in advance & best wishes for 2004 to everyone on this excellent message board!

Michiel

What do you mean by typewriter text? Text>Typewriter or a specific font style? You can outline fonts in Title 3D. When Title 3D opens you will notice the "T" tabs in the lower left corner and here you will find the outline settings.

yes, I meant the video generators -> type -> typewriter effect, where the letters of the text appear on screen as if typed one by one.
thx
Michiel

Dual CRT Display w/ FCP3
 

I am running FCP 3 on a mac g4 twin 867 processor. If I purchase another card to allow me to hook up a second crt monitor, can I configure fcp to split the display between the two monitors? (example: browser/viewer on one and canvas/timeline on the other)


thanks
---adam

You may not need to buy another card. Do you know what card is on your dual 876 MHz computer. Most have a dual monitor card built in. You can move the windows in FCP around anyway you like and save it as a default. Many of us here edit on dual monitors. It is quicker and the timeline etc. can be made larger for easier viewing.

As Jeff said, your card may already support two monitors, but you may also need an adaptor cable to hook up the second one. Otherwise you should be able to add a PCI card. The last time I checked the only one of these for the Mac was the Radeon 7000 Mac Edition. I got one a couple years ago and it works fine in my old G4/733 under MacOS 9.2. I'm not sure, but I think there used to be some OSX issues with it however. Perhaps these were resolved, or maybe there's a newer card.

If neither of these options work then you might be able to replace the original AGP graphics card in your Mac, but be careful to research this because I think there are some major compatability issues there. Don't just assume that any AGP graphics card will work.

Those issues where resolved when ATI finally (took a year maybe) released OS X drivers. No problems with PCI video cards and OS X today.

Thank you both for your detailed help.

---adam

FCP3 Capture difficulties
 

I hope someone can help.

This evening I was experimenting with de-interlace filters and shot a little sequence on a chessboard for source footage. I went to capture the video in FCP3 and I get the error message "ERROR: Final Cut Pro was unable to read the media file just captured"

I tried again-- same error message. I restarted FCP and got the same. Restarted the machine. Same. I did a Google search and only found a website stating that Canopus Firewire PCI cards cause this. I removed my OrangeLink USB2.0/Firewire card and disconnected the Koutech USB/FW hub conneccted to it and rebooted. Same error message again. After reassembly, I did a clean partition of my scratch disk and tried to capture yet again. Same error message. I even reinstalled FCP3 and tried again. (Note: I did try all my firewire ports on the logic board and on the firewire cards themselves-- no difference)

I am at my wits' end. I've had my machine in its current configuration for months and every component has run smoothly and without conflict.

Oddly enough, FCP recognizes that my camcorder is active ("VTR OK" shows up and I can use DV control). I also managed to print video to the camera without a hitch.

Please, if anyone can help with advice I would be very grateful.

-Craig

My system config.
---------------------
Power Mac G4/450 Sawtooth model
2GB ram
OS X 10.3.2
Final Cut Pro 3
Sonnet 1.4 CPU
ATI Radeon 9000 video
Sonnet FW800 PCI
Orange Micro "OrangeLink+" USB/FW PCI
Koutech FW/USB2.0 3.5" hub (external type connectors connected to Orange Micro card)
ACARD 6880M ATA-133 RAID PCI (2ch)
Striped RAID 0 scratch disk: 2x IBM 180GXP 180GB drives

Have you added any hardware or software lately? If so remove any new software, hardware and try to capture to an internal drive. Until you start to isolate the problem, you could have many causes, including your RAID, ram, OS etc.

Jeff,

No recent hardware additions. I did, however, install a DVD player application, "MPlayer" and just before trying to capture, I installed a demo version of Joe's Filters to try out de-interlacing. Other than those, I installed a couple of Nintendo game emulators a couple of weeks prior.

I'm backing up my system to do a clean reinstall of the system drive. Hopefully some anomaly will present itself in step-by-step reinstallation.

Thanks!

-Craig

If that doesn't do it, then you may have to resort to a more drastic approach. I generally recommend taking the computer back to it's original state. Remove all extras, ram, mouse, keyboard, etc. and wipe the drive clean. Install the OS and FCP only (default location for FCP) and start adding none OEM add-ons one by until you get the problem.

After you installed the Nintendo emulators did FCP work OK? They might have overwritten some key video components that FCP needs. If you knew what they installed you could check for certain files, but it's probably a shot in the dark.

Jeff,

I have no idea what the Nintendo emulators might have done but they're self-contained programs without extraneous program files.

I'm just about ready to reinstall FCP now. If I still get capture issues I may just switch to my powerbook 1ghz semi-permanently. I have to have a machine to edit on.

I found the problem: a corrupt FCP user preferences file. That's all it was.

I found a website that suggested trashing the file as a first resort when such problems occur. I did, and now FCP captures normally. I've got an alias on my desktop to that file now.

Jeff, thanks for all your help!

-Craig

That's odd, because reinstalling FCP should have created new preferences. You'll find the directions for deleting the FCP preferences here.

My guess is that an updated driver or piece of software (Shockwave? Quicktime 6.5?) created a conflict with FCP. This would explain the recurrance after a complete system reinstallation.

One thing did change, however. After reinstallation, the error message changed from "unable to read media file just captured" to "general error"

-Craig

Using the Sony DSR-20 with FCP3
 

Has anyone had problems capturing from a Sony DSR-20 into a FCP 3 system? I have some DVCam footage I need to import, and a loaned DSR-20. I hooked them up but FCP doesn't see the deck. It will see my Sony GV-D900, and a couple of different Canon concumer camcorders.

I tried to set it to 'Non-controllable Device', which works fine with my Canopus ADVC-100 digitizer box, but not with the Sony.

Do I need an RS-422 controller of some kind? Or maybe a LANC to USB controller?

Any thoughts?

Thanx in advance!

It would work through RS-422, but you would need to purchase a serial controller for your Mac. It should work with OS X or OS 9 with FireWire control too. It is only accurate to +/- 2 frames with FireWire control if your trying to edit with the DSR 20. Try booting the computer with the VTR both on and off, that seems to usually do the trick.

No joy. It doesn't see the deck at all. I tried iMovie as well and the same thing. I don't have a 4-pin to 4-pin cable to test if the port on the dsr-20 is bad.

Thanx anyway!

Slow and Fast
 

Hey Guys!

I have a quick question that might have a quick answer (I hope!). Does anyone know (or have I just missed it) of a filter or transition in FCP that will continuously slow a clip down or speed it up. I have been messing with Variable speed but can't get it to just slow a clip down. I tried adusting the % on each frame, but it won't let me do that. I just want to have a clip going and at one point it just starts slowing down to a still. Any ideas or am I just out of luck?

Thanks in advance!
Clay

FCP3 and before: go fill out the survey on Apple's site to get Joe's Time Bender for free.
http://www.digitalzoo.com.au/lunchti...free.htm#apple
DOH!!! Correction: Apple WAS giving it away. It's not there anymore.

FCP4: use the velocity envelope thing.