Greg,

By "What do you feel you are putting up with with the Mac platform? " are you asking me what the annoyances of the Mac platform are?

If so, the answer is a resounding "Nothing". Just the contrary. There are a few trivial tasks that -seem- a step or two slower on the Mac than on Windows but they are truly trivial. On the whole I have to say that I am able to devote 99.99% of my time with the Mac working with my applications rather than fiddling with the environment. I will say, however, that the Unix embodied in OS 10 still needs a bit of polish. But on the whole the current version is very good.

Ken,

I misinterpreted your post. When you said "put up with", I assumed there were some issues that you did not like but were willing to deal with. I was thinking less 99.99% satisfied and more like 60%.

I am very much a Mac person and could not imagine doing this work on a Wintel platform.

Greg Matty

Ah, Greg, but you *can* do this work on a PC... I'm using a Canopus DVRex RT with a Pioneer A03 DVD burner, and it's pretty much effortless... to each his own platform, as they say.

;-)

Well, if the Machinist Mate can jump in, I have been on both platforms for years. My creative tool of choice continues to be the Mac, and that's with the same applications installed on both--Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, Acrobat, MS Office, etc... everything but FCP on the Wintel box. <grin> I am realistic about the relative merits and demerits of each. The biggest thing to "put up with" about the Mac is trying to get support in a corporate IT environment. After you get past "go to the Start Bar" and "right click on..." (which is pretty comical to us Mac users) the help desk begins to realize that they can't do much for you. Fortunately, the thing doesn't gum up too often, and the problem usually resides in the (Windows) NT server network.

The big deal is that the mac was a turnkey Firewire system and of course we know which platform you gotta be on to run FCP. Hee hee! I know of very few types of computer that you can literally open the box, plug your camcorder into it and burn DVDs of your freshly NLE-edited DV footage without an ounce of computer tech prowess.


BTW, Chris, did you catch Midnight Oil last night on David Letterman?

Howdy from Texas,

You *can* edit DV on a Windows machine right out of the box; provided it was built by an integrator who knows what they're doing. This is how I bought my Canopus DVRex RT. I sure didn't want to build one, so I had one built for me... pulled it out of the box, hooked up a keyboard, mouse and monitor and was "just editing" within a few minutes.

<< BTW, Chris, did you catch Midnight Oil last night on David Letterman? >>

I thought Pete looked quite stylish in that flashy red shirt. "Golden Age" was a great choice for that show. Letterman has always been an Oilhead. Great to have the boys on nationwide American airwaves again! Last time was the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. Hopefully we'll see more of 'em.

<<<...provided it was built by an integrator who knows what they're doing. ... I sure didn't want to build one...>>>

Exactly! This is not some $900 Dell, it's a custom-designed professional video production tool --that also happens to be able to run MS Office!:) And the $900 Dell clientele sits and says "Macs are expensive!"

For those of us who don't make a living as computer engineers, a "ready-made" machine is the answer.

Oil were great, hope they're on TV again soon. I guess the only Aussie band that gets much airplay "up over" is AC/DC.

At last!
 

Mac DV mecca! Ahhhh! Feels good doesn't it? No more Mac/PC wars. No strange, foreign-sounding programs, cards, and techno widgets.

Problem is, Macs are so user friendly and trouble-free, I'm worried the posts here will look something like...

[Mac User 1]
Plugged in my G4 and everything is working fine. I love it!

[Mac User 2]
I've got a G4, too. And I love mine, too, too.

[Mac User 1] (one week later)
Well...my Mac is still doing fine. FCP, Cleaner...everything working great.

[Mac User 2]
Everything A-OK here, too.

:) Looking forward to interfacing with fellow Macs.

Capture XL1 to FCP3.0 - fast audio problem
 

I used capture now to capture many XL1 music clips to my FCP browser. I had previously used imovie 2.1.1 to capture a series of other clips. I am able to view and listen to the imovie clips (they are shown in the browser with a DV mini-icon. You have to render the clip before you can hear it (noted by the red bar across the top of the clip. The problem is with the FCP QT clips.

When I drag (or open ) one of the Quicktime clips (that's how they are saved in FCP) to the canvas the video looks great but the audio isn't synced and plays super fast, finishing in about one fourth the time of the video segment. How did I screw this up? I am assuming that it was a setting that I set inadvertently. Since FCP saves the clips as quicktime, the audio and video are separate. Is there something I can do to get everything back in sync short of capturing all over again?

<grin> I never considered that possibility! You may be right, John. I had one OS-X glitch last week (which was a really nasty gotcha) but otherwise all's quiet here.

Hello Dave,

I am confused. Are you:

a. having problems viewing iMovie-captured clips while in FCP,
b. having problems viewing FCP-captures clips using QuickTime outside of either FCP or iMovie, or
c. neither of the above?

While in FCP you might be able to get a clue to problem (a) by right-clicking on a clip to get more info on it's audio characteristics.

Is it possible for you to recapture the iMovie clips from tape while in FCP? If so, I'd really recommend that you do so. It may seem like a brute-force solution but, in my experience, it will probably save you alot of wasted diagnostic and remediation time. Not to mention that you'll probably have to constantly re-render the iMovie clips' audio while working with them in FCP.

I can view and hear (after rendering) the imovie clips in FCP with no problem.

The problem surfaces when I hear the view the clips in either FCP or QT player. The video is fine, but the audio is garbled by the speed at which it plays.

I think I will review my settings in FCP and recapture to see if the problem goes away.

Well I'm getting a G4 in the near future so it'll be my turn to hit you both with a barrage of questions, both on FCP and Macs in general. I haven't used on since the IIe and I'm sure things have changed dramatically since those days.

For a moment your name threw me for a loop. Aw, that's "afterburner" jus' dressed in his Sunday-Go-To_Meetin' duds!

Yeah, I made him do that, unfortunately... same for John (zchildress) Locke too.

;-)

Pretty sharp huh.

Need to convert 16x9 native to 4:3 full screen
 

I shot a native 16X9 video for a client to use on a wide screen plasma display at trade shows. He now also wishes to use some of the 16X9 footage on a 4:3 VHS In-service tape we are making. My question, what is the best way to convert (crop) the 16x9 footage to show up as full screen (non-letterbox) using FCP 3.

Thanks,

Richard Lubash
2K-Plus

Well, the best way would be to use the scaling feature under the "Motion" tab, but it's not going to look very pretty! Just adjust the slider until your video takes up the entire screen.

Hmm.. Or, I wonder if you could export the footage in a larger size (that would fill the screen's y-axis, then import the swollen version back into FCP using a normal sized frame (720x480). That way you might be able to (a) get a better vertical enlargement and, (b) be able to pan the footage to maintain good framing.

I'd try both methods with a small clip. Either way, though, it'll be a bit of a pain.

digitizing xl1 into media 100
 

Media 100 uses a JPEG compression. DV uses a straight digital transfer as it uses DV Compression in the camera. So you would end up with two different formats of compressed video file if you digitize via firewire in FCP and then try to use it in Media 100.

FCP 3 audio mixing help needed
 

Hi,

I'm working on a wedding with a couple video layers and about 8 tracks of audio. I'm having a real rough time getting my levels right. If i adjust any section of audio, regardless of track I have to render(mixdown) before I can play it back. In my preferences I have REAL TIME AUDIO MIXING set to 8 tracks. I don't get it. There has to be an easier way. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks,
Aren.

How did you capture / acquire the audio in your tracks?

I just figured it out. Sorry for jumping the gun.

I simply needed to turn my Audio Playback Quality (in preferences)to 'low'. I can now adjust all of my levels, without mixing down. What a relief!

Thanks,
Aren.

I'm just starting to get familiar with FCP so I'm not sure about importing a movie with a different aspect ratio - my guess is that FCP will want to force it into a 4:3 ratio which would be very ugly indeed.

If you have access to an effects program like Adobe After Effects or Boris Red, that would be the way to go. AE is resolution independent so you can import any size and output any size. Then you could also set keyframes to "scan and pan" the image the way they do when they convert a movie to VHS.

Good Luck,
Mark

Hi,

If I remember correctly FCP and iMovie use different rates of audio, as does the XL1. You can't change the audio in iMovie, but the rate can be changed in FCP. When you start a new project set the audio in preferences for the rate in iMovie. Audio can also be changes in quicktime pro by chooseing the option button. If you need additional help post back and I'll talk you through it.

Jeff

iDVD2
 

Hi,

I just made my first DVD with iDVD2.

(G4 Mac, FCP3)

skin tones are very pink compared with playing back the footage from a miniDV tape or VHS dupe. So the pinkish colour must have been caused by the iDVD2 compression to Mpeg2 before burning to DVDR. Fair assumption?

Does this mean iDVD is not very good at keeping faithfull to colours? Is it because it is a cheap $$ to buy program and if you want quality burnt DVDs you need to buy DVD Studio Pro?

DVD Studio Pro OS X compatible still not available.

Anyone had this problem?

Are you viewing the dvd on a television or on your computer monitor? Depending on the nature and format of your original (pre-MPEG2) footage the end result can sometimes look soft on a computer monitor. I've had the best encoding results with iDVD when I give it DV stream footage. I think it has less to do with iDVD than with the black art of encoding strategies.

When playing the finished DVD back on the Mac the Actor looks badly sunburnt.

When playing the DVD back on TV he is sunburnt too.

But when the quicktime file that has been exported out of fCP but is still on the HDD it looks fine.

Also if I print to video from FCP and record into the XL1s again or onto a VHS and play that on the TV it is good too.

thats why I was thinking it is iDVD problem. What do you think?

and thanks a lot for your reply

:o)

Hmmm...well your circumstances certainly implicate iDVD's encoder, eh. I've not encountered this. Since there's no opportunity to intervene in iDVD's encoding process (that I know of) the only other chance for adjustment would be in the FCP export. What format do you use to export from FCP? As I noted earlier I always have used a DV stream file.

I did a series of tests over the weekend and found some interesting results.

Bottom line is this:
1. If I run FCP 3.0 in mac osx and capture to my external firewire drive, the audio is garbled. It is automatically saved as a QT clip and no matter what - even if I move the saved file back to my internal drive, the audio is too fast and loopy.
2. If I do the same thing but in macos 9.2, everything is fine - no audio or video problems. And the saved clips open in macos x and work fine.
3. If I change my scratch disk to the internal drive, everything works from the getgo in macos x.
4. Conclusion: FCP thru firewire in osx is different, then in os 9. I may need a faster external drive (using Que firewire 60GB), but I have a workaround that works (os9).

Anyone else having similar experiences?

I have been exporting out of FCP as a Final Cut Pro movie, not a QuickTime file. Maybe that's where I am going wrong.

Today I am exporting out of FCP as you do Ken, as a DV Stream.

Then I will use that file and iDVD to make another DVD and see how that looks for colour etc. Perhaps I have been compressing the movie twice?

thanks

Well you are compressing the movie into DV and then into MPEG2, so yes you are compressing it twice.... that can't be avoided no matter what. I don't know what the difference between a DV Stream and a Final Cut Pro movie would be. I think it results in the exact same data. I'll be interested to hear your results.

Help! Audio redering.
 

FCP3 Mac G4
I've done something and I cant think what!
Each time I put an audio file into the timeline I get the red render bar. I then render the entire audio track. When I insert another video clip the red render bar appears over the newly inserted video track. I've checked and re-checked the set-up settings and everything looks to be OK. They're set at DV Pal 48 KHz

Off-hand it sounds like the sampling rates of your audio files may be different from that of your FCP timeline. Unless this is going to be a very short project I'd suggest you recapture / regenerate your external audio files with the same sampling rate. Otherwise you'll be re-rendering audio over and over.

Hi,

What is the source of your external audio clips? Are you sure they are 48kHz?

Jeff Donald

The footage I exported as a FCP movie was actually slightly larger then when exported as a DV Stream. ie 2.4gig opposed to 2.3g as a DV Stream. (The FCP manula says FCP exported movie gives broadcast uality compreesed file and DV Stream gives broadcast quality uncompressed file) then I burnt to iDVD and same problem occured but then:

Good news. I figured it out.

The problem was I created a new iDVD project and then I selected PAL system in prferences, but you need to select your system first and then when you create your next Project you get choosen system.

So I was shooting and editing in PAL then I was accidentally telling iDVD to burn the DVD as an NTSC disc.

So now I have created a DVD with superb picture, with the quality I was hoping for.

thanks for all replies!
:o)

Sounds like a good bit of detective work. I followed this string with interest, because I'd intended, now that I have one of the "big bopper" G4s, to start using a DVD for mastering, rather than the expensive full size DV cassettes. I was hoping I wouldn't need the DV Studio Pro package. Sounds like it worked OK for you.

Yeah, next Chris will make you start wearing clean Levis with no holes.......

If you look sharp, then you feel sharp. Shirt tails tucked in, and a belt, that's all I ask. Straighten your gig line, mister! I hope not too many people ever had to hear that in their teens and twenties.

As a matter of fact, I *did* hear that in my early twenties while in the USMC -- however, I recall a word other than 'mister' being used!

Semper Fi

Help! Audio render
 

The audio source is from a music CD. I didn't think that this made a difference because I know the CD audio rate is 44.1 KHz but that has never made a difference in the past as i thought that FCP converted.
David