Jeff:
Thanks a ton! I was aware of the LP/SP issue, but the ambiguously worded specs made me suspicious. I couldn't find the DSR-11 being used for DV among the local digital filmmakers - though more than one is using it for DVCAM. [And therein lay the rub... :-)]
Incidentally, I believe printing to tape on the DSR-11 creates audio issues, with a loss of somewhere near 6 db reported by a few filmmakers I know - since the DSR-11 doesn't have a VU diplay, they've learnt to set levels by trial-and-error. Just for the info of all the folks out there...
Best,
Ram

My first choice would be to replace the 45 Gb Deskstar with the newer 120Gb Deskstar if you can off-load the 45's contents temporarily. You'll easily be able to move that 120Gb to a new system when you upgrade and it will buy you plenty of breathing room.

Second choice would be to use an external Firewire drive, such as Maxtor's 160Gb drive. It's only 5400rpm but that will be fine for handling DV captures and edits. Frankly, if you're editing video frequently, a large Firewire drive is just a good thing to have around and not prohibitively expensive.

Remember that you do not have to keep footage online when a FCP project is completed. The small project file has all of the information required to re-capture and recreate the project. You can dump your capture and render files when you're finished.

Also remember that (if you're using FCP3) you can use the more highly compressed offline RT file format for your edit footage. That can save alot of space with little or no sacrifice to your edit process.

OS X 10.2 is available for $69 on the educational discount plan from the Apple Store. My son, 9, is eligable. Lowest price I've seen yet and no rebate form.

Jeff

Screen Captures on a Mac
 

Is there a software package out there that will capture screens on my Mac. On the PC I know you can hit "Prt Screen" and place the capture in a document. I've got to imagine that the Mac has a similar function....but I would prefer a stand alone application.

Shift+Command+3 for taking a picture of the screen. Shift+Command+4 let's you mark a portion of the screen. On OSX there is an app called Snapz Pro X that is dedicated to doing stuff like that.

I use Snapz Pro X and really like it. You can get it here http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=11530&db=mac It saves your grabs as Quicktime movies or tiffs, jpegs etc. It's very usefull.

Jeff

I guess I am a little confused. Does Snap Pro X come installed on the Mac or do I need to purchase it?

artifact problems
 

Hi new friends! I have a problem. I am in post production on the motion picture Zombie Planet. Check us out at www.zombieplanetmovie.com . Well I am now viewing our tapes for the edit. We have made clone copies of everything and once in a while we would catch these big block artfacts. We were told it was cross tape usage so we started using only JVC tapes. But now I am playing the tapes back through a brand new Sharp VL-SD20U and I am seeing lots of them! We have seen this before and then played them on the small JVC I have and they are fine! Can anyone tell me what is causing this? Thanks very much in advance.

Paul,

Do you have System 9 or X? If you have X, then a program comes with it called "Grab." Look for it in the Utilities folder inside your applications folder.

You can download Snapz Pro X directly from Apple at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/snapzprox.html. If you like it, you'll have to pay to keep it.

But why spend money? Like Martin_M says, just use the control+shift plus either 3 or 4 and you'll get the screenshots you need.

John,

Thanks for the reply. I figured it out after messing with it. My OS version is X. I guess my Mac "newness" is showing through.

Paul,

We all get started at the beginning...don't sweat it. That's the beauty of these boards...you've got beginners and seasoned veterans all in the same place...and all willing to help.

I'm relatively new in DV (two years), but have using Macs since the 80s. I learn new stuff here every time I visit...even with the Mac stuff.

So...never hesitate to ask.

What camera did you record with? Can you play the original tapes and see if they have a problem? If your editing nonlinear, use the camera originals to transfer to the hard drives. If you editing linear try cloning again and see if the problem persists. The artifacts you describe can be tape path alignment problems or dropouts on the original or the clone. The different players have different alignments and are playing them back differently.

Jeff

Hi Jeff, I shot on a Canon XL1. The artifacts come up only on the Sharp I just bought and the Sony playback deck that we use occasionally. The JVC we bought seems to play them just fine. I am going to run it through the Xl1 to be sure. I will be back to you very shortly. Thanks very, very much.

Hi Jeff, I played a known artifact section back through the XL1 and it played fine. Should I send my Sharp cam back. Here is the kicker, we shot with 2 cameras and it has shown up on both! On different playback units! We really thought we had a contamination problem but then it played just fine through the JVC camera from both XL1s.

It sounds like tape path alignment. The spec for playback is loose enough so that tapes from different units can be interchanged and still playback. However, you will occasionaly get a unit that is adjusted at on end of the spec and another unit that is adjusted at the far end of the spec. The tapes from these respective camcorders (VCR) can't playback each others tapes (I hope this is making sense). A service technician can adjust (in almost all cases) one of the camcorders to playback the others tapes. When you send one in, enclose a tape that has problems playing back. They can use it as a guide in adjusting the tape path.

Jeff