FCP 5.1.4 Update
 

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Fin..._5.0_lbn_z.pdf

Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 provides important bug fixes to resolve plugin issues. This update is recommended for all Final Cut Pro 5.1, 5.1.1, 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 customers.

Nattress releases Big Box of Tricks for FCP!!
 

Nattress has just released Big Box of Tricks for Final Cut Pro, which incorperates Nattress Set 1 & Set 2 plus a whole lot of new filters and effects.

Can't wait to start using them. One that immediately caught my eye is the new G 50 Percent, which is described:

"This filter creates a smooth 50% slow motion by splitting fields into full frames. Controls to blend between fields and to add anti-aliasing ensure a smooth slow motion."

This will be great for people like me who don't have After Effects. There's also a great time lapse feature. Now I'll be able to get much of the functionality of the HVX using my Canon's if I plan shots right. Elton Barlow has already shown that this can be done, but using these new Nattress effects should make the task super easy.

For those of you who haven't used Nattress before, I highly recommend Graeme's packages, they're amazing. And the price, $100, wow... fantastic value. Along with Nattress Film Effects, Big Box of Tricks is going to be the must have third party software for FCP.

Keep rolling out that software Graeme, top stuff, thanks!

(I see 'Plugins for Motion' is on the way - can't wait)

Bootcamp Editing, FCP to After Effects in Win?
 

Hi all,

I've entered into another project on my Macbook Pro and run into the same old problems, After Effects runs slow as hell, even with nucleo, and I don't want to have to re-edit this on my PC. I've already cut it in Final Cut, but I have greenscreen to pull and effects to create.

I thought, hey, I'll open the video files from Final Cut in After Effects in Windows through Mac Drive. Only problem is that I get no video, it recognizes it as far as lenghth and audio, but the screen is white.

Does anyone know if it's possible to do this? Edit in Apple/Final Cut, then do Mograph in Windows/After Effects and put it back into Final Cut? Are there tools I'm missing?

Mpeg Streamclip and codec
 

Hi:
For those of you who use MPEG Streamclip to convert their mt2, avi or other formats into Quicktime (mov), which codec has proven most useful, i.e. Apple Jpg A, Apple Intermediate, etc.?

Thank you in advance,
Ron

Export HDV from compressor for web
 

Hi all

I had a quick question that I thought for sure would have been answered on the boards but I did not find it.

What is the best preset using compressor to export to the web with. It seems that everytime I choose the H.264 encoder it wants the video to be SD @ 640x480. Is there a way to preserve my aspect ration when exporting for the web using h.264. I finally got frusterated and exported using FCP to a custom quicktime movie utilizing mp4 since it encodes a bit quicker and still looks nice. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Again I'm just trying to find out the best way to export an HDV sequence to the web using h.264 and still have the widescreen look. I have a feeling im going to hear..."just change your height and width settings"

Thanks again for your time.

Quicktime file loss
 

I tried to trim a 50 minute file in Quicktime Pro and then 'save as' as amother file name. However I cancelled the 'save as' and now the original file lasts for only one frame. HOWEVER it nis still showing the file size as 60GB (the size of the original file). It seems something in the Quicktime file is telling whatever program it is opened in that it is only one frame long.

Does anyone know how I can retrieve the rest of the file? We hired a digibeta player to capture the footage so it's be nice to avoid hiring it again.

Thanks!

Daniel

exporting hdv from FCP
 

Hi,

i need help. I am exporting my hdv files from fcp....but when i then go to the file and open the footage it does not fill the entire screen..only just the middle?

i have tried exporting using compressor and quicktime converstion....but what ever way i try (in hdv) it always does the same.

whats the best way of exporting my hdv footage keeping the up most quality...to burn to dvd????

regards

T

Canon XH A1E PAL / 25F support within Final Cut Studio
 

Probably covered within other threads, but can anyone confirm that the latest version of FCS 5.1.4 is fully supporting the Canon/25F mode (the "PAL land" full frame mode)?

Are there other surprising issues I should know using FCS 5.1.4 for capturing/editing Canon HDV footage - or is it all working as it should be?

Workflow Questions
 

Set up:MacBook Pro 17" (OS X 10.4.8) - FCP 5.1.2 - Mac 23" Cinema Display - XLH1

So . . . there must be a good reference for post workflow from HDV to SD 3/4
DVD. I'd appreciate any references, URLs, or other resources that discuss combining SD 3/4 with 1080i footage.

Many Thanks!

PS - Perhaps I should add Matrox MXO to above mentioned system?

fcp studio full version for $350
 

hey guys, I'm sure this has been talked about before but i think its worth mentioning again. I bought a copy of dvd studio pro 4 academic version on ebay for $125, sent installation dvd to apple and upgraded to fcp studio 5.1 universal for $199. There's a number of different software packages you can get (soundtrack pro, production suite, motion, etc.) some of the academic versions are eligible some are not. see this ( http://www.apple.com/universal/crossgrade/ ) link and download the pdf order form of the specific software and read the fine print to see which versions are eligible. fcp for $350 = better than fcp for $1300.

Working with photos in HDV timeline
 

I'm working on my first HDV project in FCP 5.1.4 on a MBPro, 2.33 ghz, using photos and footage shot with an Canon HV10. When I render a photo (.psd) in the timeline the popup render window says "Conforming HDV Video." Why conform when it's just a photo? It also took longer than usual (NTSC).

I thought yesterday when I rendered it the first time I didn't get that window saying "Conforming..." and it only took as long as one would typically expect in an NTSC timeline.

The reason I was re-rendering was that, having keyed a zoom into the photo in FCP, after rendering the 'zoom in' it had an odd clunky distortion in the portion 'zoomed'. Is conforming at fault? Is HDV going to give problems using photos?

thanks,
elmer

PAL 1080 25F conversion to NTSC SD DVD
 

Hi,
I have HDV-2 PAL material shot on a Canon XL H1 in 25F mode (16:9) and edited in FCP as 1080p25.

Now I need to send this to clients in US for playback in their DVD players with projectors.

Please could you recommend me a workflow to get a decent NTSC DVD copy. It does not have to be optimum quality. Better if it is cheap and perhaps possible to accomplish within FCP or Compressor in Final Cut Studio. It contains good big band music so it is important to retain the pitch.

Thankful if you have any ideas. Sorry if this is partly covered in other links already.

Mac Pro performance?
 

My Mac Pro's performance seems to be decreasing. 2x2.66ghz, 2gb ram. It takes 22 seconds to boot from power on to the user screen, which is fine. But when you click on a user, any user, even a freshly created user, it takes close to 60 seconds for the hard drive to stop thrashing. This is troubling, since this is my editing machine. I need for it to be in the best shape possible, but the problem just seems to be getting worse. I have 2 hard drives, one is just for the OS and applications, the other is partitioned in 2, for video and other data. Does anybody know what the problem could be? Has anybody else had this problem? Maybe it's an Intel thing, because even an old 1.2ghz G4 eMac boots way faster than this. I'm lost here!

Stranded! what do i do? Newb with canon xl-1, fcp etc...
 

so i just shot my first music video. it turned out great. i used a canon XL1, edited it into final cut pro 5, used some nattress and grading sweet plug ins to alter the look and then exported it as an uncompressed 10bit quicktime movie (i figure this way i have a high quality copy of it and i can compress later)

so then i tried compressing for web and it looks like crap.
i used compressor to try and compress for dvd and the dvd looks wobbly and disgusting when i play it.

what am i doing wrong?

what am i not doing?

i hear all about deinterlacing and maybe the XL1 at 60i should be converted to 24p or 29.97.

please help me out!

FCP is now BBC Standard
 

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index...S&newsID=17514

100% tapeless HD by 2010

Workflow to deliver MPEG 1?
 

My most recent project needs delivery on both DVD and MPEG 1.

What is the most efficient workflow from FCP to deliver a MPEG 1?

Decode MS-stereo in Final Cut Pro?
 

Hi, anybody out here who knows how to invert an audio channel?
I would like to try MS (Mid-Side) stereo recording on my XL H1.
I wonder if there is a way do decode the signal (simulate a matrix) in Final Cut Pro.
On channel 1 I have recorded the M (Mid) signal which is the mono signal from the cardioid microphone pointing forward.
On channel 2 I have recorded the S (side) signal from the figure 8 microphone pointing left-right to get the difference signal.

By adding M+S I will get the LEFT stereo channel.
By subtracting, M-S, I will get the RIGHT stereo channel.
Is is possible to subtract a channel in Final Cut Pro?
This could also be done by reversing the phase of the S channel and then add the M channel.
I havn't found a function for this but perhaps it is in the software already or there is a plug-in making it possible.

Of course this could be done in the mixer and by making some connections but I would like to stay inside the digital domain of Final Cut Pro if possible.

Thankful for any ideas! / Johan

Monitoring HDV via HDMI With Blackmagic Decklink HD Studio
 

I was wandering if it is possible to monitor a HDV timeline via the HDMI port With the Blackmagic Decklink HD Studio card. I have looked at getting the Blackmagic Intensity but it isnt supported by my PowerPC G5 so that isnt an option. If anyone can help or has any other ideas, i would be most greatful!

recovered crashed external hard drive
 

I have an external Maxtor HD that crashed a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to see if I could salvage the info.

I didn't hear any grinding - and I could hear the drive spinning. My computer just couldn't see it.

I learned online that an external HD is just an internal HD in a case with some additional interfacing electronics, and that the problem might be with these "interfacing electronics".

So I bought a new empty case, switched the old drive over and voila, my drive's working again!

20 gig of info I was ready to pitch in the trash.

I had looked for an empty case at a local "custom built" computer store, and the guy told me that "if my old computer couldn't even see the drive, the drive was beyond saving - BUT that for a fee, they could TRY to extract the info for me."

So I don't know if I was just lucky - or if this might work for you, too.

hdv render in yuv or rgb??
 

okay so I'm in the process of learning about fcp right now and i have a question regarding the best way to edit hdv and output to a hd-dvd or blue-ray dvd. The cam (A1) outputs hdv in a YUV colorspace right? But if its going to be displaye on a hd lcd monitor/projector is it better to select the "always render in rgb" option in the sequence preset editor? Any help appreciated!

Compressing for Youtube
 

I've been reading posts but still have some questions.

I want to export my 16:9 project out of Final Cut Pro to Compressor.
As suggested for use elsewhere, Compressor's QT7 (fast download) H.264 LAN option gives me this, I changed the size to 640x360 (16:9):

Audio Encoder
AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 640
Height: 360
Pixel aspect ratio: 0.75
Frame rate: 29.97
Frame Controls: Off
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Key frame interval: 15

This is different from Youtube's recommended specs (320x240, MP3, 30fps, MPEG4).

Should I strictly adhere to their specs OR:

Will the greater size (640x360) yield a better looking vid after they recompress?

Do they really want 4:3 even if the movie is 16x9?

They say 30fps. Is 29.97 not close enough?

On the next to last tab (Geometry) I changed the "Pixel aspect ratio" to HDV 1080i (16:9) and the "Constrain to display aspect" to 16:9. Wrong move both times?

MP3 is not an option in the H.264 LAN choice. Is AAC @ 48khz good enough or what is best?

Hope this post is not too convoluted but I'd appreciate some comments.

thanks
elmer

Audio/Video Monitoring issues with DSR-1500A
 

Hey all. I've got a couple of editing stations at my college's TV station, and they're all set up essentially identically (different screen sizes, but essentially the same). They all have Sony DSR-1500A's as decks, running FCP 5.1.4. Normally we can view audio and video from the deck as it is playing out in FCP, along with Print to Tape. However, on our main machine we can only sometimes view video, specifically when there isn't any tape in the deck, and there is never any audio.

Also, yes I have ensured that my Audio/Video settings are set properly, and that "all frames" is set.

FCP vs I-movie probs
 

An hdv tape shot in Canon XH-A1 HDV 60i format was loaded into a lapmac with FCP. The quick time files were then burned to dvd. When transferred to another mac, they can't be viewed with I-Movie or the latest version of quick time.

Also, widescreen still frame j-pegs from the same tape via FCP look squished when viewed in another program.

They do look fine in FCP on the original laptop.

Ideas?

Audio Slightly Off - Suggestions?
 

So, I shot on my JVC GYHD110U in 24fps HDV. I made it a m2t file through DVHSCap - then a quicktime file in MPEGStreamclip. I imported the quicktime movie file into FCP. I made a sequence that was HDV 24p. I did Apple+Zero to make sure everything about my sequence matched its compression and frame rates.

All is good (aka video and audio is there) BUT the audio is a slight bit off. I think it might be ahead of the video. Any ideas what went wrong and how to fix it?

Thanks,
Sharon

1080i Jaggy on SD DVD
 

Hey,

I just edited a 1080i video using FCP 5.1.4 using the Apple AIC codec. I exported to Compressor using SD 16x9 Best settings (letterbox). The SD DVD's video is jaggy. Is it a field order issue or should I deinterlace.

Funny, I used the same settings when I did 720p and the DVD looked great.

Thanks,
Joe

FCP HDV 24p and 24f workflow
 

I need some advice. I am shooting a documentary with a Canon xh-A1 using the 24f setting. I have captured 20 hours of footage and have a nice 24p HDV timeline that flies on my Dual Mac.
I just bought the Canon HV20 and am using it as a 'POV' camera. I have found that you can't capture the 24p footage the HV20 shoots onto a 24p timeline (it captures as 60i only).
What would be the best solution for me?
1) Shoot as 60i and then convert it to 24p using Magic bullet? ($$$)
2) Shoot as 24p and remove the pulldown using Cinema Tools? (If I do this, will it then be able to edit right into a 24p timeline?)
3) Wait for A FCP update (6.0?) that hopefully will remove the 24p pulldown on the fly when capturing?
Thanks for any help.
Ryan

Time and Date in HDV
 

I can‘t test it out as I presently have no HDV camera at hand: Is the time and date information preserved when captured as HDV in FCP? If not, is there a way to preserve the original date and time stamp?

Martin

NLE and Sony V1U
 

I'm looking for feedback from people who are shooting 30p with the V1U, cutting (in FCP or Avid), and outputting to tape -- do you have a workflow that you're happy with? If so, do you mind sharing it and the config of your edit system?

Thanks for the help,
MJ

Now what...
 

Ok, I've got 2 hours of video that I shot with an HC5 (borrowed for the weekend) and I only have iMovieHD to work with it. The laptop is a MacBook Pro Dual Core (2.13) with 2GB of ram.

When I try to export the video using expert settings, most of the options I come up with look terrible. What would be a good method to simply take the clips I want and export so that I can view the files on my Mac (mp4? mov?) at native resolution?

24p Advanced...new twist on an old question
 

Hey Everyone,
I've still got some tech questions coming up as we begin editing our new feature brit bike doc "Brittown". Here goes...

We shot the entire project on our XL2 in 24pA anamorphic and then mistakenly captured footage for our first teaser in 24p Standard and edited it in a 29.97 timeline and output to Quicktime and then Flash... jeez Louise... The Flash is just for the web, but thankfully it alerted us to the problems before we captured for the full edit... (see teaser here)

1. If I captured some footage in 24p standard, do I need to recature the footage in 24pA or is there a way to convert the files we already catured?

2. I read that editing in a 24p timeline and ending up with a 24p NTSC DVD can look much better than a 24p project edited and finished to a 29.97NTSC DVD; do people agree with this assessment?

2b. Also, we sell about half of our DVDs overseas and thus far have had no problem with the international DVD players and TVs playing our 29.97 NTSC discs...will the players still be OK playing 24p NTSC discs?

Thanks and happy Monday...

disregard message -- problem solved, thanks.
 

I made an important discovery -- if you have your BNC cable plugged into the Composite OUT plug, it's going to do funky things! So I corrected, and plugged into the Composite IN plug in the Sony...and it's an entirely different picture!

Operator error!

720P 30P to 24P Cinema Tools/After Effects bug?
 

So I have a bunch of shots of food that I did today that I am trying to work with in After Effects. I captured the clips with DVHS, transcoded to Sheer video with MPEGStremclip, and then conformed the 30P files to 23.98 in cinema tools. The only problem is when I conform them to 23.98, they drop in resolution. Therefore, when I bring them into After Effects, they are 480P sized, not 720P. If I don't run them through cinema tools, then rez is fine. I've also checked to make sure it's not the Sheer codec that's the problem. I'm starting to think the problem is with AE since when I open the conformed files in QT player, they are the correct size.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks,

Matthew Rogers

Working with offline SD and 108024p AIC capturing
 

Okay two questions: (I use Final Cut 5.1.4 and a Can on XH-A1)

- I recently tried to log and capture a tape of HDV 108024p using the on camera downconvert, thinking I would edit the sd offline and then reconnect by batch capturing from the HDV with native compression. To do this I simply told Final Cut to take the clips offline, exported the batch list into a clean project with all the capture settings set to 108024p HDV.
Turns out it didn't work... for some reason Final Cut acts very irrational with the timecode. Is this simply not possible? Or am I doing something wrong!?

-Another problem I have had is capturing this same 108024p HDV footage while doing the realtime AIC conversion... The clips show up as 29.97fps and with audio out of sync. Any Ideas? FCP won't let me edit the capture preset to change the framerate...

I would appreciate any help!!

FCP sequence preset for 30f material
 

Just loaded FCP v5.1 -- I was surprised not to see a Sequence Setting for HDV 1080p30.
What preset do I use for 30f footage shot with a a1?

books on compressor?
 

Anyon know of any books or tutorials on Compressor? I bought the apple pro training series book but was wondering if there was anything else out there that went in-depth into the different features and what they all mean and do. Thanks!

Capturing In FCP 5.1
 

So i have my MBP 2.16 with 1gb ram.. I am capturing with a canon gl2. So i figured out that i can only capture video with the gl2 plugged in to the fw400 slot without my fw800 external drive plugged in the the MBP. Which sux for capturing video, cause i have to unplug my drives to capture.


But my new prob is, when i capture, the video in FCP is really choppy vs. what i can see on the camera where all the footage is smooth. When i capture a clip, and watch it ont he MBP its smooth. Last night i did a batch capture and i kept getting a error saying my audio wasnt sync with the video and the capture had an error, and i would have to recapture the clip. which when recapturing it was fine. what i want to fix is why is the video play back on the MBP so choppy. when i used to capture in vegas i had no prob, i could just watch the footage on my pc and it was smooth no prob.

I did easy set up in FCP. Im begining to think that there is a prob with my fw ports or something.. anyways thanks for everyones help in this matter.

Closing FCP 5.2 Capture Window
 

Hey all,

I have a lot of tapes to capture, so typically as I am leaving the office I start a tape playing in my XH-A1 and start the video capturing so that when I come in the next day I have a tape done.

When I am there for the capturing, the tape ends and I get a pop-up dialog that tells me the tape has ended. I say ok, I close the capture window, and I go about looking at the footage.

When I do it over night, however, most of the time I get the dialog that says the tape is done, I click OK, and the I can't close the capture window. When I try it just beeps at me. I can access the main program to save, but the capture window is still on top. Eventually I have to kill the entire FCP process to get out of it, and then run it again.

This is a true pain, and I can't for the life of me think what might be causing it.

Any input?

Thanks in advance.

XL2 24pA FCP settings
 

I am currently trying to capture about 35 tapes of 24pA 16x9 footage I shot with a Canon XL2, and I want to make sure I have FCP settings right.

For Sequence Presets, I am using DV NTSC 48 kHz - 23.98 and I checked the box for anamorphic 16:9

For Capture Presets, I am using DV NTSC 48 kHz Advanced (2:3:3:2) Pulldown Removal, again with 16:9 checked.

For Device Control, I am just using Firewire NTSC. I am capturing from a cheap miniDV camera.

When I put the captured clips in the timeline, I have to render everything. Is that right?

Also, out of curiosity, how does everyone capture their tapes. I just capture the whole tape in one pass, then break it down in subclips later. Any problem with this method?

Thanks,
Brandon

P2 Monitoring with DeckLink Studio HD
 

We have a dual G5 with 4.5Gig RAM running Final Cut 5.1.4. We shoot in Panasonic P2 and edit usually with 30PN material. Video playback is set to Digital Cenema Desktop Preview. That way we have our editing window on the left and our program on the right LCD. We purchased the studio card so that we could monitor component analog on our Sony Multiformat CRT. However, we have not been able to figure out how to set this up. The only time it works correctly is when we us the Synthetic Aperture color correction filter. in SA, you can tell it to use both LCD and CRT monitors. It looks and works great. However, we want to view the Right LCD and the CRT at the same time in FCP since we output our programs for our client's use on both. Can anyone shed light on how to set this up and any other suggestions/tips with DeckLink Stuido for Panasonic P2 24PN and 30PN usage. Thanks so much in advance.

Real World 8 core and 4 core benchmarks
 

With the release of FCS2 I am preparing to transition to the mac platform for my NLE.

My big decision is 4 or 8 cores.

After reading this article:
http://www.barefeats.com/octopro1.html

-I have come to the conclusion I need to hear from real world users how the 8 and Quad perform as far as real time rendering in Motion and FCP.

I'd be especially interested to hear rendering times on HDV to mpeg2 or equivalent with some filters, etc.

Any input would be appreciated, thanks guys!

-Kevin