Osx 10.4.9?
 

Hi:

What is the general consenus on Apple's latest OS (10.4.9) release when applied to a PowerMac G5 dual. Specifically, for those of you who have accomplished this update,have you experienced any problems with FCP 5.1.4 and or Shake 4.1?

Thank you in advance,
Ron

Urgent Help required in FCP (Custom gradients/Alpha etc)
 

Hi there,

I'm totally at a loss here! Does anybody know how to use custom gradients (alpha gradients) in photoshop and export them into FCP to composite with video footage?

I basically need to make a sequence where some of the frame is in focus, and some of the frame is blurred, i.e. the illusion of a shallow depth of field but done in post production?

Kinda like in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuuq47hYn1Y

Thank you kindly in advance!!

FCP Effects - TV Noise
 

Hi Everyone,

Here's what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm trying to create a filter or effect (or find one) that looks similar to the TV noise you get when you aren't getting good reception on an old cable TV. It's for a promo video that I'm working on, and I'm trying to get the clip segments to come in and out, with the TV noise as a transition.

Can anyone tell me how to do this? I looked at some of the filters in FCP, and they didn't quite accomplish what I wanted.

Compressing an HDV project in Final cut Express 3.5.1
 

Could anyone give some kind of advice on how to compress my hdv project in fce hd. I've tried several settings so far, but i can not seem to find a good compromise on quality vs. file size..? I definetely want the video quality to be as good as it can be, without the file size of 600mb++ :)

Any tips, suggestions, links?

I have used the apple h.264 codec for my testing so far.

Mpegs not importing with audio
 

I'm working on a project right now and I've got a punch of mpeg files that work fine in quicktime, and when I import them into FCP5.1 they don't have any audio.

Any suggestions how to clear this up?
Thanks

how to bring a quick time sequence in fcp
 

hello
I have recorded sequence in quick time pro from my sony a1u at the native setting.I am not able to import that sequence in fcp.
thank you.

Media Manager HDV workflow
 

I have a large project captured as HDV. I want to view and mark some stuff on my Macbook so i want to downrez to a lower resolution, and use markers to make subclips of the captured footage. If I do this, how do I bring these files back to HDV with all the new markers and subclips.
I am sure it is easy in media manager but I haven't done it.
Thanks,
Ryan
fcp studio 5.1.4

Audio not lining up?
 

Man, my FCP is really playing up latley.....................

I've been capturing clips with some problems latley. The most current one that i cannot figure out is a doozey!

The audio is not lining up with the footage. It's about 5 seconds off. WTF?

I can't understand why either.

Does anybody have any clues? Has anybody every had a similar problem?

the "Sync audio capture to video source" has been ticked off in settings too.....just doesn't make sense.

New capture card
 

I do many photo montage slideshows, as well as edit DVCPROHD on a somewhat regular basis. I still do a ton of standard DV as well. I need the ability to import from an analog source for the slideshows. I would like the ability to plug an analog source like that into something like a KONA card and capture away. I will also need the ability to go out to a HD moniter like the BTLH1700. My real question is with the new prores codec, and FCP6, what card do i need to be able to do pro res along with all the analong inputs?

The system this will be loaded on will be a mac pro provided my financing comes through.

THanks for the help!

Studio Set Up
 

I'm looking to invest in a new Mac Pro to run Final Cut Studio on. I'm wondering what type of set up anyone else has. I shoot with a Panasonic HVX so I need to be able to monitor HD footage- I'm currently thinking about getting two 23" HD monitors running the second one of a Matrox MXO to use to monitor the footage. Anyone have any advice? I'd like to be able to hook up a nice large LCD or Plasma HD TV to my computer as well, but I don't know what type of adaptor or video card I would need for that. Thanks in advance,

mac gamma vs pc
 

Not sure if this is the right section to ask this but I'm hoping. I'm just finally starting to grasp the A1 camera manual settings. Now I'm starting to grapple with the software side of things.

I have my macbookpro calibrated to LCD with gamma 1.8. I know the PC is 2.2 and I have a setting for that as well (darker). In FCP I've got the video playback set to digital cinema desktop preview. I'm finding so far that the footage that looks good on the mac, when viewed on a pc is much darker. A common problem from what I've read.

Yet the footage on the mac actually closer resembles what I'm seeing on my Samsung LCD HDTV - setting on dynamic, though I am attempting to finalize a calibrated version. It also is closer to what I'm seeing when shooting the actual video, and for exposure setting with the lightmeter, also closer. ie if it's looking properly exposed with the meter, it looks closer to the mac.

So if you are planning to output both web and eventually DVD which would be the best to actually edit in. A gamma closer to PC or mac?

I opened an apple trailer in both the toshiba laptop and the macbook and while the colors were slightly different there was no huge darkness difference. Possibly the software detects platforms and adjusts according, not sure.

Has anybody found a workaround for this? What do most mac owners calibrate their monitors to?

I don't have a broadcast monitor to properly test footage yet, will probably stick with the FCP emulated for now but I am getting a second LCD monitor soon that I'll use with the macbook.

I output short test files in both WMV and MOV.

here is sample footage of lionmonkeys I was using to test.

http://www.northwitchproductions.com...monkeytest.wmv

They look very orange but actually are quite vibrant looking. On my mac very little detail is lost of the hair. But on the PC they are dark and red saturated. At least on the toshiba.

Trish

FCP capture problem fixed
 

I was having trouble getting FCP to capture my XH-A1 1080P24f footage. I realized that I had the "HD downconvert" option ON. I took the firewire cable out so I could access this option (its grayed out when the cable is in) and turned it off. Ever since then, I've been able to capture my footage. Hope this helps someone.

Table Look In FCE
 

hello.
i need the n-square look in my video, i.e. multiple "cells" with different footages in each one of them. is there any technique in FCE for creating a default "table" with a desired number of "cells" and "rows", so that i could drag and drop various scenes into those?
thanks.

LaCie Sata II Express Card 4E plus Biggest S2S
 

I recently purchased a Lacie Sata II 3Gb/s PCI-Express Card 4E with a Biggest S2S 2.5 TB drive for my 8-core Mac Pro to do HDV in FCP with. Yes, I've heard the rumors on Lacie, but it was what I could fit in my budget. I was actually quite surprised by the enclosure, drives, controller, and the all in one-package when I got it. Very-un-Lacie like. However . . .

I have one problem with it - it either jams up the computer on restart, start-up or shut-down, or is not recognized. I find I have to be patient and let the drive go through its paces (multiple pings) on start-up and on shut-down be patient as well.

I narrowed down my problems to the card itself. Its updated with the latest and greatest drivers and firmware, but I'm still finding that sometimes in order for the drive to be seen after start-up I need to re-install the card driver (this does not require a re-boot) and soon the drive icon is back on the desktop with no loss of data. Also, without the card installed, start-up and shut-downs take half as long. All of this hand-holding just doesn't seem right.

Are there any known solutions for these issues? Lacie doesn't think its their drivers or firmware (they actually blamed the Mac OS and suggested finding something in the Mac system preferences to shut the drive off on start-up or shut down (Apple says these don't exist. . . HA!), but they haven't tested the card on a Mac with these processors yet. One option is to return it and see if a 2nd Sata Card and S2S wouldn't do the same things, but I would hate to lose all of that production time.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Doug

EXTRA Long Clip back to Tape
 

I have recieved a project from another editor, who for some reason captured 4 tapes, Put them into a sequence, exported a 36GB DV clip (2 Hours 50 minutes) and used that to edit a rough cut.

I recieved the project with everything referring to this file. I am nervous about continuing the edit with this clip and no hard copy on tape I can go back to if it gets corrupted. (or if I want to use media manager later).

Is there any way to get this clip onto multiple dv/minidv tapes while keeping the timecode so if the clip dissapeared, Final cut could recapture from the tapes to reconnect them?

Thank you for any help,
Brandon Katcher

argh! help with HDV 50p in FCP! panic!
 

I'm urgently in need of some help with something!

I shot a screen test in HDV 50p last week for a shoot that is happening tomorrow.

Captured with HDVxDV to an .m2t and then exported as Quicktime with Apple Intermediate codec. My output Is HDV 720p, Non-Drop Frame, Upper Field Dominance. (I think there could be something i'm doing wrong there)

The new QT Movies play at 50fps in quicktime player, and also when imported into FCP 5.1.2 it plays at 50fps also.

But here's where it gets tricky....

If i right click on the clip in FCP and look at the format. It says 25fps. There's no stage in the process where 25fps was introduced and i don't know how it is like this....

But it does mean now that any sequence or multiclip sequence treats it as 25fps. Making it useless at 50% Speed.

Does anybody know where i could be possibly going wrong????

My whole shoot depends on 50fps tomorrow and i really don't want to have a niggling feeling knowing it might not work in the edit.

Can anybody help!??

Multiple Fps Timeline, HVR-V1U & Output Questions
 

Hi all,

I'm working on a project that currently mixes regular DV 60i footage with 24pA HD footage that I shot on a Sony HVR-V1U.

I followed this method to capture the footage: http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/ar...24P_HVRV1U.htm

I edited everything together on the same timeline, following the instructions above.

The regular DV 60i footage is only short clips in the intro, and then small clips in three other areas of the 2 1/2 minute video. To get them to look right as I was editing, I simply stretched them on the canvas to match the 1080 HD sizing.

My questions are:

1) When I export as a QT Movie, does it matter if it is self-contained or not?

2) Should I only export the parts of the project that need to be reverse-telecinied, and then put everything back together on the new timeline, or should I do it all together, even though the 60i footage doesn't need to be reverse-telecinied?

3) Is there an easier way to capture/edit footage shot with the HVR-V1U in 24p? Also, should I be shooting in 24pA or 24p? Most of the footage I've shot so far is in 24pA

4) What is the proper way to output this to a DVD so that it maintains the HD quality and proper frame rate?

Need Finding Sorenson Spark Flash 7
 

Hi there,
I read that if I upload videos to YouTube using Flash 7's Sorenson Spark Codec, YouTube will not recompress. This sounds great to me, but I can't seem to find where to get Sorenson Spark 7. Also, I'm editting on FCP, will this matter? Any help would be greatly appriciated.

Issues with exporting FLV files
 

hi all,

I am trying to make some FLV files to make into a flash video.

i am using quick time pro FLV exporter and FCP 5 for my editing. and the camera footages are from panasonic GS500 PAL version.

My issue is in the FLV export options there is this table that allows me to resize. at the first look, it says the longest side is 338pixels at 100% of the footage. my flash stage is 550 x 500 pixels, so i thought its fine. I DID NOT resize, but after i make into a FLV file and import into flash, the footage is bigger than my stage! i would say easily 800 pixels on the longest side.

why is this so? is this a bug?

Jumpy keyframed stills in FCE 3.5
 

I recently had to upgrade from FCE 3.0 to 3.5 due to the conflict with the latest OSX update. Now when I create a slideshow with keyframes, about 30% of the photos are "jumpy" when rendered. I never had this problem with the older FCE and I'm not doing anything different. Any one else experienced this?

Printing Search Results of Vid files
 

So I'm trying to consolidate a ton of media on multiple drives within (and without) many different FCP docs. To make my life easier, is there any way to print search results on mac. Rather than ift through the hundres of them on screen I'd like somthing a little more tactile. Thanks a ton in advance.

Edit to Tape Problem
 

So as an Avid editor for the past while most of the major projects that have had to go back to tape have been assemble edited with Avid..

The only stuff i've really done in FCP has gone to web or dvd.. until now. I can get the Print to video function to work, and can layback to DVCAM nice and easily. However this is not TC accurate by the looks of things.

(FYI im running a quad 3GHz with 4 gbs of ram and a Aja Kona LHe card going yuv and rs232 to the deck through the breakout box, FCP 5.1.4)

Now, i've stuck my tape in the DSR 80p, preset TC, and put a couple mins of bars on it. I've then used FCP to add the bars/tone, slug and slate with a minute of duration. (TC preset is 00590000) My fcp sequence starts at 01:00:00:00 so video should in theory start on the hour per the norm.

Now this is where the trouble begins. I drag my sequence to the Edit to tape Window, drop it in the assemble edit part.. the tape prerolls.. and then FCP starts playing teh barrs/slate etc and then my video starts after this.. problem is.. the deck never starts recording.

So im kind of at a loss, however what i have noticed is that just before it starts the deck flashes 'not editable' on the deck display.. even though the edit mode display is on. Im guessing this is the problem, and i've spoken to a tech who said its usually to do with tape stock and that sony mini dv tapes dont work. Well im using the Sony mini DVCAM tapes.. and he said those are fine..he thinks..

So im guessing as long as i've done everything else correct in FCP then maybe its something to do with the deck.. or maybe not.

Cheers.

Joe

Edit: oh and also none of this footage is HDV, its all uncompressed 10bit that has come in via the kona card. The timeline is also uncompressed 10bit. - This is the same as what i use when i can get the machine to print to video.

60i to 24p, Graphics, CinemaTools and DVD Output
 

Hi all,

I'm working on a project that currently mixes regular DV 60i footage with 24A HDV footage that I shot on a Sony HVR-V1U, as well as still graphics and LiveType titles.

Any and all responses will be VERY appreciated! This project needs to be delivered on Friday morning.

I followed this method to capture the footage: http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/ar...24P_HVRV1U.htm

Here are the steps:

1. Capture and edit in native HDV 1080i60.

2. Once you’re done with the final render, select all on the timeline, then copy it.

3. Create a new sequence/timeline and set the QuickTime Video Settings, in the sequence settings, to Photo – JPEG and set the quality to 75%. Keep the frame rate/Editing Timebase to 29.97 fps/60i.

4. Paste the project into the new sequence, render, then go to File, Export, QuickTime Movie, but do NOT use QuickTime Conversion.

5. Once the movie is created, right-click on clip and select Cinema Tools. Go to Reverse Telecine and a window will pop up.

6. In Cinema Tools, you will need to find the “A” frame before you can begin. To find it, find the first frame of Interlacing, which looks like a “horizontal comb tooth” effect, if you will. Make sure this isn’t the very first frame of video; go in a second or two. Once you find it, go back two frames, and that’s the A frame.

7. Set Cinema Tools as follows: Capture Mode should be set to F1 – F2, Fields should be set to AA and Style 1, Conform to 23.98. Then click Okay. It will create a new movie that has removed the pulldown.

8. Import this clip into FCP and create another new sequence/timeline. Set the QT Video Settings to match the previous Photo – JPEG settings, quality at 75%. Change the frame rate/Editing Timebase to 23.98 fps. Put the clip in, render, then export.

My questions are:
1) How do I handle mixing frame rates on the timeline? Do I need to delete the DV footage from the timeline that I'm going to make a QT file out of and reverse telecine, then add them back in on the new timeline afterwards? What about animated LiveType clips?

2) When I create the QT file, do I make it self-contained?

3) When I find the A frame in CinemaTools, does it need to be the A frame in the first clip? Will it effect things if many of the clips are very short and fast (5 seconds)?

4) Just to make sure, I only need to export the timeline as a QT and reverse telecine, not the individual clips, right?

5) What is the best method for exporting this at the highest quality without the capability of using BlueRay HD DVD's?

Thank you so much! Any and all responses will be VERY appreciated. I have this project totally finished except for the CinemaTools steps, and the project needs to be delivered on Friday morning.

Katie

FCP HDV 1080i to PS3?
 

Is there a way to extract the raw MPEG2 from FCP HDV 1080i captured clips?

The PS3 plays native M2T mpeg2 files from HDV cams with no problems, but won't recognise files captured with the FCP "HDV 1080i" preset.

Although I could import M2T using DVHSCap, I'd prefer time-code options, thus I use FCP.

I could export via compressor - but I want to avoid re-encoding if possible. Isn't "FCP HDV1080i" just a wrapped up MPEG2 stream?

I was hoping MpegStreamClip could just demux or convert them for PS3 playback - but the options are all greyed out.

Drop Frames
 

Aloha!

Is there anything you can do once the drop frame warning comes up or is that frame lost forever?

thanks

JES Deinterlacer outputting 655x480 instead of 720x480. Help?
 

I don't know what the deal is here. I was testing JES Deinterlacer as an alternate to Cinema Tools for doing reverse telecine on film telecined to DV tapes. Not only does JES figure out the cadence on its own, but the image actually looked better in some cases.

Unfortunately, instead of outputting 720x480, it was giving me 655x480 with square pixels. I can take these into Quicktime Pro and fix each clip, but it's one more step that I don't think I should need to take and my guess is that there's a better way than that.

I read through the manuals, went into Preferences and tried all combinations of settings for “use input clip” under aspect ratio and all that, but no matter what I try, I end up with a 655x480 clip with square pixels.

Anybody have a solution for me? Does anybody use JES to reverse telecine DV footage successfully?

Thanks

hdv editing on imac intel 1.83ghz 2gb ram
 

anyone have experience editing hdv on imac intel 1.83 ghz using final cut studio 1? How's the performance? I know i'll need a more powerful solution for uncompressed but in the meantime this maybe my best bet. thanks

mpeg2 Crash
 

I forgot if I asked this question here before.

When click on an MPEG2 file in the finder in any other view besides Icon the finder crashes. I'm running 10.3.9 with the latest updates on Dual 1.8ghz G5 PowerMac.

Is this a know problem associated with the OS or my hardware? Would an upgrade to 10.4 fix it? Has anyone else experienced it? I've suffered with this for long time and have just put up with it but would love to get rid of it if possible.

CC workflow between FCP and Combustion
 

I intend to color correct a project am cutting on FCP in combustion. I am exporting as a quick time reference so that I don't loose any quality or stack up multi generation compression. However, I am not sure what is the best way to export from combustion back into FCP in order to maintain 1:1 quality.
Original footage is 720p 25 DVCPRO HD shot on the Varicam.

Thanks!

Subclip question
 

When you create subclips and have FCP create discreet media files from the subclips, will it maintain the original timecode offsets or does it re-set the TC to 00:00:00;00 at the start of each clip?

Now it is also claimed that defining subclips will improve performance when dealing with a large media file regardless of whether you create the separate media files or not. Is this indeed the case?

TIA!

HDV Multi clip not playing well in Canvas
 

I have a G5 with 3.5 of RAM and am experiencing some problems when editing 2 angles as I am doing the multi clip and it is playing back in the canvas it is not very clear/ I can still edit but it would really be nice to see what it is really going to look like.
Now on my 17 inch mac book pro no issue at all looks and works great.
Brandon
I would apperciate any advice on how I can take care of this issue

URGENT -- DVCPRO HD pixel/frame size issues
 

I captured footage shot on the varicam with FCP 5.1.4 via the kona3 card under DVCPRO HD 60p compression/codec. The captured footage's resolution is 960x720, so in my timeline I either have to specify the HD 960x720 aspect ratio or keep it square but enable my 16:9 timeline option to get my footage to display right. I have been having lot of problems exporting from FCP to do post work in AE and combustion. The frame just doesn't export right and if it does, it looks very low-res in AE.
The music video's final master will be on digibeta, so I will be down-converting to SD.
I am running close to the delivery deadline, any help is greatly appreciated guys!

Thanks!

Final Cut Studio 2 and Hv20
 

Has anyone tried pulling down 24p with FCS2? Does it work or is the same work around necessary?

Listed under tech specs:
"Pulldown tools for telecine insertion and removal"
"Native long GOP MPEG-2 editing for HDV, including 1080i 50/60, 1080p 24/25/30, 720p 24/25/30"

FCP with 1080p LCD TV (preview)
 

I'm using Sony's KDL-W2000 Full HD television to monitor Final Cut Pro thru DVI > HDMI connection. If I use 720p-mode (TV/Mac), FCP's Digital Cinema Desktop Preview looks quite good, but if Sony (and Mac) is set to 1080p, DCD Preview looks much worse. In both situations I'm editing 1080i50 HDV material. I have a dual G5/2.5 with ATI Radeon 9600 XT card.
It seems that the Preview mode in 720p looks de-interlaced (or otherwise smoother) but with 1080p the interlaced scan lines are very visible. What could be the reason for difference in quality between 1080p and 720p when viewing thru Digital Cinema Desktop full screen mode?

I can't see the image
 

hello
My camera sony hvr-a1u is connected to FCP and I can control it(from log and capture) but There is no image in the viewer window.
thank you

SoundtrackPro (FCP Studio 5.1.4)
 

Hi:

I have just begun to experience a problem with SoundTrackPro's effects after sending a Final Cut multi-track project to the program. At first, all of the effects are visible and available on the left hand side of the window and work just fine but, after a period of time, they just disappear. That is, the main categories are visible but their contents are not! The only way that I have been able to make them available once again is to shut down the program and restart.

The entire program is loaded to the primary drive on a Mac G5 dual 2.7Ghz machine with 2gigs of Ram and plenty of remaining space on the HD. A 3TB Fiber Channel RAID is defined as the scratch disk ... any suggestions???

Final Cut Studio 2 has just arrived and loading it may resolve this issue but I am in the middle of a project and would prefer not to do so until it is complete.
Ron

Lost clips at edit/print to tape
 

Hi guys,

when printing my media to tape, the conforming process seems fine, I click OK at the end and the printing starts (little red dot appears on the LCD viewfinder, movie runs, etc)
Once finished - and everything looked fine - I rewind the tape and after a while video and sound disappears, blue screen only...
I FF and later parts are back again, then another blue screen coming.
FCP never reported any error during the printing process, the video was visible on the LCD all the time.

The movie was fully rendered out, grey lines only. I tried to use different Firewire connector on my Mac and also replaced the FW cable - same result, problem areas changed though - in the 2nd trial different parts were missing (so it is not clip related).

Has anyone experienced the same? Any workaround?

Its a Sony V1E, FCP 5.1.4 and a G5 dual 2Ghz ( I just installed FCP6 today, have not tried print to tape with it yet)

Thanks a lot.

tips for projection screening
 

Hi,

I have a project that will be screened using a mid to high end projector (6000+ Lumens, native res. 1024x768).

I'm wondering what would be the best way to master for this kind of presentation.
-24P DVD
-Print to Tape
-QT Movie (Uncompressed)

The footage was shot in 24P and edited 23.98 in FCP. The footage is SD.

I would appreciate any advice or tips.

Thank you.

Ken

Working with Motion 2 files in Motion 3
 

Please beware! Existing Motion 2 files with any level of reasonable complexity work EXTREMELY SLOW or not at all in Motion3. A discussion with an Apple tech concluded that Motion3 handles movement and particle generation very differently and does not work well with old files.

Apple recommendation: render existing files in Motion2 for use as .mov clips in new FCP projects and rebuild composites from scratch in Motion3 for sequences that will need changes and frequent re-rendering.

NOT A GOOD THING!

delete please
 

delete please