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FCP is magic! Print to tape issue
It must be magic, because sometimes things work, and five seconds later, POOF! they don’t. And sometimes things don’t work at all, and then suddenly, POOF! they work. Don’t get me wrong, I love FCP and prefer it over every other editing system, but sometimes it makes me want to just tear my hair out!
My latest issue is that I have a project that is 1920×1080 and had to print to tape. I could record audio, but not video. Video wouldn’t even show up on the monitor. I could print other sequences (720×480 and 640×480) to tape just fine. But every time I switched back to the 1920×1080 sequence, I couldn’t even get video.
So I changed the sequence settings to 640×480, and it popped up on my monitor! I hit control-Z to get back to the 1920×1080 setting, and guess what? It STILL shows up on the monitor, but I still can’t print to tape, I can only scrub through the time line. If I play the video, it just freezes on the monitor (while playing just fine on the time line.)
What’s the deal? Is it the aspect ratio? I’ve never worked in this aspect ratio before, maybe I need to change some settings somewhere?
Or is it the original file, which is a 1920×1080 .mov file. It was the is the ONLY way the company would give me the final commercial, and now other people want it on Beta. However, when I play sequences with all my own footage at that aspect ratio, I have the same problem.
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11 Replies
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[Lynette Gilbert] “What’s the deal? Is it the aspect ratio? I’ve never worked in this aspect ratio before, maybe I need to change some settings somewhere?”
Sounds like you don’t have a system capable of playing HD files to an external monitor or you don’t have an HD monitor. Or you don’t have your Easy Setup set correctly. Or your Sequence Settings don’t match your System Settings. Or…..
You’ll have to tell us your entire system setup to help you.
In my case, we have AJA Kona 3 cards that allow us to edit HD and send HD to the monitor. However, if I have an HD timeline and the Kona is set up for SD playback, I get frozen video on the external monitor.
So it’s not magic, it’s incorrect setup of your system. You’ll have to tell us more to help.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.
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Darn, I really thought it was magic. Like I said, I’ve never worked with this before, so I’m totally clueless when it comes to the settings for HD.
I definitely don’t have HD monitors, that’s for sure.
Here’s my very basic setup:
Mac Pro OS 10.6.3
2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
FCP 7.0.2
AJAIoLa
Sony DSR-45AI’ve attached screen shots of my easy setup and sequence settings – let me know if you need to see anything else.
a href=’https://i1.creativecow.net/u/99838/picture2.png’>
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The AJA ioLA won’t down convert your HD timeline in real time. You need an HD capable capture device to down convert HD to SD in real time.
Jeremy
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[Lynette Gilbert] “AJAIoLa”
Io LA is a Standard Definition device. You cannot view HD footage to a monitor via an LA. That explains why you can’t view the video.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.
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Argh, I figured it was something to do with the HDness of the file. Thanks! What would you recommend I use instead of the LA?
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An AJA HD capable device. ioHD, Kona 3, Kona LHi, etc.
Jeremy
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I’ll check them out, thanks!
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If I understand from the original post, you are trying to lay off HD material in a SD format (Beta).
Set your Easy setup to DV NTSC Anamorphic.
Drop the HD commercial on the timeline. Double check that the video fills the sequence frame. Shift fields should be automatically added.
Render.
Edit to tape or Print Video (your choice).
Gets the job done without needing the extra hardware. I don’t know how much difference there is in quality between FCP and AJA’s hardware downrez.
There’s a funny little quirk in FCP that if you are routing your monitor through a DV deck, and the DV deck is connected to your computer via firewire, you can monitor HD material in realtime if you set your Easy Setup to DV NTSC. The image on the monitor is pretty low rez, but it’s better than nothing. I like to set my sequence up as a HD sequence, Then switch the easy setup to DV NTSC.
Before I get blasted by the others for working in such a crippled way, I remind you guys when there’s no money for the proper equipment (no matter how much I pester the boss for it), we gotta do what we gotta do.
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Or if you just want to monitor… Decklink Intensity Pro, or Matrox MXO2 Mini. But then to get that HD to tape, you need an HD deck.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Dennis Leppell] “I don’t know how much difference there is in quality between FCP and AJA’s hardware downrez.”
Huge. FCP’s scaling is one of the weakest parts about the software. And going from a 1080 to DV is going to be one of the worst conversions you can ask FCP to do.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.
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