FCP Studio and DVCAM and imac

[Shane Ross]

Sony HVR-M10E? Isn’t that an HDV camera? are you going to use the HDV footage, or downconvert to DV when you capture?

If you are going to use the HDV, then the iMac is definately NOT the way to go. And, seriously, I wouldn’t use it at all. It really isn’t meant for FCP. But, if your budget is tight, then use it if you must. I works fine with plain ol’ DV footage.

BUT…do not, repeat…do not capture to the drive that comes with the computer. You will need to purchase another drive to capture your footage onto. External firewire drive will work fine with DV. The main system drive is not recommended as it will drop frames all the time as the system accesses system resources from time to time.

As for how much room DV footage takes: DV (DV25, miniDV, DVCAM) Data Rate: 3.13 MB/second or approx 12 GB per hour of footage.

[Rolfe Klement]

And I forgot… we want to view the footage on our Sony BVM monitor while working with it in FCP5. Not sure what this is called in Mac world – but we call it “framebuffer” – is this possible on an imac G5?Do I need any special accessories to do this?

thanks

Rolfe Klement
http://www.creativesunshine.com

[Shane Ross]

Shane’s Stock Answer #8:

A simple path is mac > firewire > camera or deck > rca cables > tv

Then start up your camera and tv, then open fcp.

Then go View > External video > all frames
Video playback should be Apple firewire NTSC (If you are using an NTSC set)
Audio playback should be Audio follows Video

Techinially, this should send synched video to your TV

If for some reason you can’t view your timeline on your external monitor, there are a few things to try:

1) Make sure that the camera/deck is connected and powered on BEFORE you open FCP.

2) In the Final Cut Pro menu select AUDIO/VIDEO Preferences and make sure your signal is being sent out thru Firewire DV.

3) Go to the menu and select VIEW>EXTERNAL>ALL FRAMES.

4) Click in the % box above the image and select FIT TO WINDOW.

5) Go to VIEW->refresh A/V devices

6) Make sure the Log & Capture window is closed

If you want it to play in both the canvas and the external monitor you need to go to the FINAL CUT PRO menu and select AUDIO/VIDIO settings and make sure MIRROR ON DESKTOP is selected under the PLAYBACK OUTPUT section

For all the stock answers, click on this link:
https://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?50@941.OTrRaOS9SEl.0@.68a3b883

[Rolfe Klement]

Thanks for the reply – we will use the sony deck since it is the best price point entry for both DV and DVCAM (we will not use it for HDV) – we need the DVCAM since we have timecode issues coming out of Telecine or from the rushes from developed film – the post house prefer to go to DVCAM

Basically since our format origination is 35mm we just need the EDL – then the post house can do their work on it – and output in any format required

What would be the best option for an external hard drive – apologies if this has been asked before

thanks

Rolfe Klement
http://www.creativesunshine.com

[Rolfe Klement]

So it is not possible to use the mini VGA connector to drive a monitor (via adaptors) use some kind of framebuffer option in FCP5 – (3dsmax in windows world has this option)

thanks

Rolfe Klement
http://www.creativesunshine.com

[Shane Ross]

Drives: Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital. Those are the top three. Firewire will be fine if you are going with the iMac. If you go with a G5 tower, then get those drives as SATA internals. Far cheaper and mroe reliable.

VGA – Sorry. All that does is mirror the desktop, or in some cases, add additional desktop workspace. It wil not act as a production monitor out. Gonna have to look thru the deck. That is better anyway…monitor what the deck is seeing, or not seeing.

[Rolfe Klement]

Thank you very much for the responses – how does the Lacie firewire drive hold up – since many post houses like to off lay to them?

and they look good 🙂

thanks

Rolfe Klement
http://www.creativesunshine.com

[Shane Ross]

People have had good luck with LaCie drives…and others have had them fail dramatically. They have a higher failure rate…at least from word of mouth thru the forums…than any of the others I mentioned combined. And they sell more drives…so…take it for what it it.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Rolfe Klement] “Thanks for the reply – we will use the sony deck since it is the best price point entry for both DV and DVCAM (we will not use it for HDV) – we need the DVCAM since we have timecode issues coming out of Telecine or from the rushes from developed film – the post house prefer to go to DVCAM”

Since you don’t need the HDV function, you may want to look at the DSR-11. DVCAM and DV at $1,800 or cheaper.

I echo the sentiments of most folks here that the G5 would be the best, but a fully loaded iMac would cut DV / DVCAM material just fine, especially since you say you’re only going to cut the project. No filters or effects. Heck, a 17″ Powerbook will even serve you well for that. You may want to add a second monitor to the mix.

As for media storage, LaCie and G-RAID’s are the two primary external firewire drives I recommend. The FW800 drives can easily handle DV/DVCAM and some of them can handle up to 8bit uncompressed.

To view your projects on an external monitor, simply view the output of your deck to the monitor / speakers. Note that Final Cut Pro has a playback offset built in to the audio playback. For most firewire devices, you want to leave that offset at the default 4 frames. This ensures that you hear the audio in sync with the picture on the external monitor.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Rolfe Klement]

I just ordered the 300gb Seagate firwire external HDD and an imac G5 2ghz with 2gb ram with FCP studio – so fingers crossed it all works

thanks for the help

Rolfe