[Anthony Popolo]

Thanks. I guess I should have specified, I have FCP v6.
I couldn’t find a stand alone filter.
Version6 came with some trial filters from CoreMelt and Noise Industries (that I need to purchase to remove the watermark). CoreMelt has a “glitch” filter and a few others that may be combined.
Thanks
Anthony

[Anthony Popolo]

Thanks. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was going to run out and invest all that time and learning just for this. I was still going to try the plug-in route. I guess I was just thinking out loud that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have more effects tools at my disposal (including making better use of the Motion I already own!!). I certainly didn’t want to make you feel like you were telling me to invest all that time and energy. Sorry about that. And thanks!
Anthony

[Anthony Popolo]

Thanks for your input. I haven’t jumped into After Effects yet, but it seems like I’ve been needing to do that anyway. Thanks for the leads.
A

[Anthony Popolo]

Don’t export it from Motion. Just save the project file in Motion. Then import the motion file (.motn) in Final Cut and render it there.

[Anthony Popolo]

Just using the Y terminal makes it a composite.

[Anthony Popolo]

Hi
I’ve got (2) 700’s and have been using them since June and I can’t be happier. The thought of shooting onto tape now makes me cringe. (I previously used Canon XL2s)
I bought the new cameras while I had FCP 4 and I couldn’t get the JVC files to be recognized by FCP. After much searching (mostly at these forums), it turned out I had to upgrade to at least FCP6 (FC Studio2), which installs the codec XDCAM for QT which the JVC uses to create the Quicktime MOV files.
They wouldn’t even run on the latest Quicktime player. I am running a dual2.5 G5 with the old PowerPC processor (its the last of the breed before the Intel chips). I have 3.5 GB RAM, but I don’t think I needed that much (I had upped my RAM to that, but didn’t notice a difference. I think I only had 1.5 before). Check the requirements for FCP since that’s the determining factor, not the camera.

And even when I upgraded to FCP 6, I had issues, but it turned out I needed to select the appropriate XDCAM codec in the FCP “Audio-Video Settings” Capture preset menu. Once I did that, smooth sailing. Just a matter of importing the clips from the card and start editing.

What’s very cool is that I bought a cheap SDHC USB card reader (be sure it can read SDHC, not just SD). It was 20 bucks. Now it took me a few minutes to realize that I didn’t have copy my files over to my hard drive to edit (like the “old days” when the tapes needed to be logged and captured to your hard drive). No sir, all you have to do it put the card in your reader, open FCP and IMPORT the files right from the reader (NOT copy the files to your hard drive, unless of course for some silly reason you WANT to), so you are editing and playing back FROM THE CARD itself. No dropped frames, nothing, even at 1080. (It gets a little pixelated if I load on lots of filters or layers, but that is just the preview and it’s not very often. Actually, it’s better than seeing “Unrendered” on the screen).
Before, I was always worried about managing my hard drive space. Not anymore.

I bought the camera with the Canon lens package (GY-HM700U) and it looks great.
I do a lot of tripod shooting, so I had to get a new zoom controller (from Varizoom), and I broke down and got a remote focus cable too, since the Canon lens is manual focus (both the above came out to about $850). The focus assist feature on the JVC cam is very helpful. In fact it focuses easier and better than the XL2, since it’s a “real” lens in that the mechanics are physical, not endless rings activating servos to move the glass, so focusing is more “legit”.

I thought I had to buy the “tripod adapter” to mount the camera to a tripod (so I did, for something like $150), which is nice for quick disconnect from the tripod, but the camera DOES have the standard 1/4-20 screw hole under the camera so it will fit on any generic tripod out of the box.

I bought the camera with the anton bauer battery mount just so it would be more universal and “pro”, which means I had to buy a couple of batteries and charger (add another $1200). Batteries not included with camera.

I use 32GB cards (RiData, they cost about $80 each, make sure they are Class 6). and haven’t had any major problems yet. Three hours of HD on each card. I’m still having a hard time getting my mind around that.
However, because of the protocol of the SD cards, there is a single file size limit, so when I shoot long events (i.e. stage performance), I end up with multiple MOV files each about 3.5GB in size (about 20 minutes of 720P footage). This is not a problem on a single camera shoot, since the files can be laid end to end on FCP timeline and don’t miss a beat. It becomes a little bit of an issue for multicamera shoots when I want to edit using the multi-clip function in FCP, since those involuntary “breaks” don’t occur at the same spot between cameras. If you have used the multi-clip function in FCP, you might see where the problem may happen. If you don’t, then don’t worry about it.

Since I made the jump to HD, i decided to update my computer monitor situation. Before, in Standard Def, I had a CRT and outputted my FCP via firewire to an Analog-Digital converter out to a standard TV. Now I went and bought (2) HP LCD displays which happened to be 1080×1920 (full HD). (about $220 each at BestBuy). In FCP I dedicated one monitor as the output video. Looks amazing and is pixel for pixel 1080 HD. Then in programs other than FCP, it just serves as a normal dual monitor layout.

Generally, I’m very happy with the new cameras, and I knew there was going to be some collateral damage as far as upgrades, but most of them were “wants” and not “needs”. Upgrading FCP to 6 was the only major need.

Oh, another need/want was determining how I was going to archive footage. Before, I just kept the tapes on the shelf when I was done. Well the SD cards are a little too expensive to do that, so I broke down and bought a external firewire Blu-ray burner ($300). Now I back up the files (as the raw MOV files, not as a Blu-ray video) onto Blu-ray discs (about $8 each). 25GB capacity. Of course I had to upgrade my Toast to do that! and then went ahead and got the $25 option to enable Toast to make actual Blu-ray VIDEO. So now, I can say I’m in the Blu-ray VIDEO business.
BTW, the files on the external Blu-ray disc don’t play very well through FCP (like they do from the SD card reader), since the data transfer rate through a SD card is faster, so if I need to unarchive a project from the Blu-ray archive disc in FCP, I have to copy the files to my hard drive so they are able to play back smoothly.

Good luck
Anthony

[Anthony Popolo]

Great call! It also reduces my FCP work time. I do these two versions a lot (with and without bug), so now I can just batch the two versions quickly. Thanks!!

[Anthony Popolo]

I didn’t know that option existed. I will look into it. Thanks!

[Anthony Popolo]

Interesting. Thanks. Alas, I have a Mac G5 with dual 2.5G PowerPC. I see I got my G5 just a little too early and missed the boat on a bunch of Intel based things. Ah, but Christmas is coming! (okay maybe 2010).
Thanks to some helpful folks here, I realized the major sources of my problem were my oversized logo (requiring constant resizing) and I was doing a double pass VBR encoding. I also had a coupla FCP filters in play as well. I was compressing the 720 HD down to SD for DVD.
Thanks
-A

[Anthony Popolo]

Sorry, I didn’t think I was arguing with anyone. I appreciated everyone’s input, and actually learned things I didn’t know before (which is kind of the reason I come to these forums).
If I knew them all, I wouldn’t have posted my question.