[Ben Holmes]

One day, the makers of NLEs and Capture cards will actually check their software/presets/hardware properly in PAL. Until that day, I shall endeavour to work only in progressive… (not going very well so far).

😉

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html

[Ben Holmes]

He doesn’t say he’s shooting 24p, he says progressive. In PAL land (where I assume you are not) that usually means 25p as opposed to 50i. Since when does saying that you shot progressive imply that you have shot at 24p?

Clearly if he shot in 24p, that would be a different matter, and would have got a different answer. Chill out.

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html

[Ben Holmes]

Josh

You’ve got a lot of questions you need answered – and some of them may receive short shrift here of a ‘read the manual’ nature. Don’t think people are rude, but this is a pro users forum, so a basic level of knowledge is sort of assumed on FCP, even if you’re an AVID editor with 20 years experience.

However, fear not, as there is an excellent ‘basics’ forum available just for questions of this nature – and where you may continue to learn at your leisure. Look for the link on the lower level of the top menu bar.

All the best.

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html

[Ben Holmes]

Nuts. Just had a lengthy reply lost to a bad internet connection.

Short version: FW800 quicker, can do Uncompressed SD if it’s an array (more than one drive grouped together). Can make renders a little quicker due to faster write times, and scrubbing better. Not a massive leap, but gives you more codec options. Don’t expect more RT performance, and avoid all this nonsense about 15 streams of video unless you are the offline editor on 24.

[Josh Evans] “Also, I need massive storage, is it best to get 5 X 1 Terabyte external, or 1 X 5 Terabyte external?”

You need a large single array with some degree of safety (RAID protection built in). You could work with 2 arrays for speed or safety reasons. You certainly don’t need 5 seperate arrays, unless you need to be portable (and it’s still a bad idea then – take a portable array into the field and consolidate to your work array).

You’ve asked a broad question. Let us know what you’ll be working on/with and we’ll help. It would be useful to know the codecs you capture and edit in, and the type of project you’re working on.

My first reply was much better (and wittier obviously).

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html

[Ben Holmes]

Paulo

I wouldn’t say there’s a ‘normal’ for this situation. People often shoot in progressive for the film ‘look’ (as may well be the case with you), and that’s much more often the case than people shooting progressive for technical reasons.

Is he incorrect? Well, in a way yes, if he described the final edit as wrong or jerky, or lacking video information. Any movie they broadcast is probably progressive in nature (barring pull down, which is just a fudge to get the frame rates to tally, which is less common in PAL-land), so that might be a way of approaching the subject. Certainly, it’s the choice of frame rate for high end documentary work as well these days – and it does give a ‘jerkier’ look to fast moving shots that many people love for the film look it apes. Suggest he looks at film derived material shown on the channel, if that is possible.

However, it’s not as simple as that (what is?) If the programme you delivered is part of a strand or may be integrated into other shows, having the different look could be an issue. If shooting progressive is a ‘look’ choice for you, it’s also a ‘look’ choice for the channel. He needs to set a spec for material based on similar productions – in my experience that’s not uncommon, and varies from format to format (where for example HDV footage may be acceptable for news/reality/doco but not for drama etc.)

That said, he sounds like an ass to me.

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html

[Ben Holmes]

Hi Randy

If you search for ‘out of memory’ on the cow, you’ll turn up quite a few of these queries. One thing that’s pretty clear is that the error has nothing to do with RAM or project size. I used to get this error on small projects all the time. My guess is that FCP tries to perform a mathematical operation (like: divide x by zero) that it cannot compute, and it causes the project to fail or become corrupted.

The method you describe will definitely cure the problem, however I just got into the habit of using a previously autosaved version, and redoing the last 15 mins of work. Always worked without fail. This seems to suggest the issue is also not caused by a bad render file or media file. FYI, I used to see this issue most of when using nesting, so use it sparingly now and have not seen this error for a while.

Hope that helps – obviously it’s just a personal observation.

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html

[Ben Holmes]

I would suggest that you make the files offline yourself (after linking them if necessary) and relink them yourself (rather than after the prompting from fcp when it opens).

If this does not work, I think it’s likely that you have a pref issue with fcp (so trash your prefs) or a problem with the project file. If it’s the latter, you could use media manager to create a new project referencing the old media, and see if this cures the problem.

Either way, it’s not normal behavior in fcp, so suggests something is wrong with your project, fcp prefs/install or your system.

Sorry not be of more specific assistance – never seen this behavior before.

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html

[Ben Holmes]

Oh – just noticed you don’t specify what Mac mini you have. If it’s the dual 1.66ghz intel Mini, you can play 720p H.264 video on it (I can play the HD trailers from Apple on mine). It’ll look great, just play around with the compression so the bitrate is not too high, but the picture is clean – start with the default H.264 quicktime export from FCP, and set the frame size to 1280×720.

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html

[Ben Holmes]

You may struggle in many codecs to play anything of that frame size on a single processor Mac mini. My dual 1.66 mini will just play 720p material, but nothing higher.

You could certainly try M-JPEG, it’s pretty efficient, but you still have to shove it through a pretty poor integrated gfx card.

Not sure how you could connect a drive to a Mac mini fast enough to play DVCProHD natively – it’s too fast for a standard firewire drive.

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html

[Ben Holmes]

Once you have reconnected the media, have you saved the project? Sorry if that sounds like a stupid question, but it should ensure FCP remembers the new links. If it is not, it could also happen if the drive you have the media on is not properly mounted in OSX. Are the drives formatted for Mac use?

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
https://www.editecuk.com/OBServer2.html