Ben Holmes
Forum Replies Created
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Assuming you have a DVD drive in or connected to your Mac:
1) Download MPEG streamclip for free off the internet.
2) Rip and re-encode as DV or similar.
3) Get down on hands and knees and thank chosen deity/Steve jobs that someone developed something as useful as MPEG streamclip and made it FREE.Enjoy.
Ben
ps – DVD video really IS that horrible. It’s not the software.
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.
New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.
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[dantewaters] “the faster my render times”
No. Render times are MOST effected by faster processors and adequate RAM. Faster drives will allow quicker read/write times which will speed the process a bit. The increased RT performance of faster drives is the so-called multistream ability of a fast array to play more than 1 stream of video (access multiple files on the drive simultaneously). The system will still need to render these re-sized/treated streams in the canvas, which AGAIN is most helped by a quick system, not array. Most of the time, your array will not need to access many streams of video, beyond a video and render file, so it’s all a bit of a sales gimmick after a certain point (say 2-3 streams RT).
Certainly a faster array will be more reliable for capture and playback, better for scrubbing etc. but if you are working (say) in SD there is a limit to how fast an array you will need – most of the time a single FW800 array will perform nearly as fast as a much more expensive array in MOST circumstances for a single system. You need enough speed for reliability in capture and playback, but NO ARRAY will make your renders magically quicker (not in any significant way, say 20% quicker or twice as fast).
Ben
PS – Probably get flamed for some if this…
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.
New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.
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If deleting renders doesn’t help, you should restore an autosaved version of the project. You can do this manually by browsing to the autosave folder and clicking on the newest version so that it opens FCP using this project – useful if your corrupted project causes FCP to crash.
I always find this solves the problem – in fact it’s the reason why autosaves are so crucial… They take no time to do, and only cost you a few mins work.
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.
New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.
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Umm OK.
1) You have a Kona 3 – So you would be much better off connecting an HDV deck to it via the component connections, and capturing as DVCProHD. It sucks a lot less than HDV. That’s a general heads-up for you.
2) The Kona 3 has no HDMI output. It also scales the 1440×1080 HDV frame to 1920×1080 for playback on an HD monitor. I assume that you have maybe connected a DVI-HDMI cable from the Mac DVI output 2 to the HDMI input on some sort of flat screen TV. THIS IS WRONG. You should be using the HD-SDI output on the Kona 3 to connect to an HD monitor, or the component outputs if that is not an option.
3) Capturing via firewire and playing back via DVI requires NO Kona 3 whatsoever, so if it’s spare, we could do with a second hand one! It is not, however a correct use for a high-end video card. Please have a look at the Kona manual, it shoudl correct many of your misconceptions about setting up your system.
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.
New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.
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[Adrian Zehn] “I’m feeling “AVID” is much better at this, with fewer bugs…..”
In the words of Scooby Doo – “Ruh Roh!”
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.
New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.
-
You CAN get most things font-ish sorted using OSX Font manager, but most of the issues with fonts are caused by FCP’s handling of them. For example, if you load a full ‘family’ of fonts into OSX, FCP usually ignores the many options in the family, such as light/versions 1/2/3/4 etc. giving you only the bold/bold italic options.
Personally, I find the limitations in FCP’s font handling to be a pain in the arras, but I don’t really see that a third party software solution will sort that – the problem lies with FCP, not the font manager software. You will need to constantly turn fonts on and off in OS X to allow FCP to see all the different versions of a font anyway, so you might as well use the OS X solution – it’s just as good as most of the others, and it’s free!
In FCP 6, PLEASE can we have a font preview when I browse fonts, and proper recognition of all font types within font families – Adobe software seems to manage it!
Thanks. (Don’t think Steve J doesn’t read this – he sees all).
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.
New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.
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[twentydeuce] “I have done some searches in this forum but with no real answers found.”
Really? This question is asked frequently. Previous posts have made the point that the error has NOTHING to do with RAM OR disk size.
Admittedly, no one is certain what causes the problem, although the consensus is that it’s due to a bad render file (if it occurs once during rendering) or a bad media file – which you should be able to deal with using the bit by bit method.
Other causes include nested sequences (which sometimes seem to confuse FCP in a sort of “divide by zero” logic error sort of way – ie. some kind of illogical calculation has been performed by the system as a result of the nest etc.) This is not to say that the nesting or sequence is incorrect on your part, it’s just a bug in FCP, which MAY have been fixed in 5.1.4 (maybe…)
Solutions? If it occurs when you OPEN a project, restore to a previous autosave. If it occurs during a render, clear all of the render files for that project off the system and start again. If it still happens, you may have to replace a media file.
If it happens all the time, I would recommend a complete system re-install from OsX up. You’d be suprised how much more stable a clean system can be using fcp.
Hope this help!
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.
New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.
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I plan on switching to Extreme two years after it’s not released.
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.
New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.
-
[Chi-Ho Lee] “I need to composite a gorilla on my 1945 VW. I have Final Cut Pro and Motion and a rubberband. Please give as much detail as possible. “
Lol!
BTW original poster – way to ensure you never get another question answered. If you wanted to cut out the time spent answering vague questions for people like this, just ignore anyone who fails to fill out ANY detail (particularly system) on his profile. Bad form if you ask me.
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.
New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.
-
I think it’s fair to say that both cards are pretty reliable, and both work with excellent quality. Either will give you results you would be proud of. In terms of techincal differences, I understand that the Kona cards give hardware acceleration for DVCProHD – perhaps someone can shed further light on this? Personally, I doubt it will effect your workflow that much either way.
Still, you learn to appreciate a company and it’s products most when they go wrong – and that’s why we use Kona exclusively for live broadcast work. I can get a replacement card overnight and technical assistance faster than any other company I have ever dealt with – and that’s dealing with Kona USA from Europe! I’m not saying that Blackmagic are bad, I just never heard anyone praise them the way people – rightly – praise Kona. Also praisworthy are their excellent update program – they always seem to be on top of things.
The $600 extra will seem like money well spent down the line.
Ben