[Craig Alan]

You can use dv tape for HDV. Many do without a problem. If you’re given a budget go for the better stock. Don’t reuse. Most inportantly stick with one brand and kind of tape. Do a search for mini-dv tape you’ll get lots of posts to read.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks Jeff,

But I’m wrong. The cinema display and the G4 Quicksilver I bought it with are both ADC. So I assume I’d need a DVI to ADC adapter. Do you think this is worth it?

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Remember, mikes don’t zoom. Good sound requires getting the mic within 3 feet of the subject. So use the mic input with a corded or cordless mike. If you want complete run and gun mobility, capturing ambient sounds/atmosphere sounds, then isolating the on-board mike can help eliminate tape drive noise. Another way to go is mount your cam on a tripod. You can get a very lightweight one that will allow good mobility. Once on a tripod you have all sorts of places to mount accessories. If you don’t care about the ambient sounds you can just set your shots to music in post. Adding music to the on-board mic’s pick up might mask the tape noise. It really depends on what your recording. Audio is a lot harder than visual these days.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks. I guess if the 8 core allows me to hold on to it for an extra year it will pay for itself. If it’s just a question of somewhat faster renders…the set up is getting expensive for my budget. Do I need a ram module for each core or do they share what’s installed?

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for response. Scarlet is months away so for now I just need to order a new Mac and set it up for HDV and SD. When scarlet comes out, is 8 cores a must or just speeds up renders a bit. How can I monitor HDV for color correction? Is that where the Kona comes in as well? Any reasonably priced monitoring solution?

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks. I found an apple video that shows how to replace power supply on my G4. It’s a $200 part so I’d like to know its worth it. Any advice on a new model Mac. Been a while since I bought one. I do FCP SD and HDV, other than that pretty routine stuff.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Okay. So I open computer and watch it run for a bit. The temperature of drives drop into the 30s — 20 degrees cooler.

The fan just over the hard drives which blows air out the multi-hole panel out the back is working fine. The fan next to the heat sink is running. But there is a round port out the back right above the plug that is blowing out hardly anything and it looks like a fan port. Then the computer dies. After a minute, I reboot it but it starts to smell like burning components from the power supply area. My guess is it’s the power supply and its built in fan died. Does that make sense? Would faulty power supply cause kernel panics?

Do you think it’s worth replacing? Is it do it yourself-able?

The last thing I did was a CCC clone to an external drive. So it could be worse but I have serious work to do.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks. It’s funny how you know this stuff until something is wrong.

one more quickie. If I open the case, How can i tell if the fan is working or just idle since the temp will be cooler with the case open?

I know the temps got hotter when I installed the second drive. They rest right on top of each other in the quicksilver.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks.

do those temps seem too hot? can i install a better or extra fan? I’m thinking of taking the second drive out and putting it in a firewire enclosure instead.

i’m runng CCC now. When done I’ll open the case and have a look see.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

I think the xl2 was (is) a great choice if you need 16×9 SD footage. Nice optics, better audio, and more knobs and buttons rather than menu items than Sony’s pd170. But I have also found that it requires a decent amount of light, much more than the pd170 for acceptable image. And if you want a film look you really need to light it correctly. Also I find that it was prone to head clogging/head alignment issues so I would have it tuned up by a Canon repair place. If the band is well lit you should get great shots of the performance, but if you pan over the audience, not lit, it will be too dark. Try to do some test footage before the show under the same lights.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.