[Dave Gage]

[Chris Walsh] ” Have you looked at NewBlueFX Flash Remover? There’s a free trial, and it might work to reduce the flicker/shift you’ve got in the current footage.”

Chris,

Thanks for that suggestion, I hadn’t heard of it before. I’m not sure it will work for a “non-flash” event but I can check it out with the trial if needed. I’m going to first try to fix the problem.
—

I did find the cause of the problem, the “Webcam Settings” app I purchased via the App Store. When I first started to use it, the author said the problem was because of Adobe, but it really is a fault with his program that he didn’t make clear.

I downloaded eCamm’s iGlasses which essentially does the same thing and adjusts the Mac FaceTime HD default camera color, saturation, white balance, etc. It does not have the flashing problem, but it has it’s own little idiosyncrasies to deal with and it doesn’t seem to like Adobe Connect.

I also found that if I use the “Webcam Settings” app to first adjust the camera and then close it, no flashing. But, sooner or later the Mac HD camera wants to adjust it’s own settings again.

Lastly, I may pick up the “Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam” which in combination with iGlasses may be the best bet with a better quality camera to begin with. (I wish my Canon AVCHD camera would work, but Mac OS won’t see it as a live camera source.)

So, after another week or two, I should get this figured out. I decided to update this thread because I’m sure someone down the line will run into the same kind of issues.

Dave

[Dave Gage]

[Steve Haworth] “It was all AVCHD originally and the only way to edit it natively in FCPX was to use clipwrap to convert the .mts files into pro res proxy .mov files.”

Steve,

I shoot AVCHD and use ClipWrap all the time. What works best is to NOT convert it to proxy or any other format but instead, just “wrap” it in a .mov extension. It works great in FCPX on my 2011 MacBook Pro and it’s still in it’s native format. The other issue I can’t you with as I haven’t run into that.

Dave

[Dave Gage]

I originally signed with Adobe Connect because I had emailed Larry Jordan as asked what he used for his live online classes and if he was satisfied with it. He highly recommended the Connect software. I emailed him again yesterday and asked if he had similar problems with the color resetting and also what OS and Mac he was using. He has had no problems with his iMac and Mountain Lion.

So, I starting to think that this random reset of the FaceTime HD camera may be caused by something other than an old QT API. Since it’s not happening to everyone, this may be my own personal hardware or software problem, but the problem does exist for me in both 10.6.8 and a new install of 10.8.4, so it’s not likely OS related.

I spent another hour researching on the web this morning and found a few things to try that might be helpful.

1. Zap the PRAM. I did that a few minutes ago, so I’ll see if that helps today.
2. Reset the SMC. If the PRAM doesn’t help, I’ll try that next.
3. According to a post at the Apple forums, the green color shift might be caused by a failing camera chip. If it looks like this is the problem, I may just buy a decent 3rd party webcam and see if that solves it (Apple wouldn’t fix this since I’m out of warranty).
—

By the way, I posted here in the debate forum an not in the Techniques forum because my original thought was that this was being caused by an older QT API and having read much of what’s been posted here the last couple of years I though maybe Walter or someone else who’s very knowledgeable might have some thoughts about the API aspect.

But, I think instead of trying to fix this in the edit, I’ll keep trying to hunt down the cause of the problem. I believe I’m current with my MBP firmware, but I’ll check that also.

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

[James Cude] “As it’s totally random I can’t think of a way you would automatically remove those bad frames other than manually. It sounds like you should look into replacing Adobe Connect if they’re not planning to fix this issue for you.”

I don’t need to automatically remove the blip, but do something to somewhat hide it, and manually is fine. I came up with an idea last night that I could try to slice up the .5 second segment and then try a Color Match to a normal segment. I’ll give that a try this eek. I suppose that I could even cut out the blip and replace it with a quick .5 second video-only dissolve (I suppose I wouldn’t want to over do that one).
—

In terms of Adobe Connect, yes, this can only go on so long, it’s already been months. I was researching alternatives last night and I will likely give the GoToMeeting free trial a shot. I also am trying to email Kevin from Adobe (who posts here from time to time and seems like a good guy) to see if he knows any way to give the Connect support team a kick in the butt from the inside.

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

[Tim Jones] “Mavericks is to current OS X what 10.4 was to old OS X”

Tim,

That’s good to hear. Although I’ve got ML going for some tasks and apps, I may go ahead and wait another month or two for Mavericks and then make the big move with a clean install. I’m slowly but surely replacing the old legacy software.

I use the Apple Address Book all day long because I use it less as an address book and more as an easily searchable database for everything is my life. I had planned to buy a 3rd party app to give me the function and look of the 10.6.8, but hopefully the Mavericks version is a bit more usable for my purposes.

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

[John Smith] “Mavericks OS X 10.9 DP7 (yes risky running a BETA system, but Mountain Lion is awful, and the performance of Mavericks is a lot better than Lion (and M’Lion))”

John,

If you have minute, could you expand on this? I haven’t read any reviews yet of anyone running 10.9 Betas. I have 10.8.4 on a partition, but for numerous reasons, I’m still getting my work done in 10.6.8. Although, I will have to break down and move to Mountain Lion or Mavericks within the next couple of months. I have not found any substantial advantages for what I do in Lion or Mountain Lion.

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

[John Fishback] ” I mean to use it once a month for prevention, but I usually forget. When needed, it’s indispensable.”

I’m with John here. I try to use it every month on all my drives on all my computers, but it’s probably more like every 2 months. I’ve had major problems in the past that DiskWarrior “magically” fixed, so I’m big fan.

Dave

[Dave Gage]

[Sascha Engel] “the Submit button is greyed out and cannot be chosen, only the cancel button. Any idea, why that is?”

I’ve had this problem for a long time with the old Compressor 3. Before each Compressor session, I have to run the app “Compressor Repair”, which I believe is a free download. I tried other fixes in the past, but nothing worked for me. This is just part of my encoding routine now. One of these days I’ll pick up Compressor 4 and see if the problem is still there, but it sounds like it is for you.

Dave

[Dave Gage]

[Fabrizio D'Agnano] “what is the advantage of the Clip Wrap/QuickTime routine over importing portions of the clips from the FCPX Import Media and working in native quality without transcoding?”

The advantage for me, maybe not for you, is that if you retain the complete card structure, you are also retaining bad takes and footage that will not be useful. By wrapping first, I can pre-view all my clips and toss the bad takes away. At the same time, I rename clips so that they make sense to me and my method of filing and categorizing.

Also keep in mind, that I am not transcoding, but merely wrapping the AVCHD in a .mov wrapper. My understanding is that this is essentially what FCPX is doing anyway. So, I am working in native quality. My 17″ Quad i7 MBP is fast enough that this works fine for me. I don’t use proxy or ever render. My only slowdowns are me futzing around and playing with too many options before making a decision.

Dave

[Dave Gage]

[Darrell Overton] “are refurbished laptops from the apple store any good?”

Yes, I’ve bought my last two from there and hopefully will pickup another 17″ i7 this year before they are completely gone for good from the Apple Refurb Store. As Craig said, you do want the Quad i7. Mine has been great with FCPX. Also, you can get 16GB of RAM fairly inexpensively at MacSales.com. Max out the RAM if you can.

Dave