[David Eaks]

I’m not sure, but I think you could connect one external drive, use it with Time Machine for backing up the system drive. Then remove that back up drive and connect a the other back up drive to use with Time Machine for backing up your media drives.

[David Eaks]

Here’s what I’ve ended up with Storage-wise, if it helps.

Mac Pro Internal HDD’s
Bay 1- System Drive, 1TB WD Caviar Black 32mb cache
Bay’s 2, 3 & 4- Media Drives, 2TB WD Caviar Black 64mb cache. All 3 HDD’s in one 6TB RAID-0. 2 TB HDD’s at ~$150 EA.

Externals
LaCie 4Big 8TB in RAID-0 (will be switched to RAID-5 soon) connected via E-SATA, for backup’s (it’s not really slow). I originally bought the 12TB 4Big but due to back-order status and my own time constraints, I had to go with the 8TB. *sadface* 12 TB- $1500.

A few 1TB Lacie d2 Quadra’s. Sitting around, I should probably spin them up.

Several 1TB bare internal HDD’s (some drive-pairs in RAID-0) used with a 2.5″ & 3.5″ HDD Dock via E-SATA. Cheap and very convenient. $70-
https://www.frys.com/product/5807613?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Good luck with your storage quest!

[David Eaks]

What they said. Also, if you have a few groups of stills that you want to have different durations, set the default, import the photos you want at that duration. Then change the duration and import stills at that duration, repeat as necessary.

[David Eaks]

Is the offline file on your timeline? That sounds like a likely culprit. If a file is deleted, it goes offline. Then you delete it from both timeline and browser, save and quit, it won’t show the “reconnect media” dialog upon opening the FCP project. The offline file is there somewhere.

[David Eaks]

What an awesome Switcher, I love mine!

The BlackMagic SDI to HDMI with an HDMI to DVI cable should work. Have you got a signal out to any monitor yet? You may need to go into the menu to setup a few things, if you haven’t already. The DVI input is #5, it also has size adjustments in the OSD, you have the right input selected? What is the SDI output set as (e.g. record or preview)?

Your setup looks good, probably just need to change a setting or two.

Oh, just saw DVI-D to DVI-I, that’s a problem (DVI-D is digital, DVI-I is analog). I haven’t had to deal with that, not sure what to tell ya.

[David Eaks]

One thing I think is important for a beginner, when asking professionals for help with general and basic uses of a program, is to use real language. After taking a second to decode “Dts wer d” (It’s where the), I certainly did not feel a compelling urge to help you. The internet/text slang you type in is irritating and I would not be surprised if someone who has answers for you skipped this thread because of sentences like those quoted below.

[Kosy Frances] “Dts wer d animation of the…”

[Kosy Frances] “For nw,dts jst d first part of the tutorial.I nid 2 do it first b4 goin on wit d rest.I rili nid help.”

Sorry, I can’t help with the animation but take my advice and you may be more likely to get the help you need.

[David Eaks]

In the menu Final Cut Pro>Easy Setup-

Format: This option lets you choose to “show only” certain formats to choose from in the “Use” dropdown. So leave it on show all if you want to be able to see all the choices, change it to HD if you only want to choose from the various HD formats etc..

Rate: Same deal as above. Choose the rates that show in the “Use” dropdown.

Use: This is where you choose what one to use. Your available choices are based on the above selections.

These settings do not change your current project, they only effect the new ones you create in the future.

In the menu Final Cut Pro>Audio/video Settings-

Sequence preset: This is where you choose what a new sequence will be when you create one. These settings do not change your current project, they only effect the new ones you create in the future.

In the menu Sequence>Settings-

Here you choose the settings for the currently active sequence, this must match your video before you drop it on the timeline. Do so.

[David Eaks]

Great I’ll try it out! That’s just the kind of answer I was looking for, thanks Noah. I had a feeling it should be doable.

Best,
Dave
PSV

[David Eaks]

[eric pautsch] “1. No thats the worst workflow.
Going to DV adds another level of compression since DV is highly compressed

2. Not really. Id say buy another system to do the down conversions”

1) The reason I’ve gone down that path for getting the down conversion to DVD Studio Pro, is because the final product looks so much better than just running it through compressor. At least I didn’t go to DVD and back… Other than just saying “that’s the worst”, do you have a recommendation or some advice to go with it?

2) Not sure what you mean, get what machine to do the down conversion?

I guess I could get a second MXO2. Then I could play HD from my Mac Pro through one MXO2 and capture SD on my Macbook Pro with the second MXO2. That would eliminate 50% of the time AND avoid DV tape! That’s gotta be the “best”.

[David Eaks]

[Chuck Purnell] “@Dave Hmmmmm I didn’t try that…I will experiment with your suggestions! Thanks!!”

For sure, will be curious to hear if you came up with a way to get what you wanted, or even something better.