[David Johnson]

There are as many ways as there are types of TVs these days, but sounds like you want the the tube TV look. The easiest way is to:
apply some RGB noise to a whitish solid
animate the Y scale then X scale til left with a very small box/dot
apply a glow with RGBish colors to the dot
pre-render and apply it to your images with a tranfer mode (stencil maybe) or alpha matte

I made the ones I use years ago so I may be forgetting something. Part of a good tube TV effect is what happens while the TV is still on so consider adding a bulge, scanlines and/or glare to your images before turning the TV off. A good sound effect can help too.

I don’t know of a plugin that does the TV On/Off effect, but the Foundry Tinderbox 3 & DigiEffects Delirium sets have ones that can add some other TV effects like offset guns, vertical hold, ghosting, etc. As with most things plugins do, those can all be done with AE alone, but plugins are sometimes faster. Of course you could also record the same with a VCR and apply to your images with a transfer mode and/or opacity.

[David Johnson]

Don’t know what the relation to switching to Tiger might be, but I do know that you should always use AIFs on Macs instead of WAVs…and definitely not MP3s. My expereince has been that Macs have trouble with some WAVs, AVIs and MPG1s…and AE just doesn’t handle MP3s very well on either platform. Converting might sound a daunting task if you have tons of audio files, but most audio software has batch conversion, which makes it very easy.

[David Johnson]

Thanks much to each of you for the useful info/warnings. I’ve heard of similar issues with 5 and am also trying to decide whether I should stick with FCP for the second system/suite we’re about to build or go with one of the comparable Avid systems (coming from PC world, I have little experience with either, although plenty with other NLEs). Any insight/comparisons from those who’ve used both extensively?

[David Johnson]

Something else to consider on the topic…personally, many people avoid initial releases for at least a few months. I’ve been using AE since version 3 and have always found the dot releases to be worth waiting for. Sure it’s ideal to have the most current version, but with software that your workflow/income is dependent on, it’s also importnat to have software that works reliably.

[David Johnson]

Or, get the free CopyImage plugin from https://www.obviousfx.com/
Then, put your cursor on the frame you want, Copy Image and paste into Photoshop of other program for editing.

[David Johnson]

Sorry I can’t help more, but my work-around was simply to manipulate the raw footage in After Effects and bring the AE render back into FCP…obviously not practical for any more than an occasional short clip.

[David Johnson]

Personally, I think getting an accountant was the smartest thing I ever did. A good accontant can save you a ton by properly deducting things you might not think of like “business use of home”, portions of utility bills, vehicles, etc. Sure you can do that yourself, but PROPERLY is the key word there. I find that tax law is complicated enough and changes frequently enough to be worth hiring a pro.

[David Johnson]

Black Magic is doing the trick with no problems so far…many thanks!

[David Johnson]

I don’t recall specifics, but understand there are some issues with QT 7 that’ll affect my situation so I have the most recent version of QT 6 on both the Macs and PCs.

I looked at Black Magic, but didn’t try it because they only listed the codec as for XP…I’m on 2K and have good reason for stay with it for now. I think I’ll try Black Magic anyway…hope nothing blows up.

Thanks…any other suggestions are welcomed as I’m realizing I really can’t afford to lose the 3-4 hours it’ll take to get to my office, re-export & transfer the files.

[David Johnson]

Thanks. I looked aat Black Magic, but didn’t try it because they only listed the codec as for XP…I’m on 2K and have good reason for stay with it for now. I think I’ll try it anyway…hope nothing blows up.