Dylan Reeve
Forum Replies Created
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After waiting more than 10 minutes it was pretty evident that FCP had completely hung. I decided to force-quit.
This is pretty frustrating. Unfortunately I’m really up against heavy deadline pressure at the moment, and don’t have a lot of time to research the issue, so any pointers would be hugely advantageous.
Mac OS X 10.4.11
FCP 6.0.2
Quicktime 7.3.1Eight Core 3GHz Powermac
5GB RAM -
I’ve also heard the government doesn’t like easter eggs thing, but I doubt it’s true as they are so prevalent in software.
The thinking is that an easter egg is an example of undocumented code in the same way that malicious features could be, but that’s absurd as clients don’t get to review source code of closed-source apps anyway, and there will be huge amount of undocumented and unutilised code in any app the size and age of FCP.
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You’re pretty much stuck. You’ll have a seriously hard time getting anything newer PC-wise. You may be able to find some ‘newer’ stuff (but it will be old) that is a big gruntier than what you’ve got.
I think you’re out of luck with solid-state formats, unless you can operate them as tapes (like you can with XD discs). If you can get it in with 9-pin remote and SDI/Component video then you’re fine, but that’s increasingly difficult (I don’t think there’s a solution for XDCAM EX that way).
You’re pretty much going to have to re-invest in a whole new setup to move up in the world – a modern qualified PC or Mac workstation, Media Composer software and Mojo SDI or Mojo DX when it comes out, at the least.
However keep your Meridian system, I bet you’ll still be able to squeeze jobs out of it.
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We’re certainly considering it. Our MacPro currently runs FCP 6 and MC 2.8, and is our only HD-capable finishing suite with the Blackmagic in FCP, however it can be pretty painful finishing Avid sequences in FCP (especially when there are late changes from offline after the sequence is captured).
Once they’re out and we can evaluate how if might fit in with our work, and get a better idea about what our work will actually be (NZ has only just started HD production, I am currently onlining the countries first HD drama series in FCP) then we’ll figure it all out.
Personally I’d love to get one, I am much more at home in Media Composer than FCP, but it’s not my money.
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One of our clients is still cutting documentaries and series work on an old Meridian system. Also the post house I used to work for still has at least 5 Meridian systems (some in suites, others for dry hire). And the large production company I was at before that was cutting around 6 hours of primetime TV a week (at peak) on Meridian and ABVB systems (they went all Xpress Pro and Lanshare for offline a year or two ago).
The Avid suites really can return on their investment. I certainly don’t know any 5-10 year old FCP suites still churning out broadcast TV.
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The Compressor in Avid works okay, if you know what you’re doing, but it’s a little cumbersome to use. Avid isn’t well suited to Audio editing on the timeline really – I have, in the past, exported selected segments to either Adobe Audition or Audacity to apply sweetening effects, but generally I try an encourage clients to get a proper sound mix.
If you are disciplined in the way you lay your tracks out (1-4 Dialogue Only, 5-6 SFX/SOT, 7-10 Music, etc) then you can export them two at a time to some external multi-track editor and sort of re-assemble them.
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You’re still going to be stuck I believe. The FCP DVCPro HD Codec/Wrapper is not compatible with Avid’s, and also is only available with the FCP Pro Apps.
You will have to export from FCP as some other codec (Animation or Uncompressed is most likely to work, Avid codecs are quick and don’t require another level of transcoding to work in Avid).
Or, you can use something like Compressor on the FCP machine, as it will be able to read the FCP format (assuming FCP is installed) and write to whatever format you need.
I haven’t actually used FCP with P2 however, so if the original P2 MXF files have just been copied (rather than re-encapsulated in a QT file) then you can probably just chuck them in a directory in the ‘Avid MediaFiles’ directory (create a new ‘number’ directory in the MediaFiles directory, and put them in there). They should show up in the Media Tool then, with no Project associated, you can then drag them into a bin and Consolidate them into your project (not totally necessary, but it sets the Project association).
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That would be my concern too, having used Avid Newscutter in a server-based environment a few times it really did have rock-solid workflow and integration.
Of course if you’re all tape-based, it might not be such an issue, although I’d still wonder if the fast-turnaround style of spot-news is entirely suited to FCP.
That said, from what I know of FC Express, that would definitely seem to be a poor decision.
There’s not a lot of news operations in my part of the world, but I know none of them are using FCP. Some use Avid (Newscutter and Media Composer) and the rest use one of a handful of niche News NLEs. But I’ve certainly heard of US news operations using FCP for spot news editing. Check out the Forum on B-Roll.net – it’s a news shooters’ board, and they’ll have a better idea of what people are doing.
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I really wish Apple would release the Codecs as a free download, and in an ideal world for Windows as well.
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You can install the Avid codecs (free download from Avid site) on the Mac.
Once they are installed you can export directly from the File->Export menu in FCP to Avid DNxHD or 1:1 media (you should do a test with a short clip, including colour bars to test colour levels and the like).