[Eric Nicastro]

We have a near exact setup with FCS on a dual 6-core Mac with the JVC HM700. The nice thing about the HM700 is it records in the Final Cut Pro format in the camera; no transcoding is required. However, if you are going to do a shoot and you know it’ll be used on a system other than Final Cut, you can change the record format in the camera to record in the Sony XDCAM codec. It makes the camera very versatile and and a good bang for the buck.

For monitoring externally. We have the AJA Kona LHi card with breakout box. I use an HP LP2475w computer monitor hooked up through HDMI along with an interlaced monitor hooked up through composite (the interlaced is there to ensure proper field order). It know the HP is just a computer monitor, but we don’t do extreme color grading or correction, it’s just there to see a picture. But we will be upgrading to a professional Panasonic monitor in the coming months. And we use M-Audio speakers hooked up through the audio monitor port on the breakout box.

But this is also so we can connect our analog tape decks. We still use Beta and DVCPRO. If you just need a solution to see a picture on a professional monitor, the Matrox MXO mini will do the trick. It’s inexpensive and provides a professional interface to view video. You can’t use that to connect analog devices. But if you’re just shooting for web or tapeless formats, then the MXO mini with a professional flat panel monitor is what you’ll need.

And the $15 card reader I bought at Staples works great for transferring media.

[Eric Nicastro]

Crap, I’m just trying to use the HDMI input to capture DVD’s we’ve created in-house or given to us by clients with a license to use for commercial spots. I understand the HDCP and had a feeling it was doing that. I’ll just have to keep using the component video and analog audio inputs.

[Eric Nicastro]

Thank you!

[Eric Nicastro]

I’ve never done it, but have read about other people doing this. However you’ll need to purchase this: https://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/

[Eric Nicastro]

I use a 15″ MacBook Pro unibody, the first generation, with a dual core 2.53GHz and 4GB of RAM running FCS 3 and I have a Dell 24″ U2410 monitor hooked up with a mini display port to full size display port cable. I had to order that cable directly from cdw.com (https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?edc=1973897&cm_mmc=ShoppingFeeds-_-GoogleBase-_-Cables-_-1973897_StarTech.com%20Mini%20DisplayPort%20to%20DisplayPort%20Adapter%20Cable%20-_STP-MDP2DPMM6). I didn’t like having the adapter, it seemed like it was putting too much stress on the connector on my MacBook Pro. My setup works great. I love that Dell monitor and my MacBook has edited everything from SxS media to video from the Canon 60D. I use either a G Tech Mini or G Raid set in raid 0 to edit from depending on the project.

You’ll definitely want at least a 15″ screen if you plan to edit from that without the external monitor. Anything smaller and you’ll spend more time moving and resizing windows than editing. But make sure they don’t skimp on the hard drive; you’ll want a good external to work off of. Don’t use the internal, it’ll just slow your system down. And of course, always have a backup drive.

[Eric Nicastro]

That’s the thing, it’s not a copy protected DVD. If I play it out of the other outputs, it shows up in the FCP capture window. But through HDMI, I get nothing. Is it possible the DVD player itself is sending out a protected signal even though the DVD playing is not copy protected?

[Eric Nicastro]

So you’re saying the Mojo SDI is the reaason I’m seeing the strobbing/stuttering effect?

[Eric Nicastro]

Boris says it’s only for going from FCP to Avid. I need to go to FCP from Avid Media Composer (I’m on version 4 by the way).

The main reason I’m transferring these projects is because we’ll go back to them from time to time to make revisions, they are commercial spots, and I don’t want to have to re-digitize all my media and re-edit everything. Am I able to move just the media I captured in Avid to FCP?

[Eric Nicastro]

I’m converting because my company is removing my Avid and sending it to another station. We will no longer have that machine in our building. (It’s a corporate decision, not mine)

Is Automatic Duck the only option? Is there a way to do it manually without third party software? I can probably lessen the amount of sequences to transfer over, 80 was just a rough estimate.

[Eric Nicastro]

Thanks so much Todd and Rick! I figured I had the right idea but since I’ve never done it before I wanted to see the advice of some experts before I shot some test footage.