[Floh Peters]

[Chris Barrett] “Thanks Floh, makes sense, showing my ignorance though, does that mean a complete clone of everything on my Mac HD or just a start up part? “

You should have different partitions or harddrives. One for your OSX System and applications, and one for your media files. You only need to clone the one with your system and applications, for example with Carbon Copy Cloner.

[Floh Peters]

[Chris Barrett] “Should I update to QT 7.6 or wait? “

Harddrives are extremely cheap these days. So there definitely is no reason not to have a second internal or FireWire drive with a clone of your startup drive (and maybe with a backup of some of your most essential video assets). Now if you do an upgrade like the one to QT7.5.5 you can do that easily with the confidence that you can roll back (or simply reboot) to your second HD with the known good configuration in case something breaks.
So get yourself a second HD, do a clone (e.g. with Carbon Copy Cloner) onto the second HD and upgrade your main HD to see what happens.

[Floh Peters]

[Andrew Mehta] “When Paul asked for just one product, I think he meant he just wanted to buy the one product, and needs to figure out which one is right for him.”

Since he did not give us any background on what he wants and needs it is difficult to suggest what version is right for him. So I don´t really understand his question.

[Andrew Mehta] “What I’ve explained here is how I understood things back in the days of M100 SDe, HDe and HD Suite. I assume it’s still the same, but if I’ve got it wrong, feel free to correct me. “

This basically is correct. There is one software version for use with the hardware boards (Media 100 Suite software), and the 3 different boards (or the 3+2 boards, if you also count the LH and LS boards for PCI-X PPC systems).

[Floh Peters]

David,

I am not sure that I understand this issue. You now can upload images to the Cow via the buttons over the message writing window; maybe you can do some screenshots on what you are doing and what you are getting.

[Floh Peters]

[Paul Bertham] “i have a mac intel octacore running leopard, do i need addidional hardware or is media100(whatever?)runs right away as a software only application? “

There are 2 versions; Media 100 Producer is a software-only product that supports FireWire I/O and file import (e.g. for P2 and XDCam EX). Media 100 Suite is a product based on the Aja Kona line of hardware-boards, depending on which I/O and conversion capability you need (SDI, Components,….

[Floh Peters]

[Jay Burnham] “Will this even work? I seem to remember something about the software being “linked” to the installed hardware. “

I don´t think the HDx analog daughter card has a own serial. The software is definitely locked to the HDx board serial, but swapping the analog board probably won´t cause problems.

On the other hand, one thing you could consider is to upgrade to a Kona LH board, which would work with your current Mac. You would lose SD to HD upconversion capabilities of the HDx, but you would gain some new framerates and support for progressive formats. Not sure if this is cheaper than the maintenance agreement, and you would need to talk to Media 100 about transferring your software license to a new board.

[Floh Peters]

This really sounds like your problems are caused by your hardware. You probably should get in touch with techsupport.

[Floh Peters]

[Wickham Strub] “Although the new-generations of HD-capable Media 100 systems support legacy projects and media, they are FAR from the old Media 100 i systems. It appears that QT 7.5 broke M100i in a different way than it did the new systems. It sure looked like the same thing to everybody (including us) but, obviously, there’s more to it. Sadly, I think I can safely say that it’s NEVER going to get “fixed”. “

I think the main question is: is the MJPEG B problem fixed only in QuickTime 7.6 for Leopard/10.5, or also in QuickTime 7.6 for Tiger/10.5. Since the Media 100 i systems are running Tiger, it could be the case that the MJPEG B problem still exists for Media 100 V12.x systems, which run under OSX 10.4.11, and that the problem was only fixed for systems running on OSX 10.5?!?

[Floh Peters]

Are you sure you upgraded to 7.6, and not to 7.5.5? I haven´t tried it on 10.4.11, but as far as I know 7.6 should fix the problems on 10.4.11 as well as on 10.5.x

[Floh Peters]

[Steve Mullen] “1) If using 10.4.11 and QT 7.3.1 — what versions (V12.0.2 and up) can I use? (Can’t move past 10.4.11 and QT 7.3.1 if also using Media Composer 2.8.4.) “
12.7.1 (the latest version before the current V13) does run under 10.4.11, as far as I know.

[Steve Mullen] “2) What version will support 720p30? (I see mention only of p50/p60.) “
I think it is currently supported (if it is supported in V13, it also should work in V12.7). I can check that on Monday)

[Steve Mullen] “3) Can one but SN and UNLOCK for an older version? “
Do you mean buy? Then yes, you can buy an Encryption code for an older version.

[Steve Mullen] “4) Assuming an upgrade 10.5.6 — it looks like QT 7.6 is needed given the bug with 7.5.5. (10.5.6 ships with 7.5.5). Correct?”
No, OSX 10.5.6 does not come with QuickTime 7.5.5 automatically. The QuickTime and OS upgrades come separately, and you can stay on QuickTime 7.5 and OSX 10.5.6. I think new systems (like the current MBP computers) will ship with QuickTime 7.5.5, but if you upgrade e.g. an existing MacPro you can avoid going to QuickTime 7.5.5

[Steve Mullen] “5) Media Composer will import almost everything (e.g. H.264/AVC) and convert to DNxHD. Will M100 import anything that QT supports?
6) If so — can M100 import to ProRes 422 or only to the M100 HD codec? “

Media 100 does import most of the existing QuickTime formats, and it can play back a range of them natively without converting (e.g. ProRes, Uncompressed, DV, DVCPro25/50/HD). The others get converted on import into one of the supported QuickTime formats (Media 100 i, Media 100 HD, ProRes, 8 or 10 bit Uncompressed, DVCPro25/50/HD,…). Some of the codecs are not supplied with Media 100, though, but if they are installed on your system they can be used.

[Steve Mullen] “7) MC with 1920×1080 p DNxHD lays and edits and applies FX in real-time (no rendering) on a MacBook Pro. Watching the tutorials, it seems the M100 HD codec FX must be rendered. How about ProRes 422? “

Seriously, Media100 HD codec is 8bit or 10bit uncompressed, meaning that you have 120MB per second and up. The first problem is that you have to find some sort of RAID that gives you this kind of performance on a MacBook Pro. With ProRes, it is much easier. And yes, you get some realtime performance on a MBP with 1920*1080 ProRes or DVCProHD material on a MacBook Pro; depending on your CPU speed you most likely even get realtime effects.

[Steve Mullen] “8) I have no need for P2/XDCAM etc — nor anything Boris FX — is there a way to buy “old” versions that run under 10.4.11 or 10.5.6 to save money? (I just want a M100 circa 1995.) “
Since you speak about HD editing, I think a 1995 system will not give you really what you want. Otherwise you could look for a used Media 100 i system on eBay. But seriously, the gear and the software is relatively cheap these days, so I personally would try to avoid all the performance limitations of a hardware that is more than 10 years old. I definitely would try to figure out how to get a current version up and running.