[Jeff Carpenter]

From what I understand, you must upgrade RAM in G5’s by pairs….meaning you will have to buy two 512MB chips if you want 1GB.
===

That’s right, but just to be clear that’s only a factor for dual-G5s. In other words, if you give a RAM chip to one processor, you have to give the same kind of chip to the other processor. So iMacs and single-chip Powermacs don’t have to follow that rule.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I guess they’re trying to steer people into using Compressor. It certainly has a lot more options than QT does, so I guess Apple wants to make sure people are aware of that.

I do think it’s odd to do it this way, but I can see why they’d do it.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Ok, here’s a question I haven’t seen answered yet:

Can the multi-cam editing be set to “off-set” the cuts?

In other words, can I set it for -1 seconds so that as I’m editing, if I see the camera I’m using suddenly jerk, I can switch off of it 1/2 second later and have my cut fall 1/2 second BEFORE the jerk?

I haven’t heard anything about that but it seems like such a good (and yet simple) idea that I really want to think Apple would have thought of it too.

[Jeff Carpenter]

$2,000?

Nah, all you need is a nice cool substance to conduct the heat away from the system. Why not take your computer apart and re-build it in an aquarium of vegetable oil?

https://www.markusleonhardt.de/en/oelbilder.html

[Jeff Carpenter]

Don’t use Compressor at all. iDVD does that for you.

Just save your movie as a Quick Time movie and drag that into iDVD. (Check the iDVD preference settings first to make sure it will compress it the way you want before you drag it in.)

I’m fairly certain that you can simply “Export” as a QT movie with “Make Self-Contained” UN-checked and that will work. (If it doesn’t, use the “Quick Time Exporter” to make a file. That’s not as good, though, so try the other way first.)

[Jeff Carpenter]

I’m fairly certain that iDVD5 will do 2 hours. (I think that version 4 only did 90 minutes.)

I’ve never actually used iDVD for anything over an hour so I can’t promise you that, though. The one clue I’ve found is that the Apple web page says that iDVD5 will now allow you to burn to a dual-layer disc and put “4 hours of video” on it. Since 2 layers gives you 4 hours, I’m ASSUMING that a single layer will take 2.

Is it going to be exactly two hours, though, or slightly shorter? Back when the limit used to be 60 minutes I found that you could only go up to 54 minutes or so since some space was taken up by menus and other DVD-code.

There’s no problem with Final Cut. Just save your movie as a Quick Time movie and drag that into iDVD. (Check the iDVD preference settings first to make sure it will compress it the way you want before you drag it in.) I’m fairly certain that you can simply “Export” as a QT movie with “Make Self-Contained” UN-checked and that will work. (If it doesn’t, use the “Quick Time Exporter” to make a file. That’s not as good, though, so try the other way first.)

[Jeff Carpenter]

I’ve had zero problems with Tiger and FCP 4.5.

Did you do a clean upgrade by wiping your hard drive? It’s a pain, but that’s the best way to ensure a perfect upgrade. Before you do that, though, have you tried erasing Final Cut entirely and re-installing it? There’s clearly something wrong, but it’s not Tiger, so don’t go out and buy Final Cut 5 just because of this.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I can’t believe that the guys at Apple have let Gates and Co. get so far ahead on this one – it seems so core to Apple’s business. How many iPod owners would love to have an iMedia centre? Anyone else agree with me? Anyone from Apple listening?
====

You’re totally right, but I don’t agree that Gates and Co. are all that far ahead. There have been various attempts in the PC world to meld the PC and the TV and so far none have worked out too well. Gateway based their stores around the idea that their computers could be sold with Plasma TVs and hooked up together but that didn’t really take off. HP has had a Media-Center computer for a couple of years now but from what I hear it’s the one that just came out a month or two ago that’s finally worth buying. (And even that is still more of a PC than what you’re talking about.)

In other words, the race is underway, but it’s just now started.

In my opinion, Apple could come out with something up to a whole year from now and as long as it connects with the iPod and iTunes, they’ll have no problem overcoming whatever competition has come out before them. Did you see that latest version of iTunes is now capable of selling videos? The only thing you can buy is a few music videos that come with audio albums…so no big deal yet, but clearly Apple IS working on this stuff. Based on the iPod’s success I’m willing to bet we WILL be seeing more devices from Apple that can be sold to anyone whether or not they own a Mac.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I don’t think you’ll get much help from any compression program. You may shave a little off, but certainly nothing close to what you need.

The only way to get those files small enough would be to compress the video itself to MPEG2 and burn a regular old video DVD, but I don’t suggest doing that for archiving.

I’d suggest getting a firewire hard drive. For not too much money you can get a drive with more than enough space to store these files as well as anything else you feel like backing up.

[Jeff Carpenter]

That’s what ‘Down Convert’ means. It’s converting it down to DV video.

If you want to edit HDV in Final Cut Pro you have two options:

1) Buy this plug-in:
https://www.lumierehd.com/

2) Buy the Final Cut Pro 5 update in a few weeks.

Unless you’re in a hurry, I suggest waiting for FCP 5.