[Jeff Carpenter]

The problem likely has something to do with the Time Code on your tape. I don’t exactly what the problem is, but even a small problem can confuse the computer or your deck. This can lead to all sorts of odd behaviors.

By copying the tape you’ll be creating nice new Time Code without the problems. When you’re making the copy, be sure to start recording of the new tape at LEAST 30 seconds before the part that you need. This gives you lots of safety-room in case the deck tries to rewind back a little further.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Is it a DV tape? Do you have 2 cameras? Hook them up with firewire and dub the tape to a new tape. The video quality will be exactly the same but you’ll get all new Time Code on the new tape. That might solve your problem.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Did anyone else notice that the 20″ and 23″ Apple LCDs got a little cheaper today?

$200 and $300 less, respectively.

That’s a nice little surprise.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I’d suggest making a black color matte and using it to cover up the pixels on the edge. (Or just use the crop filter, I guess.)

This would have the same effect as what you’re doing now but without having to enlarge (and thus degrade) the rest of your image.

Of course, you’ll have a few pixels of black on the edge of the screen, but if this plays on a normal television that will probably never be seen anyway as it will fall in the overscan area. Is that what the video is for? If it will be on the web or shown from a projector then this might not be the way to go, but for normal TVs you should be find to crop it slightly.

[Jeff Carpenter]

That’s the way the rules are written. Look at it this way, I have to spend $130 to upgrade my Mac, but you only have to spend $66 per Mac. I’d call that a good deal.

If you want an ACTUAL deal (instead of just playing with words) then go to Amazon.com and order it there. You have to pay full-price now, but you can download a form to print out. Once you get your Family Pack you can send the form in to get $50 back. That’s one of the best prices I’ve seen for a family pack, even if you do have to pay everything up front.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Hopefully FCP5 will include a code for QT 7 Pro.

But anyone here who’s not getting FCP5 soon should certainly watch this issue before buying Tiger. Perhaps it will be possible to run QT 7 AND QT 6 Pro on one system? My father is a photographer so he doesn’t use QT much, I’ll be testing these issues on his computer before I upgrade mine. We’ll see what happens.

At the very worst I would assume we’d simply have to buy the $30 pro code again. Right?

[Jeff Carpenter]

I can promise to not be so nice, how about that? 😀

Seriously, though, if you want a full review, mail me a DVD or a tape in the actual mail. That way I can give you advice on everything from compression to packaging. All of that stuff matters and you can’t see it in a web clip. I don’t know how “official” I am but I think I have enough experience to give my opinion. The secret is not to find the smartest person anyway, but to find LOTS of people to watch your work. Once you get enough feedback you can start to see the things that people say more than other things.

So start with me. I’m happy to help.

Download Form #1 from this page:
https://www.redfeathervideo.com/wedding_forms.html

My home address is at the bottom of the last page. Mail me anything you like!

[Jeff Carpenter]

This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single computer at a time.
===

Yeah, but FCP HD was a free upgrade to many users, so this is a little different. I agree though, I don’t think we’ll see it even though I’d love it.

[Jeff Carpenter]

You’re probably right, but the one unknown factor is Tiger. I’ve heard that FCP5 may require Tiger (which makes sense to me based on what I’ve been reading) and IF that happens you may see a Tiger/FCP5 bundle where you can buy the two for less then they’d cost seperately.

I haven’t heard anything about that yet, I’m just wondering out loud. That probably won’t happen, but I’m going to wait until after NAB to order Tiger, just in case.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Search your hard drive for “Final Cut”

You’ll probably turn up some folders in the two Library folders. Erase anything you find. You can dig through those folders yourself (One is on the System drive, the other is deeper in ‘Users’) but I think that a simple search should turn find them for you.