[Jeff Carpenter]

I’ve only used the HDV settings on that camera (never DV) so this advice might not all apply. But I’ll tell you what I know, and I’ll bet it will be similar:

1) The ability to recognize the 24p HDV recordings of the V1U was added in Final Cut 6. And not even the first one, I think it was the 1st or 2nd update to that version. So this is probably your main problem.

2) The 24 and 24A modes on the V1U (again, in HDV) are both the same recording, with one small difference. The pull-down pattern used to put the 23.98 files onto 29.97 tapes is a repeating pattern. The 24A mode always starts with the first part of the pattern and always ENDS with a full-cycle too. This mean that when you stop recording in 24A mode, it might take a full second to stop, because it’s finishing the pattern. This also means that you LOSE the first few frames when capturing because the computer is using those frames to figure out the pattern. You want to record an extra second of head when shooting in this mode.

What this means is that the computer can know how each clip starts (since it’s always starting in the same pattern) and it can remove the extra frames and leave you a 23.98 file. This is what you want, so you’ll want the 24A mode.

The normal 24 mode looks exactly the same, but it just picks up the pattern wherever it last left off. Watching the two types of recording from the tape are identical, it’s only the 24pA mode that can be converted to 23.98 files, however.

Also, in HDV I pick the 29.97 Easy setup when using 24pA and the computer recognizes the pattern and removes the frames. I’m guessing it might work the same for DV? But as I said, I don’t think your version of Final Cut will do that.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I don’t think there’s a set standard.

I always use the tone that’s part of the color bars. Which is what, 1000 Hz, right? Anyway, it’s easy and seems to work.

[Jeff Carpenter]

What format is the video? And do the sequence settings match that format?

[Jeff Carpenter]

Images need to be turned into icons. Download this program:

https://www.shinyfrog.net/it/software/img2icns/

Drag the JPEG onto it and it will create an icon that looks like the photo. Then use that.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Safe real-time means you’re seeing high quality video at the correct frame rate. If the machine can’t show you that it shows you nothing at all until you render.

Unlimited real-time means the machine will play your video no matter what. It may have to lower the quality of the image and it may have to lower the frame rate, but it will get the job done.

This is useful for edting because it’s more useful to see an effect at half-rez than it is to see nothing at all. If you want to you can always render it after that. Bur for many effects (dissolves, wipes, etc.) a low-rez version is good enough and you can move on. Just render everything at the end.

Final Cut lets you pick what’s more important to you. So for example, I have mine set to always maintain the frame-rate, but I told it to lower the quality as much as it wants to. Other people may want full quality but want it to drop frames to keep up. Or you could let it drop both and then neither one would be affected as much.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Select a file or folder and hit command-i (or right click and ‘get info’).

You get the inspector window for that file and you’ll see its icon in the upper left. Then, open the info on any other file or icon that you want to use. Click the icon in the inspector and copy it (command c).

Then select the icon in the first file and paste (command v). It will over-write the icon with the new one. So you could make a folder look like iPhoto, or a Word file look like a folder.

So to recap, you’re copying and pasting the icon in the “get info” windows for each file.

You can get icons all over the web, but here’s some great places to start:
https://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/icons_screensavers/

https://interfacelift.com/icons-mac/

Also, you can turn an image INTO an icon using this free program:
https://www.shinyfrog.net/it/software/img2icns/

So you could cut out your head in Photoshop and use that to turn it into an icon.

[Jeff Carpenter]

>> One of the “features” of working in HDV.
– – –

I always thought this was a Final Cut thing. There are formats that Final Cut plays the audio from while capturing?

[Jeff Carpenter]

That’s correct. When you buy a Mac it comes with an OSX disk that includes iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, Garage Band, etc)

Mortimer, did you just re-install with a store-bought OSX? Like, maybe the computer came with Tiger and then you bought Leopard?

Those disks don’t contain iLife. You have to buy it seperately.

But as Simon noted, you can go back to the disks that came with the computer and instal apps like iPhoto from that.

(You can also go buy the new iLife. It depends on what you have. If your computer came with iLife ’06 it might be worth the $79 to buy iLife ’08. If it came with ’08, then it’s not worth it!)

[Jeff Carpenter]

Tradionally, the best method is to buy another SATA drive the same as your boot drive. Get an external enclosure that allows you to run it through a USB or firewire port.

Then use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy your boot disk to that disk every night.
https://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Now, if your computer ever dies, just pop that one out of its enclosure and put it in the computer. Boom. Done.

That method’s still good, but since Leopard came along we also have Time Machine. This one is far easier. You plug a USB or firewire drive in, format it, and tell Time Machine to use it. The big advantage here is that restoring single files is a snap. Need a Photoshop file you erased on purpose last week? Easy. Changed a contact’s cell phone number by mistake? Easy, go get last month’s Address Book.

If your boot drive dies, put another one in and instal OSX on it. When you start it the first time it asks “Do you want to restore from a Time Machine Drive?” Say yes, select it, and it brings everything in.

So the end result from both methods is the same. Here’s the breakdown:

—
Time Machine
PROS:
Can restore entire boot drive
Super easy
Maintains old backups. A new backup doesn’t erase an old one unless it’s out of space, thus you will have not just the last version of a file, but the last several versions.

CONS:
Restoring a boot drive is slow because everything has to copy AND you have to instal OSX again first.
—
—
Carbon Cloner
PROS:
Can restore entire boot drive super-fast. Exchange the drives and you’re done.

CONS:
Focused on recovering the drive, not a single file. If you erase a file, the next backup clone will cement that fact into your backup too. Thus, no ‘multiple-versions’ of past files.
—

So they’re both good, you just have to decide what’s more important to you. I really enjoy the “multiple copies” thing that Time Machine does, so I use that. If getting your computer back less than an hour after a crash is what matters, then Carbon Cloner is a better choice.

I’ve only talked about backing up system drives. Backing up media can work the same way (Time Machine can backup multiple drives, but it can only CONTROL one backup drive. Thus, I have 3 SATA drives being backed up to 1 USB drive. I can’t add more USB drives…I can only replace it with a larger one.) So for Time Machine you’ll want one super-huge external drive that can handle everything, plus extra space for multiple copies.

I haven’t used Cloner, but it’s an application (not a built-in Apple preference) so I imagine you can get a backup drive for each internal drive and just tell it to do one at a time. I’m not positive on that, do some research there if you’re interested.

At any rate, I don’t back up anything that came off of tape since I can re-capture. That makes the whole thing much more manageable since I’m not backing up the video itself. Something to consider.

[Jeff Carpenter]

You want MPEG II for DVDs, yes.

You can set MPEG II files to either CBR or VBR. What you may be seeing is pre-sets, many of which are VBR, yes.

You can duplicate a pre-set and it makes a copy lower on the list which you can then re-name and alter. Once you’ve done that you can set it to either CBR or VBR or 4:3 or 16:9 or whatever you want.

The pre-sets are great starting points, but I pretty much always alter them in some way before using them.