[Jeff Carpenter]

Thanks. I’ll probably try something similar. I’ll report back next week!

[Jeff Carpenter]

Can you get the new computer (and firewire 800 external drive) without having to get rid of the old one?

Plug the old computer into the new one using firewire 400 and start it up holding the “T” key. Then, copy all the media to the new external drive and copy the project to the new computer and shut down the old computer.

Now, go nuts. It doesn’t matter if something breaks, you can always open up the old computer and get right back to work.

I know it’s tempting to sell an old computer, even if it’s only for a few hundred dollars, but hold off until the project’s done and you’ll have a nice backup sitting there in case anything goes wrong.

Zero risk, except for the loss of your time.

[Jeff Carpenter]

We did load it onto the AppleTV. What I meant was that the default quicktime export is optimized for streaming. Whether or not you actually stream it doesn’t matter, it’s already compressed down to a rate that COULD be streamed over a wireless network. It’s good to know that some extra tweaking got you better results. I’ll have to play around with custom settings and see what I can get.

But 24p wasn’t the problem. It was shot and edited at 1080p 23.98 fps. The exported version was down-converted to 720p at 24 fps. I know I’m losing some resolution there, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I was seeing too much ‘blockiness’ in the picture around edges of objects, kind of like a bad DVR. My DVDs aren’t as sharp, but at least they don’t have that problem.

I’ll be re-visiting this issue if I can find a compression I’m happy with. I haven’t totally given up yet.

[Jeff Carpenter]

The Macbook Pros come with a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT. The cheapest model has 128 MB of video RAM and the other two models come with 256 MB of video RAM.

For external drives you have 2 good choices:
Firewire 800
ESATA card in the Express Slot

There are lots of RAID drives out there (like the G-Raid) that put 2 drives in one enclosure and use one of those connections. Those are you best bets for mobile editing. They require their own power supply, but are faster than bus-powered firewire drives.

[Jeff Carpenter]

What video format will you be editing?

Mostly the answer is ‘yes’ to your question, with 3 things to keep in mind:

1) You really should be using the Macbook Pro model.
2) You should use a 7200 RPM external drive as your media drive.
3) Probably best to get a model with a 7200 RPM boot drive as well.

Everything else (processor speed, RAM, etc) can be discussed back and forth, but those are the big things to keep in mind.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I just tried it on my Jan. 2006 Intel Macbook Pro (with Leopard) and “C” worked but “D” didn’t.

Maybe that was a change made to models at some later date? I guess try it one way, Cory, and then the other! One of them will do it.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Using Final Cut, right? This is pretty much it:

https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304492

[Jeff Carpenter]

Instructions:

https://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf

As far as I know, as long as the drive is the right size with the right connection it doesn’t’ matter what brand you buy.

And yes, just put the OS CD in when you’re done and start it up. It SHOULD boot the CD on its own when it doesn’t see an OS, but if it doesn’t restart again holding the “C” key. That will force the CD to boot first.

Oh, and remember to format the drive as Mac Extended (HFS+) with Journaling turned on before installing the OS.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Well, you can stop trying most of those things because DVDs can ONLY use MPEG II files. Use EXPORT -> COMPRESSOR in Final Cut and go directly from the timeline to compressor.

Try this setting:
VIDEO:
MPEG II
Variable Bit Rate (VBR) Best Quality Setting
Average Rate: 5.4
Max Rate 7.1

AUDIO:
Dolby II Audio for DVD

Take those files into DVD Studio Pro. I suspect they’ll be fine. If it ends up too big or too small, re-do it and change the “average bit rate” setting up or down to change the size.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Oscar, the first 2 posts were correct. The ‘daylight’ setting on the camera is closest. Fireworks are very hot…perhaps even bluer than daylight. But using the daylight preset will get you pretty close, and that’s all you need in these situations.