[Jeff Carpenter]

Use that QT Pro setting to make a test file. Then open the file in Quicktime and press Apple-J on the keyboard.

You should be able to find the info you need to re-create that setting Compressor.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Buy the four 1GB chips and then use santellavision’s link to make sure you instal them properly WITH the 1GB that comes with the computer. You’ll have 5 GB and everything should work fine.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Check thetime and date system preferences. You can set the clock to automatically sync itself to an external source on the internet. I don’t know…perhaps it’s set to something wrong and kees re-syncing to that?

If it’s off you should turn it out. That’s not an actual fix but it might help by re-syncing your clock every time it gets off.

[Jeff Carpenter]

“Spring 2007”

That’s all we’ve been told and all that anyone knows.

The NAB convention is April 14-19. I’m pretty confidant that they’ll at least have to announce the release date by then as it’s likely they’ll be showing software there that requires Leopard to run. It still might not come out until June, but By April 14th I’m pretty sure we’ll get the exact date, whatever it is.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I think this is what you want:

https://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Software-wise, that will do it. Hardware wise, well, you didn’t say what kind of computer you have. Is it a tower and you can put 2 drive in it? Or is it a laptop? You might need to get some kind of external firewire case to put the new drive in so that you can clone onto it.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I also suggest 4 GB.

But don’t buy 4 GB from Apple and end up with just 4 GB. No, go someplace else (like http://www.crucial.com) and buy four 1-GB sticks. That way you’ll end up with 5 GB total which should be good for the future. (Be sure to read the computer’s manual to instal them…Apple machines usually care WHICH slots you use for RAM.)

Buying a total of 4 GB from Apple would cost $1,099. Doing my 5 GB plan would cost $748.

I don’t think any of the programs you listed can use that much RAM on their own, but if you run them all at once you’ll enjoy the fact that they can EACH have a large chunk of RAM to themselves without having to share it around.

[Jeff Carpenter]

iTunes TV shows started out as 320×240. That’s what the iPod screens are. At that time, that’s what Quicktime exported when you picked “Export to iPod.”

Now that they started selling movies and AppleTV, they raised the content on the iTunes Store to 640×480. Likewise, Quicktime’s “Export to iPod” changed at this point too.

As others have said, I’d go with the 640 option unless drive space is a huge concern.

[Jeff Carpenter]

You’ll lose the ability to expand your system further, but you’ll get fairly good performance. Be sure to:

1) Get 2 GB of RAM at least. 3 would be great but I know it’s pricey. 2 GB will be ok.
2) Try and get a firewire 800 drive and use that for media.
3) Upgrade the graphics to the 256 MB chip

For DV footage, you’ll do fine for Final Cut. It won’t be the fastest Motion machine, but it should be smooth enough to use. Compare the iMacs video card to your G5s card. That’s the biggest hint you’ll get to be able to tell if it will be the same or better or worse…by comparing that.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Finder’s really not great at making video DVDs that all players will recognize. You have a couple of options:

1) Get Roxio Toast ($79) and use that to burn you DVDs.

2) Did you make this DVD image with DVD Studio Pro? instead of building it to the desktop, just burn the disk from inside the DVD SP project.

3) Ask around here or search google to see if there’s something LIKE toast, but cheaper. I don’t know of any, but I’ve never really looked.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Do you use them all at the same time?

I’ve had many firewire drives daisy-chained in the past but because I only used 1 or 2 at a time it wasn’t a problem. The ones you aren’t using just pass the information through without getting involved.

But if you are using 3 or 4 of them at the same time then, yes, you should get some kind of card to attach half of them to.