Jeff Carpenter
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
-
For you I’d say it’s personal preference. For photographers and graphic artists I would suggest Matte since the color is more accurate. But for video it shouldn’t matter because you’re judging your color on an external NTSC monitor, right?? 😉 Yeah, ok. Not always the case, I know. So probably you should, go matte.
But if you find you REALLY love the glossy and you ALWAYS judge your video on an external monitor…then sure, go for the glossy. I’ve used ’em before and they’re just fine. Usually when I hear people complain about glare I find that they’ve only viewed them in a store. You know…the places with airplane hanger styled fluorescent lamps all over the place. I think the glossy screens look pretty terrible in an Apple store too, but I had to use one on a job once and I had zero problems with the screen. It does have a greater contrast to it which is kind of neat.
That being said, I bought my Macbook Pro with a matte screen and haven’t regretted it for a second. I use Photoshop quite a bit and am much happier judging photos on my computer than a glossy one.
-
Have a free hour?
Read this page:
https://plasticbugs.com/?p=305
It covers how to make H.264 and MPEG4 files that are iPod compatible. I don’t think it’s been updated since the new iPods, however. Everything that page tells you will still work, but the newest iPods support even more video sizes than that page tells you about. Combine that knowledge with the facts from Apple’s current web site as to what the iPod can play:
ideo formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
-
Use iTunes (or Quicktime) to convert it to the same standard as your Final Cut sequence. Most likely that means a 48 kHz AIFF. Then, import the converted version and use that to edit with.
-
You will have to “crossgrade” the Final Cut Suite. The non-universal “pro” programs won’t run on an Intel Mac. Assuming you have the Final Cut 5 Studio pack it will cost you $49 to do so:
https://www.apple.com/universal/crossgrade
As for the other 3 programs, I don’t know. For me, the Adobe and Microsoft programs are the only non-universal programs I still have and they run fairly well on my Intel Mac so I’d assume those 3 programs would work about the same. Some companies are offering free updates to make the program universal and others make you upgrade to the next version.
You should either search those company’s web sites or just call them and ask. If you find they have universal updates, great. And assuming you find that they’re not universal but CAN run then you should be fine to do so. You’d get performance at LEAST as good as your G4 machines if they’re being emulated and at LEAST as good as the G5 if you can get universal versions.
-
Check the prefrences in DVD Studio Pro. There is an “Encoding” tab. Try setting it to a CBR of 7.0 and see what you get. Be sure to encode your audio as an AC3 using Compressor and not a PCM or AIFF. That will give you ample bandwidth for the higher video rate.
I don’t know how many photos you’re using but I’m hopefull that even a high setting like that will still fit on a single DVD.
Let us know if it doesn’t or if the quality still isn’t what you’d like. If not, I’d suggest setting up some kind of timeline in Final Cut that’s not DV. Probably some kind of HD timeline. That will give you the most amount of pixels to work with in the video. When you compress that it will still go down to an anamorphich 720×480 file, but at least you avoid the DV compression.
-
What video format are you using?
The 2 most popular methods for most formats are to either use a Firewire 800 drive or to get a SATA card for the express slot and use an external SATA drive.
The G-Tech drives seems to be popular for either of these options although there are many other brands out there. The best bet it to get one of their RAID products…an enclosure with 2 actual hard drives within it.
-
Read the manual (or help file) in DVD Studio Pro about creating slide shows.
Right now you’re doing an entire extra step by using Final Cut to make a video. Not only will making a slideshow in DVD StudioPro remove the Final Cut use out of your workflow but the DVD itself will know that each photo is a seperate thing. This means you’ll be able to use the “next chapter” button on a remote to go to the next photo (or back, too).
By making a video it’s just one long video file. Unless you spend the time to manually put a chapter maker on each photo you won’t have that feature. Plus, at the moment you’re subjecting your photos to DV compression and THEN the MPEG II compression. By going with the slideshow method I believe the photos will be directly encoded into the right format without having the DV compression put in the middle.
-
Go into the iTunes preferences on each machine and make sure that they are both sharing AND looking for shared playlists.
I’m pretty sure it just shares playlists, not the whole library. And using this method you can only play a shared song…you can’t convert it or use it in any way. For that, look into Curtis’ suggestion.
But if she’s just trying to listen to your music, this way is a lot simpler.
-
Short answer: Yes. It can handle it.
You should either use Firewire 800 or get a SATA card for the express port for your external storage, however.
-
Yup. You’ll be fine.
Just make sure that Final Cut is really the same version and not just very close.
But as long as the Final Cut numbers match up a Mac is a Mac.