[Jon Harrison]

Hi Everyone,

Finally back from my trip and I thought I would take the time to tell you how my experience at the airport went. For my flight out everything went great. I shipped my tripod, extra battery, extra memory card and mics to the hotel. Going through TSA was just like it has been since 9/11. I had 2 bags, my camera bag, which contained my camera, battery, memory card manuals, and my backpack, which basically had my laptop, headphones and schedule etc. I asked the TSA officer if I should take my camera out of the bag just like my laptop – he said “no, it looks professional so you should be good”….whatever that means? Everything scanned no problem and I was through security and on my flight in no time.

For the trip back I wasn’t able to ship my mics or the extra battery so I was forced to put those in my camera bag as well. For my tripod I had asked the taxi drive to swing by the UPS store and he decided to just take me to the airport while telling me over and over there was a UPS in the airport – which there was not. So, when I checked my luggage I asked to have my tripod check or if I could possible carry it on – I was told to just try and carry it on and they would ask me to check it if they has concerns. I was a bit concerned going through TSA knowing I had 2 mics and 2 batteries that probably looked suspicious. Sweating like I was a drug mule or something I went through security just like before. I was gathering my shoes and belt when the alarm went off and the line came to an abrupt stop. A TSA agent came walking over to me, I’m sure the look on my face was priceless. She holds up a bottle of water and asks if I would like to leave the line and drink it. Don’t think so, and so I went on my marry way and waited for my flight……4 gates and 3 hours later I was in line to board. When it came my turn I asked to check my tripod and was handed a pink slip to fill out – At this point I was ready to cut my losses and hope that the tripod made it through. I gave it to the baggage guy at the door and found my seat. When I arrived and departed the airplane my tripod was sitting right outside the door like it had been waiting there the whole time.

Over all I was very pleased by everything. Oh, I was flying Delta in case you were wondering.

Thanks again everyone for all your feedback. That was the first of many flights and I already feel like a veteran 🙂

Thanks,
Jon

[Jon Harrison]

Ok – so I think I fixed the issue – The issues started when FCP 7 didn’t recognize the file and file structure of the AVCHD from the other camera so I had a buddy of mine export them for me to Apple ProRes 422, he was using Abobe Premier. This is where I think all the issues started. This morning I remembered that I had a program for converting that could actually ready AVCHD file and export them specifically for FCP 7 or FCPX (it’s called Wondershare in case you’re wondering) I opened it up and cave it a shot at transcoding the AVCHD files and it worked. I then just knocked the media offline and reconnected to the new footage and the issue was resolved.

Still have no idea why it happened in the first place and why it was so inconsistent – not every clip had the glitch issue. Perhaps it was a Premier / FCP thing or a MAC / Windows issue?

Thanks for all your help everyone!

Thanks,
Jon

[Jon Harrison]

@ Shane – My sequence setting is 1920×1080, 29.97fps, Apple ProRes 422 – All the clips of the speaker are Apple ProRes 422 but there are some B-roll clips that are H.264 but that’s are not the clips I’m having issues with, they transition just fine. Actually – It was H.264 but I converted it to Apple ProRes – do you think that might be the issues? It shouldn’t be letter boxed – I exported for YouTube at the 1280×720 HD. for some reason the preview in this post is not 16×9 but if you view it on YouTube you’ll see it’s not letter boxed.

@ Dave – this is what I originally thought but it was one long shot and it didn’t matter where I put the dissolve, I would still get the same issue.

Thanks for your responses!

Thanks,
Jon

[Jon Harrison]

Thanks everyone for all your feedback!! I fly out in 15 day so I will let you know how it goes. Sounds like the best thing for me to do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best! Given the inconsistency TSA and many other factors – show up early and say my prayers 🙂

Thanks!

Jon

Thanks,
Jon

[Jon Harrison]

Thank you Nick and Mark,

That’s exactly what I was looking for. I wondered about the batteries so your idea of sending one and keeping one is a great idea, as well as researching rental resources ahead of time. I too would rather be short cloths than gear.

I’m flying Delta, I don’t know if they have the option to seat early but I’m going to look into that.

Thanks again!

Thanks,
Jon

[Jon Harrison]

Thanks Mark! I figured it was like that, but they don’t really say anything about it and it’s $99 where juicer was typically free.

Thanks,
Jon

[Jon Harrison]

What’s included in the Sonicfire Pro 5.8 software? Does actual music come with this or is it just a software that allows you to purchase tracks and edit / manipulate them? Like Digital Juice’s Juicer if you will?

Thanks,
Jon

[Jon Harrison]

Thanks Mark! I’ll be checking out Larry’s videos for sure. I’m not so worried about the new UI for FCPx, but more that there seems to be less control than you have with FCP7. At least that’s my understanding, and I could be completely misled on that.

Thanks,
Jon

[Jon Harrison]

Thanks Shane and Mark – very helpful.

I’ve been a long time user of FCP7 – full suite and enjoy using motion with FCP7. It’s just hard to break away from something tried and true, but I guess when you have no choice you do what you got to do. I remember switching from Avid to FCP – what a change that was!

Thanks,
Jon

[Jon Harrison]

Thanks Mark – you you simply copy and paste or do you use Shot Put Pro?

What are your thoughts on moving from FCP to X?

Thanks,
Jon