[Ed Cilley]

Lou,

I guess we’ll take a little detour from the topic. FCPX has taken an entirely different direction and isn’t concerned about “legacy” equipment. They are looking forward and thinking editors and production houses will never need to access tape. They removed the ability (without 3rd parties) to capture tape. FCPX could be considered amazing and horrible at the same time. It just depends on where you are using it and your workflow.

Avid is rock solid and, depending on your market, in demand. If you are switching your editorial system, then you need to analyze your market, your clients. Some clients care about the tools used to get the final product – others don’t care or even know the difference. If you can produce videos that your customers like and pay for, then the system you use is your choice. If you have customers who walk away because you are editing on _____ system, then you need to review your market base.

You mention: “According to Apple, Avid is declining rapidly in the market and FCP is increasing rapidly.” That statement may have been true a year ago, I don’t believe it now. Avid has reduced its price and made the product more open in terms of 3rd party hardware.

Ed

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Ed Cilley]

James,

There is a thread just down the list

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/45/883069

that talks about old Mac’s and the new MC.

DNX175 should play fine through FW800.

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Ed Cilley]

My first reaction would be to use the lowest frame rate of your sources. If that’s 24P, then make your project 24P. It’s easier to “throw out” frames than make new ones.

If you are half-and-half, then this makes sense. If you told me I have 2 clips that are 24P and 8 that are 30, then I would convert the 2 and create a 29.97 project.

Ed

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Ed Cilley]

Are you using two monitors or one?

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Ed Cilley]

Have you tried rendering your QT to the desktop?

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Ed Cilley]

Scott,

If you like the dongle, as I do, keep it. You don’t need to go to the software license. You will need to get a new avd. file from Avid. Look at page 23 for instructions. What is missing from this page is how to get that new .avd file.

If you just upgraded to 5.5 and are entitled to a free upgrade, go here…
https://www.avid.com/US/support/protect

Here is more info…
https://community.avid.com/forums/t/102702.aspx

In the download folder there is a dongle manager program, run that, and “Scan Update File”. If you have the updated file from Avid, it will show you 6.0. At that point you can click on the Update tab.

Your dongle will always be backward compatible, so you could still use it to run 5 or 5.5 before upgrading your system.

Hope that helps.
Ed

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Ed Cilley]

If you are importing P2, your settings for the File Pixel to Video Mapping should not be computer, but rather 601/709. Using computer RGB will stretch your video levels since they are 709 levels.

Also, you could Ignore alpha channel if you like, but it won’t import if it doesn’t exist.

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Ed Cilley]

Go to “Settings” hit K. Right-click and “Duplicate” Rename it what every you like in the empty space to the right of the word “keyboard”. I have a Multicam, basic and color correction setting. These can be linked to various Toolsets – like Scott said.

Hope that helps.

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Ed Cilley]

Danielle,

We can all relate to your pain. Whenever we switch from one program to another or from one OS to another, it’s a learning process. When I edit on a PC, my fingers need to hit CTRL+Z, versus CMD+Z on the Mac. If you have been doing this for years, you are used to working at a certain speed. Then when you switch to a new program, you feel frustration with not being as fast. That is a common feeling.

When I learned FCP, having worked with Avid for years, it took some time to train the fingers to find new places. I agree with Andrew that training is the best route. I took a three day class and spent the $1,000. That forces me to train versus buying a book and trying to fit that into my schedule.

With that said, I know Steve Hullfish is working on a book that is titled something like, Avid for FCP users. Haven’t seen it yet.

This book,
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Pro-Training-Final-Editors/dp/0321741927/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321567707&sr=8-1
can help, but I joke that you have to read it backwards.

Hope this helps.

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Ed Cilley]

Depending on how your camera is configured, some sliders may not move smoothly. We shot with a 5D, 70-200mm, matte box and a Marshall monitor. Besides balancing front to back, we also had to balance side-to-side to make sure it would slide smoothly. On some models (like the GlideTrack or iGus do-it-yourself variety) they can tend to bind if using more than just the camera. – At least in our experience. –

We used the Kessler Cineslider https://www.kesslercrane.com/dolly-sliders-s/49.htm and it worked wonderfully.

Ed

_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield