[Lynette Gilbert]

“when there’s no money for the proper equipment (no matter how much I pester the boss for it), we gotta do what we gotta do.”

Story of my life. I am the only videographer for a non-profit, and budget is a constant source of stress. (It just took me over 6 months to get a new wireless mic.) At times I feel like I’m losing touch with the way that things are actually done in the industry, just because we can’t afford to do it the “right” way. All my equipment (except my computer, which JUST got updated a few months ago) is old. Therefore, I’m constantly having to invent ways to get around problems, so I’m learning all kinds of things that a lot of people probably never have to worry about. So, having limited budget/equipment hinders and helps at the same time. If I didn’t love my job so much, I’d get a job in a post-production house. But I also kind of feel like at this point, I would feel lost in a place where everyone is working with top-of-the-line equipment. I’d love to go to workshops, but without using the knowledge on a regular basis, I don’t know how much I’d get out of it. So instead I lurk around the Cow forums. 🙂

Also, changing the Easy Setup didn’t work, as it said it couldn’t find the external device.

[Lynette Gilbert]

I’ll check them out, thanks!

[Lynette Gilbert]

Argh, I figured it was something to do with the HDness of the file. Thanks! What would you recommend I use instead of the LA?

[Lynette Gilbert]

Darn, I really thought it was magic. Like I said, I’ve never worked with this before, so I’m totally clueless when it comes to the settings for HD.

I definitely don’t have HD monitors, that’s for sure.

Here’s my very basic setup:

Mac Pro OS 10.6.3
2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
FCP 7.0.2
AJAIoLa
Sony DSR-45A

I’ve attached screen shots of my easy setup and sequence settings – let me know if you need to see anything else.

a href=’https://i1.creativecow.net/u/99838/picture2.png’>

[Lynette Gilbert]

I’m sorry that someone suggested you should pass the job by. I didn’t think for a moment that this was something beyond your abilities. I get freelancing jobs all the time where I have to figure out something crazy, and a few times it’s been really strange aspect ratios. It’s never been anything like 720×2560, but my solution usually is to work in both Motion and FCP, and I can usually figure out a solution by playing around with different settings. I have yet to turn down a job because I couldn’t figure out their weird demands, and it usually is because the people on here are so helpful.

But I will add, I’ve had people on Cow make rude remarks to me a few times, too, and it just DOES NOT HELP. Every once in a while there are people here that are total novices, but I personally work in FCP EVERY day, both in my day job and in freelancing. When I have a problem, I’m able to figure it out on my own 99% of the time, but sometimes one needs input from one’s peers. For me, Cow is a last resort after everything else has failed. And I think most people who come here for help are in a similar situation. We are professionals, and even if someone asks a “dumb” question or you think that they are completely clueless, everyone should be treated with respect. We all had to start somewhere, we didn’t just sit down in front of FCP with all the answers.

[Lynette Gilbert]

They’re just regular .mov files that I capture from my DV deck. Same files I’ve been working with for over a year. Nothing spectacular or strange about them!

[Lynette Gilbert]

Just a bunch of regular .mov files at 1920×1080. The projects are several 10- and 15-second commercial tags. The original files are 720×480 and were put into a 1920×1080 timeline (trust me, NOT my decision.)

I was exporting to 1920×1080, but I’d already exported similar sequences in the same project about a dozen times to the same settings without a problem.

It happened three times, and each time something different worked – once it was by making a new project (restarting didn’t work), one by simply restarting (making a new project didn’t work), and once I tried everything, none of it worked, and then on my 3rd or 4th attempt it suddenly exported.

However, when I put the files on my home computer, I had zero problems, and my home computer actually has less memory assigned to FCP than my work computer.

[Lynette Gilbert]

I take it back. I just had the same thing happen, and I cannot get it to work with making a new project or restarting.

[Lynette Gilbert]

Just got the Error: Out of Memory message for the first time EVER today for no apparent reason (tiny 15-sec project with only 1 clip that needed rendering.) I was getting it only after trying to export as a QT file.

Thanks for the advice on copying into a new project – I was able to export after creating a brand new project. How crazy is that!

As always, Creative Cow saved my sanity once again.

[Lynette Gilbert]

I bet that’s it – I had nothing to do with the computer’s assembly, installations, etc. – Mac Specialist was just supposed to configure it like our last computer. I contacted our IS guy and told him the problem. He had no clue what I was talking about, but said he’d contact Mac Specialist and hopefully they’ll be able to get this corrected ASAP.

Thank you – I didn’t know where to start with this one.