[Mark Maness]

Thanks, Walter. I really value your knowledge and expertise on subjects such as this.

[Mark Maness]

Amen to that too!!!! There are some drawbacks to these wonderful boxes of technology. I, too, miss those catnaps. But I have learned that if you over complicate and After Effects project, you can get a nice long nap while its rendering.

[Mark Maness]

Thanks, Walter! But I want to say that I’m shooting in SD video at 16×9, not HD. Can I still do this with the Kona2?

[Mark Maness]

All I’m looking for is support for Sony’s XDCAM. MXF file format support. If I had that, I would need to digitize anymore but I still need to output to whatever.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

Yeah, XDCAM is MPEG2, but what digital format isn’t? DigiBeta has a form of MPEG commpression that Sony created solely for the format. I’m not too sure there is anything out there that can shoot in an uncompressed format. DigiBeta & HDCAM are extremely close but there is still some sort of compression involved. At what point do we need to say that’s enough? Meaning, I’m doing fishing and hunting shows for the Outdoor Channel, do I really need to shoot on DigiBeta if nobody can tell what I’m shoot with. I’d be hard pressed to say that anybody could look at the screen and tell me what digital format am I using (with the except of DV – we all know its a low resolution format) be it DigiBeta, XDCAM, DVCPRO50, IMX, whatever. What it all comes down to, is where will my programs air – DVD, broadcast television, cable, satelite, wherever. It all comes down to MONEY. How much can we spend to get the best quality we can afford.

Sorry for the rant, but I felt that needed to be said.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Strike King Media

[Mark Maness]

You wish has been answered by Sony. Its called the XDCAM HD. Sony is announcing at NAB that they will have a high-def version of the XDCAM system in the very near future. Right now, we might get to see a prototype if we’re lucky. We just bought an SD version of the XDCAM and its great. Its disk based, so no more tapes to bother with. And the menu system is awesome. No more cueing up tapes to the end so when you record that you don’t record over what you just shot. No more tape slack in the field when you shoot out of a helicopter or in a race car. The advantages are enormous! Its awesome!

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Strike King Media

[Mark Maness]

I’m afraid your right about that. But I would imagine that if Avid could incorporate support that maybe Apple could too. I do know that Sony like to keep all their stuff secret. The actual files on the discs use the MXF file format so if Apple could incorporate this we’ll be set for life. The future is moving to a disc based system so why not start applying it now.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Strike King Media

[Mark Maness]

Its a great format but I wish that FCP has direct support for it. Maybe in FCP 5?

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Strike King Media

[Mark Maness]

Here’s an easier way. Install Peak Express. Setup FCP in the System Settings – External Editors – Video Files. Set that to Peak Express. Now, when you right click on a clip in the time line, you’ll select eOpen in Editor. It will open Peak Express and you be able to normalize very easily. Then when you save the file just click save , not save as. Go back into Final Cut Pro and your track will redraw with the new audio.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Strike King Media

[Mark Maness]

Check your poroject setting in LiveType, they need to match the project settings in FCP.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Strike King Media