[Mark Smith]

I understand your point completely. coming from the camera side of the world we have the same arguments about our tools (cameras) and at the same time there is a visible difference in the end result from the camera choices we make., Not so with editing platforms, and I’m just musing about that.
in my own editing work, the little that I do, I use FCPX which I find speedy and efficient. Premiere might actually better or worse in some respects, I don’t know because I don’t use it. However if some one asked me to cut something but it was going to be in FCP legacy, I know I would put up an argunebt against that.

[Mark Smith]

I love these arguments about invisible things. While I understand that editors may be passionate about their tools and their preference for certain tools that enable their work, in the end no one watching lets say “Homeland” is thinking ‘oh wow this episode that was cut on Premier is so awesome’ .

Mark Smith
DP & wannabe editor

[Mark Smith]

Apple survived after a non-stop decade of people certain they’d go out of business…and has managed to do okay in the decade since they turned the corner. I doubt that Avid has the equivalent of an iPod waiting in the wings, but then again, neither does BMW, and they seem to be in it for the long haul.

“Apple IS doing Ok?'”

I would suggest that Avid is a rounding error in Apple’s catering budget, which has nothing to do with how good their software is for certain types of work.

[Mark Smith]

if you can’t cable in both genlock and TC , TC alone will work but the cameras won’t be iin perfect sync as the vertical interval will likely be off. Does this matter ? not so much. There are Lockit boxes which hold very precise time code and can be used to pass TC to the camera. There is also Tentacle sync boxes which are far less expensive than Locki boxes, smaller and generally more efficient and perform the same function of acting as an external time code clock for cameras . I’ve used those a few times recently with success.

None of this really addresses why FCPX is not seeing your P2 clips as one long spanned clip. For some reason the app doesn’t see the metadata which tells the NLE “this is all one clip”.

[Mark Smith]

Bob’s question is perfectly valid as we all hurtle into the future. It used to be that entry costs were barriers- remember buy a SD Sony 600 or equivalent for $40K and then a lens or two and some batteries, tripod etc?
Cost of entry has tumbled so a lot more people can get in and buy an amazing camera for a fraction of the price 20 years ago.
I’m a DP first and travel quite a bit for work especially the last few years. and have had occasion to hire crew all over the US. I can tell you that even with the lower cost of entry the talent pool is pretty thin in a lot of places, thinner than even I imagined it would be. Once you’re out of major markets, the amount of crew that is available for hire is pretty inexperienced or has largely done one thing as the basis of their professional experience. I’m talking shooting side now.

On the editorial side the picture is a little different because even if you’re cutting wedding videos in Nashville, you’re getting seat time with the tools and can get pretty good at using them even though from a story perspective, you’re doing the same thing over and over again. One of the key things I have found about working in this business is getting experience in many different situations whether it is editing or shooting or what ever your chosen field of endeavour may be.Unfortunately this thing – widely varied experience in one’s chosen field is not easily bought. You have to make some horrible mistakes that might cost you a client or two a long the way, and you have to survive doing what you’ve chosen to do long enough to be compensated in away that is sustainable.

So while some barriers to entry have been lowered like the cost of an NLE license and some hardware to run it on, or the cost of a Canon C300 and some support gear, relative to what those things might have cost in the past, the time and persistence to acquire the skill set and business relationships to support oneself and make a decent living in the biz hasn’t really changed.

[Mark Smith]

Fat 32 has a max file size limit of 4GB which can bring some pain with it when working with large files . Try formatting Ex fat ….

[Mark Smith]

ITs funny- coming from a non audio editing background and having spent some time editing in FCP7 , I find FCPX so much easier in handling audio edits. Almost from day 1 i was amazed at how easy it was to make precise auidio edits and if I did end up with a click or pop, I could easly rub it out in a very precise manner, especially compared to FCP7. I suppose it all comes down to how one is used to working.

[Mark Smith]

by back fire I mean that when I invoke the ‘keywords dictation on’ service, the notes that I dictate might name a favorite, might create a keyword or might do nothing. Rarely if ever do the notes end up in the notes field. Very Frustrating.
On aside note- I FB messaged the creator of FCPXTRA asking for some guidance, but no answer as of yet.

[Mark Smith]

I am beginning to suspect that the system I am running for FCPX might be ‘too fast” . I have a new iMac with top of the line processor and the right processor option selected but the app still back fires.

What kind of system are you running X on and does Xtra work as expected on your system?

[Mark Smith]

Yep and If one is taking money from people for a product having a customer service link or contact on the site where the sale takes place would seem to be the right thing to do.

My next question is : how is FCP XTRA working for you? I’ve tried trashing everything, reinstalling etc. and I have the same result which is FCPX does really work….. But I can see that it would be really useful if it did.