[Martin Gaxiola]

I am thinking about outsmarting the system. I think that I can transfer the large video files to a NTFS formated drive via Windows XP on VMWare Fusion. Since I have full access to the Mac hard drive via VMWare Fusion, I should be able to transfer the files that way. I will experiment with this later today and post the results.

I just need to make sure the the QT files are readable via my end-user’s computer.

Mac Pro dual-quad Xeons, 8GB RAM, 1 – 500GB HD, 1 – 750GB HD,
Mac OS X, Dual – 23″ HD Apple Monitors, Mac OS X 10.5

[Martin Gaxiola]

Ok – I think I have found a transfer solution via VMWare Fusion and Windows XP running on the same Mac.

Next Question: What QT codec do I have to convert to for Windows XP to read it? And how do I do this in FCP? (QT Conversion, but what settings?)

Mac Pro dual-quad Xeons, 8GB RAM, 1 – 500GB HD, 1 – 750GB HD,
Mac OS X, Dual – 23″ HD Apple Monitors, Mac OS X 10.5

[Martin Gaxiola]

That is a cool program, but I think that I will be doing this alot in the future.

I do not think that this is a long-term solution for multiple clients.

Any other suggestions?

Mac Pro dual-quad Xeons, 8GB RAM, 1 – 500GB HD, 1 – 750GB HD,
Mac OS X, Dual – 23″ HD Apple Monitors, Mac OS X 10.5

[Martin Gaxiola]

On a related topic – I just completed a somewhat dimly lit dance show and the videographers that I hired locally did a horrible job with the footage. They used 2 – Canon XLH1s and 1 – Sony V1U and shot in HDV 1080i60. I have always used Sony Z1Us for my previous shows and had some great footage in the past that looked exceptional and made post-production very easy.

As I digitize the tapes right now, all of the current footage is grainy and one cameraman did such a horrible job with white balancing that the entire tape is very dark, even in parts where the whole stage was lit up. He also had a difficult time with the manual focus.

My main question is: Using FCS 2, what is going to be the best approach to get all of the footage to look the same in terms of color balance and light exposure? What is my best resources online or elsewhere that will give me the best pointers to try and fix all of this.

Mac Pro dual-quad Xeons, 8GB RAM, 1 – 500GB HD, 1 – 750GB HD,
Mac OS X, Dual – 23″ HD Apple Monitors

[Martin Gaxiola]

Thanks for the feedback. Here was the problem…..ME. I am so used to trying to “outsmart” the computer when it comes to working with video (blame it on my previous history working in Windows) to fix any problem. Of course now that I am in the world of Mac, I am seeing again how user friendly and logical everything is.

The solution was taking my HDV clip sequence in its original state, exporting in FCP6 via Compressor for a SD DVD, then taking that into DVD Studio Pro. Worked like it should with little input from me in DVD studio… and I feel like an idiot. But thanks to the Cow community… you all ROCK!!

[Martin Gaxiola]

Test the camera and the firewire cable (at least two different cables) on another computer. If the other computer still cannot recognize the camera, then there is probably issue with the firewire port on the camera (i.e. dead).

I rented a Z1 and had the same problem on two different machines, two different platforms (TIger and Windows XP) and two different software pkgs (FCS3 and Adobe Premiere 2.0) The firewire port was bad and the video production company told me that happens alot when novice users plug/unplug the firewire cable while the unit is powered on (there is enough of a power surge in the line to short out the connection). When I swapped out the Z1 for a HVR-1500, all worked perfectly.

Good luck!

[Martin Gaxiola]

This really has me interested in a tablet cuz I am starting to hate the mouse as much as it hurts my wrist.

How does the pen emulate all of the mouse buttons? Does this work in any program?

[Martin Gaxiola]

Spoke too soon. I am still having the same problem.

I do have timecode breaks, but not in the middle of the footage where the dropped frames are happening. The footage is of a dance concert and the recording is continuous (so there should not be any intended breaks in the timecode).

[Martin Gaxiola]

Thanks for the tip. I just figured out that I had to turn off the Abort when there is a break in timecode in the user preferences. That was causing FCP to create a new clip at each timecode break. My bad….