[Matt Gorney]

I’m liking the no frills approach. If I see another bullet point graphic with overcrowded, hard to read text I will scream.

[Matt Gorney]

We have all our apps and OS on the system HD and store everything else on a G-drive quad external 800/400/Sata/USB drive. On the external drive we have a folder template that lists as follows:

AE Projects
DVD STudio Files
EDLs
From Client
Graphics
Music
Voice Over
AE Renders
Compressions
Final Cut
Stock Footage
Templates/Prefs

We just copy and paste to make a new project and name it according to our project numbers.

Each of these folders contain the various parts of the project. We add more if necessary, but usually don’t need to. We back up the EDLs everyday to the system HD or other drives like jump drives or our network server.

The Final Cut folder is where we designate the capture scratch.

All files are kept here and we back up those folders to DVD and also make a media manager copy backup which also gets burned to DVD.

I like to keep it all in one place (and make sure it’s backed up).

This method makes re-building or re-editing very easy. It’s not hard to keep clean, but it’s hard to remake something that was managed sloppy.

-Matt

[Matt Gorney]

Hey Bill,
Just re-read your post and I’m sorry for giving you unrelated advice.

You can use Media Manager to do this. Just right click the sequence and go to the Media Manager. This function is a bit tricky so use the manual and you can do exactly what you’re aiming to do.

I misunderestiread myself!

-Matt

[Matt Gorney]

Hi Bill,
I think you misunderestiread me.

“Reconnect” will actually “re-link” your files to where they reside on the drive. Kinda like a website link.

So if you already captured your media, then “reconnect” will just tell your Final Cut System where the files are and connect to them, and thus your sequence will also display those files in your timeline.

It’s not redigitizing.

Sorry for not being more clear the first time.

-Matt

[Matt Gorney]

Go to the bin where the offline files are and just reconnect them. (Right click the file and select reconnect in the menu).

Hope that’s helpful…?

-Matt

[Matt Gorney]

Could be the tape…do you know what camera they used?

Is The tape SECAM, NTSC, PAL?

It doesn’t look like a format issue, but you never know.

Are you working in the same format?

Sometimes when you apply new settings to FCP Projects you must close and restart
the application to get it to work right.

-Matt

[Matt Gorney]

Hey Walter,
I was reading your post on the Apple Survey and noticed your comment on the Media Manager. I’m curious as to how you use the Media Manager. Could you share your workflow/suggestions?

We only use it for backing up projects.

-Matt

[Matt Gorney]

For the price of the FCP Suite, they should include a wmv converter codec
in compressor. It may not be apple’s favorite, but I need it to be in there.

Add up all those “cheap” extras and it starts sucking bad!

-Matt

[Matt Gorney]

I’ve found that Flip4Mac is very slow encoding. (12 min. video takes at least 24 min to encode). We have a quad G5 and it only uses one of the processors to convert.

Also, it’s pricey, at and our version doesn’t allow for customization.

I’ve heard of a couple other things like Popwire, which is 30 bucks, plus another one that I can’t remember right now, but you can search this forum and should find it.

-Matt

[Matt Gorney]

I really like MPEG Streamclip. You can convert right from the VOB file on the DVD to many different formats. Plus it’s freeware.

Here’s a link to that and many other great apps.

https://pure-mac.com/video.html

Good Luck

-Matt