[Matt Larson]

Just a thought: I sent them a digital file to make the dub from. Is it possible they are not adding setup when they lay it off? Is that what it would look like?

[Matt Larson]

>>Do you have any thoughts on where I could learn more on day to day issues?

Read through the XRAID board at apple.com (in the Support>Discussions section). Loads of “Issues” there!

[Matt Larson]

There is a program called “Maintenance” that I found on the Apple Downloads page that seems to work pretty well.

For the XRAID, I always “Condition Drive Array” when I have time (it takes about 24 hours and can but can be performed in the Background). You can select it from the RAID Admin Utility under “Utilities”. I always see a noticible performance increase afterwards.

[Matt Larson]

Thought I’d share a little trick I learned at NAB a couple years ago to really evaluate compression using FCP:
Make a new sequence. Put your original Uncompressed clip on track 1. Put the DVCProHD file from Compressor on track 2 and make sure the two clips are in sync with each other. control+click the clip on track 2 and change the “composite mode” to “difference”.

Basically what you end up with is the “Difference” between the two clips, pixel for pixel. All of the areas that are true black (it helps to look at it in a scope) are exactly the same between the two files. If you get pixels that are brighter than black, it means the color has shifted somewhat during the compression.

[Matt Larson]

I asked this same question in the AE forum and was told to render into Animation codec from AE, bring that into FCP and rerender into DVCProHD.

My workflow for this so far, and I have been too busy to investigate any other options, is to render to 8-bit uncompressed from AE and import that into FCP (“stretching” the video from a 1280×720 square comp to a rendered 960×720 file on export). I bring that in to FCP and render to DVCProHD and edit away. No color shift. Then, when I’m going to export from FCP, I dupe my sequence, and change the new seq settings to 8-bit and render any DVCProHD footage to 8-bit uncompressed, then export.

I’ll repost if I find a more straightforward solution. I should also add I am not using the latest drivers or Quicktime and I’m on 10.3.9. I will be updating my system soon however.

[Matt Larson]

Gotcha, thanks for clearing that up.

[Matt Larson]

use the Z keyto bring up the magnifying glass. Shift+Z to see the whole timeline. Try the “h” key with the timeline selected and you’ll get the hand tool. Use keyboard shortcuts and you will be able to edit without a mouse in no time.

[Matt Larson]

Google MPEG StreamClip

Use that to make a Quicktime with audio to import into FCP

[Matt Larson]

Yep, tone at -20dB and keep your audio peaks to -12dB. DO NOT let them go above -10dB on the Final Cut meters!

[Matt Larson]

Go to archive.org and click on Moving Images. The Prelinger archive is a treasure trove of old public domain footage