[Matt M, pa]

Well guys…sometimes things work out.

I was able to buy FC Studio with FCP 7 by calling Apple directly. So..we should be good to go. Thanks for all the thoughts.

I had heard that X was bad…but this is crazy that it doesn’t support external video playback.

[Matt M, pa]

Well guys….another update and not quite what I expected.

I spoke with Blackmagic who admitted that the Ultra Studio 3D will not playback smooth video to an external monitor with FCP X. It WILL work with FCP 7…which Apple does not offer anymore.

Great.

[Matt M, pa]

OK guys…some progress.

I got an external G Drive running on Firewire. I’ve placed the media there and it plays back fine in Quicktime Player.

Still a bit jerky…though not as bad in FCPX. Perhaps I have some setting in Blackmagic off?

[Matt M, pa]

I am using the single internal drive for the video..and perhaps that’s part of the problem.

The Blackmagic unit we have is connected via Thunderbolt, not USB.

Thanks for the help guys…and now another problem has raised it’s head. I downloaded the Thunderbolt update (thinking perhaps this could be part of the problem) and now almost an hour later I have a grey screen and the segmented circle. I guess a trip to the Apple store is in order in the AM. Arg.

[Matt M, pa]

It sure does indeed sound like most of my issues are related to RED. Since posting, and completely re-installing all programs, OS< etc. I know cannot get my OS9 partition to be recognized and some MAC experts are telling me that my controller is no good. The last rep I spoke to said that this drive should be no problem. I am using the latest version of the firmware for the ATTO card, Quick Time 6.3, and the cards are installed the way MEdia 100 suggests. Finally, I have trashed the prefs more than once.

[Matt M, pa]

Thanks! Here is some more….

Crashing can occur as often as every few minutes, or hours apart. One day last week, it must have gone down 40 times over the course of the day.

I have seen it crash when; previewing in RED, opening RED (as Media 100 plug-in), while returning to Media 100 from RED, while opening settings in RED, while exporting from RED, when rendering with Media 100 (RED comp). Other programs have also crashed, but not with this frequency.

We have a new 160gig internal drive, and an older CTI array. I have set it to use the internal drive, or external array…still crashes. We have the ATTO Express PCI Pro UL3P SCSI card as suggested by Media 100. Firmware is 1.6.6.

The G4 is located off the floor, with no obstructions. I also would doubt heat as an issue, as it crashed lots this morning…and this afternoon was better.

The only other MAC I have is a 9600-350…not very useful here.

Apple thought this was either the hard drive or the Vincent board. I have run the Apple hardware test…nothing found there.

I have just downloaded the latest RED update to try. It seems that RED is in many of the issues the machine has, but tech support at RED seems to think it is Media 100. MEdia 100 tech support has been exemplary..but the problem presists.