[Mike Cohen]

The overclocking has been OFF for a while, it turns out.
As for the external storage, this gives no problems 99% of the time. I have a stack of 25 SATA drives full of problem free projects.

So what has changed?

We recently started using 1TB drives, instead of 500 GB drives. But it was not until the 1TB drive started filling up that I got problems – so that could be part of the problem with stability.

I’ll keep an eye on things.

Mike

PS – the internal SATA drives sounds like a good idea. The active projects on external drives lets us move projects around the office, or take work home.

[Mike Cohen]

do you suppose they licensed the music? That could cost $50,000 right there. Probably not however.

[Mike Cohen]

Look for a coffee maker – the old bun-o-matic variety, and unplug it. Those things use a lot of amps.

If there is a computer turned on in a room you are in, ask to turn it off.

Find a bathroom or kitchen area, those are good for an extra circuit usually (unless you are in my condo, in which the bathroom, bedroom and garage are all on the same gfi circuit.)

Bring lots of extension cords, and adequate gaffer tape to make these cables safe.

Make sure you are insured in case something gets damaged as a result of tripping a breaker. This happened to us just recently – a computer in another part of the building was damaged. Again, things are not wired according to current codes in older buildings.
Whenever possible ask for someone ahead of time who knows the electrical system – custodians may know these things.

[Mike Cohen]

About the only time I hear the word AVID or Final Cut is when someone from an ad agency or a PR person is talking the talk. That’s fine.

“So, do you use Avid?” they ask.
“We use Premiere,” I reply.
“Oh,” they reply.

or

“Is this like an Avid?” they ask.
“Yep, it’s like an Avid,” I reply.
“Cool, we used these when I worked at WXYZ News back in the late 90’s” they say.

The end of the story is, can you give the clients what they want. If the client wants a finished DVD, and they don’t care how it gets from your camera to their hands, then use what you want to get there.

If your client says at the outset “I need the Avid project file and assets because…” then you should know this ahead of time, and take your projects accordingly.

Now if you have a client who says “The DVD is great. Can I have the Avid files on a DVD?” having never said this during the whole project, and you don’t have Avid files, just say “we don’t work on Avids. If you tell me what you need to do with the project in the future, I can get you what you need.”

Etc.

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

depends where on the web and for what audience.
If uploading to YouTube, try the h.264 YouTube setting.
If you are posting files on your own website, try Windows Media or Flash FLV (you will need a SWF player).
Give us more details about how the video will be used. There is no one size fits all on the web.
Although Flash is getting there.
Mike

[Mike Cohen]

make sure you place the title on a video track above the video, do not drag the title on top of the video, as you will over write the video, and see black as you describe. Remember, Premiere has unlimited video tracks. If you are used to using Movie Maker or iMovie, it is a whole new world for you.

[Mike Cohen]

Mac vs PC – Betamax vs VHS – the endless spitting match continues.
The bottom line big picture question is, can you make money with it?
If the answer is yes, then use what you like using.
if the answer is no, then perhaps you are in a segment of the business in which FCP is what you need. You need to compare apples to apples (the fruit, not the computer).
If one guy says “FCP is the industry standard. You can’t get a job using Premiere.” Perhaps this is true for some jobs, but then you talk to a guy who says “We use Premiere every day and make all of our projects with it and our clients are happy” then that answers your question.
Mike

[Mike Cohen]

I think just compression, or just digitizing, is too limiting.
In 1997 perhaps a MPEG encoding business might have had a chance, but as others have mentioned, compression and archiving is generally an in-house capability, and different formats of the final video are just part of the services production companies offer.
Is your background in production – in other words, how are you currently making a living?
Certainly identifying a need for a unique business in your area would be great, but be careful you do not create a business without a need for it.
Mike

[Mike Cohen]

Sounds like the GoArmy.com website, where you view 2 minute segments for each of the 60 jobs you can have in the Army. That was probably a $500,000+ job for a contractor.
I look at GSA RFPs once in a while, and all of the video projects usually have about 20+ bidders, so good luck jumping into that process.
That being said, we have done a few government video jobs and they can be profitable if you realistically bid. Just be careful as the others have said.
Good luck.

[Mike Cohen]

we have used Firstcom forever. It costs about $1200 a year, but their music sounds the least porn-like of any of the libraries I have evaluated. Occasionally a client says “the music sounds outdated” but everyone is entitled to their opinion.