[Nicholas Johnson]

Shoot. I didn’t know it didn’t grab the timecode! That’s horrible…

The breaks are not between shots at all – and at one point FCP just stopped capturing and didn’t giving an error msg (it actually froze the last sequence of video in the capture window but it was frozen as in locked, I could still press ESC to cancel out)

I shot this on a Canon XH A1s in 24f in drop frame – as that’s what I was told to use – but I’m wondering if that somehow is affecting things too…

[Nicholas Johnson]

“WRONG! Internals do! You have it completely backwards. You need to capture to an EXTERNAL drive, not the INTERNAL system drive.”

So do you mean using the external as my capture scratch or actually plugging in the camera to and external drive(which in my head doesn’t make sense…)

I’m running the tape in “capture now” mode and it’s working – so that’s confusing me to why its not dropping frames… but that is not the type of solution I need: babysitting FCP while capturing each clip!

I’ll check the version in a sec, just finishing this “capture now”

[Nicholas Johnson]

ah the hope is to try out 3 scenes:

bar/club scene using LED ice cubes
paddling canoes in the dark with LED or glow sticks
camping/outdoor safety scene with glowsticks

The idea is the company wants to see if I can shoot their product in an effective way (so the glowsticks look great on camera) – so its a test shoot to see if I can do what they need

They have just said in the past they couldn’t get a good light balance with the glow sticks and people both displayed well.

I’m only shooting with a GL2 but I know they’re decent in low light

I will likely be shooting in dark scenes, outside, or near-dusk situations to get a good glow effect

[Nicholas Johnson]

Hey Josh,

ya I tried exporting as a QT file (which exported a-ok) and then creating a new sequence and then exporting as a WMV… audio still shifts 2 frames

I’ve been using the WMV Studio pack – https://dynamic.telestream.net/buy/buy-flip4mac-wmv.asp and then exporting via FCP

When I exporting a short track of video, I included audio, and it didn’t seem to shift. I tested this by importing that exported clip and lining it up with the source sequence file.

Though when I export the full 1-2 minute piece with some basic rendered text and graphics and soundbed, the audio seems to shift 2 frames…again I tested this by importing that file back into FCP and lining it up in the sequence.

Here’s an example of what I’m doing: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=240356394537&ref=mf

It’s pretty difficult to tell that the audio is shifting, especially via a facebook video, but it’s noticeable when you watch it on a 10×15 projection screen =D

I need a WMV file because the program(Media Shout) we’re using to present our media doesn’t handle MOVs and while it can handle an AVI the quality of compression with a WMV is way better.

I’ve tried using an AVI but in order to have decent quality the file size has to be at a certain size, which creates a lag in the MediaShout presenter

What I’ve done as well is to export a hi-res AVI and then use Movie Maker’s compressor on a PC to WMV

[Nicholas Johnson]

Hi Josh,

do you mean when I capture the clip into FCP? I didn’t think it had a compression – isn’t it just DV footage?

I also tried exporting a clip to WMV without music or graphics overtop and it was FINE…boo

So I’m wondering if the basic titles and music I’m using are somehow making the compressor lag?

[Nicholas Johnson]

nope – same deal. about 2 frames off

[Nicholas Johnson]

Hey bro,

got it all figured out – another poster on Apple forums gave me this tip:

To remove an Alpha channel, click the clip in FCP’s Browser and press command & 9 keys.
Look in the first column for the Alpha entry. If in the column to the right it is showing Straight, Black or White, right click that word and choose None/Ignore from the pop up list.

and it worked like a charm – thanks for your direction!

[Nicholas Johnson]

hmmm interesting!

Unfortunately he’s not available until at least monday (and rendering these stupid files has been taking like 10-12 hours!!! I have NO clue why)

BUT I have learned that iMOVIE has no issue with them. It’s funny how iMovie plays files FCP doesn’t all the time… I’m exporting them with next to no compression out of the iMovie and that has seemed to solve the problem. …hmm though I can’t seem to get one file to import now dangit

I will keep the alpha channel in mind…is there anyway to fix that without re-rendering/exporting?

[Nicholas Johnson]

ah I’m not sure – as I am working with a client who has another contractor rendering out the Strata 3D Studio Max files.

I have let him a message asking just that – but I would imagine that this run of renderings would be the same as the previous ones… no guarantees I guess though

****just heard back from him – he used Animation settings to export****

[Nicholas Johnson]

Here we go, uploaded the files separately:

https://www.geocities.com/neveroblivion/GoodShot.jpg

https://www.geocities.com/neveroblivion/BadShot.jpg