[Rick Lang]

Thanks for your comment. Craig is right though, best to walk the client through the process over the phone if possible.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

I believe the list of certified cameras refers to cameras that Apple has verified. They do mention that most HDV/DV cameras that transfer data to the computer via Firewire will work. Since this Sony HVR-V1U camera does work with Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express, I think it should work. Can’t guarantee it but you might research on Apple Discussions or other online forums. If you are buying this from a third-party perhaps you can strike an arrangement where you are allowed to verify it will work with FCP X before completing the purchase.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

Robin, are right that the client needs to copy the HDV media in the Finder to the hard disk drive (or thumb drive) the client plans to give you. If it is possible, you could walk the client through the steps just by referring to the Help file. There’s no real manual yet, but when you load this link below in your web browser, in the upper right corner, you’ll see a printer icon—click that and it will load the entire PDF in the browser ready for printing. Then you can save it to your desktop (Save as PDF) rather than physically printing the file.

Here’s the link to the FCP X Help screens:
https://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.0/?lang=en

Import Steps:

• Launch FCP X;
• Connect the camera to the computer with the Firewire cable;
• Turn on the camera in playback mode with the tape rewound to the beginning of the clips he wants to send to you;
• In FCP X, select menu item Import from Camera;
• Chose when prompted to Create New Event—could call it Robin or something meaningful to the client;
• Make sure the option Create Optimized Media is not selected (so FCP X will store only the HDV media); all other options can also be deselected;
• Click Import and FCP X will import the HDV media until you Stop Import or run out of clips on the tape.

If there is more than one tape, the second and subsequent tape imports will not be to a new event presumably; the client will tick the selection Add to Existing event “Robin” and then carry on…

In Finder, search for the name of the unique Event that was used to store the media, such as “Robin”;
Drag the Event folder “Robin” to the external hard disk or thumb drive to copy all the media for you;
Drag the external disk to the Trash in order to eject it safely.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

[Rick Lang] “My vote is the rude FCP X Trash Talk or the gentile FCP X Feedback but these should be in addition to a general FCP X Forum for thoughtful things that are not suitable for the superb FCP X Techniques.”

Apologies, I meant to say “genteel”, not “gentile!”

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

Yes, captured live HDV from my HDV Canon HV20 tape based camera into iMovie where iMovie controlled all capture functions. Seems it would work fine in FCP X in spite of no mention in the Help.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

[Craig Seeman] “I’d give it a go before dismissing it. It sure sees my webcam live.”

True enough re the iSight camera (or Facetime camera I guess it’s called now). Can someone confirm it works with HDV live capture in FCP X? The manual says nothing specific about that as it only refers to tape.

I also have the original iSight camera that connects via Firewire but I need to take a look at the Canon HV20—pretty sure it does support live capture to a computer in principal but have not tried it obviously since my computer is a desktop and didn’t seem practical to me to use that functionality. Not many weddings and concerts are going to occur in my home office! Thanks for the note, Craig.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

The current forum is a mix of valuable and questionable content (my opinion of course) so it’s worth reading as is. Would be considerate if there was a forum that was only used for trash talking and the exploration of non-Apple alternatives to FCP X. I wonder if the AVID and Adobe forums are full of posts about people dumping on AVID and Adobe as they jump to Apple that isn’t afraid to “think different?” I know there’s lots missing at this time, but you know I’m only referring to the things that are different and better!

Then those who have made up their minds that FCP X is worthless can enjoy kudos from their peers and those who think it’s worthwhile can save a lot of time by ignoring the forum. If you are open-minded of course you’ll continue to read it.

My vote is the rude FCP X Trash Talk or the gentile FCP X Feedback but these should be in addition to a general FCP X Forum for thoughtful things that are not suitable for the superb FCP X Techniques.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

[James Bayliss-Smith] “Does FCP X handle HDV differently to 7 or is it always better to transcode to ProRes with HDV for editing?”

Rather than try to edit in HDV in FCP X, I believe Philip Hodgetts has said it is better to transcode HDV to Apple ProRes 422; ProRes422 (HQ) is also an option but Philip has said you won’t likely see a benefit so the increased bitrate may not be worth it.

In FCP X, your Import from Camera is ingesting from HDV tape previously recorded; I don’t believe there’s support in FCP X to capture the video in HDV live from the camera.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

Good idea. If this Show Events on Second Display can be combined with Shower Viewer on a Second Display, then you could have a very nice three-screen setup in your office, with a high quality large secondary Viewer and the iPad for touch control of Events and a lot of main computer real estate for the detailed view of your Timeline on the main computer.

Hopefully less eye strain too as now that height of clips can be larger and/or the number of ‘tracks’ you view at the same time in the Timeline will be much more likely to show all your ‘tracks’ without scrolling up and down in most projects.

https://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.0/#vere9ba37ce

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

Doesn’t seem to be an automated normalize audio feature in FCP X. That might speed up your audio edit considerably.

Now if you were using iMovie, you’d have a normalize audio function in the Inspector to set your volume levels very quickly. Just one more missing function as Apple appears to have dropped useful functions from iMovie. Maybe in a future update…

8^)

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB