[Ron James]

[MHancock (promoboy)] “Your client can capture in whatever resolution they want on their Media Composer (say, the highest resolution they can), then transcode to an external drive at DV25. You take that drive and edit with it on XPress DV.”

What’s the proper method for getting this media into Xpress DV or (in my case) Xpress Pro, then? Just a straightforward import? Or drag it into a bin?

Question, when you import Avid OMF or QuickTime DV25 movies into a new (unrelated) project, does it recompress it? Or simply “repackage” it with its naming scheme?

[Ron James]

[Jon Zanone] “you can drag the FX icon from the top right of the effect editor window into your bin. Holding the option key (assuming you are on a Mac) will copy the effect without bringing the media with it (or it could be the command key – my mac seat time is limited these days).”

Ah, cool! I’ll have to try that. It would definitely be a helpful thing.

BTW, no, I’m on a windoze machine, unfortunately. If we were on Mac’s, we’d have only a fraction of the downtime due to tech snafu’s.

When I say a text card, I just mean a frame of text. A single title. Or, more accurately in my case, a placeholder for something that will be put there in the future. For example, if there’s going to be a graphic in the upper corner of frame, I’ll put a text placeholder there that describes what the graphic is going to be (ie – a monkey water skiing) and it would have all the parameters in place already.

Thanks very much for the tip. This is the kind of stuff I crave so that I can work faster. And I didn’t see ANYTHING like that in the Avid documentation or in the Monohan book I purchased.

I’ll post back to let you know how it worked for me.

All the best,

James

[Ron James]

Well, I found the quickest way to do this (that I know of, so far)is to just copy and paste the text card within the timeline, then open the card via FX Editor and change the text. Quick and easy.

Please let me know if there’s an even quicker way. I like to be as fast as possible.

[Ron James]

[Jon Zanone] “A Final Cut Pro user would disagree, and usually with much voracity.”

Come on now, take it easy on us FCP users! ;O)

I’ve been an FCP user since v.1, so it’s understandable that I like it better. I’ve been working on a TV show on an Xpress Pro station for a couple months now, though. I still love FCP, but I’d never say one or the other is the ultimate. Like others are saying, it really depends on your workflow, your way of thinking and your personal preference.

I love FCP because it just makes sense to me. But I’ve also been an Apple user for as long as I’ve had computers, so that might have something to do with it.

Contrary to your statement in the thread below, though, Jon, I’m a big keyboard user. I hate having to mouse and FCP is actually much faster when working the keyboard, but you’ve got to know the commands (of course). I actually find I’m mousing more in Xpress Pro, but that’s probably b/c I’m a newbie and haven’t even customized my settings yet.

Bottom line: what works for you is best. And they’re all just tools to achieve the ultimate goal: content!

I’ve got to say, I’m very thankful for the generous people on this forum. If you really can’t decide what software you want to cut with, ask yourself what kind of support community there is for it, because that becomes invaluable.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

[Ron James]

My 2 cents…

The most important thing you can do is learn proper FCP workflow. It’s the little things that catch up with you later on. I’m not sure what background you have, but the number one thing I do when training Avid editors on FCP is break their habits. FCP is a much more elegant piece of software (IMO, so relax Avid fanboys) but it still has its own quirks and sore spots. The main weak point is the database, meaning a bad workflow can really bloat an FCP project which only leads to problems. You want to be organized in your media management and sequence building. I’d recommend using one project for capturing all your media (if we’re talking a lot of media) then do all your selects, etc, then take what you need (selects sequences and source files) into a new project, then all over again when you’re arriving at your Fine Cut.

This might be too much information, but workflow is the most important thing, IMO.

Good Luck! One great thing about Final Cut Pro is the community. A very generous bunch of people, from my experience.

[Ron James]

Also, try taking all your media offline, then open the project. Just put an X at the end of your Capture Scratch folders, or something similar, so the material will show up offline when you open. It might be a render file problem. Wouldn’t be the first.

[Ron James]

I’m not Bogiesan, but…

I’ve gotten great results with Compressor…AFTER realizing that the Gamma needs to be adjusted.

At first, I was getting milky blacks, and this made artifacts much more noticeable than they should be of course (like in areas of shadow, for instance).

I now adjust the Gamma to 1.2 and also tweak the contrast depending on the material.

I’ve gotten great results with even a CBR of 6.1 (to ensure most DVD players will be able to handle it). I also use a VBR with a peak of 7.1. Of course, I sometimes need to adjust depending on the material.

[Ron James]

Does it work, though? I seem to remember last time you could download it, but the installer wouldn’t complete. Weird.

[Ron James]

The only other thing I can think of is to check your render/rt quality and force full renders everytime (so there’s no real-time happening). Or, when doing a render, go into the render menu and select a full render (I find option-r doesn’t do it, as I would expect it to) and do an audio mixdown.

Hope this helps…

[Ron James]

Sharpie makes CD/DVD safe markers, so why not just get one to be safe?