Ron James
Forum Replies Created
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Hmmm….
I suggest you find your serial number. That’s why you’re given two of them when you buy the program, so you don’t lose them.
I’ve got mine backed up in text also. And no I won’t send it to you.
:O)
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God I love Apple.
I’ve always been an Apple user and Final Cut Pro has been a life-saver for me. Almost everything Apple makes just feels *right* and makes sense to me. I’m baffled as to why anyone would ever want to buy a windoze machine: that dismal grey plastic; those cheap components; that terrible interface; all those errors; etc, etc.
I’ve been forced to work on Avid and Windoze boxes for the past few months and I’m going BATTY. The calculator comment made me laugh, because it’s so true.
I don’t care who loves Avid and why, but man I cannot wait to get back to FCP! And, if I can help it, I’ll never touch an Avid again (and never again have to Custom Sift to find something).
To me, Avid is windoze-inspired. It just feels like 1980’s PC to me. FCP is so elegant, as is Tiger. One thing that makes me happy, though, the windoze boxes provide distraction for hackers and viruses, so I don’t have to deal with it.
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Yes, in fact, you can digitize across TC breaks and it’s really the only logical way to deal with TOD timecode when you’ve got, say, 100 breaks on a tape.
Make sure, of course, you’ve got FCP set to create a new clip at TC breaks and it will perform like a champ. I recently did a show with three cameras running matching TOD for probably 30 tapes in total. The TC matched perfectly and the multiclips were bang on. Just make sure no two tapes have the same name with same TC, obviously.
On the other hand, I’ve worked on some machines (a G5 single proc, for example) that can’t seem capable of coping with recent versions of FCP, so they’ve had TC problems (meaning, not matching the source). I tested this when I noticed the problem and the results were very similar to what you’re saying: various, inconsistent offsets. The only solution was to log smaller chunks to minimize drift, match your clips to the source ALWAYS and modify any mistakes to match the tape. More annoying, though, sometimes clips had drift. There isn’t anything you can do about that, as far as I know, except maybe modify your TC somewhere in the middle so the beginning and end are only slightly off. Annoying.
Another important note: make sure you’re not multitasking while capturing, that FCP is the only thing open and it’s only being used for digitizing at that time. Start the Mac fresh before capturing and reboot every couple of hours.
What kind of hardware are you using?
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NM
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My pleasure. Just a little something I picked up from Walter. Hope it helps.
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Those are definitely good points! I just thought I was missing something performance-related.
I work on multiple FCP-towers on the job, but at home I have an Intel iMac and I love it. It’s actually a lot snappier than the G5’s I work on, and works beautifully with FCP.
I’d love to have a MacBook, too, though! Just make sure you fill it with the max amount of RAM.
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That’s why I suggest making a self-contained clip. It only needs to be a 10 seconds or so, and then you can just use it over and over and easily file it away on your HD for future use.
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Wow, I just checked out an Edirol unit at B&H and it’s a lot cheaper than I expected!
Question: does anyone know if there’s a way to use an XLR mic with this (only has 1/8 minijack in, and a built-in mic) without having to lug around a Beachteck type device?
Here’s the link, if you’re interested:
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I’ve been on FCP since version 1.0 and one thing has never changed:
the database is its biggest weak spot.
You need to split your project up. First, I wouldn’t have a timeline 12 hours long. That sounds unmanageable, to say the least.
Second, you should plunk your sequences into a new project file and delete them from the one that contains all your clips. The only drawback to this is the fact (I’m pretty sure) that you’re going to break the master/affiliate relationships. Perhaps you could, then, take only relevant clips and have different project files for each sequence and clip set.
The point is, your project file is too bloated. Some people mistake that for file size, but I’m talking database.
My workflow would avoid this scenario altogether. Is there any reason why you can’t dump a bunch of stuff or be more selective?
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[Bob Vick] “I do have a core dual Intel Imac but I wouldn’t use that for editing unless forced to.”
What’s the difference? An iMac is essentially a MacBook Pro re-jigged for a desktop.