[Ron Thompson]

Whats Up Walter,
Color Finese 2 is working fine for me. I use it as a plug in for FCP, and it’s responsive and fast (DP 2Ghz G5). Not sure if the MacPro is the reason why you’re seeing slower performance. Maybe not optimized?? Dunno.
I color correct mainly with FCP’s 3-Way CC and use CF2 for more complex shots that require a little more attention.
You get RT output to an external monitor via Kona and changes are seen in real time.
Only downfall: requires rendering, and view option needs to be toggled after using CF for Kona to get control again.

I would like to spring for the external control surface, but I’ll wait to see what Apple does with Final Touch.

Overall, in a broadcast environment, I am very happy with Color Finesse.

Ron

RIOT Productions
G5, Kona LH, Atto UL4D, FCP5, QT 7.

[Ron Thompson]

Its not a plug-in but, If you can, get a Mackie Control Surface. The timecode is displayed on nice bright red LED’s, and stays in sync with FCP via USB to MIDI interface. In addition to flying faders and RT mixing, you also gain handy transport controls and jog wheel that works seamlessly with FCP, Soundtrack, and Logic Pro.
https://www.mackie.com/products/mcu/index.html

Ron

RIOT Productions
G5, Kona LH, Atto UL4D, FCP5, QT 7.

[Ron Thompson]

I’m a fan of Post…one of the few I subscribe too…But you’re right, this month’s COW mag has been a real page-turner. Workflow is huge in this changing business…and something I’m working on now. It was nice reading the various articles about it.

Nice job.
Ron

[Ron Thompson]

I just picked up a CalDigit drive to help with workflow over here. I am now running to systems for a show I’m doing. (LH and IO)
I would suggest, for $5000, pick up a couple of S2VR HD Raids and swap footage that way. Big Storage! They Work! They’re Mobile! and Inexpensive!
Not to mention you can configure them for various protection levels if needed. Setup a copy overnight if needed to duplicate footage–or as someone mentioned, project file or XML swapping.

For 2 systems I was quoted $12,000+…so a SAN was not an option for me, for what I do.

As a Medea and Huge owner, I can say the CalDigit is right up there.

Ron

[Ron Thompson]

I’ll second that! Love the Kona, but could definitely use mixed codecs and RT alpha.
I think the theory earlier was FCP would eventually suppoort this natively. I think Avid does now, so who knows.

[Ron Thompson]

Software relaunch and hardware restarts solve a lot of litte weird things that may pop up. I guess you should be thankful you can’t duplicate the issue.

On the DMR, you can get VHS out of the component? I have the 45 version of that deck and it only plays DVD out of that output. Any special setting, or is it automatic?

(or maybe its a PAL thing).

Ron

[Ron Thompson]

LOL…here I thought I was breaking news. I just read all the replies on the Silicon Color forum. I didn’t even know the COW had one….funny, it says “NEW” next to it.

After reading the replies, I guess I’m glad I bought Synthetic Aperture now. A great app for complex correction, but like you, I’ve also been delivering a lot of shows with 3-way CC and Broadcast Safe filters. Every effective when used correctly.

Should be an interesting 6 months.

Take care
Ron

[Ron Thompson]

Good news for the stock 🙂 Its made a nice move the last couple of weeks.
I should have bought more when it was in the $50 range….I could have had a “free” Mac Pro.

Did you see they bought Final Touch? What do you think?

Sucks for me…I just bought Synthetic Aperture2….Great app, but I didn’t spring for the $3000 control surface.
I know you’re a big fan of FinalTouch (nice article, by the way)…do you think this will be a major addition to FCP6?

[Ron Thompson]

Yeah, I was wondering that too when I install 3.2. LH is basically AJA’s SD card, and Kona 2 and 3 is their High Def card (yes, I know all cards do both formats). So you would think an SD to SD conversion would fit the LH community better than the HD folks who run Kona 2 and 3’s. Maybe in the future we can see this on the LH card?????

[Ron Thompson]

Thanks Bob.

Good point. And by 2008 we’ll all be delivering for You Tube and iPods anyway.
A $35,000 monitor today would be a poor investment I guess.

Ron