[Ross Daly]

Hi Chuck!
[Chuck Purnell] “One more question. If I do change the codec from within FCP do you think I would have to go back to Mpeg streamclip and convert the clips all over again with a new conversion codec as well?”

Yep, your sequence settings need to match your footage settings exactly for the fastest playback/rendering/etc. I would let fcp auto detect the settings when you drag your first clip into the timeline. ProRes or even animation would work as a test. It does sound like it may be hardware if it stops and starts unpredictably.

Just for fun, I’ll also ask why you are using streamclip and not the canon fcp plugin. Also I’ve never used a psf format. That struck me as odd seeing as the footage is true progressive. Good luck, I’d love to hear what you find out.

_Ross

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•You Down With FCP?

[Ross Daly]

After you modify one clip I would copy and paste attributes in the rest. It does seem strange that you have to do that so frequently though…

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•You Down With FCP?

[Ross Daly]

I’ve got three options for you!

One that we use at work is called Interdubs. They have all kinds of features, I haven’t really scratched the surface yet, but it has a web interface, delivery receipt, secure login. all kind of stuff. It is paid though. https://interdubs.com

Secondly, if it is realtime then the ichat theater is always a cool feature. It is very often overlooked.

Lastly I have a post up on how to create a secure podcast. You could have them configure their itunes to auto download new updates and have a password protected directory o your webserver. It’s a few steps, but it’s free provided you already have a server!
Check that out here. https://blog.youdownwithfcp.com/2010/02/22/ipod-dailies-secure-podcast-how-to/

Good luck! You have a lot of options, hopefully one fits your needs.

Oh! BONUS ANSWER!
Turn directory browsing off on your server and give it a long directory name, it’s not 1000% safe, but someone would have to try very very hard to guess every possible filename combination to find

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•You Down With FCP?

[Ross Daly]

I say go for it with maybe three caveats;

1) never let these low level jobs take away from your hunger to find and go after better, more rewarding work (both financially and opportunity-wise).

2) Find ways to cut your 4 hours per video down, but don’t let that become “your style” No one wants to be known for being the fastest sloppy editor around.

3) Stop once your reel is not being benefited. You are doing a disservice to yourself and others by editing at such a low rate. Those kind of jobs are best left to excruciatingly hungry high school students. At some point it will become clear that ~$13/hr pays you less than volunteering to crew local productions or attend networking events.

And don’t take this as an insult. I think we have all taken work that wasn’t perfect, but was a tiny step in the right direction. Aim for each and every step to be in the right direction and you will eventually get there.

_Ross

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•You Down With FCP?

[Ross Daly]

As far as I know, I don’t think it is possible. I would love to be proven wrong though…

_Ross

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•You Down With FCP?

[Ross Daly]

Howdy Chuck!
I have more questions than answers, but I bet we’ll get there.

Do you have any render bars on your timeline?
Will the video playback smoothly in quicktime?
If you switch the color mode to rgb or 8 bit, what happens?
Where is your scratch located?
Lastly, if you encode a few clips to straight up prores what happens on playback?

I took a spin around the googles and found a few other people having similar problems.
https://forum.matrox.com/mxo/viewtopic.php?p=8909&sid=2a1a26f3c00519863307e99174176329
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/132/858324

That creative cow link above seems to be suggesting to use DVCPRO HD. On a personal note, I have been editing 7D footage converted to prores on a macbook without dropping frames, so I am really shocked that your setup with a faster drive, processor AND stocked with RAM is having troubles.

There are probably a few ways to fix this, but I think all of them involve picking a new codec.

_Ross

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•You Down With FCP?

[Ross Daly]

One other thing you can do is to turn the rubber bands on, turn the opacity of the problem clip down, force a render, then turn them back up and re-render.
Sometimes forcing that re-render helps to clean out the cache without having to trash everything.

_Ross

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•You Down With FCP?

[Ross Daly]

Errol,
If you have fcp6 or higher you can use “send to > compressor” instead of the older method. That will let you batch multiple sequences, but not let you preview them as fcp is busy feeding compressor data. Alternatively, you could export each one via quicktime movie and then batch it in compressor regardless of if final cut was open or closed.

_Ross

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•You Down With FCP?

[Ross Daly]

Hi Jerry,

I’m not sure if this answer is ‘beneath’ your question, but the simplest way to get ‘proper’ project settings for your imported footage is to drag a clip into an empty timeline and let final cut adjust the sequence settings. You may want slightly different settings than that, but it’ll get you in the ballpark. That only works on fcp 5 and 6 I believe.

On the other hand, if you are asking about how to ingest or convert your footage then I can’t imagine the framerate change would change much else. The only issue would be if your deliverable still needs to be 29.97.

_Ross

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•You Down With FCP?

[Ross Daly]

Chris,
I think the timeline behaves differently than the capture window. I’ve done the same thing while capturing, but it won’t let you switch focus without stopping playback on the timeline.

_Ross

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•You Down With FCP?