[Russell Lasson]

[rafalaos] “There is not any reason for thinking that you will get something better when upgrading a DV to 10b Unc on capturing than making the upgrading in your time-line.”

If the original source footage was DV (4:1:1 color space) then I completely agree. But if the footage was Beta SP or some sort of downconverted HD or something, then I’d suggest re-digitizing to stay away from a 4:1:1 hit.

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

If you’re using the text tool in FCP and move the text using the motion tab, only use whole even numbers for the Y coordinate.

246 – good
245 – bad
246.43 – bad
234 – good

Hopefully that helps.

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

[walter biscardi] “But waiting for the next evolution of the Apple computers is a waste of time. There are always rumors of new machines, especially now that Intel is the chip maker and you can follow their information much more easily than Apple’s. “

Yes, if you need a new machine now then get one. But Apple does upgrade computers now and again and I don’t consider tracking when new systems are due to be a waste of time (especially considering that a new 8-Core Mac Pro can cost as much as it does now days).

If it were me looking to get a new computer, if I could wait for a month or two, I would because of the rumors. If I needed it now, I’d go for it.

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

I’ve heard rumblings of an update sometime during november. I’d hold off for a little if you can.

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

Some things to try:

Rendering the effect. (is the bar above the clip blue? if not you need to render it to see what it will really be like)

Slowing down the pan. Sometimes if you pan too fast it will look really jumpy.

Change the sequence settings to field dominance – none. (might do something for you)

Do the animation in Motion or AE. (FCP has never been great at animation)

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

I think you’re doing the right thing by editing in your final format. My only suggestion would be to convert the files to that format before you start editing instead of dropping those native files into your timeline.

You might try to use things like MPEG Stream Clip, Compressor, QuickTime Pro, etc, to convert the files depending on where you’re getting them from.

You could also use a screen grab software to play the videos and capture them to a specific file type.

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

I’ve been using 720×480 uncompressed with SDI for a couple of years. Maybe it’s wrong, but to me it’s better than the alternative of adding six lines and messing up the native file.

Just as a note, if your original files weren’t DV but you digitized them to DV for editing, it would be better to redigitize them as uncompressed instead of just converting the files you digitized.

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

If the source for the archival footage was something other than DV, you might want to redigitize to DV50 so you don’t take the 4:1:1 DV color space hit. (you could do this when you’re done and just digitize what you’re using)

If the source for the DV footage was DV, then you should be fine to just render it in a DV50 timeline. It shouldn’t lose any quality (but it won’t look any better either).

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

[BonesOne4] ” Ive also tried duping the text and making one layer blurring but it hasnt really given me the results i want”

If you try it this way, set the composite mode to add for the blurred out layer.

-Russ

[Russell Lasson]

That’s great. Thanks for the laugh!

-Russ