[Ryan Holmes]

Snow Leopard 10.6.8 is the last supported OS for FCP7. I would run that if you want to be absolutely sure it’ll work well.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[Kevin Duffey] “Any links that you know of that may explain a bit more about this? “

Alex Lindsay from the Pixel Corps did some podcasts on this topic about 7 years ago called The Road to 1080p. It’s six parts I think, but in parts 1 and 2 he covers resolution, frame rates, and color space. It might help you get your mind around this stuff better.

Part 1:
https://www.channels.com/episodes/14309670

Part 2:
https://www.channels.com/episodes/show/12839422/The-Road-to-1080p-part-2-

And yes, DNxHD has a 4:2:2 option and a 4:4:4 option (ProRes does as well).

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[Warren Eig] “If you record to an external device with the new firmware, I think you can record much longer than 29.59 minutes.”

Well you have to leave it recording for it to not fall asleep and close the shutter, unless that’s changed with this firmware. So the camera will still have to be recording to a CF card and restarted if you bump into that 29:59 mark. Right?

But the external device could just stay running possibly even with the start/stop on the 5DIII….

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[Tom Daigon] “AND you rendered any clips on the timeline that werent DNxHD (during lunch or downtime)”

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t find myself rendering much (ever?) when using Premiere. Most everything just plays back without any problems. And if I’m having problems, I just drop the resolution (faster than rendering). But again….maybe that’s just me.

I rendered a lot more back in the FCP days. It’s something I don’t really miss…..

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

[Warren Eig] “The only real difference is the color space 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0”

Yeah I think the footage may hold up better when we starting pushing it in post. Like I said, I’ve only looked at it on the monitor next to the CF card version and didn’t notice much (any?) difference. But the 422 would come in handy down the line, for sure!

[Warren Eig] “As for syncing, I always shoot double system and use a slate.”

We do this as well. The problem, for us, comes when we have a shoot that runs longer than the 29:59 recording limit (we do lots of long interviews and the 5DIII is often a B-cam for us). The clips after that initial file become a pain to sync up….though as you rightly point out your early career involved a good bit of brute force syncing so it can be done! 😉

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

We’ve been archiving in different ways depending on the project. One way is to create, like Tim said, very high data rate h.264 files and then burn that to a data disc (DVD or Blu-ray depending on the size). The data rates vary from 40Mbps to 80-100Mbps depending on the project (fast motion, talking head, etc.). This has been an effcient way to hold final output files in a decent format that you can pull off and transcode for DVD/web use.

We’re also moving to a LTO6 tape backup solution for longer-term archiving. And then you either backup the whole project to a tape or as Tom, suggest output a file in a standard intermediate codec like DNxHD or ProRes and lay that file off.

I think it comes down to how much you want to spend, what type of material you have, and how long you think you need to keep it around. Answering those questions may help you narrow down the right solution for your long-term storage needs.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

I’m not seeing much difference in the footage from the HDMI feed vs. compressed to card. I haven’t taken it into Resolve or anything but a side-by-side comparison doesn’t reveal much difference, in my tests.

What do you think so far?

I was bummed to discover that no audio comes out of the HDMI port for recording (unless there’s a way to enable that in the menus?). So syncing footage becomes a bit more of a burden….

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

This is an FCPX question. You’ll get more help if you post in that actual forum. This forum is for legacy FCP1-7.

But in order to help, it sounds like you need to download the plugin for XDCAM inside of FCPX. Follow the Apple Help page on this: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4724?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

If you still have problems you can download the free 30 day trial of Adobe CS6 and convert your footage to ProRes using either Premiere Pro or Media Encoder. Both will handle XDCAM without plugins.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

Tom and Angelo are correct about getting a supported CUDA enabled card in your Mac Pro (like a Quadro 4000).

If you don’t want to pay for that right now, you can try dropping the playback resolution in Premiere from “Full” to “1/2” or “1/4.”

I have the same model Mac as you – 4,1 from 2009 – and I have no problems scaling footage on the fly in Premiere. This is just a limit of your system, not PPro. I am running a Quadro FX 4800 card in this Mac (I’d recommend the 4000 as it’s more powerful and cheaper).

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

There’s no “special” monitor. Most monitors now have a DSLR mode so you can see the image as accurately as possible. If you’re in the market I’d have a look at:

SmallHD – https://www.smallhd.com
Marshall – https://www.marshallmonitors.com/products/monitors/index.html
Ikan – https://ikancorp.com/productlisting.php?id=75
Swit Monitors – https://www.swit.cc/EN/product.aspx?sort_type=LCD%20Monitor

I own 4 SmallHD monitors and I think they’re great. We use them on a 7D, 5DIII, and a C300 as well as various recording devices as needed (Blackmagic Hyperdeck Shuttle, etc.). I don’t have much experience with the others in the list….just passing along what I’ve read. Please do your homework and confirm that the monitor meets your needs.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost