[Steven Gonzales]

There’s a similar thread below:

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=8&postid=868317

[Steven Gonzales]

I believe that Final Cut Pro is not scriptable with Applescript. There is a work around, which involves turning on Universal Access (which facilitates use by those with physical limitations) and scripting that to manipulate the user interface. Here’s a rather old article about scripting unscriptable applications in OS X:

https://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07102

There is also the third party product QuicKeys which can be used to customize and record scripts:

https://www.cesoft.com/

[Steven Gonzales]

You could probably create something useful with applescript. If you go to this page https://www.apple.com/applescript/itunes/ there’s a script collection. One of the scripts is Duplicate Selected Track Files, which duplicates to a chosen destination.

Perhaps you could use this to easily copy the sound you’re listening to into a specific FCP folder, and then drag from there. This would avoid tying your FCP sound file location to the Itunes library.

[Steven Gonzales]

Here’s a link that is a little dated, but the basics are the same:

https://www.editorsguild.com/newsletter/JanFeb03/tip_cinema_tools.html

There’s a lot of confusion out there, but the basic issue I think is that film is a dual system: the sound and picture are recorded separately. When film shot at 24 frames per second is transferred to NTSC video, it is slowed down slightly to match the 29.97 frame rate of video (it is actually played through the telecine machine at 23.976 frames per second).

This video is now slightly slower than the sound recorded separately on the set.

If the lab syncs things up for you, there isn’t that much to worry about. They slow down the audio while adding it to the video tape of the film transfer. You get a tape with everything in sync.

When you bring the video and sound to an edit system to sync them up, you can either: slow down the audio and edit at 29.97, slow down the audio and edit at 23.97, or leave the audio as is, and speed the video back up to 24 frames per second.

If you edit at 23.97 or 24, it is easier to go back and cut the film negative.

Telecine to NTSC video at 29.97 use a series of fields (1/2 of a video frame) to turn 24 frames per second film (played back slightly slower) into 30 frames of video (played back slightly slower). This is done by every other frame of film being turned into 2 fields (or 1 complete frame) of video, and the alternating frames of film being turned into 3 fields (or 1 and 1/2 complete frames) of video. The next cycle of this begins again, but the first of the “2 field” group actually becomes the 2nd field (completing the 1/2 frame left from that last “3 field” group) of that previous video frame.

The short story is: on film transferred to video at 29.97 frames per second, some frames of video are sharing a field from 2 different frames of film.

This 2 and then 3 field sequencing is called pulldown, which is a little confusing because pulldown is explaining 2 things, the field conversion pattern AND the slowing down of the frame rate.

Cinema Tools can undo this field patterning, to convert 29.97 video from a film transfer to either 23.97 or 24 frames per second, eliminating the frames of video that are sharing film frame source information.

Hopefully this gives you a perspective to choose your best post production process.

[Steven Gonzales]

3m has a nice ergonomic mouse.

This mouse doesn’t have scroll wheel or anything fancy, but if you use the mouse for hours it will decrease the repetitive strain symptoms, as it keeps your hand at a natural angle:

https://www.3m.com/us/office/myworkspace/mos_ergo.jhtml

[Steven Gonzales]

I second the idea of adding internally if possible. If you want that, or to buy your own firewire enclosure bare, and add a drive (I suggest http://www.wiebetech.com ) you can get lot of drive info from: https://www.storagereview.com

[Steven Gonzales]

Here’s some tips from Apple tech info #58819 (which should apply to iDVD 1), perhaps they might help:

Tips for burning a DVD

To prevent errors when burning a DVD disc, do the following:
Quit all other open applications.
Set the Energy Saver control panel so that your hard disk will not go to sleep. (Open the Energy Saver control panel, and set the system sleep slider to Never.)
Turn off AppleTalk, File Sharing, and Web Sharing in their respective control panels.
Make sure that system activities such as hard disk indexing or network time server access are turned off. Information on turning off hard disk indexing and network time server access is available in Mac Help. Click on the desktop and then choose Mac Help from the Help menu.

[Steven Gonzales]

Have you tried clicking the Burn button in iDVD, and then inserting the disc when prompted, instead of inserting the disc from the operating system (Finder)?

[Steven Gonzales]

Press the menu button. The first level toggle (up/down arrows) through SETUP MENU, AUTO FUNCTION, or HOURS METER. Select SETUP MENU (right arrow).

Within this level of the menu, use up/down to get to INTERFACE SELECT (right arrow).

At this level, toggle (up/down) to get to REMOTE I/F (select with right arrow)

Toggle this level to i.LINK (with up/down). Select with right arrow.

And of course, your device control settings in final cut would have to be Firewire.

[Steven Gonzales]

If you don’t mind spending some money, here’s a better workgroup wide tool from Gallery Software:

https://www.mtools.info/