[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

View the tutorials called “Cops Part 1, 2, & 3”.

https://www.dvguys.com/fcptricks_vault.shtml

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

What kind of blurring are you asking about?

Blurring their motion,
or blurring “out” faces and such for making them unrecognizable?

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Its a digital remote control system that is used in many professional edit systems.
It controls deck functions and transfers Timecode (no audio or video signals).

Most higher-end decks (DVCAM, DVCPro, BetaCam, Digital Beta, et al) have RS-422 (9-pin) connectors for RS-422.

FCP can control decks via RS-422 with a “USB to Serial adapter” (the Mac commands RS-422 via USA).

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Sorry, but if it bothers you during the edit process, you need to Mixdown.
You should do it anytime you experience the skipping problems.
If Mixdown clears up the skips, that’s what you should do.

Apple does not officially “recognize” external FW drives for editing with FCP.
For better reliability and speed, you should capture and edit on an internal drive (but not the “System Drive” that also holds the FCP software) or an external Raid system.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Is Digital VHS the identical format as DV?
(I know Digital-8 IS, but I don’t know about D-VHS.)

A pretty good workaround (if the formats don’t match) would be to send FW to the DV device and send S-Video and audio patch-cords to the D-VHS.

I just did some Google-research and it doesn’t appear that FCP can output in real-time the proper FW signal that will match D-VHS’s FW input requirements.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Arty] “i’ve tried trashing the preferences…
i’ve tried everything…”

Have you tried AUDIO MIXDOWN?

Its is a function in FCP that is often overlooked… and it can help with many audio and video “skipping”, “sticking” and “missing” problems.

You should “Mixdown” the Audio for playback before you dub out of FCP, or during the edit, if you have audio/video stuttering, drop-outs or freezes.

NOTE: Mixdown has even been demonstrated to help with slipping, skipping problems (or “missing” audio clips) for files being EXPORTED as QT (or similar) files out of FCP.

First, SELECT ALL of your audio tracks (highlight them) on the timeline, then:

Sequence Menu > Render Only > Mixdown.

You should see a dialog box telling you its rendering.

It might seem to make little sense that “Mixing down” even simple audio tracks will “fix” complex video “freezes” or random audio dropouts to tape or export, but it CAN.

NOTE: It does not matter of you only have one audio track, if there are random freezes during output, you should try the Mixdown.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Wayne Carey] “for small quick projects such as yours, I use iDVD. It gets the jobs done and very easily.”

I second that.

All you need to do is, in FCP, choose:

File > Export > Quicktime Movie… > Current Settings > Audio & Video > Markers (if any) > Save.

Do NOT check the “make self-contained” (no need if you’re burning with iDVD.)

After the export, drop that file onto an open iDVD menu.

Customize the menu(s) if you want.

Burn the DVD.

That’s about it.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Audio Mixdown has solved countless “sticky” playback problems regardless of the number of audio clips and tracks.

Its the FIRST thing I try.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Did Mixdown the audio?

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Are you RENDERING this effect (you need to).
Are you checking for quality only on an EXTERNAL video monitor?