[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Chris Poisson] “I also have show overlays checked.”

Just a silly question, but do you also have “Show Title Safe” checked? (Its a separate box from “Show Overlays”.)

Otherwise, I’d also say Trash the Prefs.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[HalB] “Have searched but no luck finding link to a decent quality telephone monitoring device for recording a phone conversation.”

If you will “Search Posts” in this forum and under “Advanced Search” type “telephone” AND include “All Active Posts” and the “Archives”, you will find lots of discussion.

Some methods are virtually free, some require buying gear.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

One in the Canvas and one in the Viewer will work.
You can gang them together.

You can also just edit each one to a separate video track on the same timeline.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Simply put: The setup you describe will not work.
The Canvas is not designed to play “full-screen” and, on most computers, it will freeze if made too large.

It is also very low resolution, so even if you can get it to play, the quality will be poor and inaccurate, especially if output to an NTSC monitor.

But the good news is that it costs virtually nothing to monitor via FW and any FW camcorder (which is how a basic FCP system is designed to operate).

Monitoring FCP on an external video monitor is as easy as:
Mac > Camcorder > Monitor.

Here’s how to connect it, step-by-step:

1. “Quit” the Final Cut Pro program.

2. Connect your camcorder to the Mac via FireWire.

3. Hook any standard monitor or TV (with a video input) to the outputs on your DV camcorder.
You can use the standard (usually colored yellow) video cable or the “S-video” output from the camcorder if the monitor has one of those kind of inputs.

You should ALSO hook up the AUDIO outputs from the camcorder to the same monitor, or any “amplified speakers” so you can monitor the FCP audio along with the video.

4. Turn ON the camcorder. Switch it to the VCR (player) mode, but don’t put a tape in it (unless you intend to record from FCP to a DV tape.)

5. Turn ON the Video Monitor and set to view the “Video Input”.

6. Open Final Cut Pro on the Mac.

7. In FCP, make sure under the pulldown menu: View > External > ALL FRAMES is set.

You should now see the output of FCP on the camcorder’s viewfinder screen AND the external monitor.

You will also hear FCP’s audio from the speakers that you connected to the camcorder.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

“Sync-slippage” can happen during some longer captures.

Tapes recorded on certain camcorders from Canon have been somewhat more problematic but it also can happen with other brands of cameras as well.

To reduce the problem on capture, break your captures into sections no longer than about 10 minutes each.

You can then “reconstruct” the full tape’s recording (or any longer takes) quickly if you need to.
Mark (and log) your first clip to End (Out-point) about 10 minutes or less from its In-point.
Continue to mark (and log) your clips this way throughout the rest of the tape.
Just make sure the In-points of the subsequent clips are EXACTLY ONE FRAME LATER than the Out-points of the previous clips.

You can do all this while actually scanning the tape(s) or just by inputting arbitrary TC numbers, logging them… then use Batch Capture to bring in all of your clips.

Its very easy to then “reconstruct” the shorter clips back to any “continuous” length you want on the timeline by just “clicking” them on in order.
EVEN FASTER… select ALL successive clips at once in the browser (with the browser column-order set to “Media Start” highlight all clips) and drop them, all at once, on the timeline… they’ll all pop up in continuous order.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

I’d GUESS letterbox, but MY guess doesn’t matter.

Ask the individuals you are delivering TO…
they are the ones who need to be able to PLAY it properly.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Andrew] “export it out under Quicktime conversion with DVPAL compression”

I’m not sure what you’re doing on export, but you should not be recompressing (“converting”) the FCP timeline if you have edited in the DV format.

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.”

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

(Or in your case, out it into Toast).

Customize the menu(s) if you want (you can in iDVD, anyway).

Burn the DVD.

That’s about it.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

You do NOT want to view the Canvas on an external video monitor.
The Canvas (by design) is of very low quality.

FCP is designed to be viewed on an external VIDEO (NTSC or PAL) monitor by way of FireWire output thru a DV camcorder or by way of a “converter box”.

Monitoring FCP on an external video monitor is as easy as:
Mac > Camcorder > Monitor.

Here’s how to connect it, step-by-step:

1. “Quit” the Final Cut Pro program.

2. Connect your camcorder to the Mac via FireWire.

3. Hook any standard monitor or TV (with a video input) to the outputs on your DV camcorder.
You can use the standard (usually colored yellow) video cable or the “S-video” output from the camcorder if the monitor has one of those kind of inputs.

You should ALSO hook up the AUDIO outputs from the camcorder to the same monitor, or any “amplified speakers” so you can monitor the FCP audio along with the video.

4. Turn ON the camcorder. Switch it to the VCR (player) mode, but don’t put a tape in it (unless you intend to record from FCP to a DV tape.)

5. Turn ON the Video Monitor and set to view the “Video Input”.

6. Open Final Cut Pro on the Mac.

7. In FCP, make sure under the pulldown menu: View > External > ALL FRAMES is set.

You should now see the output of FCP on the camcorder’s viewfinder screen AND the external monitor.

You will also hear FCP’s audio from the speakers that you connected to the camcorder.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Nick Ryan] “Or is it just one of the many illogical, unexplainable nonsensicalities of the computer-editing world.”

Sounds right.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

“Sync-slippage” can happen during some longer captures.

Tapes recorded on certain camcorders from Canon have been somewhat more problematic but it also can happen with other brands of cameras as well.

To reduce the problem on capture, break your captures into sections no longer than about 10 minutes each.

You can then “reconstruct” the full tape’s recording (or any longer takes) quickly if you need to.
Mark (and log) your first clip to End (Out-point) about 10 minutes or less from its In-point.
Continue to mark (and log) your clips this way throughout the rest of the tape.
Just make sure the In-points of the subsequent clips are EXACTLY ONE FRAME LATER than the Out-points of the previous clips.

You can do all this while actually scanning the tape(s) or just by inputting arbitrary TC numbers, logging them… then use Batch Capture to bring in all of your clips.

Its very easy to then “reconstruct” the shorter clips back to any “continuous” length you want on the timeline by just “clicking” them on in order.
EVEN FASTER… select ALL successive clips at once in the browser (with the browser column-order set to “Media Start” highlight all clips) and drop them, all at once, on the timeline… they’ll all pop up in continuous order.