[The Lobby]

To be honest it was configured for me so I’m just now getting into the Admin and might not know just what to look for. It is striped RAID 50 and under the performance tab both controllers are set as follows.

Use Controller Write Cache = yes (checked)

Allow Host Cache Flushing = yes

Use Drive Write Cache = yes

Use Steady Streaming Mode = no (unchecked)

Read Prefetch = 8 Stripes (512 KB/disk)

The Fibre Channel Tab has speed and topology set to automatic for both controllers.

Does this all look kosher? Do I need to check elsewhere as well?

[The Lobby]

The three main windows you are talking about are generally; Source Time Code, Nagra Time Code (a generic term for TC generated by separate audio recording devices) and Key Code (the one that includes letters, this refers back to the film itself enabling you to create a cut-list).

As for a specific layout nothing is written in stone but I generally find key code on the top left or right. Then source and nagra on the bottom, again left or right generally doesn’t matter but if the last two are stacked, source code will be on the top.

[The Lobby]

Probably 2 things that will help you out with your migration.

The book ‘FCP for Avid Editors’ doesn’t teach you how to edit but instead shows a ton of pictures and descriptions of the “Avid way” of doing things and what it looks like and is called in FCP. The accompanying disc also includes an Avid Keyboard layout for FCP so everything will seem like it’s just where you left it.

Also look in TOOLS>BUTTON LIST. Here will be able to find any command by using the search box. Once you find what you are looking for you can drag that button into the spaces (kind of looks like a hamburger bun turned sideways) at the top of the timeline, viewer and canvas (amongst a couple of other places too). This will give you the type of buttons you may be used to in Avid when you check “Second Row of Buttons” in your Media Composer settings.