[Tom Brooks]

I get scripts as Word documents in various translations. Until I got Word for Mac, I’d been opening them in Pages. For Boris Title 3D purposes, I change the font in Pages to match what I want in Boris. Then, I cut and paste from Pages to Boris. That makes it pretty easy. (Boris seems to keep the formatting of the source, unless I’m missing an option for that and somebody can clue me in.)

I suspect Word will work the same. If you have no script to work from, you can open the Character Palette to get special characters.

[Tom Brooks]

Regarding the Final Cut Pro documents folder. I believe FCP does create the folder when the program is installed. It’s standard practice to keep your project files on the system drive and your media files on external drives. It’s much safer that way. You can use the automatically created folder within Documents, but I make a folder called Final Cut Projects and I make a folder for each project within that.

Try to get a good handle on FCP setup and organization right away. Your life will be so much easier. I believe Larry Jordan has an article on this that is decent. But first, click on the little portrait of Shane Ross up there and learn everything you can from his articles and even the $50 DVD. It will be time and money well spent.

Final Cut Pro 6.0.5, Mac OS-X 10.5.5, Quicktime 7.5.5, Adobe Prod Prem CS4, G5 Quad 2.5, Kona-LHe V6, 8.5GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7800-GT 256MB, G-RAID 2x1TB FW800, 6TB RAID-5 (Enhance E8-ML, Highpoint 2322), Panasonic HVX-200P P2. Also MBP 17″ Core 2 Duo 2.5, 4GB, GeForce 8600M GT 512MB.

[Tom Brooks]

Look in your timeline. Is there a thin green or orange bar at the top of the time ruler? If so, you need to render and read up on Unlimited RT and Rendering in the manual.

[Tom Brooks]

It is getting a bit confusing. With your explanation and some reading between the lines I get this:

1. You can export a large file (that is not a L&T’d clip from a spanned P2 clip) from FCP to the SAN.

2. You can L&T spanned clips to an internal SATA drive.

3. You cannot L&T a spanned clip directly to the SAN.

4. You cannot L&T to an internal SATA drive, then export that clip from FCP to the SAN.

As you point out, Warren, the interesting comparison is between #1 and #4. What is it about a .mov file that came from a spanned P2 clip that makes it different from a large .mov file that did not originate from a spanned P2 clip?

We’re probably missing something simple. Can you reveal the source in the Finder and compare what is actually stored? Are you getting those “-av” files, for example?

[Tom Brooks]

Yeah, something’s going on there. SAN hasn’t even arrived in Kalamazoo yet, so I can’t be much help! 😉

[Tom Brooks]

So, the OS is able to write big files to the RAID just fine–via the Finder. But FCP, during L&T, can’t get it done? I recall reading something on these forums about FCP’s treatment of network storage, but I can’t find it. Can you export a large QT movie from FCP to the RAID all in one piece?

[Tom Brooks]

How about DiskWarrior? Worth a try in this mysterious case?

[Tom Brooks]

Looking at your sample 5 sec…Interesting. It has the look of a vibration from the floor, possibly from a machine or from foot traffic. I can’t say that it looks like a video signal problem. I wish I could see more detail in the background. Five seconds of higher quality footage on YouSendIt might give us more to look at. I have only used SmoothCam for this type of thing.

[Tom Brooks]

I’d export in a commonly available, high quality Quicktime movie. My go-to codec is Photo-JPEG at 75%. This is a high quality codec with 4:2:2 color space and fairly small file sizes. I haven’t had the chance to work out the workflow with Apple ProRes 422, but that could work well also, if the separate codec now available works with the Flash encoding application being used.

[Tom Brooks]

Your setup sounds correct. If you use the DVDProHD 720p24 setup, the compressor is DVCProHD 720p60 and the editing timebase is 23.98.

I would try to disprove that your footage is recorded that way. I had a recent shot ruined by a nearby subwoofer. I could not see the vibration in the on-camera LCD or viewfinder, but it was definitely there on each bass note when played back on a larger monitor. I believe the vibration was transmitted through the floor and the tripod to the camera, even though I could not detect it during the shoot. Was this camera shooting at a longer focal length than the other?

Can you play the footage directly off of the P2 card to eliminate any post-production anomalies?

Final Cut Pro 6.0.5, Mac OS-X 10.5.5, Quicktime 7.5.5, Adobe Prod Prem CS4, G5 Quad 2.5, Kona-LHe V6, 8.5GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7800-GT 256MB, G-RAID 2x1TB FW800, 6TB RAID-5 (Enhance E8-ML, Highpoint 2322), Panasonic HVX-200P P2. Also MBP 17″ Core 2 Duo 2.5, 4GB, GeForce 8600M GT 512MB.