[Tom Matthies]

For those few times that I need to capture through the Firewire port, as opposed to through the Aja Io, I’ve found that I can simply plug the Firewire camcorder (or deck) into the front FW400 port on the front of the G5 and “turn off” the Io by toggleing the View option. When this is done, you will notice that the Firewire talley light on the Io unit will turn off effectively disconnecting it from the computer. At this point, there is no conflict between the two devices, and capture via Firewire will work without any problems. When you are finished capturing, unmount the FW device (camera or deck) and simply toggle the Io back online.
I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now without any problems. No need to actually disconnect the Io from the G5 while capturing through Firewire.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

I can’t argue that. I have the “Avid Faction” here as well and there are just some things that Avid is superior at. There are many places where FCP shines, but there are sadly a number of places where it falls flat on its face.
Hopefully someone somewhere will kick start FCP once again and get it moving along the path to true professional editing. Price withstanding, it does have it’s shortcomings. I still like it however. Kind of like the friendly, loyal dog that poops on your carpet every once in a while. You know that its just not right, but it’s hard to get too mad.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

“scrub” Chris.
As a long time Avid editor going back to some of the first Chicagoland Avid systems running on Mac 2/FX machines I found it fairly easy to transition to FCP. Even without reading the manuals, with Avid experience I found that I could manage to do productve edits right from the start. After a while you will stop trying to emulate the Avid system on FCP and at that point you will really take off. Believe me, you will never look back. I still pop over into “Avidland” now and then since we are still running a pair of Symphony systems here. It usually takes me an hour or so to get back into Avid mode editing. I’ve been with FCP since version 1.25. Although both systems work well with each having it’s own strong points as well as weaknesses, I much prefer FCP to the Avid platform. I can more easily concentrate on editing on FCP since it is so flexable when moving clips around on the timeline. When in FCP’s “Effects mode” you have so much more control using keyframes than with Avid, although the current version of the Adrenaline software is catching up fast.
All in all, just remap the leyboard if you want to feel more comfortable with the interface in FCP, but I would limit just how much you change. It would be best in the long run to just leave things as they are and do your best to learn the FCP way and “unlearn” the Avid method.
Although a few of our Avid editors here still refuse to embrace FCP and don’t take it seriously (!?) the fact is that at least one of the Symphonys will be replaced shortly with another FCP HD system and the remaining Symphony will likely be replaced with an Adrenaline HD system since we are now moving into the HD arena. Time and technology march on and things change. A couple of the remaining “Avid Guys” here will be forced to sink or swim in the world of editing. Embracing new ways of doing things that you are comfortable with the “old Ways” is often not easy. In the long run what does not kill will only make us stronger. Not sure where that quote is from but it seems appropriate here.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Thanks Steve.
I’ve been working with Fletcher already. We’ve been renting HD cameras when needed from them and Bexel. So far I’ve used their Panasonic Varicams and for this last shoot a few weeks ago, I used their Sony 900. The 900 is my favorate right now. Operationally it’s very similar to our Digibetas and it’s that comfort factor I like when under the gun. Bigger files but the 1080 24p looks pretty nice indeed. I would however like to get our hands on an HD XDCam soon for comparison. It’s not very convenient running to or shipping to/from Chicago all of the time. I believe that the time for our own camera is coming very soon.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

It sounds like you have a tape with many breaks in the timecode. If you want to capture the entire tape in one clip, you might want to make a copy of the tape on another Firewire-equipped deck. Just go thru the Firewire cable and your copy should be as good as the original but now you will have one continuous timecode track making your capture much easier. Of course, the codes will be different, so hopefully you haven’t logged your shots using the original code numbers. If this is the case, you will need to make note of the different timecode numbers on the copy.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

We are interested in the HD XDCam as well. Trying to get one for a demo has been the problem. We looked at them at NAB this year and I was impressed. However, I would not buy a car without first test driving it. Nor would I buy a camera without the chance to put it through some real-world shooting conditions. Up here in the Upper Midwest, it’s tough to get any attention. Apparently the Midwest is simply that part of the country you fly over while going from the East Coast to the West Coast. Hey! We actually spend money on this stuff too!
I drove to Chicago on Monday (4 hours each way) to attend Apple’s FCP seminar on HD XDCam work flow. OK, there was a good sales pitch for Final Cut in a room where everyone already was using it. There was a good speaker touting the advantages of the XDCam (Jody-nice guy!). There was one camera on display with no time given during the presentation to actually see the camera in action. I guess, after all, it was Apple’s demo.
Anyhow, when I asked the Sony rep. about the rumors of a 2/3-inch version of the camera on the horizon, is was told “could be sometime”. “What will it feature?”…”Can’t say for sure. Lots of good features.”…”How much?”…”Price hasn’t been set yet.”…When will it be introduced?”…”Forth quarter of this year of maybe next year or next summer. Maybe at the ’07 NAB. We’re not sure.”
I need a camera soon, but I would prefer a 2/3-inch CCD block. However upcoming projects are pressing and I need to make a decision soon. Like the poster said above, “Hey, I have money and I want to give it to you Sony! Sell me something!”
It’s frustrating… Times used to be that the manufacturers would be tripping all over themselves to sell you their products. I guess those times are long gone. I still value customer service. When I set up a new HD editing room, the hardware business went to a small, local Apple reseller rather than one of the “Big Guys” in the Chicago area. Why? Because this guy was willing to go the extra mile for me and was actually trying to help me rather than a guy at a company that just waits for their phone to ring and take my order. I’ll go with the little guys who still actually want to help everytime.
It’s a sad commentary on our industry in particular and the economy in general.
…And I still need to buy an HD camera. Sigh…
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

I like to use the Compressor/Limiter filter, check the “Preserve Volume” box and adjust until I get the desired effect and level. You have lots of gain available.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Chris.
Check out Firmtek’s web site. Drill down deep enough and there will be a page with specific drives/model numbers they have tested with their enclosures.
FWIW, I called my local distributor I usually deal with this morning and that particular Hitachi drive is now out of stock there. Last week when I ordered the two I bought, they had showed almost 200 units in the warehouse. Looks like the inventory is going fast! Darn…late again.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

For what it’s worth. I just put my two Hitachi 500Gb drives (see above entry) into a Firmtek two drive enclosure just today. Hooked it up to the 4 port card I installed in the G5. A quick trip to the Disk Utility app. and in about a minute in had an almost 1Tb striped raid online. I copied all my files off of my LaCie raid. It took nearly three hours. Everything went well. I then took the LaCie’s offline and fired up FCP, reconnected my files to the Firntek raid and everything played back without a hitch. Total time, minus the time to copy the files from the Lacies to the Firmtek raid…probably about 30 minutes or less. Now that’s the way it’s supposed to work!
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Rats!
I just bought a pair of ’em this week at $289/ea.
Darn…
Tom