[Tom Matthies]

Just for previewing the clips in the Viewer, simply bring up the audio mixer window (Source: Auto) and click on the little speaker icon at the top of the offending track to mute that channel. You can turn off the bad track and listen to the three other tracks without the distraction of the bad channel. When editing into the timeline simply don’t enable the bad track and the other three will be added to the timeline.

Don’t know of a way to do it in the Browser, but you can at least preview the clips in the Viewer without having to hear the Satanic Track. Seems easy or did I misunderstand the problem?
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Many years ago, just when getting started in this business as a college student, I ran across just such a video tape editor at the TV station is was working at part time. At that time we were still using 2″ Quad tape for production and editing. At that time (early 70’s) we had ONE tape machine equipped with that marvel of technology Ampex’s Editec electronic editor.
After stumbling on the edit block in the back room that doubled as the Engineering Shop, I asked one of the older (read “curmudgeonly”) engineers about the splicing block. His normally grouchy eyes lit up and he proceeded to explain it to me in detail. It seems I had hit upon a favorite soft spot in him. A
Anyhow, just for fun, we took an old Quad tape and proceeded to perform a couple of edits and then play them back just see if we did it right. It was an experience to be sure (they worked!) and made me friend in the normally cranky Engineering Department. With this foot in the door, I managed to acquire quite a bit of technical information from those guys that normally don’t share their experience with “kids”. It was a little experience that I will remember for a long time.
(Ah, the sound of the tape hitting the heads when the vacuum guide pulls in!) ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz….

PS: I’m not sure but I think that I remember reading that “Laugh In was one of the first network shows to be edited electronically…but I could be wrong.

Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Did someone accidentally turn off the timecode columns in your bin by chance? I’ve never heard of FCP “loosing” timecode after the clip was captured.
Weird…
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

*Update*
I got the CC to finally work. The problem was in the .scc file sent from the caption house. It had an incorrect timecode starting point. The house revised the files, emailed to it me and it worked just fine when imported into DVDSP. Problem solved.

I do have to admit, however,(up on the soapbox now) that I’m a bit disappointed in the response to this post. After answering literally hundreds of questions for others on the COW over the years, I’m a bit offended by the RTFM response above. I’m probably one of the people who DO actually read the manuals for my software. I think that I know most of it pretty well. This didn’t turn out to be an instance of being lazy and just posting a question rather than doing a little work to research an answer. It was simply one of those “gotcha” kinds of problems. One that someone else probably has run into over the years. A simple “did you check this” response would have sufficed. This is the real beauty of sharing solutions through the COW. In passing along the experiences of others in this field, when problems arise, we can all benefit from the collective knowledge of others.

I will remember this instance in the future when answering what seems to be a basic question asked by someone experiencing some problem with a project. I will nip my urge to flame this person, choosing instead to attempt to offer a helping hand. We’ve all been there, in the grips of a momentary brain-fart, when you just go blank and can’t seem to add 2+2 to get 4. It happens. After a bit if thinking, I opened up the .scc in a text editor and found that the time reference was incorrect. A call to the caption house and problem solved. Now I know to check this. And if someone else posts a question with a similar problem, I will have no hesitation to try to help out with a possible solution.
That’s all I ask in return.
Off the soapbox now and back to work.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Thanks David.
Usually I’m the one getting frustrated by people that don’t read the manuals. Unfortunately, I did read it and I’m still having trouble getting the thing to work. I was hoping that someone might have a “gotcha” kind of suggestion that might clear things up. It’s usually some obscure checkbox that isn’t selected or something equally stupid.
I’ve imported the .scc file and attached it to the main track. I used “line One” (I think that’s what it was on the CC setup-I don’t have DVDSP open right now). The track was provided by a caption house and was derived from a Digibeta master I sent to them.
According to the book, this should be a no-brainer but I’ve had no luck getting it to work so far. I’m also trying to read the resulting DVD’s right on my computer with the CC enabled. Nothing is showing up and I don’t have anything handy that can decode CC here at the moment. Kind of like trying to mix an album without the benefit of speakers or headphones.
I’ll keep at it…I’m sure that it’s some little thing that just needs to be enabled…I hope.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Most major network shows (with the possible exception of some reality shows) are largely shot on film or high definition video using broadcast quality cameras & lenses. Lighting also plays a HUGE part in getting a quality image to begin with. The post production standards are maintained as a higher level of quality than required for public access-type production. They will generally have full color correction and other processing to optimize the quality of the picture. Many if not most shows are being produced in HD these days with the down converted versions playing on the analog channels and the full HD versions playing on the digital channels. There are many, many steps required in a “Network Quality” show.
To maintain as much quality in your productions as possible (you don’t mention just what your shows are) try to light it as best as your budget allows for. Use professional quality microphones, mixers and techniques for the audio. Keep your post production in the digital word. NEVER capture composite video. It is about the worst quality video you can use. Capture digital if possible using a good codec (ProRes 422 is good) and a quality capture board. After everything is edited, do a color correction pass to optimize the look of the completed video from start to finish. Just about any scene, no matter how well it was shot, can usually be tweaked to look better! Output back to a good quality format for delivery when the edit is finished.
AND…most cable outlets are not known for the quality or bandwidth for delivering good locally produced programming to the public. Most of them do it because they have to do it to maintain their charters. Talk to the technical people at the head end and ask them if they are providing the best quality possible to the viewers on that particular channel. After they get done laughing at your question, look them squarely in the eyes and ask them AGAIN and keep at it until you get an actual answer from them. Nothing worse than trying to maintain good standards while editing your video just to have the quality trashed in the final step.
It’s the old story of GI/GO–garbage in/garbage out. Keep up with the highest standards that your budget can afford and resist the temptations to cut corners. You will get a better look out of your videos. Follow your workflow from beginning to end and define places where you may be able to kick the quality up a notch or two and remember that if it’s easy, you’re not doing enough. Push yourself to do more and don’t accept compromises along the way.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Generally in a simple split track setup, the dialog & VO would go on channel one and the music and effects go to channel two. If stereo imaging must be maintained we normally put dialog & vo in channels 1/2 and the music & EFX on channels 3/4 in stereo.
Each outlet may be different. Ask the distributor exactly what they need for their production.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

You should be able to just hook the SDI output from the CCU directly to the SDI inputs to the scope. Pretty simple. Just make sure that you have the CCUs set to output SDI from the connectors and not VBS. I don’t know if this is a jumper setting or a menu setting on this CCU, but there should be a way to switch from one to the other. Check the CCU to see what way it is currently set. If you are using the cameras in an analog environment and have to stay with the VBS outputs, you may need to get an analog to SDI transcoder of some sort to feed the scope using one of the analog outputs. If there are RGB outputs from the CCU that would be your best bet for transcoding to SDI.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Hmmm…
I just have the usual Capture Scratch folder on the raid and I simply let FCP create a folder within the Capture Scratch folder for each project. Couldn’t be easier. Maybe I’m missing something here…
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

I just bought the 2.8 and took the difference and used it to buy additional RAM and a 1Tb internal “utility” drive.
I think the additional RAM will speed things up nicely.
Tom