[Trip Gould]

That’s good to know. And using ProRes would be in lieu of or in addition to outputting a FCP movie with the “current” setttings? In other words, should I use the ProRes output to make DVDs and everything else I would normally do with just a straight FCP movie taken from the timeline (which, of course, also has the appropriate aspect ratio even when I open it up in Quicktime outside of FCP)?

Thanks.

[Trip Gould]

Thanks for tip. I was able to get pretty good results with H.264 through much trial and error. I have read up on exporting, but for some reason, I am pretty inept at it. I use the settings that make sense and output tests of short clips from the project, but it seems so hit and miss with me that I am often at a loss. For instance, I can’t seem to get my widescreen aspect ratio to maintain unless I use the HD 1440X or 1280X 16:9 size settings. I’ve tried so many combinations of the smaller sizes with preserving that aspect ration with letter box and crop, and it always comes out squeezed. And when I use current size, it comes out squeezed as well, even though my sequence has the correct aspect ratio. Like I said…I think I’m just inept at the whole compression and export art.

Thanks again.

[Trip Gould]

[Trip Gould]

Sounds like the only thing to do is suck it up and call the 7300GT a loss. In that case, it looks like it’s the X1900XT and an MXO. I haven’t heard great things about the DualHead2Go, so I think I’ll just stick to two monitors for now.

Do any of you guys know whether or not I can feed a Cinema Display and a 42″ Plasma or flat panel tv of some sort at the same time with an MXO? I would use the Cinema Display for color correction, etc., and the plasma would be for basic reference and clients. In other words, are all of the connections “live” on the MXO, or do you have to choose one or another. Since I don’t really have a need to capture at this point, and am saving up for an IOHD, anyway, I’m trying to just make one purchase (the MXO) and not get into a AJA/BlackMagic investment right now, since I only need to output.

Thanks again.

[Trip Gould]

With the X1900XT as the workhorse and the 7300 just there to drive one or two of the monitors, if I put the X1900XT in a 16 lane config, and the 7300 in an 8 or 4, wouldn’t I get pretty decent performance. Would having two cards be better than one either way? Is there any reason to keep the 7300GT or should I just consider it junk if I have the X1900XT? Thanks for the responses so far.

[Trip Gould]

As far as I understand it, you’ll get faster renders with the X1900XT in FCS2 as the programs use the GPU to accelerate the graphics and effects. Based on research you can do on these forums, it’s pretty much a given to go with the X1900XT unless you’re heavy into 3D, and then you should go with the quadrofx. Cheers.

[Trip Gould]

Kieran,

Thanks for responding. What you say is true, that it is the editor and not the system; I couldn’t agree with you more. For whatever reason, however, at least here in the states…or, at least here in Southern California, many clients are very specific about what system they want you to be cutting on. Some times they have good reason, based on there intended finishing platform, for instance, and would rather cut on an Avid Media Composer because they know they will be finishing on a Nitris or Symphony. Of course, you could cut on anything and still finish on pretty much anything, but they want the streamlined flow. And, of course, where Avid is concerned, there is still a mystique about it that convinces people that an Avid editor is a better editor, or can produce a better result, than a FCP editor or Premiere editor or Vegas editor or M100 editor or whatever. If I could afford it, I’d probably be on a Smoke…but that’s another story.

At any rate, I guess the real gist of my initial question was to see how people enjoyed the M100 platform when working on different sorts of projects. Have they found it a benefit or a hindrance in regards to certain types of projects over others. For instance, right now, based on the dictates of my employers, I am cutting a documentary series on an Avid and a feature film on FCP. I love both systems and can work fairly quickly on either one. However, if I had my druthers, I would be cutting the feature on the Avid and the docs on FCP, or even a M100. I can produce the same cut for any of the projects on any of the systems and in a comparable amount of time…but, for me, the work flow and tools of the Avid seem more conducive to the features I work on, and the same for FCP and the docs. And that is not a judgment of the quality or efficiency of the programs, just my own personal tastes and sensibilities.

Well, I guess that was all a bit more long-winded than it had to be. It will always remain a curiosity to me, the perception of the producers, etc., who believe that one system is going to give them a better product versus another, instead of trusting that a talented editor who knows how to craft a story can do so regardless of the technology involved.

Just my $.02, even though nobody asked. :^>

[Trip Gould]

You might also want to look at the new Media100HDe or HD Suite https://media100.com/

Owned by Boris now, it is capable of doing uncompressed HD in RT, has the interface you’re used to, I’m told it’s very well integrated with BorisFX. I don’t have a lot of experience with it, myself; I mostly use Avid and FCP, but I’ve been hearing a lot of great things about it. You can even dual-boot it with FCP on one partition and Media100 on the other if you want to have both options. It uses an AJA card which is basically just the LHe with Media100 specific drivers. I’ve been looking into the dual-boot option as I’ve been really liking what I’ve seen with the Media100HD in regards to speed and efficiency and that legendary interface.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Trip Gould]

Even if the media was originally captured in FCP? As long as the tape names and source timecode stay the same, wouldn’t the EDL be able to reference the media already captured in the FCP bins? There should be some workaround. Of course, what we need is Automatic Duck support or something like it.

On a side note, any of you using your M100HD in a dual-boot configuration with FCP? Is the capture card that comes with the HDe basically just an AJA LHe with different drivers?

Thanks again.