[Will Salley]

I think your best solution is to upgrade FCP to version 5.1.2, which will read the .bwf’s natively (and display the waveform). It eliminates that extra step that is required with those other tools you mentioned ( I used both Sebsky and BWF2FCP until 5.1.2).

Did you shoot on film or video? These days the term can be used for both mediums. If video, did you sync the PD-6 to the camera or vice-versa? At what frame rate?

The BWF timecode would be useful only if the takes were slated with a timecode slate OR sent to a video camera with timecode synced. Audio timecode recorded at 24 fps is used for film shot at 24 with the intent of printing back to film for theatrical release. Most every other useage calls for 29.97 (which can be DF or NDF) and is usually determined by the picture editor.

If all else fails, or is cost-prohibitive, you can always use the slate clapper.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

I have the DigimaxLT, which is only 48k@ 8 tracks with the optical out. The standard Digimax IS 96k capable and would be the one you want. The mic pres sound quite good and I assume the two models use the same type.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

Is audio ahead or behind picture?

Did you use Digi Translator (the plug-in) or just import a stereo track? IF you imported the tracks, check the PT session settings to see if it’s any different from the FCP project settings, sample rate and bit rate matter – TC is irrelevent unless you are using DV Toolkit.

If all of your settings match, I would suspect that Editor#2 may have his or her project or hardware settings incorrect – perhaps on the export. Using a basic Firewire-based Final Cut system it’s almost impossible to use anything but 48k for playback – Even using other sample rates, FCP re-proccesses it to 48k for playback .

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

I had the same behaviour with FCP after the crossgrade to 5.1.2. In addition to not being able to export using Compressor, I also had a “corrupted” sequence that displayed the same “not found” error code. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a known reason, but I was able to complete the project by trashing the FCP cache and preference files. I also made copies of the last known working file in the FCP autosave vault and used that after trashing the caches, etc.

After the project was completed, I re-installed FCP and DVDSP and have had no reoccurrences.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

I guess rubberbanding in Pro Tools is as close as it gets.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

There were a few copy-protection encryption methods silmilar to Macrovision that were developed for CD-Audio back in the early ninties, but they all failed. There was simply too much hardware in use by consumers that would not play the disc.

Then there was the failed Sony/Microsoft scheme a few years back.

So the answer is: Yes, the methods exist, but none of them work reliably for CD-Audio.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

I have a few Wiebetech Traydocks ($169) which accept SATA drives and use a Firewire800 or USB2 interface. I buy the SATA drives locally at an IT specialty retailer for about .37 per GB, which means a 400GB drive will cost around $150. The cost of the drive is written in to most of my projects or re-couped when the media is re-used.

I then use Media Manager to copy the final project, plus other work footage and renders including the original Photoshop, C4D, and After Effects files.

This has just become cost-effective within the last couple of years – and only with SD or short projects (I mainly do broadcast spots so even with uncompressed HD source footage it would still be more efficent). For longer HD projects, you could do the same thing except trash the captured camera footage that can be re-captured easily. The problem is that many source tapes have discontinuous timecode or are logged incorrectly, so it is time intensive to re-capture.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

Not quite sure of the question. Pro Tools, using DigiTranslator (included in DV Toolkit) will read OMFs written by FCP and Nuendo, stereo, mono, multitrack.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

The major difference. from an engineering perspective, between BetaSP and all the formats that have come since, is the service-life of the machine. BetaSp was originally designed to be used all day, every day for many years – and many of the original BVW decks are still in use 20 years later. Granted, the transports and servos got less reliable with The PVW & UVW series, but the parts are still available and those machines are what most stations use to ingest to the video server. The newer formats aren’t nearly as robust. I was a production manager at a FOX affiliate in the mid 90s and we had a rack that consisted of BetaSP, DVCPro, DVCAM, 3/4SP, S-VHS, D-2 and 1″-Type-C. I would expect that most stations have a similar setup but with some newer formats (HD & SD) in place of 1″, 3/4 & VHS. Ask them what they prefer.

By the way, that FOX affiliate I mentioned was a beta test site for the Avid Airplay, the very first media server for broadcast. It ran on a Mac (OS7.5, an 8500 with 256Mb RAM), there were 64 individual disk drives that totaled 2.2 TB of storage. It recorded at AVR-12 (offline) to AVR-71 (about 10:1 compression-very lossy compression). It was upgraded many times over several months and eventually became part of the Avid Unity product.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

It IS Helvetica.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8