[Will Salley]

Also check to see if FCP is using your Mac HD as a cache drive. Usually this presents no problems for short lengths as it can buffer this data, but can sometimes result in dropped frames when the drive can’t keep up with request from the OS, FCP and whatever else may be runnng.

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]

Assuming you have a quiet track, you could add some EQ to brighten up the track and then some reverb to give it “space”.

You could also give it a fake stereo effect by copying the track and offsetting it slightly, then panning the two tracks hard left or right. It’s old school but it works.

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]

Assuming you have a quiet track, you could add some EQ to brighten up the track and then some reverb to give it “space”.

You could also give it a fake stereo effect by copying the track and offsetting it slightly, then panning the two tracks hard left or right. It’s old school but it works.

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]

Have you tried the “shift Fields” filter on the Beta footage?

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]

Yes. Capture the audio in Pro tools as .BWF -16 or 24 bit-48k. (requires PT6.7 or higher to work correctly)

Open audio files in Final Cut (requires v5.1.2) with same parameters. TC will be stamped on each audio file and readable in the viewer (be sure to turn on TC overlays).

The tricky part is determining the TC format embedded by the DA-88. is it 29.97 or 30, DF or NDF, MTC or SMPTE ?

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]

Color bars from field tapes are useful only if the camera op had the neccesary tools in the field to do his own color set-up for every shot (that tool would be a calibrated color monitor and a camera with excellent color/chip registration). And how often does that happen anymore?

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’s probably an ordinary video glitch caused by a dirty record head (on the camera). DV timecode could interpolated from adjacent frames so that would explain no TC break. Just like in the old linear days, if the control track is broken, you will have a problem. Since you are doing a digital “clone” of the original tape, you are also copying the glitch. It’s not a dirty playback head if the glitch shows in the same spot everytime.

Solutions:
-Copy analog – repair the bad frame in edit.
-digitize around the glitch (if that exact take is not needed)

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]

Try trashing the “Final Cut Pro Prof Cache” and “Final Cut Pro Obj Cache” in User>Library>Preferences>Final Cut Pro User Data>.

If that doesn’t work, trash all the prefs.

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 couldn’t live without After Effects. It’s the first compositing app I learned and although it’s sometimes clunky and overloaded with code, it still allows me to do things when other apps will not. After Effects is still an “essential” tool for me, and allows me to do custom effects that many plug-ins can provide, but one that I might use only once or twice. Compositing and visual effects in FCP is getting better, but I think AE still rules that segment.

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]

Tom is correct. 5.0.4 does not display BWF timecode. Sebsky tools works but it requires an extra step or two. If you plan on doing a lot of work with BWFs, it’s worth the $49 crossgrade (which runs out pretty soon I think) for FCP 5.1.2.

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