[Zak Mussig]

Matte. Better color with less glare. The glossy screen won’t enhance your other activities, and would detract from graphics and editing work.

Zak

[Zak Mussig]

Hi Luke,
Sorry for the slow response… hope you’re still checking this thread.

It’s HDV 1080i 59.94

For a little more info, the image is very pixelated (as is lowering resolution) and doesn’t play back in real-time.

Thanks for any help,
Zak

[Zak Mussig]

Just because your video equipment is HDV doesn’t mean that you have to edit HDV. Assuming you have the drive space (SATA has gotten so cheap) you could capture as DVCPro HD as avoid the many pitfalls of HDV editing. I’m pretty biased on this one since I’ve been on FCP since version 2, but I say go for the Mac Pro and FCP. I understand that you might not really have a choice in which platform you go with, and it certainly isn’t worth going down in a blaze of glory over, but these new Apple workstations are real champs, and incredibly stable.

Just my 2 cents,
Zak

[Zak Mussig]

Luke,
I have what I think is a similar question about DeckLink down-conversion. I just got and installed a DeckLink HD Extreme and a few minutes ago was the first chance I’ve had to hook it up. I’m working with HDV, and my plan was to monitor down-converted HDV on my NTSC monitor. It looks awful and I can’t get anything to playback in real-time. In looking at the Blackmagic website I didn’t realize that the down-conversion takes place in software. I only noticed that when I opened up the system preferences to turn it on. I can only assume I missed something on the site.
I guess with all of that said my question is how do I get the best possible performance out of my setup? What are the best output settings for my system?
Quad 3GHz Mac Pro
5GB RAM
Decklink HD Extreme
NTSC monitor (using component in)
FCP 5.1.2

Thanks for any advice,
Zak

[Zak Mussig]

If it’s any consolation to you PPC folks, the beta crashes on startup on my Mac Pro, and there’s a thread of Mac users (which covers every Intel mac but the mini last I checked) on Adobe Lab’s forum with the same problem.
It’s called Soundbooth.

[Zak Mussig]

Bob,
You will absolutely want to have FCS across all of your systems. The savings of FCE over FCS will be lost almost immediately dealing with the missing features and 1-way project sharing sharing between the two programs. Also, depending on your exact system specs, FCS will perform BETTER on a MBP than on your G5. Why waste all of that extra horsepower on software Apple offers to pre-install option of on the mini.
I’ve been told in the past that the FCS studio license allows for installation on both a desktop and a notebook with the assumption that both won’t be used at the same time. Can anyone check me on that one? I know that’s what I had going until about a week ago when I formatted my G5 to sell ‘er off.
I think you’re good to install your current copy… assuming you already have the universal install discs.
Zak

[Zak Mussig]

Assuming that you DeckLink card is one of the models with analog in/out and is HD capable, hook the Component (RGB) OUT from the card to the Component IN on the projector. Then just set the projector to the component input.

Zak

[Zak Mussig]

I think he’s just talking about DV, not HDV. They are very different formats that just happen to share a tape transport system.

[Zak Mussig]

You could technically use the iMac as an external hard disk, but not a monitor. Connect your computers with a firewire cable, and boot your iMac up while holding down T on the keyboard.
Depending on the format of video you’re using this may or may not be fast enough for you. You may also run into issues with connecting other firewire devices, but I think you could use the second port on the iMac to attach other devices to your computer. Everything else you hook up will come at a speed cost.

Zak

[Zak Mussig]

You need to go buy the Upgrade version of Final Cut Studio (which now comes with install discs for the x.1 universal versions of all of the software). When you install it will ask you for your old serial from FCP 2. Should be gravy from then on. Don’t lose your FCP 2 license. The install disc won’t do you any good now, but you need to hold on to the license with the serial number on it in case you ever need to re-install.
I started on FCP 2 back in college. This is going to be a very big change for you, and one I think you’ll be really happy with once you get up to speed on the new features (and new apps).

Zak