There was an issue that cropped up when many of us upgraded FCP 6 to 6.0.2. Suddenly the LOG AND TRANSFER option for P2 didn't work. Initially I solved this by zapping PRAM, running Disk First Aid and repairing permissions and trashing FCP prefs. This unfortunately only worked ONCE. When I restarted, this didn't work at all. And this didn't work for everyone. I started a threat on <a href=http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1252296&tstart=0 target=_blank>the Apple forums</a> to track this issue.
So in my testing I found the culprit to be the FxPlug plugins from FX Factory. As soon as I removed those, my import function returned. I even went so far as to get a new HD, install the OS fresh, update it. Install FCS 2 fresh, update it, and then install applications and plugins, testing the Import option after each one. It finally failed when I loaded FX Factory. SO...if you have this, or maybe other FxPlug plugins, try removing those and running FCP again. Uninstalling would be best (if possible), as one of the things I tried doing was removing ALL of the plugins from the Plugins folder, and it still failed. ONly when I ran the Uninstaller did it actually clear things up.
Here is the whole rigamaroll I did THIS time to narrow it down, the troubleshooting steps used in getting P2 import working with FCP 6.0.2:
Purchased a new 320GB SATA drive...only because I wanted to start fresh, and these were on sale for $50, and I had stuff on the other drive that I wanted to keep and didn't really want to copy it to another...WHATEVER...I got a new drive. Larger than the other one...so...THERE!
I erased it and formatted it MacOS Extended. Then I installed the G5 disks. Then I ran the Tiger Upgrade Install CD, then used the System Update System Preference to bring everything up to the most current version.
Then I repaired permissions.
Next, I installed Final Cut Studio 2. Then I ran all the updates. This took a while, as I also went to Griffith Observatory with my family, and wasn't on hand to press the OK button or swap DVDs.
Then I repaired permissions and restarted.
I copied over some backed up P2 footage and launched FCP 6.0.2. I opened Log and Transfer, navigated to a P2 folder and BOOM....there the clips were. Worked fine.
So now, I begin installing the extra software. I will list it in order, and test after each install.
1) Kona LH drivers, v4 2) Caldigit FASTA 4x driver 3) Quicksilver (I am CRIPPLED without this) 4) Adobe After Effects 6.5 5) Microsoft Office 2004 6) Photoshop CS (PS 8)
Repaired Permissions. And there was stuff that needed repairing. Photoshop color profiles from the looks of it.
P2 IMPORT FAILED. I then UNINSTALLED FX Factory (nice that they have an Uninstaller...need more of these) and tested again. P2 import was successful. So now I have narrowed it down to FX Factory...thus far. Checking more plugins.
14) Eureka Free and Eureka Plugins 15) Sheffield Softwerks 16) Marcus Plugins (Vignette, Face Light) 17) CGM Film LE 18) Film Grain Process (Paul Crisp I believe) 19) Nattress Big Box 'o Tricks 20) Nattress Set 1 21) Nattress Standards Converter 22) Nattress Film Effects 23) Nattress Free (seems like I like the Nattress plugins huh?) 24) Zaxwerks 3D Flag Demo (testing other FxPlug plugins) Import worked fine. 25) CHV FxPlug Bundle (also FxPlug) Import worked fine.
At this point I yanked out the new drive and put back the old one. I ran the FX Factory Uninstaller. And guess what? I was able to import P2 using the Log and Transfer window!
I hope that this helps others in figuring out what is happening for them. If you have FX Factory, uninstall it and see what happens. If not, it might be some other FxPlug plugin.
Apple is aware of this and is investigating.
Posted by: Shane Ross on Nov 26, 2007 at 11:38:19 am
I saved posting the airdate until the time was close. Well, it is close. And it will air THREE times very close to one another...so you will be sure to catch it.
Sunday, November 18 08:00 PM Monday, November 19 12:00 AM (that's right...MIDNIGHT) Saturday, November 24 05:00 PM
Not sure if these are Eastern or Pacific times...there have been times when it was set to air at 8PM and I find that it is on a 5PM...so 8PM eastern, 5PM Pacific. But then it re-aired later that night.
Anyway, this is my third History Channel high def show cut with FCP...and since I have maybe 4 shows that air a year (specials...all of them specials) announcing when one airs is a big thing. Now, when I get a SERIES, I can be more casual about it and say "catch this every Tuesday at 8:00 PM" and it won't be such a big deal because you see it all the time. Well, it will still be a big deal, just not a quarterly event.
ONE of these day's the network will publicize a show I work on...one of these days. Until then I have to shout it from the street corner...
"HEY! WATCH MY SHOW! IT'S REALLY COOL!"
When my SURGERY SAVED MY LIFE episode airs on Discovery Health (gah, they HAD to move it from the main Discovery channel for some reason)...I'll let you know. That will be my...2nd show this year? The third I am working on now. MAN, I need a series.
Posted by: Shane Ross on Nov 15, 2007 at 10:06:40 pm
Here I sit in the online of my latest show, watching someone else do all the work. This show, SURGERY SAVED MY LIFE ("Battleground Miami" is the episode title...on Discovery Health) was done the old fashioned way, an offline/online workflow. We offlined on Avid Meridian v11s on G4's running OS9....all the media on a Unity. Sure, it's old, but it still works and works well. I had very few issues, and really enjoyed being back on an Avid. Well, I cursed at it a few times when I had to do something that in FCP would be a SNAP...like shuffling footage and scenes...but overall I liked it.
So I did the offline cut at the production office, working with five other editors, all on different episodes. When I locked picture (late last night) they took the bin with the locked sequence to a post facility that then onlined the cut on an Avid Symphony. When this is done, we will output a digibeta, then take it to a DaVinci for color correction, the output a tape, then to a linear bay for titling...then output to another tape. MAN...what a lot of steps. I didn't have to do this with my last FCP shows...or even my last show I cut on an Avid. We did the titling and color correction in the symphony. Whew.
I mention this because the next show I will be working on...well, the one AFTER the next show I am on (I will be going to a company to help "fix" a series they are having issues with)...the next show with THIS company...will be shot on DVCPRO HD, Varicam and P2, for the History Channel...a series no less...and we are trying to pitch FCP to the main production company as I have already done three shows this way...but they are ballking and wanting us to use Avids. So we are doing a workflow comparison for them. I'll blog about that soon.
ANYWAY...I have COMPLETELY digressed from what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about distancing yourself from the editing process to allow you to view your work more critically.
Last week when we were working on the FINE cut (the step between Rough Cut and Locked Picture...the second pass at a show that you send to the network), I had finished my cut and we were about to watch the show to see how it looks as a whole, when my producer said to me, "Shane, come here....sit on the sofa. Get away from the controls and sit back and relax, I'll control the machine."
"But, I..." I try to protest.
"No, get back here and watch it. Get away from the machine. Watch it from my point of view. NO! Watch it from the perspective of someone who just turned on the TV and goes 'Hey, this looks interesting.' Watch critically."
Now, I never thought of doing this before. Dunno why. Because it is VERY true....when you watch it in your chair in front of the controls, you are still in your 'editor's mind.' Noting things that aren't working, or wanting to stop the show and just fix this one small thing. You are still seeing it from the point of something YOU put together. Sitting back does put you in another frame of mind completely. I was able to sit back and actually view it as though I was watching some show on TV. That surprised me. And it was really helpful, becuase instead of seeing it as I need to fix this one small edit, or music cue, I was paying attention to the story, following the people and the personalities and...well...enjoying the show.
I wasn't allowed to take notes or anything. I was to watch it and give my general impressions. What worked for me, and what didn't...all based on my memory, based on what impacted me and stuck with me. And when it was over, I can say that I did genuinely enjoy the show. It was odd, but I was able to remove myself from the process and watch the show. And it was eye opening. I gave my impressions to the producer, he agreed with most of them, gave me his...and I went about the task of fixing what didn't work, or needed a little something more to get the point across.
As I said, I had never thought about doing this before. I think that my producer, also knowing how to edit (but having been away from the chair for quite some time) recognized what a difference it was watching in front of the machine, and back on the sofa. Because you are closer to the work, still there and involved in the cut, you are more invested in it, and apt to defend the edit decisions. But by stepping back and removing yourself from the process...distancing yourself...you can watch the show with a more critical eye.
Try it.
Posted by: Shane Ross on Nov 7, 2007 at 1:07:42 pm
All CalDigit products are compatible with Leopard. This is a good thing as I am flush with Duos and a Firewire VR. Not that I have Leopard yet...on the G5. I do on my Powerbook, and I use these on this machine. And I can say that yes, they work.
Oct 29, 2007 Placentia, CA CalDigit, the new leader in RAID storage solutions is pleased to announce the immediate compatibility of all of its products with Apple's new Leopard OS X operation system.
Starting with the FireWireVR (Triple Interface RAID), our FASTA-2e 2-port eSATA card, our FASTA-4e and FASTA-4X 4 port Superlane eSATA cards, FASTA-1ex ExpressCard34, to our HDPro and RAID SHIELD Management utility, all CalDigit products are ready to go with Leopard.
"Everyone's been asking us recently and we're pleased to announce that CalDigit is ready for Leopard", said Jon Schilling, Sales Manager of CalDigit. "Our users can now take advantage of all Leopard has to offer in full conjunction with ALL of our products."
CalDigit Inc is the leading manufacturer of affordable, quality RAID products. CalDigit is located in Orange County, California at 1941 Miraloma Avenue, Suite B, Placentia, CA 92870. For further information, please contact sales@caldigit.com or visit our website at http://www.caldigit.com.
Posted by: Shane Ross on Oct 30, 2007 at 11:03:19 pm
The website has posted FULL RES quicktime files of each camera angle (five of them) in the DV codec. And from the look of it there is a LOT of green screen work for this. So this isn't only an exercise in creative editing of a music video, but also compositing work with green screen. Now, green screening DV, which is a bit of a task, but some good practice nuntheless.
Now, I find this to be a BRILLIANT idea. Release the footage to a the aspiring editors out there and have them edit their vision of the music video. You might get a LOT of bad videos, but, there are some talented people out there that just need the chance for you to see them shine. So these aspiring editors get the footage to practice, and if they are good they get the exposure. And the company gets a music video.
Sure, the prizes are on the cheap end (Grand Prize is a couple of tickets to a Tori concert, and second prizes are iPod Touches), but this is intended for the beginners, the aspiring filmmakers....not us Pro's who don't even have time to edit family home video...although I am downloading the footage as I type this as I haven't edited a music video before so...so...family video gets neglected again.
This reminds me of the guy who edited an iPod ad that he posted on YouTube that is now being picked up by Apple and will air.
I mean...how cool is that? Like the Doritos ads that people made and that aired on the Superbowl this year. Giving creative opportunities "to the masses" opens creative channels that have been untapped for years. I applaud this.
OK guys...get downloading.
Posted by: Shane Ross on Oct 29, 2007 at 10:44:45 pm
Quite a bit ago, back on August 3, 2007, Alpha Dogs in Burbank CA had what they dubbed the "HD LCD Monitor Shootout." This was a comparison of many HD LCDs...all presented side-by-side in a proper gray room, all showing the same footage...for people to look at and judge for themselves what is the best HD LCD.
The models displayed were:
TV Logic LVM 240D Front Niche JVC DTV 24L1D Teranex ClearVue DIT DTS-OR23.NS4 DIT DTS-OR23.NS3 eCinema DPX Panasonic BTLH2600W Sony LMD-2450WHD
Now, the eCinema wasn't an HD LCD, but is what they call the "CRT Replacement." And it wasn't quite ready yet...the demo model didn't dislay any real image. It was there just to show us that it could "do black." Well, that it did. But priced at $37,999, that is a BIT out of the reach of most of us. This monitor is destined for Post Houses only...ones that can charge $350-$750 an hour for color correction. So I'll leave this one out of the equasion.
Now, I have seen the Panasonic monitor in action at NAB and a few peoples editing setup, and I was impressed. But for this monitor shootout, it was REALLY CRANKED UP. Something that Terry Cullen (the host) dubbed "something you would see at Circuit City." This was very disappointing to us, because we knew that the manufacturers representatives that brought the monitors also set them up. The Panasonic rep really did their monitor s disservice.
That being said, I would like to point out my favorites...my TOP THREE. The top three because these were ones that were easily head and shoulders above the rest. All the models presented were of the 24" variety.
#3 - The Sony LMD-2450WHD. Good colors, decent blacks. Good controls. Off axis viewing made RED turn to SALMON...but, you get that with most (note I say "most") of these monitors. This one goes for about $5500.
#2 - JVC DTV 24L1D. This is all around the best monitor I saw there. Good price range, decent off axis viewing (a little better than the Sony), good blacks, great colors. If I was pressed to give up my Sony PVM-14L5, this would be the monitor I would get, because it is in my price range...and looks very good.
But...the monitor that REALLY impressed me, the one that I would get if I could afford it, is:
#1 - TV Logic LVM 240D. This is a monitor by a Korean manufacturer and MAN, have they got it! This was an AMAZING monitor. Off axis viewing was by far the best. Very little color drop off. Great blacks, vibrant colors. Just an amazing monitor. Cost? $7999. Yes, a lotta scratch, but man, if you have it, get this one. I had the pleasure of seeing the LARGER models at IBC, and every one of them was just sharp. The 42" is what I'd love to have in my bay...but the price was...a wee tad higher than the 24".
So there. The best deal is the JVC, but the best of the batch (eCinema not ready for primetime at the time) is the JVC.
Oh, why did I mention "off axis" viewing? Well, this is because when color correcting with a producer or director of photography in the room, you both need to see the monitor, so it needs to be angled in a way that you both have a good view. But in doing that neither one of you is looking directly at the monitor, but slightly "off axis." If a monitor displays RED as SALMON or PINK off axis...that isn't a good thing.
Posted by: Shane Ross on Oct 27, 2007 at 2:23:37 am
The new version of Mac OSX is due out on October 26...Leopard. To install, or not to install, THAT is the question.
Now...those of you with editing systems should proceed with caution. I always, repeat ALWAYS say, "if you have a stable working system, DO NOT UPDATE IT!" Having a stable working editing system is the key to a smooth running business, a stress free life, and more time you can devote to reading, riding your bike, playing with the kids...ANYTHING but sitting in your office for hours trying to figure out what went wrong.
OK, if you find that you MUST update your system and play with all the new toys it has to offer, I have a few suggestions to make to cover your butt:
1) CLONE YOUR SYSTEM DRIVE. Get Carbon Clopy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html) and an external firewire drive that is as big as your internal, and clone your nice, clean, WORKING system onto it. This way, if things don't work out with Leopard, you can always go back to your properly working system.
2) GET A NEW HARD DRIVE AND INSTALL ON THAT. Now, this only works if you have a MacPro or G5, or G4...a tower where you can swap out drives. I listed the other option first because anyone can do that, towers, laptops, iMacs, MacMinis. This is the cheaper way to go as internal SATA drives are cheaper than firewire drives. Pop out the current system drive and pop in this new drive. Or, if you happen to have an open drive slot, install this in there, so you can have a DUAL BOOT system. Working system, NEW system. Then boot up on the Leopard Install disk and jump through the installing hoops.
Well, that about covers it. Oh, wait...you DON'T want to spend money on another hard drive? Well, OK, if you don't have $80 to spend on a 250Gb internal, or lacking the funds to buy a $200 external FW 250GB drive....because getting Leopard tapped you out...then this is what you can do. Mind you, it'll not be nearly as slick as the other options.
Back up all your files. Project files, work documents, spreadsheets, pictures, movies, music...you should be doing this anyway. If you don't have a back up drive...what the heck are you thinking?!?! Ahem, anyway, then erase your system drive and install Leopard from scratch. Yeah, you can install Leopard on top of Tiger, but this way you ENSURE that you will have a clean, fresh OS. Then install all your applications and copy back all your files.
OH...and the most important thing I can stress: Do not upgrade while you are in the middle of a project. I cannot stress this enough. If the upgrade messes things up, then you have downtime. And downtime is a killer...because in the editing world there are deadlines. Now, if you are NEVER in the middle of a project, and have several that overlap (I know several people and places this applies to), do the upgrade when you can spare the time to do it, test it, and fix it if things don't work. Weekends are good for this, or any time you can spare a couple days, or have a few days down time and it not be a burden.
But really...honestly...what I'd REALLY suggest you do?
Wait.
Wait and let others install Leopard and find all the issues with it. OR, if you have TWO computers, one you use for work and then another one you use for web surfing and e-mail...install Leopard on that one. The biggest thing I want to get across is that if you are using a machine to earn a living, and it is working fine...don't do something that might cause it not to work. You need to eat.
OK...the time is approaching. Friday will soon be upon us and Leopard will come out.
And I swear, 4 minutes later there will be a post on one of the FCP forums where someone says, "I just installed Leopard, and now I can't _______ in FCP. HEEEEELLLLPPP!"
Don't be that guy. Or gal.
Posted by: Shane Ross on Oct 23, 2007 at 8:43:13 pm
This serves as a reminder that there are so many things about FCP that I just don't know about. Here's one that I'm sure ALL the Avid people would love to know, because I liked this feature in the Avid.
If you add effects to clips in an Avid, and DO NOT render them, the footage will play back fine, just without the effects. VERY handy when you make changes and want to see how the cut works without spending a long time rendering and re-rendering.
Now, I felt this feature was missing in FCP...because when I made a change and then hit play, UNRENDERED lit up the screen in all it's RED glory. This forced me to render it before I saw it, or hit OPT-P and play through it slowly...which doesn't work when trying to look at a cut creatively and in context with the story.
So I bitch about this to a friend of mine who says "Oh, just turn on PLAY BASE LAYER ONLY. That will do what you want." Sure enough, in the RT menu on the timeline, there is that option. If the clip has a filter on it and it is rendered, it'll play the rendered clip. But if the clip has a filter on it and ISN'T rendered, then it will play the base clip without filters. THAT, my friends...is cool. To me it is anyway.
I'd sure like to take credit for knowing this, but...I can't. The friend I bitched about this to is Patrick Sheffield, a regular on the Apple forums. The credit goes to him. He mentioned that he discovered it pretty early on, and that it was the most "Avid-like" feature of FCP that he'd seen.
Posted by: Shane Ross on Oct 22, 2007 at 1:45:30 pm
DevilDodo here on the Creative Cow has done some research on this topic:
http://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/193/867492
"After looking into LTO tapes, Hard drives, DVDs and Blu-ray there seems to be no clear winner. Here's how it breaks down (all prices in NZ dollars):
LTO3: - Most expensive setup cost (the cost of the drive itself) at around $2000. In terms of tapes, it works out to about $0.19 /GB - Large storage space (200GB or 400GB compressed) on the one I looked at. - Approx. 30+ year lifetime. - Write speed is quite slow when compared to DVD. Read speed is quite slow (due to the fact it has to do it sequentially. IE it's not random access).
HDD: - Relatively cheap, around $0.48 /GB with no setup costs. - Storage space varies, but significantly larger than DVD or Blu-ray. - Unreliable. 3-5 year lifetime. - Harder to store. - Very fast write speed, random access.
DVD+R: - Cheapest of all options at $0.18 /GB. - Comparatively very small storage space. - Fast write speed compared to Blu-ray and LTO. - 10-30 year lifetime. - Less reliable. Prone to damage.
Blu-ray: - Most expensive at $1.41 /GB. Setup cost of around $1200 for burner. - 50GB at dual layer. A lot larger than DVD, but still small when compared to LTO or HDD. - Slow write speed (around an hour per 25GB depending on burner). - Apparently very robust. 100+ year lifetime.
Take from that what you will. This information was taken from various places on the net, so is by no means definitive.
A few thoughts of my own: To me, Blu-ray seems like a very viable solution. The 100+ year lifetime may sound a bit ridiculous, but I've spoken to several people who have said that they are incredibly robust and that really the only way to destroy the information is to physically snap the disc.
Of course, a huge advantage to the Blu-ray solution for those of us in the video profession is that buying the bruner gives you the ability to master high def Blu-ray discs (with the right software, of course). Which is a huge plus, espcially if working with the HVX.
And prices are coming down on the burners fast. I compiled this information only a couple of months ago, but recently I've seen a burner for $800 that claims to write 25GB in 25 minutes!
My research into HDD storage has been widely varied. Ultimately I've concluded that it is complete luck as to when or whether you HDD will crash on you. I've obviously had a lot of bad luck - in the year we've been in business we've lost a total of six external drives. Completely randomly. Thus, I personally have vowed to never use them again as a storage system.
At the moment we've resorted to using DVDs to archive until we make a decision. It's been working fine so far... Though it is a pain having to manually split the 16GB folders into 4GB segments... "
Now I have been leaning towards Blu-Ray myself...but...how long will they last given the HD DVD war that is going on? You'll have to make sure that you have a Blu-Ray READER that is compatible for all that time IF the other format wins out. Then again you also need to hold onto your LTO tape drive as well, and the computer that it can connect to (say you have an OLD one that has a SCSI interface). Either way...and even with drives (which are still my current TEMPORARY solution) you need to make sure you constantly update the drive itself so that it can connect to a computer, or hold onto a computer it can connect to...which shouldn't be too tough.
Decisions...decisions...
Right now I only have two shows worth of P2 files to back up, so Blu-Ray isn't cost effective. But if I went to series...hmmmm.
Thoughts? What are others considering? I'd like LTO, but man...$2000 for a drive. I can get a Blu-Ray burner for $600...SINGLE layer. Ahh, the Achilles Heel of the tapeless workflow...archiving.
Posted by: Shane Ross on Oct 15, 2007 at 4:57:08 pm
