Site Archive

Viva La Difference: mixing media formats with Final Cut Pro 6
Written by David Tames on February 16, 2008
Filed Under Apple, Editing, Final Cut Pro, Macintosh
8 Comments  

Having to render any media that does not match the format of the sequence is a problem that has plagued Final Cut Pro versions 1 through 5. With Version 6 (bundled with Final Cut Studio 2, no longer available as a stand-alone application) this problem has gone away. Version 6 of Final Cut Pro...  Continue Reading...

Boston Media Makers Meeting, January 6, 2008
Written by David Tames on January 6, 2008
Filed Under Events & Screenings, Macintosh, Podcasting, Video on the Web, Web
9 Comments  

Today I attended another i3 (interesting, inspiring, and informative) meeting of Boston Media Makers on a gorgeous sunny Sunday morning at Sweet Finnish Cafe in Jamaica Plain. Here are my notes. I’ve not included everyones three minute update and/or show-and-tell, lack of mention should...  Continue Reading...

Comparing MacBook Pro external drive performance
Written by David Tames on July 20, 2007
Filed Under Editing, Filmmaking, Macintosh, Video Production
1 Comment  

Yesterday I wrote about using SATA drives with a MacBook Pro. Is it worth the trouble going the external SATA route with a MacBook Pro for editing? It’s certainly valuable when doing media ingest in the field (e.g. P2) direct to a mirrored pair of disks. I like it simply because I need...  Continue Reading...

Using SATA drives with a MacBook Pro
Written by David Tames on July 19, 2007
Filed Under Editing, Filmmaking, General, Macintosh
4 Comments  

UPDATE: The SIGG ExpressCard-M card has compatibility problems with Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.x) so I switched to using the Tempo SATA Express 34 card, however, it does not support access to SMART status like the SIGG card did (March 30, 2008) UPDATE:With external hard drives with eSATA connectors...  Continue Reading...

Keeping laptop and desktop address books in sync
Written by David Tames on July 13, 2007
Filed Under Macintosh, Productivity
1 Comment  

It drives me crazy having three address books, one on my desktop editing system, another on my MacBook Pro laptop, and a third on my old iBook laptop used to surf the web while watching the old media box. How can I keep three Macs synchronized? I’ve finally found a good way to do this...  Continue Reading...

Mac Coolant Leak (video)
Written by David Tames on April 7, 2007
Filed Under Apple, Macintosh
10 Comments  

A short while ago, one of the Power Mac G5 editing systems at work stopped working. My first response was to run the Apple Hardware Test, which revealed a problem with the video card. We called AppleCare, who dispatched a technician to take care of the problem. Much to our surprise, the cause...  Continue Reading...