Viva La Difference: mixing media formats with Final Cut Pro 6
February 16, 2008
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 introduced the ability to mix video formats on the timeline, a long awaited feature that was the source of lots of teasing from the Avid snobs.
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Boston Media Makers Meeting, January 6, 2008
January 6, 2008
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 not be construed in any way as lack of interest or relevance, I simply could not record everything.
Comparing MacBook Pro external drive performance
July 20, 2007
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 to move external SATA disks between the laptop and my desktop editing systems. But there’s also a performance advantage. But how much? I decided to run a little test comparing the performance of the following:
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Using SATA drives with a MacBook Pro
July 19, 2007
Need fast, cheap, reliable storage for video editing on your MacBook Pro? Tired of paying a price premium and performance penalty with external FireWire drives? Tired of dropped frames with that USB external drive? Want to be able to move a project between the laptop and a PowerMac or MacPro and keep it on a fast SATA drive? Several interface cards are available for the MacBook Pro to interface with SATA drives.
Keeping laptop and desktop address books in sync
July 13, 2007
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 after a harrowing journey.
Mac Coolant Leak (video)
April 7, 2007
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 of the graphic card failure turned out to be quite unexpected, as shown in this video. Who would have thought that the cooling technology uses in this digital age machne would be the cause its own near-death experience, a reminder of the value of AppleCare protection for your Macintosh, and that in rare cases Macs can eat themselves from the inside.
The video was shot casually in a matter of minutes with a Canon PowerShot S410 digital still camera in movie mode and edited using Final Cut Pro on the train ride from Boston to New York on the way to Podcamp NYC. Once I got to Podcamp, I uploaded the video to blip.tv thanks to the WiFi access provided by UrbanHotspots. Piano performed by Howard Apley.
