my little rant about my new mac

[miker]

first of, don't get me wrong ... my new mac rocks, it's just got me banging my head against the nearest wall time after time as i try to get the 'exposure' DVD together. thank God there's no client breathing down my neck!

firstly, they shipped it with the airport card fitted incorrectly. i wasn't too phased by that once i realised that was what was causing the system instability (it's a 12" powerbook) - but still wasting time figuring it out.

then i need to import some mpeg2 files into iMovie. oh no you don't!

so i get Quicktime Pro and export the mpeg2 as a DV stream. which would work fine if it actually exported sound as well! Quicktime Pro? Quicktime Poor more like!

anyways, I find a great little freeware app called MoreMissingTools which allows me to demux the mpeg then convert the mp2 to a wav which I can then sync up with the muted DV stream in iMovie. Not a huge deal, and the transcoding time is reasonable in comparison to my wintel boxes (the mac is quicker)

so then I get to the main feature, an mpeg2 some 650MB in size - demuxes fine thank you very much MoreMissingTools. Quicktime Poor successfully transcodes the mpeg2 to a DV stream sans audio, fine. But then frickin' iMovie cr4ps out importing the DV file (which is some 4GB in size, ~20 mins playback time if memory serves), some stinkin error:
The file could not be imported: (-40)
- after the progress bar has wizzed to 100% and its paused for a minute or so.

Great. Just frickin great. These are the sorts of problems I hoped to avoid on the mac. I'm obviously cursed.

All is not lost - I have a developer tool called SimpleVideoOut which, if it works, will allow me to pipe Quicktime Poor output to the firewire port where I can bounce this mpeg2 off DV tape back into iMovie.

Makes me wish I hadn't ditched the PeeCee and Vegas Video though. Damned hippes and their promises of smooth workflow.

Anyone got FCP or FCX going cheap?

Oh, and as an aside, printing seems to su?k donkey d1cks on OS X ... can't get anything going to my network enabled, port 9100 ready, jetdirect hp laserjet 5.

[Alex]

I don't think I-movie was ever intended for the more
motivated individual such as yourself.

"I-movie for dummies"...

FCP-Express/Academic for cash strapped students with
demo reel aspirations...

FCP-3 for the non-broadcast professional (although it is used for Broadcast by many)

FCP-4 for the Avid Wannabees.

[miker]

yeah, i knew iMovie was limited to DV only which is why I was relying on Quicktime Pro to do the transcoding to DV. Too bad it drops the audio track in the process!

I know also that FCX is geared towards DV only, which means that will give me the transcoding headache too.

Surely a ?650+ package like FCP3 or 4 can import a measly MPEG2 without all the ******** around?

[titaniumdoughnut]

i just tried importing an mpeg into fcp3 for you. it didn't work. it imported ok instantly, then it wouldn't play, just showed the first frame and flickered. no audio came in either. mpegs are notorius for refusing to mport with audio no matter what you do. i hate them with a vengance!!!

i think i can help you with your problem though!

1 ) open the "dv stream minus audio" in Quicktime Player

2 ) open the wav file in Quicktime Player

3 ) select all of the wav and edit > copy

4 ) go to the dv file, hold down OPTION and go to edit > add

5 ) that just layered in the sound with the video. now re-export it as iMovie friendly dv stream (not quicktime with dv as the compression type)

6 ) you're done, import to iMove. the sound is now synched to the video.

cheers and goodluck

perry

[miker]

hey titaniumdoughnut -

top tip!

have five stars!

[Alex]

titaniumdoughnut, does this mean that an imovie editing platform is acceptable for film projects as compared to FCP 3 or 4?

[titaniumdoughnut]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">top tip!

have five stars!</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

thanks! glad it helped you.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
titaniumdoughnut, does this mean that an imovie editing platform is acceptable for film projects as compared to FCP 3 or 4?</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

well, if by film you mean real FILM the answer is no. You'll need FCP's Cinema Tools add-on.

but if by film you mean "a film"

yea, i guess so, iMovie is acceptable for a final DV quality "film". the result will be no higher quality than NTSC (or PAL) DV stream but that's as good as what went in. so if you don't need the special stuff in FCP, you're good to go! i think the dv in iMovie might get softened ever so slightly, i've never heard of this but it just looks like it to me.

cheers all

perry

[Alex]

I was referring to ease of use and ease of use of "simple" editing techniques. Insert audio, Insert video, automatic edit decision list ripple if you go back earlier into the time-line to make a change.

[titaniumdoughnut]

ohhh... i see, sorry, i misunderstood.

well, i have not actually used imovie much. it is supposedly VERY EASY but i never took the time to figure it out, having spent long hours using premier and after effects and then getting FCP3.

EDL - no way jose (unless it's in the new one)

ripple insert and delete - i think that's the only choice

audio and video insert is possible with 1 video and 2 audio tracks i think...

it's free (or if it didn't come on your mac you can get iLife which includes it for $40US), just fool around with it and see if it suits you

goodluck -
cheers, perry

btw, FCP is awesome! i would HIGHLY recommend it. i got mine for $299US with edu discount

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 02, 2003 04:10 PM: Message edited by: titaniumdoughnut ]</font>