Final Cut Express take miniDV

Does Final Cut Express support miniDV captures? On the website it lists DV but not mini.
Message was edited by: Paul Samuel

miniDV is just the cassette size. The format is DV regardless of the cassette dimensions.

Similar Messages

  • Need advice on a system setup / Final Cut Express or pro

    Hi all,
    I am about to take on a pretty big project. I will be working on a full length documentary, approximately 90 minutes running time.
    We currently have a 2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with 4GB of memory (667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM) which we will be using for editing. We are using a mid-level Sony High Definition camera that records on MiniDV.
    We don't have a huge budget and I wanted to get the opinion of some experienced editors on what would be the right choice. We can get a new 3Ghz iMac or Final Cut Studio. We currently own Final Cut Studio Express and are relatively well versed with it.
    So, the question is, would we benefit more from the speed of an upgraded Mac, or the additional functionality of Final Cut Studio?
    Editing a full length feature like this can be a long frustrating process. With a 2Ghz machine, are we really going to feel the pain while trying to work with Final Cut Studio? Might we find ourselves gliding along with more ease (or less burnout) without the additional chugging along of a 2Ghz processor when editing on a 3Ghz processor with Final Cut Express?
    I understand that the two greatest benefits (as far as I've read) is the batch capturing and color correction of Final Cut Studio. There is also something about keyframes that I know little to nothing about. Are these things you believe we might get a lot of use from, particularly in the context of a documentary? I can definitely see using the batch capturing but don't see that being worth and additional $800. I'm unsure too how beneficial color correction is.
    Any tips or experiences would be greatly appreciated. So far we've only done 15 minute shorts and don't see too much computer slowdown. I'm a little worried about the sheer number of gigs of video we're going to be dealing with against a 2-year-old computer.
    Thanks for taking the time.

    I vote for FCS3. Of course you'll love what you can do and then you'll want a better machine, but that can wait. All the modules, Color, Soundtrack and Motion as well as Compressor make it worthwhile.
    Make sure all your footage is the same format (ProRes) and you'll have much fewer timeline rendering issues.

  • Which camera to get for Final Cut Express 3.5HD/ upgrade to FCE 4?

    Hello everyone!
    I know this has been discussed frequently, but i am sort of looking for a costum made solution for me
    Following situation: Macbook, 2.16Ghz, 2GB Ram, 320GB HDD @ 5400rpm.
    I am running 10.5.3, have Final Cut Express 3.5 installed and am used to work in it,
    mainly for editing video files not coming from a camcorder.
    I have some experience in SD miniDV recording/editing though.
    NOW I was thinking of getting a new camcorder in the 1500$ max range.
    I want to edit video files, sometimes burn DVDs, at other times only to have them on the mac.
    What i like about some of these new HD consumer models they can record AVCHD and mpeg2 SD in DVD quality. That should allow me to record in mpeg2 and have less hassle with importing/converting into Final Cut Express 3.5 if lower quality is fine (which it is as of now)
    At the same time I could upgrade to Final Cut Express 4 and import the AVCHD files, but I still taken aback from how time and resource consuming it is. Plus it does not allow full HD 1920x1080 in FCE 4 does it?
    So I was looking at the Sony HDR SR11 as a nice camcorder. Seen it live, seems decent.
    On the other hand, is a camera which records in HDV a better solution for me?
    I could keep Final Cut 3.5, no need to upgrade right?
    Is it less hassle to transfer files to the mac and edit them?
    I am very unsure which way to go right now...

    Hi Flore
    This a huge debate. There are very few advantages to the new AVCHD camera's and the vgery long list of negative aspects of AVCHD camera's outweighs any usefulness of them. They are designed for Grandad to pick up and shoot good quality pictures and not for editing.
    I have posted below the wiki address for AVCHD, please read the page. It is very important you do read it. It explains in depth about AVCHD.
    I feel the is no real place for the hard drive based AVCHD camera. There is a place for a mini-dv tape based camera.
    Life will be very hard if you go the Hard-drive camera route. Stay with tape.
    Tape is cheap, hardy and easy to move around. Hard drives not so!!!
    Take some time to read the following wikipedia page...PLEASE READ THIS PAGE!!!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD
    You will see that AVCHD is not all the bee's knee's.
    I personally hope it dies an extremly painful agonising drawnout death.
    AVCHD has no place in the professional domain.
    Justin... Durban.. South Africa

  • Will my camcorder work if I buy Final Cut Express HD 3.5?

    I have been enjoying iMovie for a long time and thought I would move on to Final Cut Express, but before I do I want to make sure my camcorder will work with it. My computer is one of the intel iMacs so I know it's not a problem. My camcorder is a Sony DCR-HC32. It uses miniDV tapes. I have an ominous feeling that Final Cut Express won't work with cameras that use miniDV tapes, but I'm not sure. Please let me know if you have any knowledge in this area. I don't want to buy the product if my camcorder can't work with it. Thanks in advance!

    Hi Scott.
    FCE is designed for cameras that use DV and Mini-DV tapes.
    What it is not designed for are DVD and HDD cameras.
    So long as your Sony has a Firewire (iLink) connection it should be OK - but nobody can guarantee that every camera in the world will be compatible.
    To double-check you should take your camera along to an Apple store that has FCE loaded on a Mac and check that it will capture some footage.
    Ian.

  • Can somebody tell me if this video camera works with Final Cut Express HD?

    Hi,
    I'm juggling with the idea of changing my old video camera from 1999 Sony TRV-93.
    I'm looking in to the Panasonic HDC-SD5 or Sony HDR-HC7.
    My main concern it that I will be using Final Cut Express or iMovie for the editing of my home movies.
    But neither of the companies is clear if their product will work with a Mac.
    I'll be using a MacBook Pro to run Final Cut Express HD.
    So if someone that uses one of this video cameras tell me that they work with Macs and Leopard, It will be much easier to take my decision.
    Thank you for reading and your anwsers.
    Mario

    Probably ANY camera that uses MiniDV TAPE and has a FireWire ( aka iLink) output can use iMovie and FCE .
    DVD, Hard Disk and Flash Memory cameras are generally unsuitable.
    However, iMovie 07 (aka 08) and FCE 4 can handle AVCHD cameras.
    Ian.
    SORRY ! Just realised you wanted someone who has one of those cameras. I don't think many people will because flash memory is not really suitable at present because of the incredibly high price of the SD cards. eg.probably £60 for an hour of video as compared with £2 for a tape.
    Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

  • My external hard drive is 'seen' by my iMac and I can go into the Finder and open files and folders. I am using the hard drive for Time Machine back up. However Time Machine says it can't find the drive. Same thing has happened with Final Cut Express.

    My new LaCie external hard drive is 'seen' by my iMac and I can go into the Finder and open files and folders. I am using the hard drive for Time Machine back up. However Time Machine says it can't find the drive.
    The same thing happened recently between Final Cut Express and my other LaCie external hard drive used as the Scratch disk. It fixed itself.
    I've run out of ideas. Help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

    have you done some searches on FCPx and time machine? Is there a known issue with using a TM drive with FCPx? dunno but ...wait...I'll take 60 sec for you cause I'm just that kind of guy....   google...." fcpx time machine problem"  Frist page link 
    http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/fcpx-bug-best-practices-for-using-external-hard- drives-and-final-cut-pro-x/
           You cannot have time machine backups on your hard drive if you intend to use it in FCPX.
    booya!

  • Is it possible to transfer stored (b-roll) video footage from Final Cut Express to Final Cut Pro event library? Is so, what do I need?

    I have been editing in final cut express and now that I'm working in Pro X I would like to transfer my b-roll footage from FCX to Pro X. I read that there is an app. that you can buy that does this for Final Cut Pro 7, is this possible with Final Cut Express?

    Any media used in FCE can be used in FCP. No third party software is required.
    You cannot take an FCE project to FCP. 7toX will not help as FCE has no XML export.

  • Just installed Final Cut Express 4 but doesn't open

    Hey I'm a dummy but....Just installed Final Cut Express 4 but doesn't open tells me I don't have the AGP graphics card,my ATI Radeon X1600?Do some imac 1.83 Intel Core Duo come with out it?I'm freek'n stuck!!Any help would be Greatly appreciated!!

    Al's suggestion should solve the problem.
    However, if you get fed up with hitting the esc key every time you open FCE you could try this permanent cure .......... it's nowhere near as frightening as it sounds and only takes a minute !
    For a permanent cure edit the info.plist like this:-
    1. Right click on the FCE icon (in Applications NOT the Dock) and select "Show Package Contents".
    2. Open the "Contents" folder and double click the "info .plist". It should open automatically in TextEdit - if it doesn't, choose TextEdit manually.
    3. Around 15 or so lines down you will see AGP. Delete it and put in PCI.
    4. Close the window and when asked if you want to save the changes, say yes.

  • Question re Final Cut Express Capabilities

    I'm about to make the jump from another editing system over to Final Cut Express 4.
    One of the things I want to be able to do is line up and load three different angles from three different cameras and be able to edit "on the fly" as the scenes play. I have a concert video, shot in a studio, with three cameras on tripods. Now I've got three tapes and I want to load them all into memory and then crossfade or cut between angles on-the-fly.
    As well, I want to be able to shoot interviews with two cameras, each one pointing at the different people interview. Can FCE handle two different simulataneous inputs and then store the scenes in such a way that I can then cut between the two during the editing process?
    Is there additional software or hardware needed for this? In my ten-year-old editing machine I've been using, this can be done ... but it's a major workaround and a major effort. And in the later versions of my same old machine, they had a feature called "Quad Cam" which showed up to four scenes on your monitor playing simultaneously, but it was expensive and needed a fast processor, which I didn't have. I suspect my new MacBook Pro will handle this, assuming FCE4 is able to do it.

    Hi
    The Multi Camera function in FCP is very time saving. And there are other functions
    in FCP that might add to the value to take the leap.
    The Color correcting tool was so much better and Color included (even more sofisticated)
    DVD-Studio Pro
    AND - Compressor !
    Still to get more than one Camera to hard disk in live.
    I tried a simpler version of this "Capture Magic HD" - only SD but
    on a PowerBook G4 1.5GHz
    one extra FW-port on a PSCIA (or whatever) card - to get an extra individual FW-port
    and TWO Cameras in real-time download to internal hard disk.
    EACH Camera Must have a true FireWire port - not a split one as on Mac 400/800
    (they are one and the same)
    It worked as a charm. Ready to be edited immediately after Capture.
    Yours Bengt W

  • Final Cut Express on last  legs, it seems.

    I am having major problems with my Final Cut Express these days. I can't ever capture more than 10 minutes worth of camcorder footage without the whole FCE suddenly freezing up on me. I then have no choice but to Force Quit & end up losing the 10 or 15 minutes worth of footage captured. Quite often I can't even get that far...when I click on "capture now" it goes into "allocating disc space" and just freezes up again. Force Quit all over again.
    I am using a Crossfire external hard drive so there is plenty of space. Even the Macintosh HD has lots of space...so I'm not sure it's related to that. I have made tons of movies in the past, without such trouble....but as time has gone by it has become more & more unruly. More prone to crashing & siezing up. Is there any way I can uninstall the whole thing, and start from new with restored factory settings? Or is there a way to clean up the mess (if there is one) which is apparently clogging up the works? I am using an Apple iMac which I have owned since 2003, with Mac OSX version 10.4.11.
    1.25 Ghz PowerPC G4
    with 1GB DDR SDRAM.
    The Final Cut Express version I am using is version 2.0.2 (from 2004).
    Please help ! I used to be able to crank out tons of movies with minimal effort, now it's a nightmare!

    Check out Armando's suggestion first but if the problems persist take a good look at this FCE troubleshooting article.
    I would particularly recommend trashing the preferences first and if that is ineffective uninstall FCE as described and reinstall it.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24195?viewlocale=enUS&locale=enUS

  • Final output of Final Cut Express HD 3.5 is blurry and out of focus.

    Using clear/sharp '.mov' files as clips. Doing simple editing, nothing fancy. When I finally output the project using 'Export/Using QuickTime Conversion,' the final is blurry and out of focus. I've tried every compression type (H264, Animation, etc.). Same problem. Anyone know why this is happening?
    Although the specs for my computer are well within the Final Cut Express guidelines (I've even upgraded my graphics card to a Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB), I'm still thinking that perhaps the G4 I'm using doesn't have enough juice to run the FCE software. By the way, I don't have any other programs active when using FCE. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
    G4 (Mirror Drive Doors)/1.25 GHz/2.0 GB Memory/Radeon 9800XT (256 MB) Mac OS X (10.4.9) 2 Internal 120 GB Hard Drives (RAID)/2 CD-DVD Drives: Super Drive & Combo Drive
    G4 (Mirror Drive Doors)/1.25 GHz/2.0 GB Memory/Radeon 9800XT (256 MB)   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   2 Internal 120 GB Hard Drives (RAID)/2 CD-DVD Drives: Super Drive & Combo Drive

    Thanks for your response.
    Here's what I'm (trying) to do:
    I'm creating short 5 minute tutorial movies that will be distributed as QuickTime movies (burned to disk) for short run distribution (college).
    Here's the process: the movie itself is a recording of monitor screen actions recorded (audio and video) using Snapz Pro movie mode. The recorded size is 800 x 600. There might be 5 such 1 or 2 minute clips. The quality is excellent. I bring them in to FCE, drop all the clips on the same track, and add simple transitions. That's it.
    Now I need to somehow get a final QuickTime movie, with close to the same quality I had in the clips.
    So... I take the FCE file, output it using 'Export>QuickTime Conversion,' using the same size I originally recorded in, 800 x 600. Tried every codec available. Every time, the end result is a very blurred version of the original Snapz Pro recordings.
    I've even tried outputting the FCE file as 'Export>QuickTime Move' (not using the conversion method). Opened that up in QuickTime Pro with the same result: blurred and out of focus.
    I'm viewing the exported file in QuickTime Pro, with the 'Movie Properties' setting of 'High Quality.'
    Any clue? This is driving me crazy. But I'm determined to get this right.
    G4 (Mirror Drive Doors)/1.25 GHz/2.0 GB Memory/Radeon 9800XT (256 MB) Mac OS X (10.4.9) 2 Internal 120 GB Hard Drives (RAID)/2 CD-DVD Drives: Super Drive & Combo Drive

  • Xacti HD and Final Cut Express -- It used to work great! How do I go back?

    I have a Sanyo Xacti HD700. It gives me 1280x720 MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 files, which my Mac just loves. I used to be able to quickly edit the clips together in Final Cut Express, export using complementary QuickTime settings (specifically, those recommended by Vimeo for HD playback), and get beautiful MP4 files, relatively quickly.
    Then, one day, a friend needed me to edit a quick video using a DV camcorder. It was confusing as heck getting the footage into FCE, and not particularly elegant getting it out. But, the project was done overnight, I washed my hands of it, and wanted to get back to making beautiful MP4 files again, relatively quickly.
    Except I can't! Now, for one, encoding takes hours. Hours! My source videos and export videos are very similar, yet I sit and watch as the estimate for completion actually goes up for an hour before slowly coming back down.
    And frankly, that would be fine, except now my exported videos are the wrong size. They include letterboxes, and the video itself is squished, stretched. So I wait four times as long for a ghastly video. The best I could do is use the Quicktime export settings to "crop off" the letterboxing, but there's still some black bars and it's just not the same.
    Here's how my videos used to look:
    http://vimeo.com/1067235
    Here's how an exported video looks now:
    http://vimeo.com/1655414?pg=embed&sec=1655414
    What happened? Out of the box, everything worked perfectly. Now, tainted with actual tape, Final Cut Express seems like it's running my videos through six extra wringers and giving me clips worse than I'd get just cut-and-paste editing the Xacti files in QuickTime Pro!
    I Googled my brains out, and all I've learned is, if I had Final Cut Pro, "Project Settings" would have all the switches I need. Well, I don't have FCP, just FCE.
    Somewhere, something was set that I want to unset. Can anyone help? Do I have to delete every trace of FCE and just reinstall?
    Mahalo for any advice!

    It sounds like you didn't change the settings after you made the DV video. Did you switch it back to 1280x720 and make a new sequence in that format? Check item properties for the sequence you edited. What does it say? Also check item properties for any media you captured since working in DV.

  • Pro Res in Final cut express How do i get a good quality SD DVD

    I recently bought final cut express and have suffered getting a good quality SD DVD out through the workflow from my cannon XHA1.
    On screen its fine but when i author through imovie to DVD the quality is poor.
    So reading the various threads it would seem that i need to use Pro res and the ingress codec... But cant find this option in express ?
    Question is. Is pro res codec available in express and if not can someone suggest the optimum set up for HD capture to SD DVD output
    Many thanks

    Use either of these techniques to get good quality DVDs from AIC.
    1. Edit your HDV/AIC in the timeline. Then create a new DV-PAL (NTSC) Anamorphic sequence. Copy your edited HDV/AIC to the new sequence. Do not alter anything. Render the sequence ..... this will take a long time - up to twice the length of the project. Then File>Export>QuickTime Movie (Not Self-contained).
    However, if you use the QT Movie in iDVD you will get a squashed 4:3 movie, so first of all you must make QT stretch it out to its proper 16:9 dimensions like this:-
    +a. Open the exported movie file in the QT Pro player.+
    +b. Go to Window>Show Movie Properties.+
    +c. Select the "Video Track" and in the "Visual Settings" panel uncheck "Preserve Aspect Ratio".+
    +d. In the "Scaled Size" box set the width to 1024 pixels for PAL.+
    +e. The "Video Track" will have turned grey, so click it to make it blue again.+
    +f. The opened movie file will jump to 16:9.+
    +g. Close it with the red button and click Save.+
    2. This method is fast. Set your camera to "Locked DV" which means that FCE/FCP will capture it as anamorphic DV and edit it as standard definition anamorphic DV. (Use Easy Setup ... DV-PAL (NTSC) Anamorphic).
    You can then Export>QuickTime Movie to be used in iDVD and use the stretching technique mentioned above.

  • Poor quality when exporting HD project directly from Final cut Express

    I am doing some HD projects in Final Cut Express HD. I filmed with the Sony HRD-HC1 in 1080i. I import into FCE using the 1080i 60 preset from Easy setup. I completed the project and it looks great from FCE full screen. I export as Quicktime (not Using Quicktime conversion), and I get a perfect looking output file using the Apple intermediate codec, 1440x1080. The problem is that the client needs to play back the video on windows machine using Quicktime. The windows Quicktime does not support the AIC apple intermediate codec, so I have to export to another format. I tried everything exporting from FCE, MP2, H.264, DivX, everyone option. They all look terrible. Blurry, especially parts that have quick motion. Really terrible. I called Apple support, no love. I then tried taking the AIC version of the file and used compressor. It took forever, but came up with am OK MP2 HD file. It still doesn't look that great, but it is way better. So, is their something broken with the FCE exports using Quicktime conversion? Anyone have similar experiences or workarounds? I don't want to use compressor as I don't have it on my Mac Book pro, I had to move it to another machine to do that.

    Being that the dimentions you suggested should be widescreen, I re-ran the conversion to your parameters, this time un-checking "Preserve aspsect ratio.. as letterbox" and this time it is widescreen. Not sure why, but it was putting the black bars on the left and right, not the top and bottom, scrunching to 4:3ish with that box checked. Strange.
    Anyway, the quality is the best H.264 I have seen exporting directly from FCE. It still blurs quite a bit on the fast moving video parts, my MP2 version from compressor still looks lots better. Seems like there is some problem with exporting HD from FCE. It just is not coming out sharp, like the Apple intermediate codec version you get with Export - -> Quicktime movie or if you wait for compressor to do the work rather than FCE. Does compressor use a different engine, or does it use the same QT and just take more time to do a better job in the export? Something just isn't right.

  • Anamorphic Footage on DVD...Final Cut Express 2.0.3 & iDVD 4.0.1

    Hello again everyone,
    My latest project involves 5 short QuickTime Movies edited together in one sequence in Final Cut Express 2.0.3. I am trying to now burn that sequence to DVD but I am having some "issues"...
    Three of these QuickTIme Movies are DV PAL Anamorphic and the other two are DV PAL (not anamorphic) and all five have been edited into a DV PAL Anamorphic Sequence in Final Cut Express 2.0.3. This works great when viewed in the canvas.
    What I have been trying to do next is export the whole sequence using File/Export/QuickTime Movie so I end up with one whole exported QuickTime Movie, containing the five other QuickTime Movies, that I can then import into iDVD 4.0.1.
    The export works fine and I can import the new QuickTime Movie into a PAL iDVD 4.0.1 project but the footage looks 4:3 and not anamorphic.
    When exported the QuickTime Movie does not seem to have preserved the pixel aspect ratio of my sequence (anamorphic)...
    Can anyone please offer some advice here? What is the best way to export Anamorphic PAL sequences out of Final Cut Express 2.0.3 as QuickTime Movies that can then be imported into iDVD 4.0.1 (or DVD Studio Pro and other apps) with the correct pixel aspect ratio (Anamorphic PAL)?
    Is this something that iDVD can't handle and needs to be done in DVD Studio Pro or do I need to change my export settings in Final Cut Express 2.0.3......or do I need to export it from Final Cut Pro instead?
    Regards,
    Justin Pamenter

    I think iDVD 5 is the first version of iDVD to support anamophic. Sounds like you did the right stuff in FCE. You had the Easy Setup on anamorphic when you captured and when you created the anamorphic sequence.
    Take a look at the iDVD forum or Google "iDVD Anamorphic".

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