Final Cut Pro monitor gamma question... again!

Very confused here: can anyone tell me for sure what gamma my Cinema Display needs to be set to for work with FCP7 / Snow Leopard? I can only find contradictory information and nothing clear and conclusive from Apple.
My problem: following the latest advice, I've been using a Cinema Display calibrated to 2.2 (dual monitors on a Macbook Pro). I can export an edited file which matches FCP's canvas when viewed in QuickTime.
However, if I send to Compressor from FCP, the preview in Compressor is darker and more contrasty than FCP's canvas.
If I upload a video that looks OK in QuickTime to MobileMe it becomes dark and contrasty too.
If I convert my exported file that looked OK in QuickTime to H.264 in Mpeg Streamclip I, once again, get a version that is darker and more contrasty than in FCP or QuickTime.
I'm pulling my hair out over this, not least because it's becoming a fantastic waste of time. I would like to be concentrating on editing rather than trying to sort this out!
I had assumed that using a suite of Apple applications on an Apple computer would mean seamless and easy integration...

But the problem here is not simply viewing. I am also creating and then viewing and I think this is where the problem lies. A video uploaded to MobileMe is transformed in the process and it's during the transformation (whatever that might be) that the change in appearance occurs. I view a video in FCP's canvas but then it is exported before being viewed in QuickTime. Gamma levels may be set, colour profiles embedded and / or read, applications may make assumptions about viewing conditions or which of the two monitors I'm using is the principal one, who knows what... I think it's here that the problem lies...

Similar Messages

Final Cut Pro Monitor/TV/Camera hookup

How do I hook up my G5 dual core Mac to JVC monitor(Model # TM-R9U) through Sony DSR 200 DV Cam camera(used for my deck) and then to my Toshiba television with RCA and S-video Line 2 outlets. tv?
I want to watch and monitor my Final Cut Pro timeline through JVC monitor for color correcting, then watch the clips through the television to see what they look like on TV.
Sorry for the mess but I need to get this hooked up ASAP.
Thanks a million,
Julian

#8 External Monitor Viewing.
Shane's Stock Answer #8:
A simple path is mac > firewire > camera or deck > rca cables > tv
Then start up your camera and tv, then open fcp.
Then go View > External video > all frames
VIEW>Video playback should be Apple firewire NTSC (If you are using an NTSC set)
VIEW>Audio playback should be Audio follows Video
Techinially, this should send synched video to your TV
If for some reason you can't view your timeline on your external monitor, there are a few things to try:
1) Make sure that the camera/deck is connected and powered on BEFORE you open FCP.
2) In the Final Cut Pro menu select AUDIO/VIDEO Preferences and make sure your signal is being sent out thru Firewire DV.
3) Go to the menu and select VIEW>EXTERNAL>ALL FRAMES.
4) Click in the % box above the image and select FIT TO WINDOW.
5) Go to VIEW->refresh A/V devices
6) Make sure the Log & Capture window is closed
If you want it to play in both the canvas and the external monitor you need to go to the FINAL CUT PRO menu and select AUDIO/VIDIO settings and make sure MIRROR ON DESKTOP is selected under the PLAYBACK OUTPUT section
Shane

Final Cut Pro-Two Pictures Question

Is there a way to have two pictures in the same shot (not a transition from one to another). For example, have two pictures in opposite corners in which you zoom in from one to the other?
Thanks.

Of course. Place them in the timeline, one above the other (as a connected clip), resize and reposition them.
Set keyframes and let FCP X generate the movement in between.
I suggest you take a look at one of the video tutorials, like the one at izzyvideo, to familiarize with the basic operations of FCP X: http://www.izzyvideo.com/final-cut-pro-x-tutorial/

HT4663 final cut pro x import question

So I have a 500gb external hard drive that is open. On another external hard drive I have about 300gb of footage. So far I have imported 80gb onto the open 500gb hard drive and it has filled it up. Am I doing something wrong on the import into Final Cut Pro X?

I am not 100% sure what you mean by where did it come from, so I don't mean to sound dumb but I will explain it best I can.
I went on a road trip across America and filmed around 300GB of footage. It was shot on Sony XDcam I believe. The media is .mts. I broke the footage up into 4 different legs of the trip, and each folder varies in size the first one is 80GB and the second is around 50GB and so on. So I am Importing them by their folders one at a time. So when the first Leg of the trip was done importing I noticed the 500GB drive I got for the footage was already full.
So the way I imported was I clicked on the import button and went through the archive button to find the hard drive with the footage. So I don't believe I used the optimize function when I imported, unless it was the proxy setting that I check marked during the importing process.
Here is a screen shot of what kind of footage I am trying to bring in, I hope it helps.
Thanks

Final Cut Pro: Sequence Setting Question

I would like to know what the best sequence setting is for my FCP project.
In my project I mostly use digital still images, shot with a digital camera. I import images into FCP and directly drag them onto a sequence.
JPEG file dimensions 3488x2616
For making stop motion animation, the duration of each frame is extremely short, usually 00:00:00;03.
If the project is 60 seconds, it usually ends up with about 550 or more still images on a sequence.
What should be the appropriate sequence setting for it?
Frame Size: currently set for NTSC DV (3:2)
Pixel Aspect Ratio: currently set for NTSC-CCIR601/DV (720x480)
Quicktime Video Settings/Compressor: currently set for DV/DVCPRO-NTSC
in the Advanced field/Frame per Second: currently set for 29.97
Are these settings need to be made before editing the project or could setting changes still be applied to a finished project?
Any advice would be appreciated!!
Message was edited by: ykyk

Hi Tom,
I export QT movie and make it into a DVD using DVD studio pro.
I was trying to learn about the ProRes the other day but there are many kinds and could not figure out what the best one is for me.
Which prores preset could I use? and could I still change it even the project is done editing?
Many thanks!

Final Cut Pro 6 on Mac OS Snow Leopard installation problem HELP!!!

After 2 - 3 hours of installing all 10 FCS 2.0 discs and Software Updates, I can't seem to launch Final Cut Pro 6.0.6. I get *"...software maybe damaged or not installed.."* So I removed all of them and only custom-installed Final Cut Pro 6.0.6. It works with no problem!!! Then I custom-installed Soundtrack, Motion, DVD Studio Pro etc..., I can't launch Final Cut Pro 6.0.6. again! What the **** is going on? I get that "damaged" warning and Final Cut Pro icon is replaced by missing application icon.
My Mac Pro also has _Pro Tools 8 LE_ with _003 Mixer Rack connect to USB_. That's it. No other application. You think this is maybe causing the problem?
Anyone having similar problem?

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2494
Carbon Copy Cloner is pretty simple to use. If you have any questions, post back or read the documentation. As I said in the user tip, test your clone after you make it to be sure it is bootable and your apps work.

"Error: Final Cut Pro was unable to read the movie file just captured"

Hello everyone!
We had a computer crash while we were working on Final Cut Pro and backing up some media to a hard drive.
Since then, whenever we "capture' video footage and hit the escape key to stop capturing - we get -
"Error: Final Cut Pro was unable to read the movie file just captured"
We reinstalled the Final Cut Pro software all over again thinking that maybe the software got corrupted and we also rectified any disk permissions for the hard drives.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Efrain
G 5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

We had a computer crash while we were working on Final Cut Pro and backing up some media to a hard drive.< </div>
You eventually want to figure out how that happened and make sure you fix it.
Since then, whenever we "capture' video footage and hit the escape key to stop capturing - we get -
"Error: Final Cut Pro was unable to read the movie file just captured"
<
You reformatted the external drive, yes? You might not have used the correct initialization setting. Should be Macintosh HFS, journalling is optional. Or you have a drive formatted for Winderz.
Aside from incorrect drive formatting, we have seen this error if the capture is incomplete or improperly terminated.
It's not an FCP issue, it's hardware.
bogiesan

Adobe Premiere 6.5 and final cut pro 4

hello can you help me too i recently bought a d,a upgraded to 1ghz duel 1 gb ram but when i try to capture video on final cut pro on os 10.4.9 i get dropped frame error how can i get round this am i doing some thing wrong or is it a software problem i know its only a copy of final cut pro not a legal version would using a copy of final cut pro hd solve my problem? as i here it is possible that their is an issue with 10.4.9 i am using adobe premere 6.5 which has dropped like 4 frames in the full length but still captures the video how can i resolve the drop frames issue in final cut prowould allocating more ram help????
i am conserned that my upgrdaed digital audio mac is not up to the job of editing video duel 1ghz processor 1 gb ram i have two hard drives one 80gb hard drive for the system and a 250gb hard drive for the video capture i cant see dropped frames on my digital 8mm sony cam corda but the dropped frames seem apparent on the mac. would setting more ram to the application help more.
i have been also exsperiencing problems with quick time too
im using a firewire connection 400kbs
because the machine bus is decreased could this affect capture due to the upgrade? i think its a giga bite upgrade
i have had to mount one hard drive the 250gb one upside down could this affect the system?
as ive decided to add hard drive coolers on the hard drives
any advise where i might be going wrong?
also tryed adobe premere but in this it keeps crashing too should have i gone for a quicksilver native processor machine in stead instead it seems to spend a long time to load up premere or final cut pro
one other question i also added two hd coolers but attached the power source for both coolers on the same connection on one hard drive would this affect running speed of one of the drives?

No... the Dv500 (I have one, with P6.02) came with software that is specifically written to link the card's hardware to the appropriate software "hooks" inside Premiere
Without that software to act as a bridge between card and Premiere, Premiere doesn't know the card exists
You might Google to see if Pinnacle ever wrote software to make that card work with Premiere, but that would be the only way to get them to work together that I know about
As long as the files you are are DV AVI type 2 with 48Khz sound, they will edit just fine in Premiere

Final Cut Pro Documents folder reappears after changing scratch disk.

After attempting to reorganize and cleanup my hard drive, I have come across the reason why I have such a random system to begin with. A while back I had the same problem, but chose to let it lie instead of fixing it. So now I'm asking for help.
I've tried to make a new folder in which all the documents, caches, and items having to do with Final Cut Studio 2 are placed, instead of having some applications' files here and others' there. But my problem is that even after changing my scratch disk location and my waveform/thumbnail/autosave locations to the new folder, every time I open up Final Cut Pro, it creates the "Final Cut Pro Documents" folder once again.
Will I have to rebase my whole organizational scheme around this stubborn issue?
Thanks for any suggestions.
*I am running Final Cut Studio 2 (Final Cut Pro 6.0.6).

Well, I'm really trying to simply recreate this file under another name, "Final Cut Pro," instead of "Final Cut Pro Documents," and therein lies the problem, because it creates this folder by default. Right now I've got everything saving to my "Final Cut Pro" folder as my scratch disk location, and a blank "Final Cut Pro Documents" folder that I want to delete.
Thanks for the reply.

After Effects & iMovie Photo slideshow into Final Cut Pro

Hi,
So this is less of a specific problem per say but more of a general inquiry of an important and time-sensitive nature.
My partner and I recently made our first "professional" grade picture montage / slideshow. Most was in After Effects however some was made in iMovie. We've exported everything to mpeg 4 and are combining it all in Final Cut Pro.
My questions are as follows...
(1) It's being projected onto a screen therefore the highest quality of image and video is our main concern. Is MPEG4 the correct format to export it to? If not, what would be a better one? And if you don't mind a quick explanation, why is it better than MPEG4?
(2) Is there a better and more quality protecting method other than exporting out of iMovie and AE to then import it directly into FCP, undergo another slew of renderings and exportings only to end up with a possibly sub-par product?
Thanks so much for any advice/help you can give!
Julie

It plays smoothly in both the canvas and the viewer. I expected that, as ProRes clips in a ProRes timeline, it would integrate more seamlessly than the myriad codecs also on the timeline. Instead, it suffers from the only issues in the Final Cut Project.
I will give your suggestion a shot when I get home though. I conformed the settings that way with the motion graphics I exported from After Effects, and they're suffering the same issue, though not as conspicuously.

2 Questions about final cut pro 5

My first question is quite simple, I know that previously final cut pro could only use up to 2.5GBs of memory, now I'm just a bit curious if it can use more since leopard is a 64-bit OS. Right now I'm using Final Cut Studio 1. I'm just asking this question since I intend to get an additional 4GB of ram (Right now I only have 2GB) I'm going to get Muskin's MacPro memory. I generally run my system down to about 200MB of free memory and sometimes down to 10MB when I'm using photoshop in conjunction to FCP. What does everyone think about getting an additional 4GB?
Thanks for the answers.
Okay, to not make two posts I'm give me final question/Problem. Ever since I've upgraded to Leapord I noticed that the playback quality in the canvas and viewer is poor. There is bad gamma. What I mean by that is that i'm getting extremes in color, I have areas that look normal followed by areas of over saturated color. It's more on the over saturated side though. Besides that the play back quality is poor, even though my sequence settings are at "Best" for video processing. I also seem to get jagged lines on things like railings, people's shoulders, and on other edges. My picture quality is grainy, however there are no artifacts. Even on the FX transistions I get the jagged lines on edges of oh say page peels and what not.
Now when using DVD player or watching my MPEG2's on DVD Studio, they play poorly too. The image is clear however I get the horizontal lines when there is motion. Now when I put one of my DVD's in my DVD player (not computer) the problem goes away and everything looks fine. This is less of a problem (the horizontal lines), but I don't understand the poor playback quality.
The video looks fine on my external NTSC video monitor.
I have the GeForce 7300 graphics card, with the 24" samsung 245BW. I upgraded to 10.5 on a clean install.
Thanks a lot everyone!!

Thanks for my memory question!
However I'm still getting poor looking footage. Even when I open up my source clips and play them they look poor in quality. I'm getting the horizontal lines on everything that moves and corners are not sharp, they look distorted and jagged. I never had this problem before I'm not sure whats the cause or the solution. Even the footage from Final Cut Studio's tutorial looks bad (grainy, strange contrast, jagged corners and lots of horizontal lines). However the edges on my footage look a little more jagged. I think i mentioned it already but the FX transitions that are page peels, cube spins...etc give me jagged edges too.
I removed flip4mac and all other non-apple codecs too.
ugh i hate computers sometimes
-Tom

A Case Study Question in the Use of Stills with Final Cut Pro

Believe it or not, for the last week I have been reading endlessly about pixels, resolution, aspect ratio, Photoshop resizing, the bloody battle over the usefulness of the term "dpi" in video discussions, and generally about what one should do in order to use still images in a film edited in Final Cut Pro. And yet, though I have a PhD from an Ivy League university, and can understand a lot of things, I am sorry to say I am still at a loss.
Much of the discussions of photos on forums like this one are either quite technical or broadly philosophical. But my questions are completely practical and specific. I am not a photographer or a printer, nor am I an experienced editor. I am just a fairly smart person trying to use photos in his film. So I am going to ask some specific questions and hope for specific answers, without any philosophical waffling or technical mumbo jumbo.
I have one of those HP all in one printer/fax/scanner machines. I am told this device, while not fancy, is perfectly adequate to the task. Some of my photos I scan with this device from prints. Some of them I get from other people. (I have stopped downloading photos from the web, as the quality is nearly always poor.) I have Photoshop Essentials (not Photoshop). I am making a 90-minute HDV documentary, 16x9. The doc is mostly HDV footage with a still here and there. I want to be able to move on the photos (zoom, pan, etc.). I want, obviously, for them to look good. My sense is that the work flow is: (a) scan the photo (or obtain from some source as a digital file); alter the photo in some way in Photoshop; and (b) import the photo into your FCP project.
Question #1: If I have a 6x8 print, what settings should I scan it in with -- is it possible there really is no difference between scanning in it at 72dpi and 300dpi? Is it really all about the dimensions of the image? Isn't a photo whose dimensions are enlarged in Photoshop to make it available for panning and zooming in my sequence going to look fuzzier and more pixelated if it was originally scanned at 72dpi than at 300dpi? Also: Does it matter if I save it as a jpeg or tiff? Bottom line: What settings do I use in my scanning software when I scan a photo for this purpose?
Question #2: Once I have the image file on my hard drive, I suppose I now have to load it into Photoshop Elements and do something to it. What is it exactly I am using this program for? I'm going to take a wild guess. I use PS Elements to (1) crop the photo so that it has a 16x9 aspect ratio, and (2) resize it so that I can do pans and other Ken Burnsy moves on it in FCP. Bottom line: What exactly do I do in PSE to the photo and what settings do I use to both (a) make it available for moves and (b) not injure the quality of the photo by increasing its dimensions?
(In passing, I will say that I have done experiments that show that if I increase a photo's dimensions to, say, 4000 pixels by 2000 pixels, the photo's quality definitely and obviously suffers. I don't understand how a picture can be increased in size without losing sharpness. So, what am I doing wrong? Is this a function of it having been scanned in improperly to begin with?)
Question #3: If I am obtaining a photo from an outside source -- say, a professional photographer -- what are the specifications I ask for in both a hard print and a photo file? If the former, what dimensions do I ask for? If the latter, do I specify resolution and dimensions and file type?
These are my questions. At this point, I really don't want to know WHY any of this is the way it is. I just want someone to say: "Do this; do this; and then do this."
Thank you very much.

Studio X is absolutely correct; while DPI has no meaning in the video world, it often has significant meaning in scanning (and, of course, printing). If your scanning program only allows image size adjustments in DPI, then you'll have to adapt to that ... keeping in mind that the scanner's DPI setting directly relates to pixel resolution. And it is pixel resolution (not DPI) that will make all the difference in the world for images used in video. You can test this yourself by scanning an image at 1000 x 1200 @ 72 DPI and again at 1000 x 1200 at 300 DPI. They will look identical on TV or projection as long as the pixel resolution remains the same.
As an example, my Epson scanning software allows me to adjust image size by DPI or pixel resolution. Wanting to maintain the correct aspect ratio for the image area that I'm scanning, I adjust the DPI setting which in turn adjusts the pixel resolution automatically. But it doesn't work the other way around; if I adjust the pixel resolution settings manually, the DPI setting does not change. Your software may vary.
As Jim Cookman suggested, a scan setting of 300 DPI works well for most images ranging from 3 x 5 to 4 x 6 (typical snapshot size) in a DV Sequence. I may scan smaller images at 400 or 600 DPI and larger images (8 x 10 and up) at 150 DPI. Other size images fall in between those numbers. But I'm constantly watching the pixel resolution numbers to make sure I'm getting what I'll need to support the animation I intend to apply to the images once in FCP. Also bear in mind that I don't always scan the entire image. I only scan the area of an image that I intend to use in my program.
So the answer is that it all depends on your scanner's software and how far you plan to push into an image once in FCP. Do a few experiments ... you're a bright fellow so it shouldn't take long for you to find the formula that suits your purposes.
I haven't edited an HD Sequence using images yet, so I cannot offer definitive pixel resolutions for you there.
On to your specific questions:
1. See above. There is no one correct answer It all depends on what you intend to do with the image once it's in FCP. If you only plan to push in about 10%, you won't need much higher resolution than the equivalent of your FCP Sequence resolution. If you plan to push in further, you'll need a higher resolution to support that move.
2. I've been doing these for many years (SD Sequences only) and I've never loaded them into Photoshop first. I import the entire folder into FCP and drop it on the Timeline so I can see what the images look like on TV; unless your program is for CD-ROM or web delivery, that's where it counts. When you place them on the Timeline, FCP will automatically scale to your Sequence settings and pixel aspect ratio. If I see that some of them need adjustment using an external editor such as Photoshop, then and only then do I use that program. And by the way, if you have a vertical image and a 16 x 9 aspect ratio in FCP, how do you propose to crop it to fit? Perhaps you meant another term instead of "crop."
3. If it's a print, it won't matter what size they supply because you'll control the image size when scanning. If it's a file ... once again, the size (pixel resolution) depends on what you intend to do with the image once in FCP.
I really don't want to know WHY any of this is the way it is. I just want someone to say: "Do this; do this; and then do this."<<</div>
With that attitude, how did you ever earn a PhD from an Ivy League university? But if that is truly all you want, you might consider hiring an experienced editor to do it for you.
-DH

Final Cut Pro 2nd monitor not working properly?

Been here before a long time ago, can't remember how it was resolved.
Working in a new edit suite, FCP Studio. Two new Samsung monitors (not my choice). I want one to be my playback monitor.
I set:
Final Cut Pro > Audio/Video Settings
> Digital Cinema Desktop Full Screen
> View > External Video > All Frames
But all I'm getting is a black frame on the 2nd monitor.
They've also got one of those very flat alluminum keyboards ... where F12 becomes a sound control. I'd love to know how I can change the function key to work as an FCP action / 2nd monitor toggling on and off.
That's two questions. Would be most appreciative of an answer for either.
Ben

Hey Andy,
I did the first half of your suggestion, but not the second half. Heading down to the studio this morning ... set up in a tiny white chapel looking out across the silvery North Atlantic ... and will try the second half of your suggestion. Will also see if there are two graphics cards installed in the Mac Pro. Will also check out the Window > Arrange in FCP (something I should have checked first off).
I talked to a filmmaker who previously worked on the system, only to discover he never uses the second monitor as a full screen, but rather as a large 'bin'. Interesting.
If worse comes to worse and I can't solve it I suspect I could size the canvas window to super large and drag it over to the second monitor.
Will post back when I've tried the latest suggestions ...
Thanks you mucho guys,
Ben

Macbook pro does not support Final Cut Pro preview on external monitor?

I have been editing on Final Cut Pro from my imac for approx 1 year with an external monitor attached with no problems. I recently bought a macbook pro, for Final Cut Pro editing, and discovered that the monitor does not work. The Final Cut Pro preview on the external monitor freezes and in the preview pane of FCP it flick between two images.
I have been reading around some forums, and have seen a couple of people with the same problem.
Anyone have a suggestion on how to run the external monitor with FCP?
Thanks!

You have probably already done it but ensure you have updated the OS and Quicktime prior to attempting to instal Final Cut Studio.
I recently had a hard drive crash and after installing the new hard drive it would not read the OS installation disc. I ended up using an external drive case and installed the OS on the drive from a different Mac Book, then reinstalled the hard drive in the other Mac Book. Then it booted right up. I updated all the original software before attempting to install any additional software.
Everyone kept saying it wouldn't install due a possibly defective optical drive and I can't say why but it wasn't the drive. As soon as I had the system up and running again the optical drive functioned flawlessly.
I hope this helps you.

Final Cut Pro X question

FCPX, bad news for Apple, good news for Avid and Adobe?
Can some one in the film/television industry provide any information on if FCPX is being used in Post Houses/Facilities or Studios? (I can't imagine it is).
I keep hearing that Final Cut Pro is slowly being discarded (because there are no more updates for FCP 7 and FCPX seems to lack the "Pro") and Avid and Premiere are replacing it. A lot of films schools are not even teaching Final Cut Pro anymore.

parker612 wrote:
It is already making adobe re-think their event handling... Trust me, in 5 years all the NLEs will have event handling a la FCPx.
Can you explain why all NLEs will have event handling like FCPX?
Truth be told = I CANT...
As I started using FCPx I was NOT capable of understanding how fantastic the eventlibrary is.
Because I had never thought such possible.
And you, obviously coming from ordinary NLEs' way of handling media, would also not be able to understand. Some things HAVE to be experienced. NOT TOLD. And the event lib. is just like that. (Please dont understand this as rude... Not at all meant like that)
Someone (Professional) who says "OK, NOW I am REALLY going to give FCPx a shot... Would still need a few weeks of heavy duty with the event lib. before finally understanding WHY there is absolutely NO way of going back after having understood it. So a few phrases of mine would not be able to explain it.
parker612 wrote:
Another question, what do you use FCPX for (personal projects, projects for clients, etc.) and what type of projects do you typically work on (short films, commercials, features, music videos, docs, etc.)?
I work on Films, Music-Videos, Image Campaigns, docs.etc and it is one of my primary sources of income.
I actually think FCPx is fantastic for films. Or should I say anything with a strict "plan"... To me sorting my sources is EVERYTHING.... (Cannot stress that enough) --- And there again here the event library comes into play(Key-wording, "Favorizing", Compositing. Simply amazing. I would say that editing in FCPx is great and very intuitive... But 95% of FCPx's greatness comes from its event library. Trim, slide, roll whatever you wanna call it.. Can be done in all editors. But where the real speed-increase lies... Is within HOW FAST can you get to your source material and PUT it into context.. Event Library is KING... Undisputed ;-)
And THAT is why I boldly sate that in 5 years any NLE without an Event Library a la FCPx is not going to be able to survive !

Final Cut Pro monitor gamma question... again!

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