New FCP user w/tech questions?

FatDaddy

FatDaddy

Veteran
Switching to FCP and want to make sure I am ready with my set-up. I am going to Final Cut Studio after somethinig has changed and my FCP 5.1.4 with a Canon XH-A1 will not work (I have tried many things and checked lots of forums - still no go).

I am going to run FC 2 on a 2.0ghz intel Macbook pro (1st generation model) with 2 gigs ram, 7200 rpm drive and Radeon x1600 256meg graphics card. I am at OS 10.4.11 with QT Pro 7.1.5. I use a g-raid 500 gig drive connected through firewire 400. I want to edit HDV 1080 24F from the Canon XH-A1.

I could keep everything as is after FCS 2 or go to Leopard and get a ExpressCard 34 firewire 800 card to run to the drive. I can also clean install leopard and start fresh. Would this be best? I am assuming firewire 800 through the ExpressCard would be best, but will it change anything? FYI, I run one 24" monitor along with the laptop.

Question for you - Should I: get FCS 2 and keep everything else same, get FCS 2 and Leopard with a clean install, get FCS 2, leopard and the ExpressCard 800 adapter.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
john
 
Maybe someone can confirm this, but to my knowledge the bandwidth of Firewire 800 is greater than what the HDD is capable of transferring. IE, you got a wider hose but no increased flow of water. So I'm not sure you'll see any benefit from a FireWire800 card when connected to that HDD.


As for Leopard and a clean install. Yes, why not? Now that Leopard has been updated to 10.5.2 it is very stable and an excellent platform, and a clean install never hurt anyone. I probably would. But is it neccessary? Not really. But, why not?
 
The only issue about going to Leopard is leaving my Xpress Pro as it is not yet approved for Leopard. I guess I would also need to upgrade Photoshop and some other programs. I guess the money keeps rolling out...

Might stick with Firewire 400 until I bounce to a better drive set-up and will just see how it performs.

Thanks for the info.

john
 
Here is the latest news:
I purchased Final Cut Studio 2, installed and still am running into issues. I have a first gen MacBook Pro (2.ghz, 2 gigs ram, OS 10.4.11 and QT 7.3.1). I am connecting my Canon XH-A1 through firewire to a drive or directly (firewire 400). I get this message:

Unable to locate the following external devices:
HDV (1440 x 1080) 24p
Your system configuration may have changed, or your deck/camera may be disconnected or turned off.
Please check your connections and click “Check Again”. Or click “Continue” to set external device selection to none.

I am using the easy set-up HDV 1080p 23.98 (tried other frame rates). Camera works if I switch over to DV and go to Anamorphic. Camera is in playback with HDV light lit blue and the "HDV/DV in" is on the lcd screen.

Any thoughts? This is getting very frustrating. Seems like it does not see the camera in HDV?
 
Got it working. Seems like a camera issue. Just reset some things and we are flying forward.

Is the Canon 24f a 23.98 frame rate? I set-up using the HDV easy set-up (108024p) and set it to "all" frame rates in the question box.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
John
 
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