FCPRescue vs FCP Attic

We all know (hopefully) the freeware app FCPRescue which will backup your FCP prefs and restore them from your backup if they ever get corrupted. The bottom line is that trashing your FCP prefs or restoring a known good set can solve all sorts of strange behaviors and problems.

But, there's a new bit of kit on the block called FCP Attic which is shareware at $15.00 from Chesapeake Systems. I couldn't find it listed at macupdate for some reason. They say it's worth the $15 (up from free I suppose) because of:

Trash, Backup and Refresh your Final Cut Pro preferences with the click of a button. Can be used with all Mac OS X compatible versions of Final Cut Pro (version 3.x thru 6.0.x). Unlike other preference utilities, FCP Attic allows you to choose your backup folder location so you can move your preferences from machine-to-machine with external media.

It's not hard to know where FCPRescue stores it's backup and truth be told, it's not hard to whip up an applescript to perform all of this yourself which sounds like something I'll give a go later on tonight if I have time. I'll post the script here.

Chesapeake Systems also makes something called Multiuser Pro for Final Cut which:

Multiuser Pro brings an Avid-like project window to Final Cut Pro. Create multiple Final Cut Pro users within a single Mac OS X user login. Migrate your preferences easily from machine-to-machine in a SAN environment. Create preferences based on a user or project name... do what they said couldn't be done!

Now I haven't tried out any of their tools but frankly, if you know your way around Final Cut it's not hard to do all of this yourself. In fact, you should know where all the bits and pieces of Final Cut are spread around on your hard drives so you can troubleshoot things manually. But that's me :)

Final Cut Server Ships

After much hullaballoo Apple has finally shipped Final Cut Server. Press Release here.

$999 (US) for one server and 10 concurrent client licenses and $1,999 (US) for one server and unlimited client licenses. The requirements can be found here.

Multiple P2 Cards Mounted Simultaneously

I love P2 cards and cameras like the HVX-200. But here's a tip from Apple that has bitten me a few times and I never put the two together. Apparently when you have multiple P2 cards mounted at once the likelihood of Final Cut crashing is increased. Go figure. I wonder why Apple has chosen to just post a note about it rather than issue a patch for it.

On computers with Mac OS X 10.4, Final Cut Pro 6 may quit unexpectedly while you're using the Log and Transfer window to transfer media from Panasonic P2 cards. If you have multiple P2 volumes mounted simultaneously, the likelihood of this happening may increase.

So do this...

To work around this issue, have fewer P2 volumes mounted at a given time.

All the more reason to buy a few of these, I guess.

HDV Capturing Hassles

I've never liked HDV for many reason so here's one more straight from Apple:

When you capture footage from an HDV camera using Final Cut Pro, the image displayed in the capture window may lag slightly behind the image displayed on the camera. This is normal and does not indicate any issue with Final Cut Pro or your camera.

What do you do to solve this hassle? Nothing really...other than stop using HDV...

This inconsistency is related to HDV's Long-GOP (Group of Pictures) MPEG-2 format. With the data structure for this format, Final Cut Pro must assess information about several frames in a row before it can accurately display them all.

When you need to make decisions about where to place in and out points for clips you wish to capture, the time reference point on your camera is more accurate. However, with HDV it's a good idea to give yourself an extra second or so on each side of the clip when marking in and out points for Log and Capture or when using Capture Now.

AppFresh

There's a little freeware application for Mac OS X that's hard to come by on your own. It's called AppFresh and all it does is compare the versions of all of your installed applications with the ones listed on some common software download sites. What's funny is that this free software updating application isn't (generally) listed on the popular for-profit software update sites. Funny how that works, eh?

Anyway, check out AppFresh, it's free and can save you some time. I've already come to rely upon it for non-Apple updates overall. Because of AppFresh I've abandoned versiontracker.com and now only use macupdate.com as a handy one-url-to-remember source to download commonly used apps I install on the networks and editing machines I manage.

Bonus Link: iusethis is a great site to discover new shareware, freeware and donationware.

No Name

I've noticed on a few edit stations I've been working at with FCP 6.0.2 and Leopard 10.5.2 that when you mount P2 Media from an HVX-200 they won't show up in the Finder's windows sidebar but they will show up at root level in a Finder window. I'll have to do a bit of testing but it may have something to do with the users selecting not to show mounted volumes on the desktop.

The P2 media work as expected mounting and ejecting reliably but they just do not show up in the sidebar on some machines.

Missing Encoders?

Check this out: If you're missing some encoders in Final Cut Studio here's how to solve it straight from Apple.

Take the following steps to enable additional encoders:

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
Choose View > QuickTime.
Click the Advanced button.
Select the checkbox next to Show legacy encoders.

Audio Input

Behringer has announced the easily remembered U-Control UCA202. It's basically a USB cord sticking out of a box that allows audio input and output from your Mac or "other". Seems neat and could solve some problems for some smaller editing setups I guess. I'd love to try one hint.

With this ultra-compact, bus-powered interface, you can link your Windows® and Mac® computer with any audio gear. There is no setup or special drivers needed—simply plug the interface in a free USB port on your computer and get into the groove.

The UCA202 provides 2 analog inputs and outputs, as well as an additional S/PDIF optical output for direct digital conversion. The stereo headphone output with dedicated level control lets you monitor both input and output. And the cherry on top is that the U-CONTROL download area offers a huge software package for recording and editing.

All in all, this interface is a complete audio solution which provides a connection between the analog and digital domain.

ratDVD

Here's a tip: When a client hands you a disc with "footage" on it for the project and it's a .ratDVD file burned to a DVD-R...just walk away. Or laugh quite loudly and ask for something you can use. It's not worth it. .ratDVD is lossy, HIGHLY compressed and just about useless.

Toast 9.0.1 & Converting Audio

For some insane reason I've been getting audio files from a client in .FLAC format. Yeah, I know. So I decided to try another method to convert them en masse today. Earlier today I installed Toast 9.0.1 and decided to try it to convert the flac things to something I could use.

Playing around with different setttings in Toast 9.0.1 I noticed one got'cha: The Sound Settings window will revert to it's defaults every time you close and open it by hitting the BIG RED BUTTON. You'll see it revert back to "Average Bit Rate" and a Quality of "Normal".

Other than that, Toast 9.0.1 is fine for converting stuff it seems. A little slow but usable.