New Final Cut Pro...RealSoonNow™

TechCrunch has a short piece on the yet to be released new Final Cut Pro. They're saying Spring 2011.

Many years ago I left a grocery store and headed out to my car in the parking lot, opened the door, sat down, put the key in the ignition and found it didn't turn.

It was only after a few moments that my peripheral vision clarified, my mental focus shifted to my more immediate surroundings and I began to notice that there was stuff on the floor I didn't recognize, change in the open ashtray which I kept closed and empty, an opened soda can in the cup holder...a few beats later I realized that I had sat down in someone else's car which was the exact same exterior and interior color, same year and model as mine and as fate would have it, parked very near mine and also unlocked.

It was a really eerie feeling.

Video Downloader Helpers

Downthisvideo.com probably isn't the best thing to recommend to a client to use to grab that exemplary "can-we-make-it-look-like-this" video they want. (note: "we" mean's "you" in this -and every- case)

downthisvideo.com's search tag cloud is not only NSFW but also hilarious.

Remember kids, just because your assistant thinks it's okay doesn't mean the client will agree.

Ripping Audio from Flash Video Files (.flv)

An interesting hint showed up on macosxhints.com on Wednesday with all manners of ways to extract audio from an .flv. which means I get to write a nice long wall-of-text TLDR post while I sip coffee.

One method not mentioned is simply to use something like Click2Flash (you can also get it as a Safari extension here) and set it's prefs to allow downloading of the .flv which will have the added convenience of downloading the video as an H.264 if the site hosting the video supports that. Extracting the audio from the H.264 is straightforward after that.

Once you do download a vanilla .flv though you very well may find that VisualHub can't convert it to anything (*cries a little*), so you need to try some other options like this one. If it's a .swf you can try this.

TIP ON DOWNLOADING THE VIDEO FILE:

An easy built-in way is to find it in the Activity Window (Command + Option + A) of Safari and Option-Double-Click it.

Macosxhints' hint + comments can be broken down into this list of methods.

Using VLC:

01) Open it in VLC.
02) Hit Shift+Command+W to open the "Streaming/Export Wizard" window.
03) Hit the "Transcode/Save to file" Radio Button.
04) Hit "Next" (Return)
05) Hit the "Existing playlist item" Radio Button.
06) Select the file to extract the audio from, from the list.
07) Hit "Next" (Return)
08) Tick the "Transcode audio" tick box.
09) For the Codec Pulldown select FLAC (you can really choose whatever is best for you here depending on your needs, Uncompressed may be quite useful.)
10) Hit "Next" (Return)
11) Confirm "RAW" is selected.
12) Hit "Next" (Return)
13) Choose... where to save the file file to.
14) Open the saved audio file in whatever audio editing tool you enjoy. The hint suggests Audacity.

ALL-IN-ONE-SOLUTIONS:

- Use iExtractMP3. FREE. (Didn't try because it's last update was 12-05-08)
- Use RichFLV. FREE. (Didn't try it because it requires Adobe Air)
- Use ffmpegX. FREE. (You very likely already have this installed. It's a bit out of date though)
- Use SWFTools. FREE. (Installing is a bit complex and using the app itself is a little tricky)
- Use Miro Video Converter. FREE. (I've mentioned this one before. Can occasionally be handy, check it out.)
- Use Browser Extentions. (There are too many to list here)
- Use FLV Crunch. FREE (If you haven't tried this app you should give it a whirl)
- Use MediaConverter.org. FREE (It's a website that does conversion for you. I haven't used it much)

Using QuickTimeX and QuickTime Player 7:

01) Open it in QTX. (ymmv)
02) Export it to something QT7 can open.
03) Open it in QT7 and Export... it as audio. (Export Sound to AIFF or whatever your choice is)
04) Optionally, use the semi-hidden Extract audio function: With movie open hit Command + J for the Properties Window, click on the "Sound Track" you want, tap the Extract button at the top left of the window and then Save As... or Export... the resultant window to whatever you fancy. Notice the dot in the center of the close window widget, that means it's not saved.

Using FFMPEG:

(Terminal Madness Alert!)

00) Install FFMPEG (likely you already have this installed if you read this blog)
01) Fire up the Terminal and enter:

ffmpeg -i yourFLVfile.flv -acodec copy namethissomething.mp3

You can drag the file to be transcoded into the Terminal to find it's path. Likewise, you can drag the folder  you want it outputted (that's a word?) into the Termainal as well to set the path to it.

Type: ffmpeg -i
Hit space bar
Drag in file to be transcoded
Hit space bar
Type: -acodec copy
Hit space bar
Drag in location for output file.
Hit Return.

You can really do this with most files, not only .flv's, btw.

Using Handbrake:

01) Open the file in Handbrake (ymmv).
02) Export it as .mp4.
03) Extract it with QuickTime Player 7 (or even Garageband if you don't have QT7 installed or whatever app you like.) People tend to forget Garageband can do some neat stuff with audio.

Using TubeTV and Switch (free version):

I haven't tried this method not just because TubeTV is old (circa 2008) but mainly because other methods are simpler and have more options. I didn't like this line at TubeTV's site: "High quality video conversions using the H.264 codec are performed with QuickTime® and Perian." Why not just use Perian then to begin with?

TubeTV is here.
Free version of Switch is here.

Using MPEG Streamclip: (thanks to reader "andthatallthereistoit")

01) Open the .flv in MPEGStream Clip. (ymmv depending on the type of .flv)
02) File > Export Audio.
03) Done!

Apple Archives a Bunch of Knowledge Base Articles

Today Apple quietly said goodbye to several Knowledge Base articles...

"This article has been archived and is no longer updated by Apple."

01. Final Cut Pro: Improving performance using an AJA Kona card with a Mac Pro

02. Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro HD: Troubleshooting external video issues

03. Exporting clips or sequences from Final Cut Pro HD to Motion

04. Final Cut Pro: Exporting Audio Tracks to a Digital Audio Workstation

05. LiveType titles imported into Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Express may not display as expected on a computer display

06. Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express HD: Tips for HDV Print to Video

07. Gamma handling is different in Shake and Final Cut Pro

08. MPEG-2 export options in Final Cut Pro: Compressor and QuickTime

09. QuickTime or iTunes Installer "Could not open key" alert stops install on Windows

10. Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express: Convert MP3 and AAC audio files for compatibility before importing

MacX DVD Ripper Is Now Free

...for personal use.

The announcement is here.

"MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition is all-in-one free DVD ripper for Mac to backup and rip DVDs to MOV, MP4, FLV, MPEG, iTunes for free on Mac OS.

MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition is a free DVD ripper software for Mac users to backup and rip DVD movies (including commercial DVDs) to MOV, MP4, MPEG, FLV, iTunes video for free, minus all the copy protections that widely used in recently DVD movies, such as CSS encryption, Sony ARccOS, region protection, UOPs, APS, even the Disney DVD movies copy protection. It provides stable and useful solution for you to free rip DVD and watch target videos by QuickTime Player on Mac, edit output videos by iMovie, upload converted videos to YouTube, or enjoy favorite DVD videos on portable devices."

What capabilities does the paid version have that the free version doesn't? Apparently ripping directly to AppleTV, PSP, iPhone specific formats and formatting, but I actually haven't tried it yet.

Hopefully this will simplify this process, and help eliminate messes like this.

Sort the Bin by Date Modified

Similar to sorting the Log and Transfer window by Date Created, you can sort a Bin in Final Cut Pro by Date Modified to show some pesky footage in the order it was shot.

Not all cameras log date created but most will transfer in chronological order via numerical order. So, in this case if you right-click on a column header in List View in a Bin you'll see Logging Columns. Select that, then go back and select Date Modified to have your footage (hopefully) listed in chronological order in your Bin.

VHS Capture and The GSM Speaker Buzz

Here's a gotcha you won't find out about until later. When capturing VHS (or any other "live-feed" video) through a converter box into Final Cut Pro, a GSM cell phone's "speaker buzz" can actually be recorded to the captured video clip.

What causes it?

"The cause of this buzzing has to do with GSM's "time division" nature. The ever-knowledgeable Keith Nowak, spokesperson for Nokia, explains it as follows: "[[With GSM]] the RF transmitter is turned on/off at a fast rate, and that 'pulsing' is often picked up by nearby devices that don't have good RF shielding. In the case of GSM the pulse rate is 217 Hz, which can be easily heard."

"The interference to other devices is worse the further the phone is from the cellular tower," Nowak continued. "This is because the network requires the phone to transmit at a higher level the further away it is from the tower. In addition, the interference to a device will be worse the closer the phone is to the device being interfered with."

What about the intermittent triggering? "The occasional interference heard when the phone is not in use is due to the 'page repeat period' of the network," Nowak said. "This time varies a lot depending on the network setting, but the interference every 55 minutes is due to the network checking to see if your phone is still on and in the area."

Phone vendors are aware of the problem, and fortunately for us, a solution is in the works. "Because cellular phones operate at frequencies so close to audio bands, it is not uncommon for them to occasionally drop into the range where the radio waves can be translated into sound waves by a mock radio receiver," said Vicki Livingston, the director of marketing for 3G Americas "A new standard is currently available in draft form which provides guidance to the manufacturers of products that can act as unintentional radio receivers so they can build shielding in to their designs."

That bodes well for future phone designs. Unfortunately, there is virtually nothing you can do about it now. Currently, there's no way to avoid the buzz unless you switch to Verizon or Sprint.

Verizon and Sprint CDMA phones don't have this buzzing sound because their transmitter is on most of the time, according to Nowak. As a result, the pulsing effect generally doesn't occur.


What can you do about it?

Not much, really.

The best thing other than turning off the phone or moving the phone as far away from the speakers as possible is to rotate the phone (adjust it's yaw angle) so the signal is perpendicular to the speaker's amplifiers. But Euler or Tait-Bryan? :)

It's a bit of an old article so I don't know how accurate it is today but be aware that if the speakers on the capturing computer make the noise it can end up being recorded to the captured Quicktime file.

Unless of course you use tube amps and/or have your editing equipment inside a Faraday Cage.

Troubleshooting Soundtrack Pro 3

Apple updated it's troubleshooting page for Soundtrack Pro 3 and I thought it was kinda funny:

Check
Update
Check
Test
Try
Try
Try
Delete
Remove
…

Get Even More Info about a QuickTime Movie

If you want to see lots and lots of information about a video QuickTime is playing try this:

1. Open the movie with QuickTime Player 7.
(I haven't tested this in "Quicktime Player" Quicktime X, because QTX isn't very feature rich to put it nicely.)
2. Click on the Finder in the dock or on your desktop so the Finder is the frontmost app.
3. Hit Command + Shift + U to open your Utilities folder. 
4. Launch AppleScript Editor. (really, it'll be okay)
5. Paste this into AppleScript Editor:

tell application "QuickTime Player 7" to get the properties of document frontmost

(you can probably change "QuickTime Player 7" to just "QuickTime Player" if you use QTX but I didn't test this)

6. Hit the "Run" button.

After a beat you should see something like this in the bottom pane:

{video brightness adjustment:0.0, name:"movie.mov", play all frames:false, current node:missing value, id:5, max time loaded:4588979, resizable:normal, time:1288526, show detailed movie info window:false, natural dimensions:{1280, 544}, color table:missing value, default node:missing value, show sound controls:false, show video controls:false, show movie info window:false, class:document, show hot spots:false, preferred audio balance track:missing value, fast start:false, poster frame time:0, output muted:false, href:"", pan range:{0.0, 0.0}, selection duration:0, video contrast adjustment:0.0, current chapter:missing value, sound balance:0, audio volume:256, auto quit when done:false, savable:true, pan angle:0.0, time scale:600, presentation mode:normal, bass gain:0, tilt range:{0.0, 0.0}, scale:normal, treble gain:0, streaming status message:"", preferred audio gain track:missing value, playing:false, auto close when done:false, aperture:clean, auto play:false, video tint adjustment:0.0, controller type:standard, dimensions:{1280, 544}, duration:4588979, pan tilt speed:0.0, data size:0, field of view:0.0, play selection only:false, live stream:false, looping:false, current chapter track:{}, auto present:false, preferred rate:1.0, video color adjustment:1.0, path:"/Volumes/Hard Drive/Folder/movie.mov", stored stream:false, index:1, modified:true, saveable:true, selection start:0, local playback:true, done:false, palindrome:false, current matrix:{{1.0, 0.0, 0.0}, {0.0, 1.0, 0.0}, {0.0, 0.0, 1.0}}, rate:0.0, tilt angle:0.0, language:"SystemDefault", preview:{0, 0}, streaming status code:0, presentation background color:{0, 0, 0}, selection:0, quit when done:false, close when done:false, data rate:0, original file:file "Hard Drive:Folder:movie.mov", plugin settings:{}, display state:normal, field of view range:{0.0, 0.0}, zoom rate:0.0, load state:complete}

It's a mess but it's rife with information. I've been trying to figure out why a clip I have refuses to show the Data Rate in QT Player 7 (and other players) so I thought I'd try this and see if it was helpful.

Printing Scripts on both sides of the paper

I was emailed a script that I have an opportunity to work on but it's 50+ pages and because of some specific things in the script I need to print it out and make notes. Rather than print out 50 pages of something that's likely a ways off until it actually happens I decided to print the script out using both sides of the paper in my printer.

1. In the print dialog select Paper Handling.
2. Pages to Print = "Even Only"
3. Page Order = "Reverse"
4. Print.
5. Flip the printed pages over and put them back into the printer.
6. In the print dialog select Paper Handling (again).
7. Pages to Print = "Odd Only"
8. Page Order = "Normal" (not Automatic!)
9. Print.
10. Smile that you saved some percentage of a tree.