Notes On Video

Apple announced an update to Shake 4.1 . They also dropped the price from $2999 to $499. That's a significant price drop (and don't forget Shake had been $5K prior to that!) I guess I'd be excited if it wasn't for the fact that I haven't even broken the seal on Motion . I don't really need Shake as it's more for 2D/3D compositing (so I guess I have to learn Maya before I can really have a use for Shake !

I have a copy of DVD Studio Pro , and have never bothered to use it! Weird, I know, but it's always seemed very intimidating, and iDVD is so fun and easy to use (and for most quick projects does 90% of what you want anyway) that I just haven't felt the need. But I'm starting to feel that I should at least consider exploring using it. Adventures in HD editing and compressing are leading me to wonder if using Compressor separately to create the MPEG2 file for the DVD might be able to produce better results than by using iDVD 's off-the-shelf default settings. I had a lot of problems with iDVD 5 compressing HD video to an NTSC Anamorphic DVD (lots of jitter when the camera was panning). I upgraded to iDVD 6 , and the quality has improved 100% with almost no jitter, but there's still some flickering of horizontal lines going on that I don't like and am wondering if I can eliminate or minimize even more. My first experiment was to try exporting from Final Cur Pro...

Apple and Sony are doing a seminar series on Mobile editing with Final Cut Studio and Sony's XDCAM HD System : Experts from Apple and Sony will show you how Final Cut Studio, MacBook Pro, and the XDCAM HD system combine for the ultimate tapeless HD workflow. See these powerful tools in action. Ask questions. And learn how Sony put this solution to the test shooting the Iditarod sled dog race. I'm planning to going to the session in Boston, even though I have no plans to use XDCAM. Figure I might learn some stuff on HD...

I've had a lot of trouble capturing video from my Sony HDR-HC1. I thought it was because Final Cut Pro HD didn't recognize the camera. I just upgraded to iLife 6 to get the new version of iDVD (to solve another problem) and discovered that iMovie HD did work with the camera - mostly. Then I tried Final Cut Pro HD again, and it worked! After a fashion. Seems there's a problem in the FireWire cable; because if I movie it slightly then the connection is broken. Which could explain why I was having troubles to begin with. Yet, I didn't have problems with my other camera and the same cable....so it could be a problem with the camera's jack... The pain of video editing!