Final Cut Pro, 32KHz audio, and YOU

A customer came in with some very severe syncing problems in her Final Cut Pro footage. Though the timeline did not indicate that the clips were shifted, the audio was completely out of sync (10-30 seconds). After checking the playback of the original tape, we discovered that the camera (one of our Canon ZR-500s) was set to record in 12-bit (32KHz) sound. This meant that, when captured in DV NTSC 48 KHz, the audio was sampled at the wrong frequency. The solution was simple: recapture using 32 KHz audio in the capture settings and establishing a 32 KHz timeline. So if a customer's footage seems out of sync, play it back and look for a "12-bit" signal. If you see that, recapture in 32 KHz!

-DAL

Banned from check-out

The "wall of shame" has been updated for all of the late returns in the past couple of days, and after speaking with Jason today, anyone who owes a late fee or has two strikes cannot check out equipment for the rest of the semester.

Since we're so slammed with equipment requests, this will hopefully prevent any of these past offenders from preventing other customers from accessing equipment. So, please check the list before you check out equipment, and if someone on the list comes in you can either tell them that we are completely booked or that due to late returns and unpaid fines, they are banned.

KD

NEW CAMERAS - DV 5, 7, 9

Good news NMC staff! Just in time for the end of the semester, we have three new cameras in stock. Two of them replace the broken models - DV 5 and DV 7. We have also added another DV camera to the iCal system: DV 9. These are 3 CCD Panasonic models similar to the ones we already have. They are available for customers for customers to check out.

Also, tripod 9 is due back tomorrow and should be REMOVED from the extra list on iCal since it will now be a component of the DV 9 check out. Thanks and good luck!

-DL and LL

Fix Fuzzy Display

A couple of our Macs have become victims to fuzzy graphics/text for no apparent reason.  For example, today on Ash, there was only fuzziness in the Student account, but everything was clear in the NMC account.  Restarts did not solve the issue.  Turning on System Preferences seemed to help, but soon enough, the fuzziness returned.

The solution, you ask?  

Zoom in on the display and then zoom all the way back out, and everything should be clear again.  Somehow this "resets" everything to look normal.  

To zoom in, hit Command Option +

To zoom out, hit Command Option -

This solution has worked on Ash and Johnny Five.  

JMM

Movie Trailer Mashups

The Trailer Mash collects recut trailers and trailer mash-ups, and creates innovative re-imaginations of your favorite movies. Check it out, they are pretty fun.

http://www.thetrailermash.com/

~ JMD

Compressor 3.0.2 issue on Evil Bill & Ted

After much troubleshooting, preference clearing, and version reinstallation, Compressor still does not submit queues on Evil Bill & Ted. Because this problem seems widespread on Apple's forums and with no clear solution (Apple has not issued a newer update of this software), all NMC staff are advised to AVOID any further updates involving Quicktime, Final Cut Pro Studio, and Apple QMaster until further notice. Since this Compressor issue has not spread to other computers in the lab, we want to MAINTAIN the existing compatibility with Compressor on these systems.

Reminder: If a customer needs to compress video, many other options exist including: compression using Quicktime Conversion, Visual Hub, or creating .vob files directly in iMovie and DVD Studio Pro

-DAL.