[drissa]

I'm so dissapointed with Final Cut Express. I've spent the last couple of weeks prone to random frustration and I think it stems from feeling ripped-off with a new Powerbook and FCE set-up.

There seems to be nothing you can do that doesn't need rendering - even making a basic edit on the timeline. I'm using the gear with young people who constantly teeter on the edge of boredom with everything and having to stop for 2 mintues EVERY time a tiny tweak is made to a clip makes FCE all but useless.

Should the import previews be jerky? 867Mhz Powerbook, 680MB RAM. Perhaps there are firewire problems, since the camera is connected view an external drive (120GB Lacie)?

Incidently, my experience isn't helped by a dreadful Kensington optical mouse that refuses to represent the movements of my hand (often reversing them, perhaps for it's own amusement). Moan moan moan.

Anyhow, I can see the potential for this software, but there just seem to be so many sticking points. The real killer is the inability to export to a DV camera. In iMovie, the camera/software sync. handles everything. The only option in FCE is to "press record" on the camera - how is this possible in VCR mode? It certainly isn't with my Canon MV600i.

My only hope seems to be exporting the DV file from FCE, importing it into iMovie (!) then recording back to tape. It seems mad that you need to go via lower spec software to achieve something so fundamental.

Can anyone see something I'm missing? I'd really appreciate hearing about work-arounds for the endless rendering needs and just how FCE users are printing their projects back onto tape.

I know it's melodramatic, but this is spilling into my whole Apple outlook.

[AU_student_iceBook]

FCE can export to your dv, but your camera might not like the way it does it.

It sounds like you have played around with the "print to tape" option in FCE. In order to get the video back on your camera, you must be able to record in VTR mode. Not all cameras can do this.

It's just a different way of going about the export. It really sucks that you have to go through the extra step of using iMovie, I am sorry.

Why haven't you replaced the mouse? They are pretty cheap for a no-name usb optical at best buy. Maybe $15 the last time I saw them. Just curious.

[drissa]

Thanks for the reply.

Seems strange not to offer a synchronized output to DV cameras, as iMovie does. I don't know a great deal about the technology, but since FCE seems aimed, essentially, at iMovie enthusiasts wanting to try the big boy's toys, this must have left many users really stuck.

The iMovie work-around is adaquate, assuming it will work.

We will be replacing the mouse. As far as I can make out, the problem seems to be the fact that the mouse is too small/lightweight and gets pushed around by it's own lead (like the tail wagging the dog).

Perhaps we'll take up knitting to combat the ludicrous rendering situation. What improvements are made with these issues when using, say, the Avid cut-down (Xpress?) or similiar?

[AU_student_iceBook]

I agree with you that the rendering sucks, and I can't answer you about avid or whatever, but I wanted to say, "why render".

I just keep plowing through until I get to a good stopping point, then render. Let it go for a little bit while I do something else.

I'm on a G4 800, so I feel your pain.

Good luck with the kids.

p.s.- I don't think knitting will help. Maybe crochet.

[a holck]

regarding the rendering, it seems that your capture setting and sequence setting are not identical which will make you render everything.

try www.lafcpug.org or www.2-pop.com's forum for expert advice

[drissa]

Thanks folks.

I'm concerned about the 800Mhz pity - this is my home machine and I hope to use FCE on this too. Crikey, is it really that old now?

Yes, I suppose the only way to stay sane is to build up the sequence then render multiple clips. However, this doesn't seem like it would allow for creative/experimental editing, when you want to try lots of things - the results will dictate how you proceed. You'd need to be very strategic - to know exactly what you want and work in quite a cold way.

I come from an audio background. I'm trying to imagine having to wait 2-3 minutes each time I tweak the volume of a track or increase an effect's parameter a little - it's all about the 'dialogue' you have with the software, in real time.

Time to readjust to a new world I suppose...

NB: And why won't the bloody ShuttlePRO load any new downloaded templates?! Technology is truly a love/hate relationship for me.