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Importing Subtitles to DVD SP

Adding subtitles is something DVD Studio Pro is very good at. But sometimes, importing a subtitle file doesn’t work. This explains why and how to fix it.

Prepping Still Images for Video

One of the most complex steps in video editing is getting your computer-based images to look good in video. This article explains how video images are different from computer images and what you need to do to make them look great.

More Image Advice

Here are some design tips to help your text and images look good in video.

Apple Announces A New Video Format — iFrame

Recently, Apple announced a new video format – iFrame – and Sanyo announced new cameras that support that format. This article looks at this announcement and speculates on what this means for the video professional. (Note: Currently, Final Cut Pro does not support iFrame files.)

Locating Sequence Audio Levels that are Too Loud

Here is a very slick technique to find audio in your sequence that’s distorting. It won’t fix it — but it will find it; and much, much faster than real-time.

Creating High-Quality Stills For HD And SD

Probably no subject generates more email than questions about the best way to prepare still for both HD and SD. In this article, David Scott provides this step-by-step approach to making your stills look great. (Note: For a video tutorial on this subject, CLICK HERE)

Opening Final Cut Pro's Help Files Using Preview

If you’d rather use Preview as your default Final Cut Help Viewer, this article tells you where to find your help files and how to change them.

Converting HDV to SD for DVD

Larry fields a question related to transferring HDV footage and traces the problem back to the process of compressing the video. A walk-through of changing the output settings in the Geometry tab provides a detailed guide to preventing this problem from reoccurring.

Converting HDV Video for a Letter-boxed DVD

By definition, all DVDs are only standard-def (SD). If you need high-def, you need to create Blu-ray Discs, which are not the same thing. But what if you want to take HD material and put it on a DVD? You need to convert it. And this article, describes how.

HDV's Rectangular Pixels

HDV uses rectangular pixels to represent its image. Each pixel is short and fat, which means it only needs 1440 pixels to represent an entire line of HD video. However, the computer (and some other video formats) use square pixels to represent the image. So, when you export from HDV to a QuickTime movie, Final Cut converts the pixels from rectangles to squares.

What I've Learned about HDV

Trying to get up to speed on HDV quickly. This article gives you a primer on the current status of HDV – what’s good, what’s bad, and what you need to know.

Converting HDV to DVD

DVDs are always standard definition video. Which means that if you shot your project in HD, you need to down-convert it to SD before you can put it onto a DVD. This short article describes what you need to know.

Tips on Working with HDV

HDV is the latest video format craze, but it isn’t like DV; or any other video format we are used to working with. This article explains how HDV is different and what you need to know to use it successfully.

HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray Just Got More Confusing

We can shoot HD, we can edit HD, but we still can’t effectively distribute HD due to the market standoff surrounding HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Recently, things just got worse, as this article explains.

Trouble-Shooting Hard Disks

Hard drives are essential to video editing. Which makes it really, REALLY aggravating when they stop working. Here are two techniques you can use to trouble-shoot hard drive problems: having too many disks attached, and not being able to boot from the system disk.

Hard Disk Warning!

It is a long-known, but little-discussed secret that hard disks slowly lose their magnetic signal. If you archive your projects on hard disks, you need to read this article before all your carefully stored files… are gone!

Musing: Why Hard Disk Speed Isn’t Everything

As I was investigating how Final Cut Pro handles multiclip editing, it struck me that, after a certain point, the speed of your storage doesn’t really matter. Which means that we need to pay attention to more than just the raw speed of our storage systems.

A Matter of Handles

Handles are critical for transitions and trimming. In this article, discover what handles are and why they are necessary.

Embedding Metadata in H.264 Video

This article is based on research done by William Aleman, who sent instructions and links on how to embed metadata into H.264 files. Some interesting reading!

Improving the Look of Graphics and Text

This is a comprehensive look at how computer and video graphics are different and what you need to know to create great looking video text and graphics. This article can make your life a LOT easier!