There are lots of questions about using DSLR cameras for video. In this article, we summarize some of the benefits and limitations, as well as add lots of feedback from readers.
A common complaint about matching audio between DSLR cameras and digital audio recorders is that the audio sync drifts. This article provides three references you can use to resolve this problem.
Barring a hardware problem, dropped frames are almost always caused by a hard disk that’s too slow. But what if the problem is with your render files? In this article we provide some ideas to try as well as references to more detailed articles that can walk you through almost any problem.
Are dropped frames driving you nuts. Here’s a checklist of tips you can use to resolve your dropped frames problem — before you drop your computer out a second-story window.
Droplets are great for automatiing video compression. Create your settings once, then use the droplet.
Data Robotics is aggressively going after the audio and video market with a series of devices marketed using the Drobo brand. We’ve already reviewed the Drobo. Here we review its big brother – the DroboPro. The speed and flexibility of this device make it very attractive. This article gives you much more detail.
Have you ever wondered why a 1 TB drive never has 1 TB of free space? Or why a 500 GB drive stores much less than 500 GB? Well, it isn’t your imagination, it’s that engineers and marketers use two different numbers – but the same words – to measure the storage capacity of a hard drive.
In the past we obsessed about the rotational speed of a hard disk, how much cache it had, or even the controller chip it used. While these are important, they pale in significance when compared to the impact of how you connect your drive to your computer.
It’s possible to drag files from the Finder into the Final Cut Browser. But do you want to? In this article, I explain the process and provide reasons both pro and con about doing so.
Most of the time the default settings in Compressor are not too bad. But, sometimes, problems arise when down-converting high-def material to standard-def (HD to SD). In this case, if you are getting images that look worse than you expect, try this two-step process (called “pre-compression”) and see if your image quality improves.
This article spells out the rules I use for reviewing products — both software and hardware. It is my goal to provide objective, fair, and honest reviews you can trust. Reviews based upon life in the “real-world.” This article explains the rules I use in determining what products to review and the role that potential sponsorship plays in determining what I review.
Philip Roy writes in with a question about saving custom transitions, if only in part, which Larry answers and is later expounded on by Andy Mees.
There’s a hidden diagnostic tool in Final Cut that allows you check to see if your RAID or hard disk is playing back your media files properly. This article describes how to access it.
Stuck trying to figure out how to delete audio tracks in Soundtrack Pro. Here’s the answer in about three paragraphs — including pictures!
A sequence dragged into another sequence creates a nest – a single item contained in another. However, sometimes you need to deconstruct all the elements of that first sequence. Here’s a quick tip that explains how.
Data rates measure the speed of all things digital – hard disks, the internet, the internal components of your computer. This short article explains what data rates are, how they are measured, and the differences between “bits per second” and “bytes per second.”
With over 650 menu commands, Final Cut has a wealth of options to choose from for controlling the program. However, sometimes, life would be much easier if you could just create a few custom keyboard shortcuts to make your life easier. You can, and this article shows you how.
There are some really good preference file managers for Final Cut Pro. But, sometimes, you need to create something customized for yourself. In this case, Automator can give you a hand. Don Smith sent in this technique of using Automator to simplify the process of creating FCP preference backups.
Apple now supports creating Blu-ray Discs in Final Cut Studio 3. This support involves using templates to create your discs. However, making changes to these templates is easy to do, but hard to find. This article explains what you need to do to create your own customized Blu-ray Disc templates.
You may have heard that Final Cut sequences can be customized. But what you may not know is how significantly you can make changes — as long as you don’t want to play the results on a DVD or record them to video tape. In this article, I’ll show you how to change the size of your sequence to any size you want.