Final Cut Pro Al Fresco:
video monitoring options for PowerBook users
Whilst its perfectly possible to edit a video from start to finish on an unadorned PowerBook, an editor will prefer to have a proper video monitor to hand.
An old fashioned Cathode Ray Tube monitor, unlike the LCD panel in a notebook computer or even an Apple Cinema Display, will use the correct video gamma. More importantly, it will display fields correctly, so that motion between the interlaced fields is displayed correctly and without resolution loss. It will immediately show problems in focus, exposure and (critically) field order issues caused by mixing DV with other formats of video.
So how does the PowerBook user connect a video monitor to their system? There are a number of options, but there are also some pitfalls along the way.
The PowerBook S-Video Port:
An interesting option on PowerBooks is the S-Video
connector. Frequently overlooked, because in the past,
Macintosh video output was less than stunning and
infuriatingly limited - the image flickered and didn't fill
the frame. Today, the video output is much improved and
very usable.
Simply plugging in a monitor to the
S-Video port (or using the supplied S-Video to
Composite converter) provides you with a separate
screen that can be driven by Final Cut Pro for
monitoring.
From the monitors panel, check that video mirroring is
turned off, and that the video monitor display options are
set to 768x576, 50 Hz (PAL) at millions of colours. From
the Options panel, ensure 'Best for Video' and 'Overscan'
are checked.
In Final Cut Pro's View menu, External video should be set to 'All Frames', and Video Playback set to 'Digital Cinema Desktop Preview - Full Screen' which uses your second (PAL) monitor.
This will provide you with an output that will be far more pleasant to work with than the teeny previews in FCP, and to a certain extent also help judge exposure and colour balance, but there's a problem with this method.
FCP drives this monitor using the field-doubling or deinterlacing engine. Basically, because it's derived from the LCD's requirements, the fields are mashed together or doubled (according to processor performance), with the result that motion is not smooth, that rolling or crawling text and other motion graphics show interlacing artifacts (which should be invisible on an interlaced device), and things aren't quite as sharp as they should be.
On the other hand, it also provides a simple method for running off VHS or DVD-R copies using 'Print to video' and hooking up a deck directly. It's ideal for quick and dirty stuff such as Burned In Time Code (BITC, often pronounced 'Bitsie') copies of rushes.
| QuickTime Player and the
PowerBook S-Video output
Whilst FCP does not drive the S-Video output with true fields, QuickTime Player certainly does. With your monitor attached as described, open Player's preferences. In the General tab, ensure 'Use high quality when available' is checked. Open a QuickTime movie that uses a field savvy video codec such as DV or DVCPRO50 and select 'Present Movie' from the view menu. Click on the video screen (the one without the menu bar). Now, when you choose to present movies full screen, they will move to the video screen and play back there - using fields. |
Of course the traditional method of using an external monitor is via a FireWire device - usually your camcorder. Connect a PD150 or Z1 to the computer via FireWire, then connect the S-Video and audio output to your monitor. Set the camera to VTR mode. In FCP's view menu, set the Video Playback to FireWire PAL (audio should follow video) and you're all set. I've noticed, when testing out these settings, that sometimes FCP will get confused, but a quit and re-open cures most ills.
On the Z1, there is a setting in the
In/out Rec menu called A/V-->DV OUT - this should
be set to OFF. In addition, i.LINK CONV should be
ON.
This provides the best quality, especially if you use the S-Video connection. Viewing video in this way provides a true view of what your material really looks like. Fields are properly displayed, so field rendered material will look its best and motion is smooth.
There's a growing trend for 'videographers' to buy a small, cheap DV Camcorder to act as a 'deck' for ingesting tapes, to save wear and tear on their main camcorder. Not all camcorders will allow you to preview the DV signal from FCP on their external video ports.
For example, the PDX-10 is a great little
camcorder - I keep it as a spare, and use it as a
capture device. However, if I try to hook up a monitor
to the AV outputs, the DV preview is cut out. While I
can print to video, watch FCP output on its internal
screen and even edit to tape, I cannot use the PDX-10
as a FireWire to S-Video preview.
Digitising hardware:
This option will immediately discount most due to issues of
bulk, fiddliness and cost - but it provides the best
quality and the most flexibility. Examples include the Aja
IO range, which connect to your PowerBook through a single
FireWire connection, yet can take in and spit out analogue
YUV sources such as BetaSP, SDI sources such as DigiBeta,
control decks, handle timecode and even multichannel
AES/EBU audio. In amongst its many inputs and outputs,
there's the facility for both composite and SDI monitoring.
This seemingly perfect solution comes at a price, though -
the full AJA IO is about the same price as the PowerBook.
And it's an extra box to ship.
Conclusion:
The itinerant FCP editor will want as little extra baggage
as possible, and employing the oft neglected S-Video port
with the hotel room's TV set press-ganged into service is a
great little trick, though for true quality monitoring, the
best bet remains with your camcorder and a decent high
resolution (not the same thing as a high definition)
monitor.
And if you really need an edit suite to go, A PowerBook with AJA, some powered speakers and a 15" SDI monitor makes for a portable edit suite able to tackle DigiBeta as if it were DV yet remain 4:2:2 uncompressed. Renting the monitor, deck and speakers locally, and sticking to an AJA Io LD adds only one more box to your luggage and £750 to the budget but then are you really sure you want to stick with the PowerBook..?