Scopes make great eye candy that can impress a client, but they can also be very helpful when you are editing. Here's an excerpt from Larry Jordan's Final Cut Pro 5 Essentials Effects series that explains what scopes are used for and how you can use them in the editing process. It's an excellent video to check out if you are new to the scope scene.
720x480, 640x480, 1920x1080... what is the significance behind these and other aspect ratios we sometimes love to hate? This Artbeats document presents a straightforward introduction to the significance of video aspect ratios, and how video differs when presented on computer screens and televisions, and captured on camcorders. Unfortunately, knowing a lot of these tedious factoids becomes invaluable when working with different format (SD vs. HD, NTSC vs. PAL) video. There's no such thing as a universal pixel aspect ratio, and learning the differences between formats will give you a better understanding of exactly how video is displayed.
MacBreak continues in the world of movie magic with some more tricks from Conversations with Other Women. Episode 61 shows how After Effects was used to create a ballroom dancing scene from different pieces of video. There's not a lot of how-to detail (I want the nitty gritty stuff) but it's still an interesting discussion and proof of what today's tools and imagination can produce.
Knowing your keyboard shortcuts will take you to the next level in your mastery of Final Cut Pro. For some help with memorization, try printing out this shortcut document and keep it on your desk while you edit. Thankfully, it's nicely organized so you can learn a block of shortcuts at a time. Thanks to Flippant for the tip.
Callbox has released a Tutorial dvd that teaches users how to maximize shooting with a DVX100 and editing in Final Cut Pro. The tutorial is taught by Noah Kadner. If you use the 2-pop forums, you will have surely seen his name or even recieved assistance from him. Topics include: Output for 35mm Film, Cinema Tools, SDI vs. Firewire Capture and, of coure, Advanced Pulldown Removal. Priced at $75.
The 6 city launch party took place in November without a product, but NewTek has finally announced that SpeedEDIT is now shipping. Boasting a tagline of The Worlds Fastest Video Editor, SpeedEDIT breaks away from traditional NLE workflows that are based around the film mentality and focuses on a resolution independent digital workflow. I couldn't find a trial version on their website, but I hear one will be offered. If your curious (like me), you can download the user guide and get a better understanding of how the app works. SpeedEDIT costs $495 but if you are a Lightwave owner you can get it at a special price of $295.
The JVC SR-DVM700 is a versatile media storage vessel for anyone who needs to offload video footage from a variety of sources and/or needs to move around a lot of media in various formats. The SR-DVM700 can offload and copy media from Mini DV tapes, DVD-R/RWs, DVD-RAM, and pretty much any other analog device. It also has its own 250GB internal hard drive for storing media. The device is expected to be hitting Japanese stores pretty soon. No word on releases in other territories.
Scott Simmons over at the editblog unearthed a pretty spiffy aspect ratio dashboard widget for OS X, appropriately named Aspect. This little bit of software takes 'popular ratios used in video and film and calculates any size you need based on the height or width and pixel aspect.' Simple, quick, and effective. Grab the 209Kb download here. 
Currently, there is no established workflow for editing AVCHD video, the latest HD format introduced by Panasonic and Sony. Proper editing software for editing raw AVCHD files will not be made available until at least March, however, resourceful reader Jake Ludington has discovered a workaround to editing the raw video produced by the Sony HDR-SR1. It's quite a complicated process and can only be accomplished on a PC due to the software that is involved, but if you need to be able to edit MT2S and cannot wait until the proper tools are released, this method might be your only solution. Be warned that is requires PowerDVD Ultra, VirtualDubMod, and AVIsynth, and a hearty helping of patience. But, there you have it! Thanks, Jake.
Final Cut Pro guru Larry Jordan provides some basic information about external storage solutions in this video over at Studio Daily. Topics include Firewire, SATA and data transfer rate comparisons. If you are just getting started in editing and new to the external storage game, this will give you a good start.
How about a break from all the new announcements today. Here's another tutorial on how to "blur" objects or people so they can't be recognized in your video. The previous tutorial I posted used Premiere and After Effects and this one shows you how to do it in Final Cut Pro. It all comes down to motion tracking. When you learn how to use it in your editor you can do all sorts of fun stuff.
Here's a strange beast, indeed: Sony's VAIO RM HD video editing system is high-ish end setup with a writable Blu-Ray drive. With 1TB of storage, 2GB of RAM, a USB jog dial, just one Core 2 Duo processor, and lacking high speed FireWire 800 ports, the somewhat unbalanced setup comes at a very high cost, despites its inclusion of Adobe Premiere 2: $3,500. Coupled with the unconventional design, it's hard to tell just what Sony is aiming for with this system. Is it just a weak push to advance the Blu-Ray format with the inclusion of a writable drive? Anyway, get the full lowdown on Sony's site.
The folks at Corel have been busy bees the past couple months. They finished up the acquisition of InterVideo, completed an update to Ulead VideoStudio 10 which earned Vista certification and released an update to InterVideo DVD Copy 5 to support Tivo, Zune and iPod. What's next? Today they announced support for AVCHD in their InterVideo WinDVD 8 playback software. Future product releases of InterVideo and Ulead video and DVD products will also support AVCHD. At least we are starting to see some support for this format, hopefully other companies will be announcing support soon.
Avid Technology is expected to give Intel Mac users a look at what's under development with the announcement of an open beta program next week. According to information on AppleInsider, the program will only be available to Avid contract customers that have licenses for the current versions of Avid programs. If you're behind a version or two, you'll have to upgrade to the current version before you can participate. More info should hit the streets next week at Macworld.
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