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Some further tips found online:

• [http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=704856]
  • You have more than a dozen choices in the DNxHD codec…  (but you might not see them) because of the little display bug. When you select the Avid DNxHD codec, a window pops up. At the bottom of that window is just a little sliver of a pulldown menu. Click that and all should become clear.
• [http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=701760]
  • DNxHD is a broadcast codec. And types that are not broadcast standards are not included.
  • …in the “Custom Settings” you can … set the Frame rate and the Field order to suit your … footage.
• [http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=712102&Replies=1]
  • Settings for HD interlaced:
    • Color levels should be RGB
    • Size should be 1920×1080
    • Pixel aspect 1:1
    • Field order Upper
    • DNxHD-TR 175 8-bit template
    • Be sure to click OK (the dialog may fail to display it)
  • Variation for HDV:
    • Thin Raster is supposed to be better for stretched pixels like 1440×1080
• [http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=710761]
  • You will be able to preserve aspect and gamma with DNxHD. Be sure to select the right bit depth and color levels for your originals. (For a) 1440×1080 source, (i.e.) HDV, … you will want 8-bit, 4:2:0 RGB output to match the originals.
  • One user’s experience (not mine):
    • Here’s the file settings for … m2t files (as provided by MediaInfo):
      • 25Mbps, 1440×1080 (16:9), at 29.97fps, MPEG video component version 2,(Main (high @1440)) BVOP
    • Here’s what it reports for the .mov generated by DNxHD:
      • 220Mbps, 1920×1080 (4:3) at 29.97fps, VC-3, DNxHD
    • I’m not sure where it got the 1920×1080 frame setting from, though. In the frame size box, I had custom frame settings of 1440 x 1080 with a PAR of 1.333.
    • Reply:
      • 1440 X 1.333 = 1919.52 which rounds up to 1920.
      • Your render frame size should be set to 1920×1080 to preserve the aspect. As gets mentioned a lot in these forums, MOV does not respect PAR.
• [http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=709379]
  • Best way to export timeline to FCP for CC:
    • Change your color space to RGB. Click the little pulldown window at the bottom, select 1080i/59.94 DNxHD 220x. And when you say OK to this window, change the slider from the current 50% quality to 100%. Then render out. The file will be slightly less than 2 minutes per gig.
    • Avid 1:1 is an uncompressed codec designed for SD video. DNxHD is an HD codec and the only one Avid uses.

This is how I’m doing it today:

• Local System Disk
  • Render Files
  • Thumbnail Cache Files
  • Waveform Cache Files
• Local RAIDs (One stationary, one portable)
  • _App_Specific
    • Final_Cut
      • _Projects (just for misc [.fcp] files)
      • Audio Render Files
      • Autosave Vault
      • Capture Scratch
      • Render Files
  • _Media
    • _Library
    • _Projects
      • 2010-04-30 (Client) Event
        • 010 Preparation
        • 020 Source
        • 030 Projects
          • FCP
            • EventTitle v001.fcp

Notes:

• I would have put everything on the RAID but for the Final Cut Settings interface, which only allows the first three items above to be on one location.  In contrast, the other items can be specified in a small set of possible locations, each of which can be toggled (enabled/disabled).
• The structure below [Projects] should mainly branch by function then by application.  But it will vary from (real-world) project to (real-world) project.

From [http://support.apple.com/kb/TA27694?viewlocale=en_US] and own experiences, my own advice to myself is as follows.  Note however:

• It is not guaranteed to be correct or complete!  Just my own best-practice, so far.
• It will only delete from scratch areas it actually knows about i.e. as defined in FCP’s System Settings.
•  Even then, it doesn’t seem to delete everything.  After allegedly deleting all render files of all projects, I went through afterwards and found (and deleted) a number of files under [Render Files/Constant Frames].  Maybe a result of my messy initial novice practices - who knows!

My process:

• Open the project in Final Cut Pro
• Delete Project’s Render-Files:
  • Tools > Render Manager.
  • Use checkbox in the Remove column next to the name of the project whose render-files you wish to remove.
    • Warning: Do not check other projects or those projects’ render files will also be removed.
  • Click OK.
• Delete Media Files in the Browser:
  • Activate the Browser window.
  • Select everything you want to delete (e.g. Select All).
    • Warning: Don’t select any clips, images, audio or anything else that is used in another project, or is used by another application (a photo that you are also using in a DVD project, for example), , as you will not want them to be deleted.
  • Modify > Make Offline.
  • Click the Move Them to the Trash button.
  • Click OK.
  • Close your Final Cut Pro project (and don’t bother saving!)
• Delete the Project File
  • Drag it to the Trash after you have quit Final Cut Pro.
    • But how do I know where it is located, e.g. if it was the latest project, auto-loaded into FCP, I might not remember where it is.
      • Save Project As reveals the project file name e.g. [LenWed RecepLine Expt 001 copy.fcp].  Expanding the Save..As Finder reveals it is in a directory called [FCP Projects].  But not obvious where that folder is located.
  • There may also be project files in the AutoSave Vault(s).
    • In my case, this vault is on the System drive, because I save my main project files to real-world-project -specific folders on a separate Media drive (a local RAID).
• Check any scratch areas etc. on other disks, e.g. System disk, in case anything got (accidentally) written there, e.g. if system was accidentally powered-up when RAID was not running.
• Empty the Trash

Can use Wester Digital’s MyBook drive on a network featuring multiple OSs, such as Mac OS as well as Windows, provided one does not install MioNet (bundled with the drive).  My instincts were right then (I did not install it).

• http://raoulpop.com/2007/06/25/hardware-review-wd-my-book-world-edition-ii/
• http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t/t-300586.html (which references the above)

In my case, the drive is formatted as NTFS, on a Mac it simply appears automatically in Finder then Mac OS is able to read it (Mac OS is able to read NTFS).  In retrospect, maybe would have been better to format it as HFS+ since then Windows could use MacDrive to not only read but write to it.  Meanwhile on Windows I found it necessary to run the “Discover” application bundled with MyBook, which configures the network drive mapping (to a drive letter).

When to use each variant?

• [http://www.avid.com/US/about-avid/customer-stories/Taking-Woodstock-Small-Family-Drama-Precise-HD-Editing]
  • Footage was telecined to HDCAM and digitized to
    •  DNxHD 36 format, which offers compact storage of crisp HD images and was essential for laptop-based HD editing.
    • DNxHD 115 was used occasionally for detailed wide shots, often for crowd scenes.
• [http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=97]
  • The Avid codecs allow you to select the color space (709 or RGB) and I believe that is why the RGB-YUV conversions are apparently handled better by the Avid codecs.
    • Something to keep in mind when embarking on projects that may require material to meander into the RGB space.
  • The big surprise for me was the performance of Avid’s DNxHD 36 codec.  (Only) 3.5% of the original file size… and look at how amazing it did.
    • Since it’s a progressive-only codec, I couldn’t run it on my second set of tests.
• [http://community.avid.com/forums/p/44088/248040.aspx#248040]
  • DNxHD 185 X is a 10-bit version of DNxHD 185.
• [http://community.avid.com/forums/p/17160/96889.aspx#96889]
  • 1080i/50 HDV is 1440 x 1080, as is DNxHD-TR 120.
    • TR means “Thin Raster” reflecting the fact that if viewed on the assumption of square pixels, the subjects would look thin, since really the pixels are “fat”.
  • 1080i/50 is 1920 x 1080, as is DNxHD 185 and DNxHD 120
  • Throughput: 185Mb/sec for DNX185 = 23MB/sec.
• [http://community.avid.com/forums/p/50032/280966.aspx#280966]
• DNxHD 36 is great..BUT (as of 2007) only works in 1080p/23.98.  Why not 720p/59.94  or 1080i/59.94 ??   Answer: The format was created for the film-offline-HD crowd, thus the limited 1080p support.

From article “NAB 2010: AVID MEDIA COMPOSER 5.0″ of 2010-04-25 at [lfhd.net], as of 2010-05-15:

•  Avid Media Composer 5.0 now works with the Matrox MXO2 Mini (not main or LE), not for capture, but for monitoring on a large monitor.
• New advanced Avid Media Access (AMA).
  • This new version of AMA now allows Avid MC to access Quicktime files directly, and allows MC to EDIT those QTs without converting or transcoding them. So things like ProRes, the new Canon XF codec…they are directly accessed via AMA and you can just start editing them right away.  For example from files recorded on a KiPro unit or a QuickTime-based camera.
    • But move the files, and the connection is broken.   So, if you want to work with the footage natively, then move it to the folder you want it to reside in on your media drive, then import.
    • A possible FCP+AVid workflow: Utilize FCP to capture the footage (ProRes), use AMA to import that footage into AVID MC 5.0…edit (e.g. by Avid-only editing people) …then send that sequence back to FCP (via Automatic Duck) linking to the original media…send to Color to color correct, then output from FCP?
  • This also includes native RED files. Media Composer can edit them without the need to transcode.
  • You can adjust the color of the footage before you bring it over…apply a general look while you edit.
• A FCP look&feel approximating mode called Smart Tools mode.  Can toggle between this and Classic mode.
• AVCHD import. Before now you had to use third party applications to convert the footage to DNxHD, like ClipWrap. Not anymore. Now you can import the AVCHD footage directly into Avid MC via the IMPORT feature.  (But) there are multiple types of AVCHD (can it cope with them?).
• Audio improvements:
  • You can now SOLO and MUTE on the timeline.
  • You can now access the Audio Suite plugins directly from the timeline.
  • And (for screen update speed) you can turn on Audio Waveforms on SELECT TRACKS ONLY.
  • You can now make a stereo pair appear as only ONE TRACK on the timeline. This works for stereo sound effects too.
  • Direct access to many audio suite plugins directly on the timeline. No need to go digging in the Audio Tool for them.

The  [lfhd.net] article also reported something about Avid remote editing using cloud computing, but that sounds to me like a whole other topic.

What’s a good folder structure for FCP?  I read and heard lots of tips from great sources, but some of them (e.g. keep [.fcp] files on local drive not Media drive) sounded questionable, at least from my context, and anyway I always want to know the underlying reason for anything.  So it’s research-time again…

• .

There are several aspects:

• .

Context

• Participants
  • Individual, small team or large team
  • Standards-based, methodical or haphazard
• Application(s)
  • Apple (FCS etc.) -centric?
  • Combination of several apps e.g. several makes of NLE
• Media
  • File size and value.
• Storage system(s)?
  • Local
    • Normal or (relatively) slow drive
    • Fast drive e.g. RAID
  • Remote (probably shared).
    • Exceedingly Slow (e.g. web via standard broadband)
    • Slow (e.g. NAS such as WD MyBook)
    • Fast but with possible latency (e.g. “Fibre Channel” / SAN)
  • Integrated
    • Final Cut Server giving seamless access to all storage including near-line (easily-retrievable archive)?
      • Near-line storage is any medium that is used to copy and store data from the hard drive to a source that is easily retrieved [http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-near-line-storage.htm].

Requirements

• Tidy organization
  • Easy to find stuff, including serendipitously.
  • Easy to manage stuff, e.g. archiving / shelving and reinstating.
• Performance
  • User-level.
    • Keep
  • System-level
• Security

My Conclusions (so far):

• The typical professional situation involves multiple users on a SAN.   In this case:
  • Each user should configure their apps (e.g. FCP) to save small and transient files to local disk.
    • Local disk has less latency and minimization of small-file traffic on SAN improves its performance to all users.
  • An individual (or item) -specific project file, which counts as a “small and transient file”, should not be saved routinely or automatically to shared media server but only saved there on an occasional basis (e.g. at end of day or project).
    • Restricting this operation to end-of-project might “discourage” users from corrupting each other’s files, though really that’s what Permissions are for (in Mac OS X / unix).
• Much advice relates to the “typical professional situation”, not all of it is appropriate to other situations.
• .

(more…)

From [http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/working-with-aliases-in-mac-os-x.html] as of 2010-05-15]:

• Aliases in Mac OS are like Shortcuts in Windows but better.   Aliases usually don’t break when you move or rename the original file; shortcuts do.
• Alias feature has been on the Mac since at least OS 7 circa 1992. Shortcuts first appeared with Windows 95 in 1995.

Based on [http://www.bresink.com/osx/sha1.html] as of 2010-05-15:

• Apple recommends the use of the so-called SHA1 standard (Secure Hash Algorithm Version 1). Apple is using this method for their own security updates as well. For more information please also refer to Apple Support Article HT1652.
• Perform the following steps:
  • Make sure you have the downloaded file displayed somewhere in the Finder.
  • Open the Terminal application.
  • Enter the command: [/usr/bin/openssl sha1 ] with a space at the end (not a Return).
    • Note the last character of ‘openssl’ is a small ‘L’ not a ‘1′
  • Drag the target file from the Finder window into the Terminal window. A path specification will appear in the Terminal window.
  • Now press the Return key (Enter).
  • You will see output similar to the following example:
    • SHA1(path specification)= 2eb722f340d4e57aa79bb5422b94d556888cbf38.

Reading book “Final Cut Pro Workflows” by Osder & Carman, 2008.  On page 284 it relays advice that it is best to put Project Files [.fcp] on a separate drive to the Media Drive (e.g. Media Drive= XSAN), due to:

• Safety - not all on one drive
• Avoid fragmenting the media drive (project files, cache and to a lesser extent render files) are written often (transient files?)

I’m not immediately convinced by these arguments:

• Media drive should be backed-up in any case.  I use (slower) USB drives and file-synch.
• Fragmentation may be an old-school issue, less of an issue on Mac’s HFS +.
  • Example: article at [http://www.macmousecalls.com/files/1f6efbb25f58d77390499af1f984d2c7-33.html] linking-on to [http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/apme/fragmentation]
  • Example: Larry Jordan, “Final Cut Pro Power Skills” 2010, page 34, Chapter 2, “Defragmenting Your Hard Drive”: Once popular, this technique is no longer recommended.

How to view degree of fragmentation on an HFS volume:

• [http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter12/hfsdebug/fragmentation.html]
  • Command-line app to report a variety of storage-volume statistics, including fragmentation.
  • After download, can check the sha1 checksum, but this is of the executable, not the download itself ([.dmg] file).  The ’sha1′ command is inbuilt to Mac OS, as: [/usr/bin/openssl sha1].  Note the last character of ‘openssl’ is a small ‘L’ niot a ‘1′.