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Differences from the Windows (7) experiences:

• As is typically the case for any device, the Mac installation dialogs etc. differed slightly from their Windows counterparts.
• Once installed, its Print dialog seemed somewhat over-minimal, there being no obvious way to specify duplex printing for example.  The solution was found by experimentation, as follows:
  • In the dialog, under “Paper Size” and “Orientation” was a multi-choice selected as Preview
  • Clicking on this revealed that the other choices were the missing (expected) printer properties options (such as duplex):
    • Preview
    • Layout
    • Color Matching
    • Paper Handling
    • Cover Page
    • Scheduler
    • Quality & Media
    • Color Options
    • Borderless Printing
    • Duplex Printing & Margin
    • Supply Levels
    • Summary
      • This would have been the best default option, for first use, because it shows all(?) of the other options in a twirlable (expand/collapse) tree.

Once installed, can get to the printer’s optons & job-queue as follows (no obvious options here to define duplex as default):

• Apple > System Preferences > Print & Fax > Canon MG5200 Series
  • Open Print Queue
  • Options & Supplies
    • General
    • Driver
    • Supply Levels
    • Utility
      • Cleaning (regular cleaning, eliminate smudges and lines)
      • Deep Cleaning (un-clogs nozzles that cannot be cleared by regular cleaning)
      • Bottom Plate Cleaning (prevent paper smudges during printing)
      • Roller Cleaning (for smoother paper-feeding)

Using it:

•  From NeoOffice (3.1.2) Writer, with a three-page document:
  • File > Printer Settings
    • NeoOffice crashes…
  • File > Print
    • Print-dialog appears
    • Has a multi-choice (default selection = Layout)
    • Select Duplex Printing & Margin
    • Enable Automatic Duplex Printing
      • Staple-side = Long-side stapling (Left)
  • Result: It worked!
    • But these settings were not retained for a further printing even of the same document.
    • So you have to check duplex etc. every single Print operation…
    • Duh!

On Windows 7 / Boot Camp 3.1 on a MacBook Pro (MBP) of January 2010 vintage, I installed the Canon printer software for their Pixma MG5200 printer (as supplied with my MG5250 printer).  Installation was unexpectedly lengthy (one or two hours) due to a USB issue, a one-way-only Setup application (and consequent need to do a System Restore and fix knock-on effects of that)  and finally an unexpected confusion over paper source. The latter was explained by popup dialogs but these were not noticed at first as they were hidden under the document being printed (a user-interface issue - application or windows?).  The solutions I immediately found to these issues were:

• Unplug all other USBs from the machine - which in this case was a cheap Microsoft wireless mouse.
• Set the paper source specification to Manual, then manually specify it to be the rear tray.
  • But there is a better solution - read on.

Having subsequently read the manual, and indeed having looked at the setup dialogs more attentively:

• Rear tray is intended for speciality paper such as photo paper.
• Plain paper should normally be loaded into the Cassette
  • This is a paper tray located low-down on the front of the printer.
  • To open it, don’t try to pull via fingernails through thin gap, instead use purpose-made “gripper” on underside of “Cassette”.
• Note: The multi-lingual nature of the Manual’s pages is hard on the eye…

This is better really, as it reduces the printer’s “visual clutter” and “space invasion”. It worked fine, for duplex too.  It is also possible to configure the printer to use the rear tray as an additional source of plain paper e.g. if the Cassette runs out:

•  In Windows System Tray:
  • Canon My Printer >RtClk> Open My Printer > Paper Source Settings
  • (Not recommended though)

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NO! …Not at the very least until such time as I have no pressures and fancy an experiment (everything backed-up of course). On my Jan 2010 MacBook Pro (unibody), most things “ain’t broke” at present, the only issues are that the FW800 port and ExpressCard ports work only in Mac OS, not Windows 7, but I’ve found no explicit mention of these issues having been fixed. Shame, quite a few Windows people are put off Macs for that kind of reason.  On the other hand while some people report no problems, others do report issues (sometimes due to old/unhandled existing nVidia drivers on their systems), as follows.

• nVidia driver problems affecting install, display (and possibly keyboard).
  • Installation may hang or fail or appear to succeed but not completely in practice.
  • Screen may appear at low-resolution (e.g.VGA) or may black-out
  • Sleep (power management) may give a BSOD.

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http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=741147&Replies=2

• Very simple estimation method is to divide the length in minutes into 600.
• Example: 5 hours is 300 minutes, so 600/300 = 2Mbps.
• Assuming you use 192Kbps for the AC3 audio, 2Mbps - 192Kbps = approximagely 1.8Mbps for the video

My proposed workflow for Sony Vegas / DVD Architect (DVDA):

1. In Sony Vegas:
   1. Render the audio on its own first, as AC3-Pro.
   2. Check the remaining space. Allow say 4% headroom (safety-margin). Maybe more, to create deliberate physical margin at edge of disk (where handling-marks are likely to occur). Adjust video rendering properties to achieve this.
   3. Render the video on its own. Check its size is as expected.
2. In DVD ARchitect:
   1. Add both audio & video to a DVDA Project.
   2. In DVDA, do a Prepare, skipping past any warnings about disk space.  Presumably if source files (audio and video) are in same format as target and no “Fit to Disk” is selected then it should only do Wrapping, not Compressing (?)

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=742713&Replies=16

• …just draw stick people and use arrows for movement.
• Many tools, not only for storyboards, e.g. also shot-lists (for things you can’t storyboard)
• …the iPhone app called Storyboard by Cinemek. It is amazing what you can do with your iPhone camera with this app. Emails you a PDF with your storyboard when you are done.
• Vimeo tutorial on storyboarding basics:
  • http://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/4/storyboarding-basics
• Example shot-list (google spreadsheet):
  • https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AnublzHilrS5cHo2c3Z5RWFqX0lneGlrcmxLWC1ORnc&hl=en#gid=0

Forms, Spreadsheets and Tools for Film-Making:

• http://dependentfilms.net/files.html
  • Editing Log
  • Field Tape Log
  • Location Contract
  • Camera Shot List
  • Talent Release Form
  • Call Sheet Template
  • Location Relase Form
  • Personal Release Form
  • Location Scouting Sheet
  • Production Budgeting Proposal
  • Call Sheet
  • Daily Editors Log
  • Cast Contact Sheet
  • Crew Contact Sheet
  • Daily Continuity Log
  • Daily Progress Report
  • Easy Script Breakdown
  • Script Supervisor Notes
  • Daily Production Report
  • Continuity Synopsis Sheet - (18.1K) *
  • StoryBoard Tool - Windows based program with simplistic, yet effective tools.
  • Sample Location Contract *
  • Sample Performer Release *
  • Sample Script Agreement *
  • Sample Compensation Contract *
  • Camera Journal
  • Equipment List in Excel format. - (7.09K)
  • Detailed Budget in Excel format.
  • Databases for your Palm Pilot
  • SMPTE Color Bars for your computer Screen - (6.80K)
  • Time Code Calculator for Camera number crunching - (247Kb)
  • Vid Prompt - Turn your computer screen into a teleprompter. Good program to have - (89.2K)

http://dylanreeve.com/videotv/avid/2010/review-media-composer-5-0.html

Avid Media Composer (up to V5 at least) does not have secondary color correction.

• http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=743013&Replies=10
  • Avid (Media Composer) does not have secondary color correction. At least not like Vegas does.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Composer
  • (Avid) Media Composer differentiates itself from Avid Symphony because it is missing Advanced/Secondary Color Correction and Universal Mastering.
• http://dylanreeve.com/videotv/avid/2010/review-media-composer-5-0.html
  • Now all we need is secondary color correction…
• http://community.avid.com/forums/t/63155.aspx
  • I heard Media composer does not have secondary color correction
  • Idea 1:
    • Colorista does full screen or square/rectangle/oval/circle windows (not custom).
    • You can achieve “power windows”-style secondary results in Media Composer by duplicating the clip onto a higher track, using Animatte tools to isolate an area within the clip and applying different correction to that area.
  • Idea 2:
    • ColorFix from 3Prong: http://www.3prong.com
  • Idea 3:
    • Colorista combined with Magic Bullet Looks should be able to do everything you’re looking for.
    • I believe Colorista has masks or what’s commonly called Power Windows but I don’t believe they have a tracker. I suggest you download the demo version of each and try them out.
    • In the Media Composer you can use the Paint effect to create a shape and apply basic corrections to that shape and track it.
  • Media Composer has a tracker. Here’s a tutorial:
    • http://learn.avid.com/content/tutorials/SNtracking/tutorial.html
  • Using the Paint Effect or AniMatte with two layers of video a very basic correction can be applied and tracked. For example, I’ve corrected a scene where the subject was looking at a computer monitor and their face was blue from the reflection of the screen. I was able to draw a shape, make color adjustments to remove the cast and track it.
  • Additionally Boris Red/Avid FX has a powerful color corrector and motion tracking:
    • http://www.borisfx.com/tutorials/motiontracking.php

How convert a [.flv] file to a [.mp4] file?

• http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=743501&Replies=7  (as of 2010-12-27)
  • Super by Erightsoft will open both types of FLV and convert them to something Vegas will understand. MPEG-2 is pretty universal. Experiment.
  • Very simple with Handbrake (which is free)
    • http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php
    • Just drag the .flv onto the handbrake gui, let it analyze the .flv file & when it’s ready click ’start’.
    • Handbrake creates a converted .mp4 which Vegas will recognize.

Some good links with tutorials and documentation on Boris BX, within and without Avid:

• http://library.creativecow.net/tutorials/borisfx
• http://www.fmctraining.com/sales/MO-ID1.pdf