My first sound for film and I need ???

[Digital Sound Lab]

I've been aproached by a film director that I've done some work for his pubplishing company. He really likes the way I work. I need some advice on a video card and other proper gear. I think that if I get my $h!t together he would also want me to edit the film. His last independent film sold about 10 thousand copies in the local Seattle area. Working with film is new to me but I learn very quikly. I really want to do as much as I can because he is also very interested in songs that I'm trying to get published from my artist.

I have a Pro Tools Mix + with a G4 400.
What card should I get? I want to be able to hook up a playback monitor to the card without sacrificing the Duel monitor for PT.
I was also thinkig of getting Final Cut Pro.
Does a standard fire wire drive work for video playback?
These are more along the lines of entertaining documentories, So I'm looking for high quality capture but not big budget capture.
I alos Have a Pioneer A03 DVD burner and Need adive on software to run the damn thing (can't seem to find).
What plugins would I need to do 5.1 surround mixes?

I usually do alot of research on my own but. I'm hoping that you lovely people could at least shoot me in the correct direction.
Thanks in advance.

[Mark Reis]

Video Output: Have you considered Echo Fire software and a Canopus ADVC-100? This combo allows you to output a quicktime-DV format movie out your firewire port, into the ADVC-100 and onto a TV. You might need a program like After Effects to convert the movie to the proper format, unless you're capturing it yourself.

Firewire Drive for Video playback: Yes, it works.

Plug-ins for 5.1 : 5.1 doesn't "require" plug ins any more than stereo does. You do need monitors and eventually some way to encode your 6 stems into a 5.1 mix.

I don't know why you want Final Cut Pro, or what you want to do with the DVD burner.

[Digital Sound Lab]

Mark,
Thanks for the reply. The Canopus looks interesting and very inexpensive. I wanted to get Final Cut Pro (or similar) to edit the video. The movie is musically base intensive, that is one reason I considering taking the plunge into editing the movie also. I may be biting off more than I can chew but that's how I do it sometimes.
When I meant plugins, I meant the coding for the surround. And of coarse burn it all down to a DVD hence the software needed for the DVD burner. My G4 did not originally come with this burner. Right now it works as a standard CDR.
It sound like the Canopus capturs several type of media which is cool. Would FCP work with the Canopus to import the movies?
Thanks again

[Mark Reis]

Canopus: I'm fairly certain that this works with Final Cut Pro. If your movie is already digital, then you can just bring it in through firewire.

I don't make DVDs, but it seems that Apple's DVD Studio Pro (v2) allows you to create spiffy looking DVDs with the trademark Apple ease.

There are no plug ins that encode Dolby Digital in ProTools. DVD Studio Pro will encode your stems.

Most experts will tell you - never fold down a 5.1 mix into stereo. Always create a separate mix, or at least put a lot of effort into remixing your 5.1 into a stereo version.

RE: Editing video. The Cinematics Group where I work thinks they can edit audio. They are wrong. I know I can't edit video, which isn't to say I can run the software. I wish you luck.

[froyo]

By Mark Reis

There are no plug ins that encode Dolby Digital in ProTools.

Hello. If I'm not mistaken SmartCode offers DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding software as a plug in for Pro Tools. I don't know if it's made it to HD yet however. While it was developed by Kind of Loud I believe it's ditributed by Universal Audio now.