Outputting to Tape

When outputting your sequence to tape, Final Cut Pro can work with a wide variety of tape formats. It can output through FireWire to DV, DVCPRO, HDV, and DVCPRO HD. It can output to other tape formats, from VHS to DigiBeta, as long as you have the hardware to support it. You will usually record a master copy of your sequence to the same tape format you started with or the format that's required for delivery, but you may also want to make a viewing copy on a different format, such as VHS.

As part of the output to tape, you will generally record additional material consisting of color bars and tone, program slate, countdown, and black before the sequence begins. This is collectively called leader material and is added in different ways, depending on the output method you choose.

NOTE

Before you begin outputting, make sure your recording device is hooked up to your computer and turned on.

As in exporting, you can output the entire sequence or a partial sequence using In and Out points in the Timeline.

There are three ways to output your sequence to tape:

• Manual record

• Print To Video

• Edit To Tape

The first two methods, manual record and Print To Video, are available through any FireWire recording device. The third method, Edit To Tape, is available only with devices that Final Cut Pro can control remotely.

Recording Manually

The easiest way to output to tape is to simply play the sequence and press Record on the connected camera or deck. This is referred to as a manual recording process. You use this option when you want to make a quick dub to tape.

Though this output method is the simplest, it is also the least precise. It is very much a "what you see is what you get" proposition. To record manually, you must have any preprogram, or leader, elements (such as bars and tone, slate, black, countdown, and so on) edited before the head of your sequence in the Timeline. And you must also mix down your audio and render any unrendered video.

1.	From the Browser, open the Team Story sequence, if it's not already open in the Timeline.
2.	In the Viewer, click the Generator pop-up menu and choose Bars And Tone (NTSC). The video in the Team Story sequence is DV-NTSC. When working with other video formats, you would choose the appropriate option.
3.	Insert the 10 seconds of bars and tone at the head of the sequence.
4.	To create a slate, click the Generator pop-up menu and choose Text > Text. Click the Controls tab, and enter Team Story, today's date, and your name as editor. Insert 5 seconds of this slate after the bars and tone you just edited.
5.	To add black before the Logo FLAT.jpg graphic, click the Generator pop-up menu and choose Slug. Edit 5 seconds after the slate. Edit the same 5 seconds after the last clip at the end of the sequence. NOTE You don't have to edit leader material before the sequence to record it manually. But it's good to have at least 5 seconds of black at the head and tail of a sequence.
6.	If there are any render bars in the Timeline ruler area that are red, yellow, or orange, choose Sequence > Render All, and make sure the same render level colors that appear in the Timeline ruler area are checked here. Press Option-R to render everything in the Timeline.
7.	Park the playhead at the head of the Timeline. The output of the Timeline begins wherever the playhead is parked. You will record a freeze-frame of the playhead location until you play the sequence. When the playhead reaches the last frame of the sequence, it will again freeze on that frame. This is why it's good to have a slug of black before your sequence begins and after it ends.
8.	In the Timeline, click the RT pop-up menu, and choose these settings: Safe RT mode, High under Video Quality, and Full under Frame Rate. You will have to click the RT pop-up menu, to select each option.
9.	Cue up your recording device, and begin recording.
10.	After at least 5 seconds, play the sequence. NOTE If you want the sequence to repeat, select the Loop Playback option in the View menu. The amount of black you want to play between the looped sequences is determined by the slug edit at the end of each sequence.
11.	When the taping is complete, allow additional seconds of black to be recorded, then stop the recording device.

Printing to Video

The Print To Video option enables you to select the preprogram leader elements from a list before outputting to tape. During the output process, Final Cut Pro will automatically generate these items as though they were edits in your sequence. This is a good method to use when you want to take advantage of the automatic leader options but don't have a device that can be controlled by timecode. Also, this method automatically renders anything that needs rendering and plays your sequence back at high quality even if the Timeline playback settings are set to low quality or dynamic.

NOTE

To output HDV material to tape, you would use the Print To Video option.

NOTE

The Audible controls in the Timeline turn tracks on and off from the computer processor. Tracks turned off using this method will not be included on output. Solo and Mute effect audio only during playback, and will not exclude tracks during output.

1.	Make sure the Timeline is active and there are no In or Out points in the sequence.
2.	Select all of the leader clips you edited in the previous exercise and press Shift-Delete to delete them along with the gap. Choose File > Print To Video, or press Ctrl-M. There are four parts to this window: the Leader, Media, Trailer, and Duration Calculator areas. In each area, you can check a box to include that option in the output or choose an option from the pop-up menus. You can also enter a specific amount of time for items.
3.	In the Leader area, click the Color Bars box, and change the duration to 10 seconds. NOTE Generally, you record anywhere from 10 to 60 seconds of color bars, depending on its use.
4.	Click in all the boxes in the Leader section. Since this is a sample output, shorten the Black durations to 2 and Slate to 5.
5.	In the Slate pop-up menu, choose Text. In the text box that will appear to the right, type Team Story, today's date, and your name. TIP You can also create your own slate with graphics and a company logo. To use a personal slate, choose File from the Slate pop-up menu, and click the folder button to the right to navigate to the file.
6.	In the upper-right corner of the Print To Video window, click the Preview button to test the audio level going into your recording device. If the level is not high enough, adjust it using the dB slider. Then click Stop.
7.	In the Media area, choose Entire Media from the Print pop-up menu to output the entire Timeline contents, and select Loop. TIP If your sequence is short, such as a promo, commercial, or music video, use the Loop option to loop it several times. This saves having to rewind the tape to see it again.
8.	In the Trailer area, click Black, and change the duration to 10 seconds.
9.	Check the Duration Calculator to see how long the total output will be, and make sure the tape you have selected is long enough.
10.	Click OK. A progress bar appears as the output is configured and prepared.
11.	When Final Cut Pro is ready to play back the sequence and other elements, a message will appear telling you to begin recording. Click OK.
12.	Begin recording from your recording device, and after about 5 seconds, click OK to start the playback and output of your sequence and elements.

Editing to Tape

The third way you can output your sequence to tape is the Edit To Tape method. It is similar to Print To Video in that the same set of leader and other options appear for you to select and include with your output. The primary difference is that the Edit To Tape window also has transport buttons for controlling the deck and setting an In point where you will begin recording your sequence.

In a professional environment, having this kind of frame-accurate control can be especially helpful. For example, you may want to begin recording your program exactly at 1:00:00:00. If so, you can backtime the amount of time you need for your preprogram elements, maybe 1 or 1.5 minutes, and begin recording those elements at that specific time say, 58:30:00 or 59:00:00. Then your sequence will hit at precisely 1:00:00:00.

1.	With the Timeline active, choose File > Edit To Tape. If you do not have a controllable device connected, a warning window will appear. If the device is properly connected, the Edit to Tape window opens.
2.	Click the Play button, play the tape, and click the Mark In button (or press I) to mark where you want to begin recording.
3.	Click the Mastering Settings tab, and choose your settings just as you did in the Print To Video exercise.
4.	Click the Video tab. From the Browser, drag the Team Story sequence to the preview area of the Edit To Tape window and into the Assemble section, then release the mouse.
5.	When the Ready For Playback dialog box appears, click OK to start the recording process. The tape is cued up automatically, and the first elements of the output are recorded, starting at the In point you set.
6.	Close the Edit To Tape window. NOTE When using DV material, you cannot use the Edit to Tape option to insert just video or audio.

Making a Timecode Window Burn

Often during the editing and output process, someone will request a screening tape of the current version of the sequence with a visual timecode superimposed on top of the image. This visual timecode display is sometimes called a timecode burn-in or window burn. A window burn of your sequence is helpful when others need to screen your sequence and provide feedback referencing precise locations, or when you're working with a deck that cannot read timecode from the tape.

In Final Cut Pro, the visual timecode, or window burn, is created by applying the Timecode Reader filter. Since the objective is to have a visual timecode for every clip in the entire sequence, you will first nest the sequence, then apply the filter.

1.	In the Browser, duplicate the Racing Promo sequence. Name the duplicate Racing Promo Burn-in. Open this sequence in the Timeline.
2.	In the Timeline, choose Edit > Select All, or press Cmd-A, to select all the clips in this sequence.
3.	Choose Sequence > Nest Items. TIP When you want to apply the same filter to a large group of clips or to the entire sequence, it's often easier to make a nest of those clips and apply the filter to the nest.
4.	Add the word NEST to the end of the name, and click OK. All the clips in the Timeline are nested into a single track of video and two tracks of audio.
5.	Move the playhead forward in the sequence so you see a full image in the Canvas. Choose Effects > Video Filters > Video > Timecode Reader. This applies a Timecode Reader filter to the entire sequence.
6.	Click a few different places in the Timeline ruler area and make sure the visual timecode display in the Canvas matches the timecode number in the Current Timecode field.
7.	To change the appearance of the visual timecode, Option-double-click the nested sequence in the Timeline to load it into the Viewer, and click the Filters tab. You can also select the nest in the Timeline and press Return.
8.	Adjust the size, color, opacity, and position of the visual timecode so it is easily seen over the video in the sequence, yet not too distracting.
9.	Output the Racing Promo Burn-in sequence to tape using any one of the output methods described earlier in this lesson.