AGP card

Sorry - I put the reply on your other post:-


Hello Michael.

I was rather surprised that the advice worked for the other people!

Older Macs have AGP video cards. A few months ago the new ones changed to PCI.

On the Info.plist that I mentioned above, FCE specifies it must have an AGP card in order to work.

If you delete the letters "AGP" and put in "PCI" the program should work.

However, even if you get FCE to work, it will probably be very slow. This is because the new Intel Macs need completely new, re-written programs. They have a technology built in called Rosetta (named after the stone tablet found in 1799 that enabled Egyptologists to translate the ancient Egyptian hieroglyhs).

The new Rosetta enables the Intel Macs to translate the computer code of the old programs to enable them to work. Of course it uses a lot of processing power, so the old programs sometimes run a lot slower.

I don't know whether this answers your problems. (If you need more information you could email me directly - it might be quicker).

The real solution though is to get the updated FCE when it comes out in late March. (You can still use the old FCE perfectly well on your Powerbook).

Ian.

PS. The AGP card must NOT be put in the Intel machine. All you are doing with the instructions I gave is telling FCE to work with a computer containing a PCI card - like your new Intel-iMac.

Sorry Michael, I didn't answer your specific question in my last post.

The AGP card is a physical piece of hardware - I suppose it is a kind of printed circuit board.

However, you would NOT want or need to change it on your new iMac.

Incidentally, the information I gave on the other thread does absolutely nothing to your computer - it simply alters a tiny bit of the programming of the FCE application.

So if the worst happened and you somehow got it wrong, the most you would have to do would be to re-install FCE.

Are you impressed with the new iMac?

Ian.

Good Morning Michael.

What do you mean by "transferring from DV to iDVD"? I didn't realise you could capture directly from camera to iDVD?

If you want to make DVDs quickly, I have found the best way is to use a domestic DVD Recorder like the Panasonic or Philips that retail around £150.

They work in Real Time so a 60 minute tape takes 60 minutes to become a DVD - the same as recording with a VCR.

I often kill two birds with one stone. When I have edited a film I always export it back to mini-DV in the camera as that preserves it at the highest quality.

However, I also have my camera connected to my Philips DVD Recorder.

So I simultaneously end up with the film on Mini-DV tape and a DVD!

It is then simplicity itself to run off copies for family and friends on VHS tape from either my camera or the DVD.

Anyway, enjoy your new iMac and I hope to join you (with one) in a few months' time.

Ian.

Hello Michael.

I have not got "one step DVD" but that is probably because mine is iDVD 4 and not 6 like yours. However, I have got Toast 7 which has a similar facility.

The length of time you mention sounds about normal. One of the problems of making DVDs on a computer is the excessive time it takes.

The actual burning only takes around a quarter the length of the film but it is the encoding that takes ages.

The one advantage is that if you need to make multiple copies, you don't need to encode again, so you can run off the subsequent ones very quickly.

Referring to copying TV programmes, the quickest way is to record it straight onto DVD using a standalone DVD recorder. The quality is also a lot higher than VHS tape.

I have occasionally recorded material from the TV to use in my own films. A program like HandBrake will turn the DVD or just snippets of it into Mpeg 4 files which can be edited in iMovie and FCE.

If you are interested you can download it FREE from:-

http://handbrake.m0k.org/download.php

At the moment you have to download an "experimental" one for Intel-Macs.

Ian.

I appreciate your post. I just got a new MacBook Pro and migrated my FCP 3.0 over from a PB G4. I got the "missing AGP card" error and FCP would not start.

I understand that 3.0.1 will fix this??

I downloaded the 3.0.1 update, but I get an "upgrade not needed" error.

Any idea why I cannot get this upgrade to work, and will this fix the problem if I can get the upgrade done?

Thanks!
Michael

Sorry - I put the reply on your other post:-


Hello Michael.

I was rather surprised that the advice worked for the
other people!

Older Macs have AGP video cards. A few months ago the
new ones changed to PCI.

On the Info.plist that I mentioned above, FCE
specifies it must have an AGP card in order to work.

If you delete the letters "AGP" and put in "PCI" the
program should work.

However, even if you get FCE to work, it will
probably be very slow. This is because the new Intel
Macs need completely new, re-written programs. They
have a technology built in called Rosetta (named
after the stone tablet found in 1799 that enabled
Egyptologists to translate the ancient Egyptian
hieroglyhs).

The new Rosetta enables the Intel Macs to translate
the computer code of the old programs to enable them
to work. Of course it uses a lot of processing power,
so the old programs sometimes run a lot slower.

I don't know whether this answers your problems. (If
you need more information you could email me directly
- it might be quicker).

The real solution though is to get the updated FCE
when it comes out in late March. (You can still use
the old FCE perfectly well on your Powerbook).

Ian.

PS. The AGP card must NOT be put in the Intel
machine. All you are doing with the instructions I
gave is telling FCE to work with a computer
containing a PCI card - like your new Intel-iMac.

MacBook Pro 2.16GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Hi Michael.

Unfortunately I'm not a computing guru - I generally just pass on information gleaned from other sources.

There is a workaround for G5 Macs with PCI cards and also Intel-Macs that some people have been able to use.

There is no danger to your computer because you are not altering anything other than 3 letters in part of the FCE code. There is also no risk to FCE because even if the worst should happen, the most you would have to do would be to re-install it:-

1. Right click on the FCE icon and select "Show Package Contents".

2. Open the "Contents" folder and double click the "info .plist". It should open automatically in TextEdit - if it doesn't, choose TextEdit manually.

3. Around 15 or so lines down you will see AGP. Delete it and put in PCI.

4. Close the window and when asked if you want to save the changes, say yes.

(You might want to make a copy of the original info.plist and keep it safely somewhere else on your HD).

Ian.