About the Digital Cinema Desktop Preview feature in Final Cut Pro HD

The Digital Cinema Desktop Preview feature provides a convenient and cost effective way to play Standard Definition and High Definition video from Final Cut Pro HD. Using an Apple Studio Display or an Apple Cinema display for Digital Cinema Desktop Preview allows editors to view video playback in addition to using a traditional NTSC/PAL Broadcast monitor during the editing process.

Digital Cinema Desktop Preview Set-Up
For a full diagram of external audio and video monitoring, please refer to Chapter 7 of the "New Features in Final Cut Pro HD" document available from the Help menu in Final Cut Pro.

Although this setup works for any video format, it can be particularly useful when editing high definition video that would otherwise require a fairly expensive HD monitor. Progressive video formats such as 720p are well suited for monitoring on a computer display. If you are doing critical online editing or color correction, you may still want to use an external CRT video monitor, especially when your final output is interlaced broadcast video.

Digital Cinema Desktop Preview supports video playback for single, dual and triple monitor configurations. There are various modes for each option:

Main
The video is not scaled unless it is too large to fit on the display. If the video signal is larger than the display, it is scaled to fit on the display. Pros: The video always maintains proper aspect ratio and does not exhibit scaling artifacts due to magnification. Cons: Some formats, especially SD formats, may look very small when displayed on large computer displays.

Full-Screen
The video is scaled to fit the display in at least one dimension. If the aspect ratio of the video signal and the computer display do not match, the video on the display is letterboxed (black on top and bottom) or pillarboxed (black on sides) as necessary. Pros: This format gives you the biggest picture possible and maintains the proper aspect ratio. Cons: Scaling artifacts may be noticeable when viewed up close.

Raw (1:1)
This mode shows the video data with as little processing as possible. This can be useful for engineering evaluations of the image. No scaling is done whatsoever. Pros: More accurate assessments of video quality can be made. Cons: Not useful for general viewing. No scaling or pixel aspect ratio adjustments are made, even when the video is larger than the display. For example, a 720p frame (1280 x 720) showing in raw mode on an 800 x 600 display only shows 800 x 600 of the image.

To view Final Cut Pro video output on a computer display connected to your computer

1. From the Final Cut Pro menu, choose A/V Settings.
2. Click the A/V Devices tab.
3. Choose one of the display options from the Playback Output Video pop-up menu.

Digital Cinema Desktop Preview for Presenting Full-screen Video Monitoring on the Main Computer Display
In addition to viewing Canvas or Viewer video on a second computer display connected to your computer, you can now present video on the main display. A third monitor may also be connected to better view the information contained in the Browser window. The main computer display is the display that normally shows the menu bar for applications. This feature is particularly useful for systems with a single computer display (such as PowerBooks and high definition video editing systems with a single Cinema Display).

Regardless of how many monitors you have connected, you can always choose to monitor on the main display. Video presented on the main display is always shown in full-screen mode. In full-screen mode, the video is scaled to fit the display in at least one dimension. If the aspect ratio of the video signal and the computer display do not match, the video on the display is letterboxed (black on top and bottom) or pillarboxed (black on sides) as necessary. This is identical to full-screen mode on a second monitor. For more information about monitoring on a computer display, see New Features in Final Cut Pro HD 4.5.

To view Final Cut Pro video output on the main computer display connected to your computer:

1. From the Final Cut Pro menu, choose A/V Settings.
2. Click the A/V Devices tab.
3. From the Playback Output Video pop-up menu, choose Desktop Cinema Display - Full Screen [Main].
4. From the View menu, choose External and then choose All Frames from the submenu, or press Command-F12.

Supported Formats

• DV100 (DVC Pro HD)
• DV50 (NTSC PAL)
• DV25 (NTSC PAL)
• Offline RT (Photo JPEG)
• Apple Uncompressed (8-bit, 10-bit)

Tips for Using Digital Cinema Preview
Regular editing commands still work when full-screen video is presented on the main display. This means you can still mark In and Out points, use JKL-playback, and so on. For a list of shortcut keys: From the Tools menu, choose Keyboard Layout and then choose Customize from the submenu, or see the Final Cut Pro 4 Quick Reference Card.

Command-F12 is the default shortcut key for turning external video monitoring on and off. When full-screen video is presented on the main display, the menu bar cannot be seen, so it is important to learn the shortcut key.

To turn off full-screen video presented on the main display:
Press Command-F12 or press the Escape key.

Directly monitoring video on a computer display does not introduce video latency. Therefore, Final Cut Pro ignores the frame delay offset setting when you monitor your video on a computer display (as opposed to an output that has inherent video latency, such as FireWire DV or a third-party video card).

Due to the refresh rate of LCD computer monitors, 1080i 60 and 720p 60 material may exhibit some temporal artifacts during playback.

Video playback to a traditional CRT NTSC or PAL monitor differs from playback to LCD Cinema Display. CRT monitors scan entire fields of pixels to create a frame's worth of lines. LCD Cinema displays, use phosphors rather than pixels and scan entire frames at one time. Therefore LCD Cinema Displays have a longer "decay" period between each frame when compared to lines being scanned on a CRT. At times, the same video image will be visible on screen for a period of up to four to seven frames.

Interlaced material is being scanned at the frame rate versus field rate thus when viewing 1080i 60 and 720 p 60 both fields are being drawn simultaneously which may result in visual interlacing.

Computer Displays operate in RGB color space versus YUV color space (used by a NTSC/PAL Broadcast monitor) therefore, some effects may appear differently between output to tape and what was previewed on the computer display.

Monitor resolution must be adjusted prior to launching Final Cut Pro HD.

Turning on may restrict the number of RT effects available in timeline (however their RT status will not change in the Effects menu/Effects folder in Browser)

Currently third-party video capture cards and their accompanying codecs are not compatible with Digital Cinema Desktop Preview feature.

Refrain from clicking on the monitor upon initially enabling Digital Cinema Desktop Preview (especially in Single User mode).

Exposé is not supported with Digital Cinema Desktop Preview.

Graphics files 1920x1200 and larger will not always display properly.

Digital Cinema Desktop Preview must be disabled when performing ETT and P2V.

The screen saver needs to be shut off for the computer monitor being used for Digital Cinema Desktop Preview.