Q2. What's the best way to purchase Edition. 

Q2a. How powerful of a computer do I need ?

Q2b. What's the best drive setup ?

Q3. I lost a sequence - how do I find it ?

Q4. I don't quite get this filmstyle mode - I seem to screw up more things when I use it.  Is there some secret ?

Q5. I have read about containers and have even worked with them somewhat, but I still don't quite understand how best to use them.

Q6. -  How do I create a self starting DVD ?  And can I make the DVD loop.?

Q7. I lost the sample video of the guy jumping from a plane. It is there in the timeline, but the two viewers at the top just show a big exclamation mark (!). How do I get the video sample back in the viewers?

Q8.  Q8  HD, HDV, HDTV, DVDHD, HD..., etc... .What are the differences between all these standards ?

Q1. Would you recommend the regular Liquid Edition or the Liquid Edition Pro ?

A.  The PRO - because it is great to edit using an NTSC monitor to see the true framing and colors. Although you could firewire out to a camera with component/svhs connections and hook the components/svhs out to a tv - you won't get real time straight from the timeline. And if you need to get component into Liquid, the BOB works well for that too.    Also see Liquid 6 and new USB 2 BOB

 Q2. What's the best way to purchase Edition.  <top>

A. First of all do your research as prices change. Look first at Videoguys.com.  Be sure to see what extras are being offered - Hollywood FX Pro ?  Title Deko Pro ?    CD/DVD training programs ?  Then check out the Avid site.Be careful of bbuying on EBay - not that you shouldn't - just be careful and check out the seller.  And other buying sites.  If you qualify for an educational discount - and this can be huge - check out www.academicsuperstore.com. Do you have any old capture cards or programs  that can be traded up? You may be able to get a big discount there too !  Then check with the local dealers.  And don't forget to ask them for their best price. 

Q2a.

A. For Liquid 7 you should be at least at a 3 ghz motherboard. Dual core/processors  is better - but not all that clear how much better. Hyperthreading is a real plus, as is an 800 mhz front side bus and a PCI express video card - preferably an ATI brand with 256mb or more of memory. And a good sound card - like a Sound Blaster . 

Q3. I lost a sequence - how do I find it ?  <top>

A3. If Edition shuts down unexpectedly (crashes), when you start it up again you will have a blank or empty sequence in the timeline.  That's a normal thing for Editon to do.  Just look in the SEQUENCE rack and you will find the previous sequence lurking there waiting for you to choose it.

However, if you find that a sequence has disappears from the SEQUENCE rack, which is mostly caused by user error without realizing you did anything to cause it,  look to the upper right corner of the screen for the sequence dropdown - and you will probably find the missing culprit.  And if you start looking through your racks, you will probably find it hiding amongst some other files.  Simply drag it back to the SEQUENCE rack and all becomes well.

And finally, there is actually a chance you may have deleted it - so click on the eyeball and change to project view so you can find the trash can, and see if you can recover it there.

And don't think that this strange functioning of creating a new sequence when the machine bombs is a bad thing. It's partly related to the auto save feature - and that is a cool feature of Liquid - something that will save your butt some time.

 Q4. I don't quite get this filmstyle mode - I seem to screw up more things when I use it.  Is there some secret ?    <top>

A4.  Editing successfully using Filmstyle and Overwrite modes is something that takes some practice.  Here's a way of experimenting to see exactly what is happening.  Using Title Deko, create nine 2 second titles containing the numbers V1-V9.  Make the letters large and mid-center them on the screen.  Then make three more 2 second titles and label them T1, T4 and T7 and upper-center them. Now drag V1-V9 to the timeline, and then place T1,T4 and T7 above their V counterpart. This is what it should look like.....

How your Title Deko Titles should align when viewed in Master Viewer
T7 upper centered	V7 mid-centered	View when overlapped

Now we are going to play around with these - turning on and off tracks, changing back and forth from Overwrite and Filmstyle modes, cutting clips in half, and  marking In and Outs while using the Move Range   icon to move these titles and video all over the place. When done, you will understand how to use both of these modes with confidence.

Coming soon - the rest of the tutorial in Windows Media Player format.  In the meantime, you can have a lot of fun and learn a lot by playing around with the above setup in both modes with various tracks active or not active. For instance,  the key to moving V6 to where V3 is and keeping the titles aligned with their respective frame is to be in Film Style, use the right click on the timeslice above V6 to mark In and Out, move the timeline marker to where you want the insert (in front of V3), have both tracks active, and then use the Move Range tool.  Try it in overwrite mode instead of filmstyle and see what happens.  Try it a bunch of different ways (change the time length of some of the clips, activate or deactivate tracks, add a audio track, etc.).and you will soon have the hang of it.  

Q5. I have read about containers and have even worked with them somewhat, but I still don't quite understand how best to use them.   <top>

A5. When working with containers it seems to help to get in the habit of defining the range you are working in with In and Out marks. Also it seems to help to be in overwrite mode. You also need to be aware which tracks are active.

If you create a new blank sequence and drag another sequence to it (this can be a single track or multi-track sequence), a container of the dragged sequence is created in the new sequence.

A containers acts like 1 clip - even though it can conatin hundreds of multi-track clips, sequences and other containers. Containers can be nested insided containers.

So if you have 5 clips on one track that you want to apply an effect to, mark In and Out, make sure that is the only active track, be in overwrite mode, and then choose make a container.

If you have two or more tracks you want in the container - they all have to be adjacent - but all the rest applies - mark In/Out, they are the only active tracks, be in overwrite mode.

If you are using another sequence as a container, you might want to apply in and outs to the original sequence - or make sure there are none marked. Either works - but if IN and OUTs are contained in the sequence, the container will only contain the material between the marks.

You "step into the container" to edit the individual clips.

But BEWARE - each container is a copy - so if you drag a sequence into a new sequence, and from there step into that container, you are NOT editing the original sequence, you are editing a COPY of that sequence. No changes will appear in the original sequence. So you need to get in the habit of working consistently with containers - and not switch between the actual sequence the container was made from and the container.

Containers works great if you have a sequence that you just want modified a bit for numerous different scenes. Have one main sequence - drag it to another sequence and make the changes to the container, drag the main sequence again to another spot and make the changes to that container, etc.

Q6. -  How do I create a self starting DVD. And can I make the DVD loop.   <top>

A6 -  You can use the auto play function.  Decide if you want a menu to show at all on the DVD.  If not, drag the "Blank" DVD  template to the timeline. Use the DVD editor and add a "normal" button - make it fairly small and preferably place it outside the "safe" area. Use this button for the chapter link,  and right click on the "auto" column to set it to autoplay. An asterisk should appear in the column for that link. Then at the top of the editor next to the name of the template and immediately to the right of the  "color of DVD menu" icon,  left click to check the auto play option, and then choose a relatively short time frame for autoplay - 3 seconds or less.  Now you should be set to go.  Add your chapter target. If you want it to loop, add a return at the end of the chapter. If you used a menu, the menu will play for however long you set it on the timeline, then autoplay should jump to the chapter set to autoplay.  

Another way to create a continuously looping DVD with no menu would be to use a  transparent menu template, again with a small normal  button.  Create a sequence of all the parts you want to loop,  and  then use that  sequence  as background to the menu. Then adjust the duration of the menu to match the length of the sequence

 By the way, using a blank DVD menu with a single normal button also is a way to get rid of that big start button that shows up when you create a DVD without a menu.

Q. 7  I lost the sample video of the guy jumping from a plane. It is there in the timeline, but the two viewers at the top just show a big exclamation mark (!). How do I get the video sample back in the viewers?   <top>

A7.  The "!" means Liquid cannot find the associated file - the link has been lost for some reason. The viewer on the left is the "Source Viewer" and the one on the right is the "Master Viewer".  There are a couple of ways of getting back the sample "Start-NTSC" project. One involves re-linking the files in the project, the other reinstalling the files from the LE install CD. Either way will probably work.

#1 - Re-Linking - Look on the drive and folder you desiginated your media files to be stored when you intitally installed LE (like D:\MediaAv) - then under \reels\@importxxxxxx. You should find a 0 byte file in one of those folders named START-NTSC.project. That folder should have the media files you need.

You can then either use verify files in rack or just import the avi and wav file from that folder and everything should work again. Should.

#2 - Re-Installing using Repair - In LE, delete the sample project. In Windows Explorer, delete the sample project folder. Run "Repair" from install CD. If you have installed any updates, they will have to be reinstalled again after a repair.

Q8  HD, HDV, HDTV, DVDHD, HD..., etc... .What are the differences between all these standards ?

A8.  (This answer provided by HAMSTOR - Guy Barwood from Australia) - HD: a generic term for greater than SD resolution video

HDV: A HD standard (consumer/semi-pro just like DV) based on existing DV tapes and transports. Uses MPG2 Video codec (MP@H-14) and MPG1 Layer II 384Kbps audio codec to keep the stream below 25Mbps (the DV data recording rate). . Supports 1280x720 progressive and 1440x1080 interlaced (as anamorphic 16:9). Frame rate choices of 25fps or 30fps (potentially 50p and 60p with 720p as well I think). 4:2:0 sampling

More specs here

HDTV:
a. A TV than can display a HD signal (with a special input for higher than SD video)
b. Digital TV being broadcast using a HD format.

DVDHD: There are a few competing HD delivery formats to the consumer, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are the only two optical (liek DVD) formats in the works. Quite similar to each other but neither have an extablished market yet. Each have their pros and cons.

HD does away with NTSC and PAL. You pick your own resolution, frame rate and field format (interlaced or progressive) dependant on your needs and which options your tools make available to you). Not every implementation (camera/recording mechanism) of HD supports all combinations though (ie HDV does not support any progressive 1080 implementations).

Not every camera supports the full specs either. Sony's "HDV" camera soon to be released will do 1080i options, but no 720p options. JVC exisitng prototype HDV cameras support 720p 30fps only.
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