Just a few weeks ago I excitedly unwrapped my shiny new Canon HF10 like an excited kid on Christmas morning (it's one of those fancy tapeless HD camcorders).
The HF10 uses a video codec called AVCHD (that's Advanced Video Codec High Definition) which compresses the heck out of HD video and squeezes it onto flash memory (hence "tapeless"). This is great because you no longer need to buy tons of tapes to record your video (believe me, I have spent more money on tapes over the last two years of filming a video podcast than I did on the HF10 and a 16GB SD card) but since that video is so darned compressed the app that you use to import your footage needs to know what to do with the AVCHD format.
Luckily both Final Cut Pro and Express (and even iMovie '08) can handle AVCHD (as long as you have an Intel Mac and are aware of these caveats) so I thought I was in the clear in regards to getting the footage off the camera and onto my Mac.
I happily shot some video, hooked up the camera to my MacBook Pro, launched Final Cut Pro... and Final Cut crashed. A fluke, I thought, so I launched Final Cut again. It crashed. I deleted some preference files and relaunched Final Cut. Crash.
My eventual solution? I bought a new MacBook Pro and installed Final Cut Pro fresh, which did the trick [I think we call that the "scorched earth" approach -DM]. However, Apple has just posted a Knowledge Base article that details a slightly less expensive solution to the problem: uninstall Perian, the open source component that gives QuickTime native support for a host of video formats, and Final Cut will stop crashing when it tries to import AVCHD footage. I imagine that is a much more workable solution for most folks.
(Please note I didn't buy a new MacBook Pro just to solve this problem, but it was a happy side effect.)
You might recall that one of the things I don't like about my new MacBook Pro is the glass trackpad. The clicks, when they work, are very loud. The loud clicking I can get used to (and I already have), but when I click I expect the MacBook Pro to...well...register the click. Judging by this discussion on Apple's Support Web site it would seem I'm not the only MacBook user to notice this most bothersome issue.
One person decided to do something about the issue, rather than just complain about it. This blogger did what any normal Mac user would do when confounded by an Apple related hardware quirk: emailed Steve Jobs. Steve didn't reply, but an Apple representative did call the blogger and let him know (off the record, one assumes, but hey all is fair in love and blogging) that Apple was looking into the problem. A fix isn't forthcoming, but here's hoping that it is just a simple firmware issue.
So, readers, do any of you have new MacBooks? How is the trackpad treating you? Let us know in the comments.
[via Ars]
Ruh roh. If you’ve been noticing issues with your MacBook Pro when it comes to graphics performance, don’t worry—it’s not your eyes. Something else—something far more sinister—is at work here. It seems that some of the Nvidia graphics chips in certain MacBook Pros are defective. Straight from the horse’s mouth (if that horse is Mr. Ed, anyway):
Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within two years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.
Cupertino also takes the opportunity to take a dig at their supplier, pointing out that Nvidia had acknowledged higher failure rates back in July, but had assured Apple that the batches provided to it were unaffected. Whoops.
Affected models were manufactured between May 2007 and September 2008, including 17” 2.4GHz MacBook Pros, 15” 2.4/2.2GHz models, and the early 2008 model. If you’ve got one of these models and are experiencing distorted or scrambled video, no video, or hair loss (from pulling out your hair because of no video), then you may be affected. Give ‘em a ring.
Last year, I went through a saga of my own when my trusty Powerbook 12” suddenly started to forget that it had a built in LCD. Putting it to sleep would rouse the issue and I’d be forced to perform a rebooting, PRAM zapping, PMU resetting ritual that never conclusively worked. Long, long story cut short, I paid $300ish to Apple to repair the screen.
Since I had it repaired, it’s been rock solid. Or, it was. I woke my Powerbook to find a blank screen. Instant panic set in. Brightness buttons were pressed many times. The Powerbook was rebooted, PRAM zapped, PMU reset, battery removed. Nothing had an effect.
Out of desperation, I did what I always fall back on. I put my Powerbook in the refrigerator. While I waited, I started to wonder what all Mac owners wonder at some point. Is it time to move up to the next model? At what point is this problem going to become a constant (and expensive) problem? It’s not constant for everyone. I typically like to replace my Macs every four years, but that adds up with a laptop and a desktop.
After getting lost in my revery (and watching an episode of Heroes), I returned to the fridge, put my Powerbook on its AC adapter and exhaled heavily in relief as the screen lit up when I pressed the power button. I don’t know if this will hold and having to keep my laptop in the fridge to keep it fresh like that order of bologna certainly doesn’t appeal to me.
I once had a regimented backup system. I would weekly clone my main hard disk. It was painful and meant that I could lose a week’s worth of work, but it was a consistent backup. I did it for years. I never had a catastrophic disk failure, but the system would cover me.
When Time Machine finally reached my machine in the form of Leopard, I actually gave up my cloning ways. I made a two disk raid external disk for backup. That terabyte disk has been my sole means of backup ever since. Time Machine may have interrupted me with its inconvenient backup scheduling, but it seemed to be working. I felt secure enough in that system.
That worked right up until I started hearing an odd hissing sound from my backup raid. It was periodic and the Time Machine partition was MIA. I turned the disk off, waited a couple minutes, turned back on and it returned. THe hissing soon resumed, and the disk once again was no longer on my desktop.
That raid has given up the ghost. It makes a great periodic sound, but stores no data. While raids are more prone to single disk failure, it wasn’t expected. I have to wonder if the regular (sometimes near constant) disk access puts undo stress on the hardware for that purpose. Have any of you lost a hard dive prematurely that you use for Time Machine? Is this a side effect of the way this technology works ironically?
I was beginning to think I was crazy (or crazier than usual). New emails would show up in Mail, via the nifty little Dock icon telling me I had "x" number of unread messages waiting for me. But the "new mail" sound was nowhere to be found (heard). Since I know the deafness hasn't totally set in yet, you can imagine why a MacFixIt tip about Mail's lack of sound would pique my interest.
It seems that even new Macs have encountered this odd little problem of not playing a "new mail" alert sound but still displaying relevant Dock indicators. Possible solutions include the following (see MacFixIt for more details):
Sure, it sounds like a kids’ cereal or, if you’re going in a more adult direction, an alcoholic apple-based drink—and isn’t it weird that those two things share a name—but this AppleJack is something else entirely.
We’ve mentioned the troubleshooting and repair utility before, but there’s good news for folks who have been having trouble with their Leopard-based machines: the newly released AppleJack 1.5 is at long last compatible with the polka-dotted cat.
If you’ve never used it, AppleJack is a little different than many of your other troubleshooting apps: it requires you to boot up in single-user mode and then lets you perform maintenance procedures such as disk repair, preference validation, and cache cleaning in a handy text-based system. It’s handy for occasions when you can’t boot into OS X’s GUI and don’t have a troubleshooting disc at your disposal.
So, if you’ve been browsing this blog on your Windows machine, or via Lynx (hey, how does the site look in Lynx anyway?), because Leopard’s crapped out on you, get thee to AppleJack post haste.
The fun never stops with Apple Support documents! (Seriously. It...just...won't...end). Today's fun involves the wiley Apple Remote and Apple TV. And more shiny LEDs! (I like shiny things. Can't help it).
So let's say an Apple Remote is paired with an Apple TV but then the Apple TV's LED starts flashing amber--a nice color for jewelry but usually not something desirable in diagnostic lights. Turns out that pressing the remote's Menu and Play/Pause buttons for more than five seconds could accidentally unpair it from the Apple TV, but not to worry!
Re-establishing the link between Apple Remote and Apple TV is as simple as:
Unpair the remote by holding down the Previous/Rewind and Menu buttons for 6 seconds (this can be done using any Apple remote).
Then pair the remote by simultaneously holding down the Next/Fast-Forward and Menu buttons for 6 seconds.
Now if someone could tell me how or why my Apple Remote controls my window air-conditioner unit, I'd be all set (the Apple Remote's play/pause button cycles through the three speed options on the A/C unit. Bizarre).
So in addition to being one sweet machine that can do all sorts of crazy things, the iMac can also provide key troubleshooting clues via diagnostic LEDs on the main logic board.
A WORD TO THE WISE: These Apple-provided steps do involve removing the back of the iMac, which involves a Phillips screwdriver (#1 size), towel or soft cloth for cushioning the iMac on a flat surface, and not touching the computer's insides after running around in socks or something like that. That way lies badness.
But once the iMac's back cover is off, one should see a large white arrow in the computer's middle section and below it, four LEDs. But what do they mean?
And there you have it. A little computer troubleshooting for a little elbow grease (minus any actual grease. I hear that's bad for computers).
LED 1 indicates that trickle voltage from the power supply has been detected. This LED will be ON when the computer is turned off and your power supply is working correctly.
LED 2 indicates that the main logic board has detected proper power from the power supply when the computer is turned on. This LED will be ON when the computer is turned on and the power supply is working correctly.
LED 3 indicates that the computer and the LCD display are communicating. This LED will be ON when the computer is turned on and video signal is being generated.
LED 4 lights only if the computer detects an over-temperature condition. This LED will be OFF when the computer is turned on and running at the correct temperature.
