Media Manager?

My producer wants to rough-edit a show on a laptop and then give the fcp file to me to do the final edit. What's the best way to do this? The producer would start with four video clips, each 25 minutes in length. The footage is shot on Betacam. They need to be very small files for the laptop, but the end result needs to be best quality, 720x486 for TV. I've never done this before (obviously). What's the process?

Sounds like you producer would have to - first, downconvert Beta to DV to edit on a powerbook. That is obviously offline editing. Then you would need to recapture the full rez Beta files into your computer to do the final edit at full quality.

You didn't mention what computer you are using or if it has the capability to work in Standard Definition.

Capture OFFLINE RT for the powerbook. Since you are going to need a capture card for your system to do the final, you're best bet is to capture thru the card at that resolution, give the captured media to your producer, then when they give you the cut, recapture at full res (8-bit uncompressed).

why will he "NEED" a capture card for the final?

Uh, because the footage is BetaSP and they want the best quality for TV.

How else is he going to get it into the system? Route the Beta thru a camera or converter box and compress 5:1? Let's not backstep out TV production. DVCAM quality is "decent" and "acceptable." Even BetaSP is at the bottom of the acceptable broadcast formats. Why worsen it by going in at DVCAM quality?

Let's raise our standards when we can...

1 Capture your best quality, 720x486 first
2 Media Manager>Recompress for your powerbook