HDV Capture Woes

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Level 1

69 points

HDV Capture Woes

I have looked at some other topics with similar issues and I am still having some trouble.

I recently got a Sony V1U and I was capturing some test footage. I shot some in DV format and some in HDV. I captured the DV footage okay. Then I changed my settings (on the camera and in Easy Setup) to HDV1080i.

When I click to log and capture, final cut just quits.

If I try to use any other settings the camera and computer won't communicate. I tried using the DVCPro easy setup. I was able to get log and capture open, but that setting won't work. Changing the capture settings doesn't help either.

Does anyone have any idea what I could do to capture my footage?

I am running Final Cut 5 off of a very new powerbook. I don't know if this could be a problem, but my hard drive is plugged into the only firewire 400 port and the camera is plugged into the firewire 800 port.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Powermac G5

Posted on Aug 27, 2008 3:39 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 27, 2008 3:54 PM in response to Matt Chach

Did you turn everything off, disconnect the camera from the computer, etc before you changed the settings? Then restart everything with the new settings. There are lots of notes I remember reading either here or on Sony's website about changing settings and strange behavior.

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Answer 2

Matt Chach Author

Level 1

69 points

Aug 27, 2008 4:40 PM in response to Matt Chach

I just tried opening my project without the camera connected. The settings were saved to HDV180i. Again, even without the camera connected, final cut quits when I try to log and capture. I think maybe I will try a new project and see if I get the same problem.

Thanks.

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Answer 3

Aug 28, 2008 8:08 AM in response to Matt Chach

I had this same problem last year. I think I had to reinstall Final Cut. Major time drain. I feel for ya.

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Answer 4

Aug 28, 2008 8:15 AM in response to Matt Chach

I was getting an issue when firewirebasic was selected.
Your issues sounds like you might have the capture rate set wrong.
I have you tried using a different HD set up from easy setup?
I would try the 1080p30 first. (make sure "all rates") is selected from you drop down menu
I dont have that camera so I cant say for sure what format it is capturing to.
Hope that helps.

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Answer 5

David S.

Level 7

20,636 points

Aug 28, 2008 8:26 AM in response to Matt Chach

What is the exact version of Final Cut Pro?

A new MacBook Pro is Intel, and requires at last 5.1.4.

There are those here who feel having two devices on a FW bus won't present issues

I disagree. Some cams and some HDD externals do not play well together.

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Answer 6

Matt Chach Author

Level 1

69 points

Aug 29, 2008 8:59 AM in response to Matt Chach

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I'm going to try using a few different settings. For now, however, I did find a temporary fix.

Since my computer is relatively new it has the newest version of iLife with iMovie HD on it. I tried capturing to my HDD with that and it worked perfectly. I'm not sure what codecs iMovie uses and if I'm getting the quality I should be. I'll have to look into that more, but for now this seemed to do the trick. The only annoying bit is how iMovie automatically separates clips each time you stop and start recording, but I think this feature can be turned off.

Fortunately I am also in college and my school has sony HDV video decks connected to Final Cut suites. I usually capture there anyway to limit wear on my camcorder's heads.

I'm going to see if the clips I captured import into Final Cut okay now.

Thanks again.

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Answer 7

2reverb

Level 3

600 points

Aug 29, 2008 9:13 AM in response to Matt Chach

Under Final Cut Pro menu selecy Audio/ Video settings. Make sue the sequence preset is HDV 1080i60, capture preset is HDV, device control is Sony HDV FireWire. If this still does not work try playing some footage from your deck BEFORE and WHILE you open Log and Capture. That sometimes kicks FCP in the arse.
--Bob

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Answer 8

Aug 29, 2008 10:24 AM in response to Matt Chach

Matt,

Look at Davids post again. If you do not have at least FCP 5.1.4 on your new MacBookPro then FCP will not run correctly. FCP 5 was PowerPC only, it is not designed to run on Intel based Macs.

K

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