Issue Capturing 30f From Canon XH-A1

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Level 1

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Issue Capturing 30f From Canon XH-A1

Hi. So, yeah, we're capturing footage shot as 30f from a Canon XH-A1. We used the HDV capture preset. Things seemed to be working, but FCP would break up the clips as we captured. Even as we set a logging bin, turned off the create new clip box, logged the tapes, then batch captured, we'd still get "random" breaks. The timecode continues uninterrupted, and the breaks are in the middle of shots. There seems to be 8 seconds lost between the clips. We're capturing onto a G-RAID external.

Anyone else experience this?

Thanks,

Ariel.

MacPro, 4 GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.7), Final Cut Studio 2

Posted on Jun 9, 2009 1:23 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 9, 2009 5:04 PM in response to Ariel Dovas

Ariel, I'll be no real help here, but your post was dropping off the page...just bumping it back up.

Are you sure the drive you're capturing to is formatted for a mac and not PC?

Seems I recall discussions here about issues capturing HDV material...you might do a search for solutions, while waiting for someone knowledgable about HDV to chime in.

K

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Answer 2

Ariel Dovas Author

Level 1

40 points

Jun 9, 2009 7:27 PM in response to Kevan D. Holdsworth

Thanks, Kevan.

Yeah, the drive is Mac formatted. Haven't had any trouble capturing to it with Sony HDV 1080i.

I found some other issues with capturing in a similar setup, but not this specific issue.

Thanks again.

- Ariel.

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Answer 3

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Jun 10, 2009 5:39 AM in response to Ariel Dovas

Canon cameras can be a real beast with regard to firewire control protocols. Verify you are using the correct one since Canons do not adhere to the standard.

Oh, and make sure you don't have any other firewire devices connected to the computer unless you have created a separate bus for it. Canons do not play well with others.

Other that that, no real advice other than do a search here for your camera. I know I have read lots of posts about capture and control issues with it. Something may be of use.

Good luck.

x

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Answer 4

Ariel Dovas Author

Level 1

40 points

Jun 11, 2009 10:46 AM in response to Studio X

Not at the machine right now, but I'm pretty sure we were using FireWire Basic.

Thanks, Studio X, like I wrote before, lots of issues found, but not this specific one.

- Ariel.

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Answer 5

Jun 12, 2009 7:10 PM in response to Ariel Dovas

When you were batch capturing the footage did the footage have scene breaks in it? Places where the camera was started than stopped because if it did than FCP is reading the scene break data that was recorded on your tape. With the create new clip box I assume you are referring to the "on timecode break" box (found in System Settings) where it defaults as "create new clip". Since there was no timecode breaks than turning it to any other setting will do you no good.

Also here are the video/audio settings in FCP that I use with my Canon XH-A1: Apple Pro Res 422 (HQ) for the capture preset and for the device control preset I of course use HDV Firewire Basic. (used for all Canon video cameras with firewire)

Hoped this helped!

Message was edited by: Final Cut Pro 4.5

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Answer 6

Ariel Dovas Author

Level 1

40 points

Jun 13, 2009 12:39 AM in response to Final Cut Pro 4.5

Thanks for the response. The create new clip box I referred to was the one in the capture window itself that appears in the HDV preset(s), which does what I think you're writing about. It creates a new clip on start and stop, presumably to try to be intuitive about how I wanted my tape broken up. But I have it unchecked, so it's not that. And the breaks are in the middle of shots.

Still wondering . . .

Thanks,

Ariel.

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Answer 7

Jun 14, 2009 10:32 PM in response to Ariel Dovas

Did you set the clock on the camera? This may seem like a weird thing to ask but I was looking through the FCP manual and found "Using canon XL-H1" I know it's a step up from the XH-A1 but the XH-A1 still has a clock on it. Not likely that it's your problem that you are having but it's worth trying.

"For proper detection of start/stop indicators, set the clock of the Canon XL H1 HDV camcorder before recording any footage with it. (This is a one-time step for
new camcorders.)" This is found on page 37.

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