Panasonic DVX100A Problems

Hi Mr. Wolsky. I was so hoping you'd answer me. I've read your book and alot of your answers on this message board. Anyway, I used Scene File number 5 on the Panasonic DVX100A, which is standard 24p. (Not the advanced 24p) And I used the 48khz sampling rate. Which is the factory setting on the DVX100A. Also, it was the first tape I used so it only had 24p on it. No plain 60i with it. But I did try it with the scene file that has regular 60i and used the 48khz sampling rate with it too. And had the same exact problem. In FCE HD, I believe I used the DV NTSC Firewire basic EASY Setup. I also let FCE create a custom easy setup that was pretty similar to the firewire basic one. And I also had the same problems. I had a Sony Z1U and everything ran perfectly smooth using FCE. Both with HDV, and DVCAM and DV/SP. Umm...I'm really pretty new at all this. I had no problems with the Sony camera when it came to this. So I never really tweaked any settings. Let me know if there is another setting you need to know about. I can't think of any others to tell you. Something I did notice was that, I'm pretty sure anyway, that the audio is out of sync by somewhere between 20 and 28 frames. I traded in my Sony for the Panasonic because I wanted so much to use the 24p. And I only have another 2 days to return the Panasonic if I need too. But I really don't want too. To be honest, I got into all this because editing is by far my favorite part of movie-making. It's something that I want to do for a living if I can eventually. So I really, really want to find out what is wrong. I hope to God it's something I can fix. Thank you so very much in advance for any answers or advice you can give me.......

Hey. About 20 minutes ago I put in some new clips I shot. I used normal firewire like you said. And I also tried the 32khz sampling rate just in case. Same thing. Audio completely out of sync. I thought MAYBE I could just edit like this anyway. But I put in 3 less than one minute clips and OMG it took me soo long. It's just so stupid. I can't edit trying to resync every darn clip with its audio. The return policy calls for 7 days and tomorrow morning is my 7 days. I just don't know what to do. I so wanted to use this camera. And the audio is in sync when I plug the camera into my TV using audio/video cables. It's just fine then. But as soon as I put it into my Mac it's just out of wack. And I love to edit. This is a big problem for me. Does anybody have a Panasonic DVX100A who also edits on Final Cut Express HD??? I just can't figure this out. These cameras are driving me crazy!!! Any other suggestions anyone? I could really use the help A.S.A.P. Thanks.......

O.K. I'm gonna do that now. I only have one computer. It's an about 6 month old Powerbook G4. I have a LaCie big disk 500GB hard drive connected and nothing else. No speakers and no monitors. Just the hard-drive.

You want me to trash the preferences. Where are the preferences located again? I did it before but I forget. Turn on the camera and leave it in VCR mode and reboot the computer. And where will it tell me the sampling rate? What display? On the camera?

Oh and I'm running Mac OS X 10.3.9. I bought the Powerbook like 2 days before Tiger came out...

O.K. I did what you said. And the audio SEEMS to be in sync for the 10 second clip. Which is great and all. But after that I used the "Now" button in the capture window to capture the rest of the 1 minute or less tape. And the audio is so completely out of sync again. Do you know what is wrong??? How come when I did what you said with the in and out points and the 10 seconds was it in sync? I used the capture 'now' button all the time with my other camera and NEVER used the 'clip' button or in and out points to capture. And it was always completely fine. I never used the 'clip' button because it took too long and I dont' have a deck so I didn't wanna wear down the heads anymore than I needed too.

I called the place I got my camcorder from but no one would help me. Oh my Lord. I am so lost. HELP ME MR. WOLSKY!!!!!!!

No my camera is not daisy chained at all. Straight through the Mac into the drive. I've tried it a few more times now and it seems that the 'clip' button works most every time. But capture 'now' does not work at all. The audio is just so out of sync when I use that one.

Are you sure that the wear isn't that much worse when capturing a clip at a time? Because it has to do all that rewinding and fast-forwarding and stopping and what-not...And I don't have a deck and I'm terrified that this 'way-out-of-my-price-range' camera is gonna get all messed up fairly quickly...And if it's anywhere within the next 5 years. Then it is WAY too soon...LOL...

If you could find out why the capture 'clip' button works and not capture 'now' that would be a great help. Let other people know about the 'clip' button too. I saw some other message boards with people having the same problems with there canon XL2's...But I just want that capture 'now' button to work soo badly. It made my life so much easier and made my work get done so much faster. But anyway, I've been up all night now. Let me take the time to personally thank you Mr. Tom Wolsky for repeatedly coming back and helping me. You are a class-act my friend. Thank you so much. I'll check this message board again tonight. See if anyone has any updates 'cause tomorrow is the return day on the camera. AAAHHH!!!! Anyway, thanks again.......

Also, like I said before, I am fairly new at all of this. Not JUST with my new camera. But with Final Cut Express too. You said I can add an 'in' point in the beginning and an 'out' point at the end and just hit the 'clip' button to capture the whole tape. "But make sure there are no time-code breaks." or no breaks in the time-code. In any case, what exactly is a time-code break. I know what time-code is. But what exactly is a break in the timecode??? And how do I know if it's there and how do I get around one and so on?? Thanks again.......

No, I meant the LaCie drive is connected to my Mac via firewire 800 and the camcorder is connected via firewire 400 to the Mac as well. Straight into the Mac and into the LaCie drive I meant.

But anyway, the people at the store where I bought my camera gave me an extra 7 days to see if I like it or not. I figure if the audio and video are in sync when I use the 'clip' button than that's O.K. I guess. But now, I just outputted for the first time onto DVD, and 'oh boy' was I surprised. I was guaranteed that the picture would look just as great when I output to DVD as it does when I hook the camcorder straight up into the TV. Everyone guaranteed me that, Apple, Panasonic...and the store I got the DVX from. But now when I outputted the picture looks so incredibly stuttery its crazy. The motion definately does not look smooth like 24p is supposed to look like. And definately not like what it looks like when I hook the camcorder straight to the TV. So I thought I'd ask you since you wrote the book on FCE. What settings should I use to output to DVD??? DVD is really the only way I like to output my work. At this time anyway. I tried a different setting than the one I had originally tried, and, it was VIDEO I believe and it said it would Key frame every 24 frames. When I watched the DVD the picture looked really smooth again and I was pretty happy...But, this time. The picture had big 'ol pixels. Almost looked mosaic in a way. I just can't figure out how to output my 24p footage from FCE HD to make it look just as great as it did when I watched it on my TV from the mini-dv.......What settings do I use??? I figured you were definately the guy to ask when it came to this. And if anyone else knows. Please, by all means...Any help would be soooo greatly appreciated. I feel like I'm at my wits end here. Thanks.......