QuickTime Stops "New Movie Recording" When Recording From an External Source

Question

QuickTime Stops "New Movie Recording" When Recording From an External Source

I'm trying to digitize some old MiniDV tapes using QuickTime's "New Movie Recording" feature. I have a Sony deck connected via thunderbolt. QuickTime recognizes the source deck's video and audio signal and even starts to record a few seconds of the video, but inevitably within a few seconds it stops recording and throws the message: "Recording stopped. Try recording again." This happens no matter what the quality settings is (high or maximum). It happens with the "Enable Power Nap" settings off in Energy Preferences. It happens in Safe mode. It happens on an older Mac running Sierra 10.12.16 and a newer iMac running Sonoma 14.3.1. It does NOT happen when the source signal is the iMac's built in camera and microphone.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This shouldn't be so difficult!!

Posted on Mar 13, 2024 8:45 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 15, 2024 2:31 PM in response to HappyMedium27

You should be able to get QT 7 from following link.

Might be a wild goose chase but who knows, after all QT 10 should have worked.

If you download this onto your Sierra Mac that has FCP 7 on it then the fact that it has FCP 7 on it should enable the Pro features to be activated. It says for OSXv 10.6.3 but is good up to at least Sierra.

Download QuickTime Player 7 for Mac OS X v10.6.3 – Apple Support (UK)

Any chance you have access ( beg, steal or borrow) to an older Mac that has a FireWire 800 port to prove that the deck arrangement is viable? Tape capture was more successful on a Mac with FireWire 800 ports and an older OS.

The fact that you are getting a few seconds of capture is frustrating. Can't think of what is cutting this short as QTP is normally forgiving when it comes to capturing from tape.

To take "the tape capture "out of the equation, do you have an audio/video source available ( old DVD player???)that you can use on the inputs for the deck , RCA jacks, to output to your Sierra Mac ?

If this works then it would suggest that there is a problem with the tape side of the deck.

Can't think of much else to try I'm afraid, apart from a new 4 pin to 9 pin FireWire cable.

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Answer 2

Mar 14, 2024 10:54 AM in response to thesurreyfriends

iMac Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, Late 2015 / iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020 / MacBook Air 13-inch, Early 2015

Connected at the deck with a four-pin Firewire (IEEE 1394) connector and connected to the iMac with an Apple Firewire 800-Thunderbolt adaptor.

Same result no matter which computer — and yes, I've tried different cables, including a four-pin Firewire (IEEE 1394) connector to USB.

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Answer 3

Mar 14, 2024 7:06 AM in response to HappyMedium27

what are you using for your "save to" location? the only time I've encountered similar issues was when I used anything other than "desktop" as my save to location. this seems especially true when I set "save to" to an external drive. so I now use "desktop" as my "save to" location. once the recording has been saved, I then move them to my desired location manually. I haven't had an issue since.

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Answer 4

Mar 14, 2024 1:41 PM in response to thesurreyfriends

That is the only 4pin to FireWire 800 cable I have. But I have tried 2 different 4pins to USB straight into all three computers - same problem.

What’s really odd is that with the cable configuration I sent you a photo of, I can get Final Cut Studio (7) to recognize and even control the deck, but only if I plug it into the back of the deck AFTER I’ve opened the log and capture window, but as soon as I hit the capture button FCP crashes!

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Answer 5

Mar 14, 2024 2:11 PM in response to HappyMedium27

Can you send pic of 4 pin to USB( cable/adaptor.)

Don't think this arrangement will work.

As you have FCP 7 , do you have QT 7 Pro ?

If so, have you tried to capture with QT 7 Pro ?

If you can control the deck with the black cable ( 4 pin to 9 pin) then that cable sounds good.

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Answer 6

Mar 15, 2024 12:33 PM in response to thesurreyfriends

My bad. The other cable is a 4 pin to Firerwire 400 (not USB). As for QT 7 Pro… I dunno. I have the QuickTime Player v 10.4. Where would I even download QT 7 Pro? Would it be on my old FCP7 or FCP Studio install disks? Believe it or not, I still have them!

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