Final Cut Express 4 Recognizes Camera, but won't capture video

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Final Cut Express 4 Recognizes Camera, but won't capture video

Hey all,

We recently installed a copy of Final Cut Express 4.0.1 on a refurbished late-2009 era Mac Mini with Lion (10.7.5). While we can get Express to recognize the camera, and even control it using the VTR controls in the capture window, when we try to use Capture Now, the video freezes before bringing up a generic error message.

When we go to look at the capture files, the video seems to be capturing fine (albeit for one second). We've used this version of Express and this camera as a deck with no issues before.

What's going on?

Final Cut Express 4-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Mar 20, 2013 8:57 AM

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Answer 1

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MartinR

Level 6

19,001 points

Mar 20, 2013 11:52 AM in response to mothbrandon

It's likely to be one of two possibilities:

1. Did you recently upgrade your Mac mini to Lion? FCE is not supported on Lion/Mt. Lion and users have had only modest success running it on Lion/Mt Lion

2. What camera are you using and how is it connected to your Mac? Since you are using Capture Now, I suspect you are using a miniDV (DV or HDV) camcorder and have it connected via FireWire. Do you have ANY other FireWire devices connected at the same time as your camera (for example, an external hard drive)?

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Answer 2

mothbrandon Author

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Mar 21, 2013 7:11 AM in response to MartinR

1. Yes, the Mac Mini was upgraded to Lion. This could be it, although everything else FCE seemed to be running fine.

2. It's connected via Firewire, but nothing else is - we have a networked server for storage.

I'm guessing it's more 1 than 2. Do you know of any work-arounds besides capturing in another program?

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Answer 3

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Mar 21, 2013 8:23 AM in response to mothbrandon

One other thing…

Start your video play back with your camera's (phsical) playback controls. Then hit the Capture Now button in FCE.

Russ

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Answer 4

Alchroma

Level 7

23,809 points

Mar 21, 2013 6:21 PM in response to mothbrandon

What type of camera are we dealing with?

Brand and model.

Al

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Answer 5

MartinR

Level 6

19,001 points

Mar 21, 2013 6:38 PM in response to mothbrandon

What make/model camcorder are you using?

Also, you said you have a networked server for storage. FCE will not work properly (if at all) if you set your Capture Scratch location to a network drive. The drive needs to be internal (ATA or SATA) or external (Firewire), formatted as Mac OS Extended.

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