• Blackmagic Design

  FCP capture and edit to tape

  Posted by Bob Root on November 28, 2008 at 3:24 am

  Hi all,

  I recently purchased the Decklink HD Extreme card. My system is a Mac Pro 2.8GHz 8 core with an external 5 bay (2.5Tb) set up as Raid 0.

  I have an upcoming project where the video is SD DVCAM and will be edited in FCP6. Final output of the show will be about 22 minutes straight edit to tape.

  It appears that there are a few options when it comes to capturing and editing to tape. I’ll definitely be using RS422 for deck control, but I’m wondering if I’m better off using firewire 8 (rather than SDI or component) for capture and edit. Everything I’ve read online points to firewire as being a better option as far as quality goes.

  Thanks for any help or experiences you have had regarding my question. If I missed something or you’d like to chime in on other things I should be looking at, please feel free to give me a heads up.

  Hope this all makes sense.

  Thanks,

  Bob

  Bob Root replied 17 years, 5 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Bob Root

  November 28, 2008 at 3:32 am

  Oops… Forgot to mention that this is a multi-cam project, so importing accurate timecode is crucial.

  Thanks again,

  Bob
• 

  Stephan Walfridsson

  November 28, 2008 at 9:17 pm

  In the case of working with DVCAM I don’t see any reason not to use firewire. You’ll simply be copying the 1’s and 0’s from the tape into the computer. Going over SDI or component would mean converting to a different format (or analog) with no gain in information. (Although I guess some would argue that going over analog would soften the 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 compression.)

  Stephan
• 

  Bob Root

  November 30, 2008 at 10:36 pm

  Thanks Stephan,

  Very helpful advice.

  I’m on a bit of a learning curve as I move into my new system. As exciting as it is, alot of the hardware is “first time” for me, so I’m trying to fill my head with as much info as it can handle before moving into production.

  Regards,

  Bob Root

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