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FCP friendly VCR/DVD/DVD Recorder Combo-Recommendation??
I am looking for a VCR/DVD/DVD Recorder Combo, that I can easily get the contents off and into FCP for editing? I do not want a Tivo.
Thanks in advance for your reply to my Post,
Sebastian
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2 Replies
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You can buy any brand-name DVD “set-top” recorder you like because one of them can be controlled by FCP (none have FireWire remote control.)
There are some combo DV/VHS decks that allow the DV deck to be controlled by FCP, but no DVD or DVD/VHS combo units that can be FW controlled.If you buy a unit with a FireWire INPUT, you can send your edit directly to the DVD recorder in digital real-time.
But a better method would be to first record your FCP edit to DV tape, then play that tape into the DVD recorder. (It frees up your Mac for other things while the dub takes place, and there is no chance of a “sticking” FCP timeline while dubbing “live-to-DVD”.
If you don’t get a FW input unit, the quality can still be very good if you use the “S-video” input.There are many units out there. Some are more reliable than others.
I’d bet the Panasonic and Sony DVD recorders would work pretty well.
I own a very inexpensive VHS/DVD recorder (Sansui) that I bought at a Sears closeout.
It actually works very well. -
Just a quick nore on DVD recorders with Firewire inputs. Just because the DVD recorder has a digital input, don’t assume it will work with FCP.
I bought an Ilo DVD recorder with a built in hard drive. I figured that I could output from FCP directly onto the hard drive in the recorder and then burn DVD’s from the HD thus freeing up my computer for other tasks. Nice workflow except it doesn’t work. The DVD recorder will not recognize the Firewire output from the computer. It will “see” my camcorders, provides deck control and works fine with them, but when I try the same thing with the computer it doesn’t work. In fact, it can actually crash the DVD recorder requiring me to power cycle it to regain it’s funcionality. Perhaps it’s looking for transport control and not finding it? It works fine, manually, using the S-video output from my Aja La and the unbalanced outputs from my Beringer mixer. That’s how I’ve been using it and it looks good.So don’t assume that you can record via Firewire just because the jack is present on the deck. If anyone knows a way around this, I’d be interested to hear about it. I too would love to be able to record to DVD straight thru the FW output from the computer.
In the mean time, the S-video method still looks very good for approval DVD’s.
Tom
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