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Varicam Log/Capture Nightmare – FCP won’t capture the full tape
So here’s my problem. .
I am capturing varicam tapes using the Panasonic HD1200AP deck. For past projects i’ve had luck with playing the deck and doing a “capture now.” When i try that approach with these tapes, FCP appears to capture the entire duration but after the capture has completed i notice the clip has only retained the first 15min (approx) of the tape. I’ve shuttled through the areas where it stopped catpuring and i don’t notice a timecode break or even a stop in the camera. The strangest part is if I start the capture again close to but BEFORE where it stopped capturing it captures past where the initial stop capturing happened, but then does a similar thing as before, but usually only goes a few minutes.
It’s annoying because you see the entire tape playback in the capture window and it even says “all footage was captured sucessfully” but you check the clip and it’s only small chunks that are acually being captured.
It’s probably important to mention that the tapes were shot 23.98 and are being captured without the pulldown because of the constant cadence errors.
Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?
thanks much!
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1 Reply
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Sounds like the tape was shot at 60 and you’re capturing it at 23.98 to achieve slo-mo. If this is the case, then what you’re seeing is absolutely correct. FCP is only going to capture half the footage on the tape because you’re slowing down the footage on the way in.
The best way to handle this is to capture at full 60p and then use the Frame Rate Converter to slow mo it after it’s already in the machine.
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