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Digitizing Problem Reading Source Tape
I am trying to capture standard def media from DVCPro tape. Each time I try FCP aborts the capture after exactly 3 seconds and tells me FCP has encountereed a problem reading the source tape. It happens only with the DVCPro deck on any tape I try to capture. Any ideas on how to proceed? Thanks!
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7 Replies
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Maybe the tape is just troublesome. You could try using the non-controllable control setup and capture now. Not ideal, I know, but if that lets you capture then it will narrow down your list of possible causes. Also, you have to have some pre-roll. I’ve had the same type of trouble on DVCpro decks when I’ve tried to capture too close to the tapes beginning. Set up your in/out points, but leave about 10 seconds of pre-roll in your capture preferences — or course that means that you’d miss out on that selection of footage. I’m not sure why, but it seemed, at least for me, that I had to have a good amount of lead in so that the disk speed on the capture system and the deck itself had time to get on the same page.
Good times all around.
Josh
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Thanks for your reply Josh. I actually am using Capture Now instead of batch capture, so it’s can’t be a pre-roll issue, and I get the same error on every tape I try. But you did bring up a good point–I usually start the tape before hitting the capture button, perhaps it’ll make a difference if I do it the other way around.
–josh
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Still having trouble here. Would it possibly be due to dirty heads in the deck?
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Dirty heads could always be an issue. And you’re getting a preview at your capture station? What about the 3 second failures — is a file being created or just straight to the error? I know that the DVCpro deck I used had be be set up perfectly (internally) for things to work right. So you could start there. You don’t have a kona card or the like do you? If so, you might route things through it and see what happens. Also, how is your scratch disk? In the user preferences you might also take a quick peek at the capture settings tab. Try unchecking the abort capture option. Might work. If you’re using non-controllable setting with capture now, it shouldn’t matter if the tapes are funky or not so long as they play back — meaning that it could be something in the system preferences. I know that I’ve also had to fast forward the entire tape and then rewind it using that specific deck. The only thing I could figure is that the tape was wound too tightly when I received it and the deck, for whatever reason, didn’t like that. Once it had wound/unwound the tape itself, I sometimes had success. Something to try at least if the issue persists.
Josh
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Thanks again fore your reply. I figured it out in the meantime. Footage was shot in DV50 NTSC and I had been trying to capture using DV-DVCPRO NTSC capture preset. Silly, silly me.
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Makes a lot of sense. Always the simple stuff, isn’t it.
Josh
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Totally threw me off that I was able to preview and actually capture the 3 second portions. Yup always the simple stuff.
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