• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Unable to capture DV via firewire

  Posted by George369 on August 18, 2007 at 1:01 pm

  Hi,

  I’m wondering if anybody has advice on this problem I am facing.

  I am unable to capture DV footage from my camcorder or DV deck to FCP through the firewire connection on my Mac G5.

  Using the Easy Setup for ‘DV-PAL’, when I open up the ‘Log and Capture’ menu, I am able to control the camcorder via firewire to play , stop , rewind etc. through the buttons on the menu. I can also see the timecode running, and mark In & Out points. However, the screen does not show any image, only colour bars. And when I try to capture, there is an error message to say it cannot locate external device.

  I have tested the same camcorder and cable on another FCP system we have, and there is no problem capturing.

  Does anyone have any suggestion on what I could try to solve this problem? Whether it is a setting in FCP or on the Mac, or whether there is something physically wrong with the hardware?

  Thanks,

  Regards,

  George

  George369 replied 19 years ago 2 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  Tom Meegan

  August 19, 2007 at 5:42 pm

  You might try trashing preferences, repairing permission, etc:

  https://www.larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_trouble.html

  https://www.larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_rescue.html

  This may not solve the problem, but will be helpful, nonetheless.

  Here is an article about workflow that might help:

  https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/log_capture_workflow.html

  As a last resort, or a trouble shooting technique, go to the Capture Settings tab and change device control to Non=Controllable Device. Then use capture now.

  Good luck.

  Tom
• 

  George369

  August 22, 2007 at 2:51 pm

  Hi Tom,

  Thanks for the reply and advice.

  I notice that under the audio/video settings for FCP when I select the easy setup for DV PAL, the listing for ‘Playback’ is ‘(Missing) Apple Firewire PAL (720 x 576)’.

  Would you reckon that this may be the reason that I can’t digitise DV through the firewire? Also does this mean that some file or driver that is missing? And if so, how can I obtain this missing file?

  Thanks.

  Regards,

  George
• 

  Tom Meegan

  August 25, 2007 at 10:43 am

  ‘Playback’ is ‘(Missing) Apple Firewire PAL (720 x 576)’

  refers to FCP trying to output a signal from the program to the deck, either for monitoring or recording.

  It means FCP does not see a FW deck, most likely because the deck isn’t connected or turned on.

  Best,

  Tom
• 

  George369

  August 28, 2007 at 2:40 pm

  Thanks for your reply, Tom.

  Still trying to figure out what’s wrong with my firewire connection,though. Cause it can control the DV camcorder, but I just can’t see the footage and can’t capture.

  Regards,

  George

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