• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Recording Video Directly to External Hard Drive

  Posted by Daniel Friedman on March 20, 2012 at 5:38 pm

  I work in a psychology lab where we record video of people for research purposes. The video feed used to record directly onto DVD and miniDV, but shortly before I arrived here, the DV deck broke. Instead of using scarce grant money to buy a new DV deck when that technology is rapidly becoming obsolete, I would like to find a way to record the video directly to a RAID, ideally in a format that is compatible with Final Cut Pro 7, as that is what I use to edit the videos.

  The cameras are wired to an audio mixer and an a/v router which uses S-Video and RCA cables for the audio. We have two 4TB G RAID drives ready to go.

  What additional equipment do I need to make this happen? Is there even such a thing?

  Thanks in advance for all your help!

  Dan

  Todd Gillespie replied 14 years, 5 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Todd Gillespie

  March 20, 2012 at 6:10 pm

  Hi Daniel,

  I re-fit a lab that sounds a lot like what you’ve got. We got a couple of these to convert the analogue video to firewire. So you can use FCP or QuickTime (which is what we did instead, for a smaller digital file) broadcaster to capture directly to the harddrives.

  https://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc55

  Good Luck,
  Todd

  Todd at UCSB
  Television Production
• 

  Daniel Friedman

  March 20, 2012 at 6:57 pm

  Hi Todd,

  Thanks so much for the help!

  So correct me if I’m wrong, but basically we’d hook the A/V signal to the converter, and then a Firewire cable from the converter to a Mac? And then on the Mac we would… use FCP to record the video? Could you explain exactly how that would work?

  Thanks again! This is pretty new to me, but I’d like to make a good impression as I just started at the lab.

  Best,
  Dan Friedman
• 

  Todd Gillespie

  March 20, 2012 at 7:19 pm

  Yes, you’re correct. That’s the signal path: A/V to converter, converter via firewire to the Mac. FCP or Broadcaster as the capture software.

  We also split the a/v signal so it could also simultaneously record to the DVD recorder.

  Try not to put too much pressure on you fixing this. Setting up a complete capture station is not something to be done lightly.

  Good Luck

  Todd at UCSB
  Television Production

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up