Best codec for mini DV capture in FCP

[Shane Ross]

You choose DV/NTSC…or DV PAL if you are in Europe. That is the ONLY way that you can capture DV via firewire (well, you can as offline RT too, but that is ultra low quality). When you use those settings, that is a 1:1 data transfer…lossless. Edit that format, go back to tape…again, 1:1 digital transfer. ZERO quality loss, as you are just transferring 1s and 0s.

You can’t get any higher quality than that.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Gaya Tova]

Thank you,

I’ve been messing around with it, and it looks like that is the way to go.

Thanks for the quick reply

-G

[Gaya Tova]

HI again,

I have run into a problem. During my capture batch I have been getting two kinds of error messages.
One says “dropped frames” and the other says “break in timecode”.

I don’t want to ignore the problem by unchecking the “Abort capture on dropped frames” like some people have suggested.

Thanks,
G

[Shane Ross]

[Gaya Tova] “One says “dropped frames””

#12 Dropped frames on capture/playback

Shane’s Stock Answer #12: Dropped frames on capture/playback

https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58640

1) Do not capture to your main system drive. Since it is busy reading the operating system and application files, it will intermittently drop frames during capture. Capture to a separate internal drive, or external hard drive (firewire and eSATA for example).

2) Deactivate any anti-virus/filesaver software, including Norton and Virex. For some reason these programs think that the large files created when you capture media are in fact caused by some sort of virus, and they try to prevent this.

3) Check the format of the drive you are capturing to. It should be Mac OS Extended, journaling off. If it isn’t, copy your files from it and re-initialize it. If it is any other format, you will encounter problems. If not at first, then eventually.

4) Trash the FCP preference files. Use PREFERENCE MANAGER to do that, available here:
https://www.digitalrebellion.com

5) Make sure that the hard drives you are capturing to are fast enough to handle the footage being captured to it. A regular firewire 400 drive cannot capture uncompressed HD, or even uncompressed standard definition. A RAID array of drives might be in order for these formats.

[Gaya Tova] “and the other says “break in timecode”.”

Did you start and stop the recording a lot? Does the timecode start at 00:00:00:00 again and again? Or did you shoot TIME OF DAY code?

#6 Digitizing across timecode breaks.

Shane’s Stock Answer #6: Digitizing across timecode breaks

Your tape is full of timecode breaks? There are four ways of capturing the footage from this tape.

1) Press play and hit “capture now.” When it gets to the break it will stop. Name the clip, go to the next one, do it again. Pre-naming the clip helps to ensure that you don’t end up with a lot of UNTITLED files, that can be a pain when it comes to reconnecting or media managing your footage.

2) In your Capture window, set your device to “uncontrolled device,’ press play and hit ‘capture now.’ While this means that FCP will capture the footage without referencing the tapes time code, without capturing ANY time code, the fact that you have lots of breaks and possibly time code starting at 00;00;00;00 several times on the tape makes the timecode pretty useless.

3) If you are dealing with TIME OF DAY code, then it would be wise to either do step #1, or LOG AND CAPTURE your footage. Making sure that you have 5 seconds of pre-roll before each clip.

4) You could dub the tape to another DV tape before digitizing. This will give you clean code start to finish and allow for re-digitizing at a later date if you need to.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Gaya Tova]

Hi there Shane,

So I have successfully made my transfers but looking back at the formats I played around with, I realize that I like DV 50 Pro NTSC, better than what I got, DV NTSC.

So is there a way I can convert my captured footage from DV NTSC to DV 50?

Thank you,
G

[Gaya Tova]

Hi again,

1. I just wanted to see if there was an answer for that yet, can you point me in the right direction as to go about that?

2. Also I’ve been researching about Prores 422. My final output would be on DVD and possibly on film dupes. Can I edit in what it’s currently formatted in, DV NTSC? Or should I convert it to DV 50 Pro NTSC, then convert it to Proress 422?

3. The only reason I want to do DV 50 Pro is because of the letter box. If Prores already does that, then could I just skip the DV 50 Pro?

Thanks again,
G

[Ted Coakley]

Hi Gaya, I’m interested in the solution you found for your project back in 2010. I’d like to discuss with you. Before I get into it, I’m curious if you’re still on this forum.
Are you reading this?
Thanks!
Ted