Canon XH-A1 HD Work Flow

[Javier Montufar]

No, it says 60i.

[Will Griffith]

make sure your menu settings are set to HDV and not DV.
Try different firewire cables.
Try a different mac.
Trash FCP prefs and make sure the 1080 60i HDV preset is selected.

In other words…use the process of elimination to narrow down
what is causing this issue.

Will Griffith
Producer

[Randy Lee]

When you’re testing it again, take it from the top. Final Cut off. Camera in VCR mode. Firewire Cable not plugged in. Check your settings in the menu, set Playback Std to HDV if it was shot HDV, or DV if it was shot DV. Check your Downconvert setting to make sure that it is off if you want it off, or on if you want it on. Shut the camera off, plug in the Firewire cable to both the camera and the computer. Turn on the camera in VCR mode. Open Final Cut.

Go to Easy Setups and if you aren’t down-converting, go to HDV, 60i and under deck control, Firewire Basic. If you’re down-converting pick NTSC DV and Firewire Basic. Open up your log and capture window, and let us know what happens. Make sure you follow all of these steps, you can’t access the camera menus with a firewire cable plugged in, and Final Cut can be finicky about cameras if it is already on when they’re plugged in. Plugging the camera into the computer while turned on can fry firewire ports. Do other cameras work in that port on the computer?

Give us exact details on what else you are doing to try to bring in the footage and we can try to help more. There seem to be quite a few issues with people not checking their settings and then having problems digitizing.

[Javier Montufar]

Thanks Randy. This is what I needed a step by step to what to do but unfortunately it didn’t work. It keeps on not recognizing the camera. It tells me there is no device connected. I thought maybe it was the cable but I tested it with another camera on iMovie and it did work. Any other suggestions?

[Randy Lee]

It can be done, and we’ve got to be close. You can play back the tape in camera, playback std. set to HDV, right? So it is HDV 60i, and it’s not a tape problem?

Could you give us a step-by-step of what you’re doing and the settings that you’re using? Every setting in the camera and Final Cut, and we can see what we need to do from there.

[Javier Montufar]

Ok… the settings in the camera are:
Time Code: Drop
Playback: STD-HDV
Comp. Out: 1080i/480i
HD down-conv: OFF

On FCP:

Sequence preset: HDV 1080i60i
Capture preset: HDV
Device Control preset: HDV Firewire Basic

The cable is workin, I know for sure and it does playback and it says its 60i.

Thanks for your help,

Javier

[Randy Lee]

Hmm… It sounds like you should have everything set up correctly. I’m not sure what to say, as long as you’ve got the camera in VCR mode before you’re starting up Final Cut. I guess I would open up Audio/Video settings and try a bunch of the other Device Control Presets, like HDV FireWire, or Uncontrollable Device… I’m not sure if you can use that one with HDV, but its worth a shot. Otherwise you might have to call the manufacturer, or if you rented, whoever you’re renting from. I’ve never used that particular camera, but from what I used, the XL H1, all your settings look to be correct. I didn’t realize that the camera records Drop Frame, but that really shouldn’t affect capturing at all.

Does anyone else have any ideas? I’m out.

[Regan Brashear]

Hi all,
I’m having related problems:

Here’s my story:
I shot my project on a Canon XHA1 in 24F mode.

I imported it as 1080p24 (but am wondering if it should be imported at 1080i60?).

I am editing on FCP 5.1.4. Can 5.1.4 handle Canon 24F? (I’ve heard different answers.)

I have one sequence that is set at 1080i60 and another one set at 1080p24.
Both look fine on the computer, but when we try to export problems arise with both. Also when I created a Quicktime mov file the audio was out of sync and the image looked pixelated and blown out.

When we try to print to video, it repeatedly gives us the error message on the camera “Check HDV/DV in” or “Aborted ETT/PTV” in FCP saying “dropped frames”.

Should I try reimporting the footage at 1080i60 and see if that makes any difference?

What are the correct capture setting and sequence presets?

Also any ideas around print to video would be great. Ultimately, I need to get this onto Beta-SP.

Lastly, any ideas on export settings to create a Quicktime movie?

If you have any advice on any of this, I would greatly appreciate it!!!
THANKS!

[David Berrent]

To import I used 1080p24.

The sequence settings I use are: HDV 1080p24, Aspect ratio 1440×1080.

I have never printed to video, so I unfortunately cannot help in that area.

There are many possible settings for a your Quicktime file. It all depends on what you need it for: DVD, streaming etc.

I’ve never had the audio out of sync. The audio settings I use are:
48kHz
16 bit

I hope I was helpful.

Good luck.

[Christy Elton]

I have had almost all the trouble in this post and I finally got the some media captured into FCP.

But the media is is very grainy. I am capturing from Canon XLH1. I have the VCR setting set to HDV but when I batch capture my capture preset HDV is grayed out (so I cannot change it) and says:

Using HDV for video input
XL H1 using NSTC

What is the NSTC? My footage looks a bit like NSTC and nothing like HDV. I did change the camera settings to HDV while not plugged into my mac. I have it set not to down convert. I have connected to the mac using the HVD/DV on the front of the camera. I rented the camera and do not have the manual.

PLEASE HELP!