Canon XH A1 through FCP 7 to G Drive Mobile with Thunderbolt issue..

[Shane Ross]

That camera shoots HDV. You need to connect it to the computer via Firewire, and Log and Capture it…using the HDV Easy Setup.

Now…this HDV file…the codec FCP uses…is proprietary to FCP. YOu need a computer with FCP on it in order to see it. If you want this in Premiere, why don’t you capture with premiere?

Shane
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[Michael West]

Shane:
Thanks for the rapid response.
I will check my settings when I get home.

The camera connects to the IMac via the included camera firewire chord hooked to a Thunderbolt extension.

The problem with importing into PP CS 6 is that it makes a .mp3 file.
My research indicates this is not an uncommon problem.
A resolution seemed to be to import into FCP 7, them export as a .xml, then bring that into PP CS 6.

Again, thanks.

Michael

[Shane Ross]

You have your capture settings wrong in Premiere Pro then…you are only capturing audio. MP3 is an audio file.

Now…when you capture with FCP…you get a MOV file…a quicktime file. Why are you exporting an XML from FCP to Premiere? You only do that if you are converting a cut. Go to the Capture Scratch folder and drag the Quicktime MOV into Premiere…or go the Media Browser route. But you bring the file in directly…no xml needed.

Shane
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[Michael West]

Shane:
For this project, the settings for the camera and PP are 1080 60i, HDV.
Can you suggest an area in the settings I may have overlooked?
If not, I will sift through them tonight to see what I can see.
Thanks again and have a great weekend.
Michael

[Shane Ross]

Sorry, I have yet to capture tapes in PPro. I mainly use Avid…I use PPro for mostly tapeless stuff.

Shane
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[Michael West]

Shane!
I solved the problem with getting the footage to be in a format I can use.
My problem now is, even after purchasing the G Tech Thunderbolt 1TB external hard drive, trying to multicam edit four cameras still drops frames (“your disks are slow”, etc.)
I used 4 Canon HG20 cameras.
Getting a Raid Array is not in the cards financially at the present time, so I scrounged around the ‘net looking for answers.
Research lead me to discovering the concept of OFFLINE EDITING to help ease the burden on the system.
Would using this procedure help lighten the load on my system (IMac, I7, 16bg ram)?
If so, what proxy codec would you recommend using when bringing the footage into the system?
Thanks again.
Michael

[Shane Ross]

Multicam editing with HDV as HDV is definitely bear! It’s a complex format…that’s the issue. If you converted to ProRes, then it would be a drive speed issue. Well, it might be both, when HDV is concerned.

OK…keeping all your HDV footage on line…use the Media Manager to RECOMPRESS to ProRes Proxy. Edit with that, and then when done, take the PROXY files offline (move them…hide them from FCP) and then relink to the HDV masters.

TEST THIS!! I haven’t done this. I’ve either directly captured HDV as HDV and edited that or captured HDV as ProRes…getting fast enough drives to deal with it. OR…in one case…using a good HDV deck with deck control and a capture card (not via firewire) captured HDV as Offline RT (a long long time ago), and then when editing was done, batch captured as ProRes.

But as I said, that requires a specific HDV deck and a capture card. If you only capture via firewire, you have to try it the way I describe. But test it…convert one clip using the media manager. Do a fast simple edit…take the ProRes Proxy footage offline, try to relink to the master HDV footage.

ALWAYS test the workflow if you haven’t done it before.

Man this would be easier if you were using FCX…

Shane
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[Michael West]

Shane:
Back again.
I figured out that you were talking about Offline Editing, which, from further research, appears to be the answer to my 4 camera dilemma.
I’ve been fiddling (testing, to use your terminology)with this process in Final Cut Pro 7 (my software of choice. PP was a trial, to see if it was better.)
It seems to work, although more testing is in the offing.

My question is, when you say “take the PROXY files offline (move them…hide them from FCP)”, what process do I use to do this?
My original files are on my G Drive, as are the Proxy.

Thanks.
Michael

[Shane Ross]

First off, here are a couple methods to the offline/Online. First, making offline proxies of the full res media you already have:

https://www.lafcpug.org/events/nab_supermag_08.html

Second…importing from camera masters as offline, then reimporting only footage used in the project at full res:

https://library.creativecow.net/ross_shane/tapeless_online/1

Now….

[Michael West] “My question is, when you say “take the PROXY files offline (move them…hide them from FCP)”, what process do I use to do this?”

Make a new folder on the drive and drop them in there. You are removing them from the file path FCP is used to them being at. When they aren’t there, FCP goes, “Hey, where are these files?” At that point, you point it to the full res media.

Shane
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[Michael West]

Shane:
Thou rockst as none before.
Michael