Capturing issue – Premiere Pro CS3

[Jeff Pulera]

Prior to hitting RECORD, do you see an image in the capture window?

Most HDV cameras, by default, do NOT output HDV using 1394 – they are set to downconvert to DV, unless you go into the camera menu and change the setting to get HDV output. You WILL have deck control when in DV mode, so it almost seems like it is working, but you can’t capture HDV.

Go into camera menu and change “VCR” setting to “DV”. Also change “i.Link Convt” to OFF. Turn camera OFF. Close Premiere. Turn camera back on, and wait for computer to “see it” – should beep or show a pop-up. Now launch Premiere and try to capture, should work.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Cory Behrend]

Thank you very much for your response.

Unfortunately, when VCR setting is set to DV, the computer sees the camera, and gives me the usual prompts. However, Premiere says “Can’t activate recorder. Try resetting camera.” Resetting the camera does not seem to work. Could this be an issue with the tape?

For informational purposes, when changing these settings I:

1) unplug the firewire and close premiere
2) I go into the camera menu and change VCR Setting to “DV”
3) I make sure I.Link Conv’t is “OFF”
4) I turn the camera off, plug in the firewire, and turn the camera on
5) The prompt pops up, I choose take no action, and launch Premiere manually
6) In the capture controls, above the viewer, it says “Can’t activate recorder. Try resetting camera.”

Again, thanks for the initial response. I wish it had worked…

[Jeff Pulera]

I’m sorry, I believe I confused myself and gave partially bad info – I’m assuming from the first post you are wanting to capture HDV and not DV.

In that case, i.Link Convt should be OFF as I said earlier, but the VCR should be set to HDV, not DV. AUTO will usually work as well, but with HDV setting we can be sure camera is properly seen by Windows as an HDV unit and not a DV device.

Let me know if this gets you going

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Cory Behrend]

Hey Jeff,

Once again, thanks for responding. I’m still getting the initial problem with being able to control the device through Premiere, but no capture capabilities. It also shows no image when pushing play. Only with fast forward and rewind.

-Cory

[Jeff Pulera]

Cory,

Make sure the Premiere preset properly matches the footage, for instance HDV 1080i 29.97, I think Adobe calls is “1080 60i”. If you shot 30p or 24p or something you may need a different preset.

It’s odd that you can see the footage while FF but not play. You won’t see the footage during actual capture, but it should play perfectly in the capture window for preview purposes.

Jeff

[Cory Behrend]

Thanks for all your help Jeff.

I’m starting to think the tape/footage is the issue. I’ve never had this problem before, and the tape has been used more than once.

Thanks again.

Cory Behrend
Astor Wines & Spirits
Video and Motion Graphics Designer
New Media Design and Marketing

[Jeff Pulera]

What happens if you watch the footage on the camera LCD or connect camera to a monitor, how is playback? If it is bad/distorted/glitchy for some reason, then right, you would have capture issues

Jeff

[Cory Behrend]

Yea, it’s the same story on the LCD. Image on FF, RW, but not on play…

Cory Behrend
Astor Wines & Spirits
Video and Motion Graphics Designer
New Media Design and Marketing

[Jeff Pulera]

Well that changes things then….

Sorry to hear that. Was tape recorded on the same camera? If not, get the camera it was recorded with. Either is an odd format not supported by this camera, or tape alignment was out of whack during recording, hope footage is not lost

Jeff

[Cory Behrend]

Hey,

Wanted to update you: Turned out the camera needed a cleaning. I ran a cleaning tape through it, everything is fine.

Thanks again for your responses.

Cory Behrend
Astor Wines & Spirits
Video and Motion Graphics Designer
New Media Design and Marketing