Capturing straigh to FCP ….

[Sean Oneil]

No. With Firewire it’s the same live or from a tape.

Some camcorders have an SDI output sending a raw uncompressed stream, so that capturing live is much higher quality than recording it to tape.

Sean

[Rafael Amador]

If you are capturing by USB, probably you are getting a kind of low-res file (.mpg,JPEG or so).
To FC you can not download by USB.
As sean points, by FW you get exactly the same picture that you have in tape. Pixel by pixel.

Mac OX 10.5.2-FC 6.02-QT 7.4.1
G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM-BlackMagic Extreme
PMBP 17″Core2Duo 4GbRAM-AJA ioHD
JVC DTV-17″
SONY EX-1 . SONY PD170
..and always a big mess on top of the table.

[Fredy Schwerdtner]

Thanks for you answers …. And if you excuse me I have another one for you guys … tomorrow I will have a job in which I will film a person just talking and explaining the features of an equipment that they work with …. I will do it in chroma key. I’ve bought a lapel microphone, rent the lights, set up my little home studio and the client will bring his camera, Sony DCR-DVD405. Searching by the e-manual and e-instructions of the equipment for having no surprises … I couldn’t figure it out if there is or isn’t a “hole” to attach an external microphone (the lapel one). there is a mention about “Active Interface Shoe” to plug in an wireless microphone ??? Do you know if it is possible to plug in a simple external microphone in this AIS thing ?

[Steven Gonzales]

From this site: https://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Sony-DCR-DVD405-Camcorder-Review/Audio–Playback–Connectivity.htm#

“The DVD405 does not have an external mic jack.”

To use the AIS interface, you’d need something like this discontinued product:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=479976&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

[Dylan Reeve]

Also, if that’s the camera you plan to record straight to FCP with, I think you will be out of luck – it is a DVD handycam, which has no Firewire, and the USB port it does have will be no use for a live video stream. Also, what it does record (DVD Video) is really not a fantastic source media for editing.

I’d try and get another camera if I were you.

[Fredy Schwerdtner]

Thank you all …. very much !