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Capturing Umatic footage
I’m trying to capture 3/4″ Umatic footage and can’t find the correct combination. I have the output of the Sony VP-7020 passing through a Sony DVCAM DSR 30 and then through firewire to the Final Cut Pro (7.0.1 Academic) capture. The capture window is not recognizing the signal. I set the capture settings (Device Control) to “non-controllable device.
My colleagues have had success in the past with this config., except they are running Final Cut Express… What am I doing wrong?? Thanks -
6 Replies
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What exactly does the label on the output of the Umatic say, at the place you are plugged into it? And on the abck of the DVCam dec where you are plugging in?
Second question, the DVCAM deck input settings are set to what, exactly? And are you running a tape in the DV Cam, or is it set “E-to E”? I have never used this particular setup, but a lot of decks require to be in record while passing a signal thru, unless the switchology is set just so.
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As a workaround you might just record the UMATIC footage on the DVCAM and capture from there. You will be a generation down – but it is UMATIC after all. And how did you find a working UMATIC deck? I thought all those were being used for an artificial reef somewhere.
Richard Martz
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Answer to Question 1: Umatic deck- Video Out, DVCAM deck- Line 1 Video IN
Answer to Question 2: Settings on DVCAM deck…L1 in video set to “NORM” not “S”…Audio Mode 12 (not 16)…Time Code NDF (not DF)I also loaded a miniDV tape into the DVcam deck to see if it would help the pass-through process but still no luck…
Thanks -
See if you can record two minutes to the DVcam, then play and control the DVCAM with Final Cut.
I am thinking if not a pass-thru/normalling problem, maybe your FC settings for log and capture are wrong. WHat template are you using for that, if any?
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I would do the suggestion posed earlier. Record to the DVCAM tape first from the UMatic. Then take that straight into Final Cut Pro where you can control the deck. The “loss of generation” doesn’t matter because your video is going to be DV by the time it gets to FCP.
So hit Play on your Umatic and REC on the DVCAM first. Then simply do a normal capture from your DVCAM into FCP. This is actually what we did here for one of our documentaries, except we recorded it all to BetaSP. The main reason is that in case we ever needed to re-digitize the media in future, we won’t have to rent another U-Matic deck.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
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Thanks for all you suggestions… I was actually able to pass through a Sony HDV 1080i deck and using firewire and the Firewire NTSC capture setting to capture from the Umatic deck. The fact that the deck was a “controllable” device made all the difference.
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