Edit to Tape Issues

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

DSR-11 does NOT HAVE edit (insert or assemble) features.

Its also not considered “acceptable practice” to “edit” using FireWire as the control protocol.

If it worked in the past… great.

But if it doesn’t work now, I’m not surprised.

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

But you might TRY “trashing the FCP Preferences”.

(Couldn’t hurt).

A great way to do this is to use “FCP Rescue” a free Apple Script that will Trash the Preferences for you (and restore nearly all of your user settings afterward).
There are versions for FCP (Pro) & FCE (Express) and a new one for FCP 5.

Download these free Apple Scripts at

https://fcprescue.andersholck.com/
or
https://pistolerapost2.com/fcprescue/

This is one FCP tip that has helped in solving hundreds of “odd” problems.

[Arnie Schlissel]

I’ve done assemble edits with a DSR-11. Most of the time it works the way I want it to. Most of the time. Matte’s right that FW isn’t frame accurate for deck control, but I don’t think that’s the issue here.

Forgive me for asking the obvious, but do you have the deck set to PAL? there’s (fairly well hidden) a switch on the back for that.

Arnie
https://www.arniepix.com

[Jean-jacques Briquet]

yes the deck is set to PAL

[Jean-jacques Briquet]

will try right now

thanks jj

[Jean-jacques Briquet]

did not work 🙁

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

Well, the workaround is to not USE “Edit to tape”.

Just hit record on the deck and PLAY the timeline.

[Jean-jacques Briquet]

Thanks for the “tip” but I need timecode accurate output to tape. please do not say it is not possible, i have done it before, it worked 99% of the time and I had a little trick to make it happen.

Well, for the interested folks, I have a work around and this is proof that Apple and Avid can do it (I also use this to black my tapes with TC for assemble edits)

-Downlaod SimpleVideoOut from Apple
-in FCP timeline, make sure the TC matches what you want on tape (for ex 1st farme of picture at 1;00;00;00)
-Export a QT Mov in Apple DV codec (hey this is a tip for laying DV to tape with TC)
-Set your Deck to read external TC (Yes the DSR-11 can do this)
-Open SimpleVideoOut, choose the right settings (DV NTSC, DV PAL, DVCPro etc..)
-Choose the clip you exported
-hit record on your deck and press play on the video clip

all should work from then on.

note that exporting a QT with TC that goes from hour 23 to hour 0 does not work in pal at least, TC gets stuck a 0 (yes australia likes 1st frame to be at hour o (normal they don’t have stupid drop frame issues and 29.97 fps……

[Steve Eisen]

TIP/TRICK O THE WEEK
This weeks Tip/Trick comes from Clay Coleman. Its of particular
interest to Sony DSR 11 owners

***********
DSR-11 Trick to get exact Timeline TC onto the Deck:
Normally, FCP does not generate Time Code, and according to the manual,
a Sony DSR-11 can’t read frame exact TC off of an FCP sequence. This is
a work-around I discovered recently that will give you frame exact TC
from FCP onto a DSR-11 deck (neither of which can read the manuals!)

This assumes the DSR-11 is connected to your Mac via Firewire, and you
are playing out to the deck in Firewire mode. FCP of course has to be set
to Firewire in the external video setup. I’ve been editing in RTMatrox
for the rendering advantages, and then switching to Firewire for playout.
Works just fine. Here we go:

1. Load a tape.

2. Set the DSR-11 to DVCam mode and to External Time Code. Use the remote control.
It’s all there in the menu settings.

3. Make a duplicate of the sequence you want to play out to tape.

4. Using the sequence settings window, reset the starting TC for you duplicated sequence back 24 frames.
For example, if the starting
TC is 10:00:00:00, then the new starting TC should be set to 09:59:59:01 (talking PAL here for the moment).

5. Set an in point at the beginning of the sequence,
and an out point at the end.

6. Then proceed with the Print to Video command, using no counters or leaders
(edit this stuff into the sequence first). Now Print to Video using the “In to Out” option.

7. When FCP is done with any necessary preparatory rendering (i.e. audio),
it tells you to start the deck and press OK.

8. Put the deck into record and wait about 5 secs.

9. Press OK.

The DSR-11 will then start recording your sequence with exact TC. If you
have a video monitor connected, use the display button on the remote
control, and you will see the TC jump to your sequence TC at the beginning
of recording. When recording is finished, check results, and you’ll find
that you have TC on tape exactly as your sequence TC. I used this recently
on a very long sequence (90 Mins.), and the TC stayed accurate all the way through.

The above is very, very useful if you have to provide a post house or
broadcaster with a frame accurate playout. It also saves a bundle if you
thought that you’d have to buy a far more expensive deck to handle what is
actually a very simple operation. It could just be that it works with other
decks or cameras that have an external TC option in the setup menus.

Thanks to Larry Jordan for his help on this. In a recent email he said that
he was going to try and duplicate the process in NTSC. Haven’t heard if he
was successful. It seems that it would just be a matter of determining the
correct offset (i.e. -24 frames in PAL, I’m thinking -29 Frames in NTSC).
Thanks also to Chris in the U.K. who originally claimed that it should
somehow be possible, which gave me the impetus to try and solve this one.

Best,
Clay Coleman

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Director-At-Large
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Jean-jacques Briquet]

I will give this a shot, thanks for the info.