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FCP + JVC = Nightmare!
hi guys,
i am spending waaaaaaaaay too much time trying to ingest a project shot on a JVC GY-101e into FCP. i have the latest version of FCP (7) and the project was shot in 720p/25p. i have gone through all of the forums and tried all of the suggestions, but no luck. still drops frames, stops capture halfway through clips, etc. pulling my hair out right now – would have thought the latest FCP would have resolved issues with this format? any ideas?
col
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6 Replies
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[Colin Thrupp] “any ideas?”
System information? Media array information?
How are you connected to try and digitize your media?
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” now in Post.
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Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
The best way is to import as ProRes via firewire. You only lose about 6 frames of video between camera takes (probably the 6 frame GOP structure JVC uses). Disconnect any unnecessary firewire devices before starting.
Here’s a video tutorial explaining the procedure.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/vlog/?p=61
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
[Phil Balsdon] “Here’s a video tutorial explaining the procedure.”
Our own Chris Poisson also has a great tutorial on capturing to ProRes via Firewire here on the Cow.
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/poisson_chris/hdv-prores.php
Of course, we still don’t know Colin’s particular system setup and whether it can handle ProRes.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” now in Post.
Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
The video tutorial was made specifically for the JVC system which seems to have been particularly finicky with importing into FCP. I started on FCP 5 with all the problems Colin is having. In FCP5 you could adjust FCP settings to improve the situation, however in FCP6 these adjustments didn’t seem to help and timecode breaks and gaps of up to 8 seconds between camera takes were common when importing as HDV. Don’t know why but importing as ProRes seems to eliminate all these problems (I can’t find any logical reason timecode breaks are not detected on the ProRes import).
Another problem is the way the JVC camera needs to be set up and connected, this camera has a history of catastrophic failure of the firewire circuits when hot plugging.
I don’t mean to hijack Chris’ excellent tutorial in anyway, it’s just that this one is aimed directly at specific difficulties people have had with this particular camera system.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
Also important, Colin: what version of firmware do you have installed on your camera?
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A few thoughts on JVC+FCP from someone that has been using both together for a couple of years without any problems.
I’m assuming you shot on tape, and not a HD.Make sure the camera firmware is current.
What tape stock did you use?
Did the ‘cleaning’ warning come on during the shoot?
Did you try a different Firewire cable?
Use the BR-50 deck to capture, instead of the camera. The transport in the camera isn’t optimized for playback.It is not a blown Firewire port. If it was, it wouldn’t work at all. Blown ports aren’t intermittent, that would be more like a cable problem.
And it is not just the JVC gear that is sensitive to static shock failure, as another poster asserted. All FW devices are subject to static damage, and surge damage from ‘hot plugging’. This includes the FW card in Mac Pro’s. FW is not like USB and should never be ‘hot plugged’.
Never touch a FW port or connector without grounding yourself first.
Always make sure the Mac and the camera/deck is off when connecting/disconnecting.
Turn on the camera/deck first, the Mac second. Power off order doesn’t matter.Could be a tape problem.
There are two thoughts on tape lube among manufactures, ‘dry’ and ‘wet’. These terms are relative, so you can’t tell by looking. Mixing tapes of different manufacturers can cause contamination drop-outs. This is especially true of using Sony, then a JVC or a Panasonic (dry) tape afterwords in these cameras. This is not bashing, each company formulates tapes optimized the tape path in their gear.
Get a JVC cleaning tape and try cleaning your playback device, even if the ‘cleaning’ warning didn’t come on. You might have to do this a couple of times.
For ‘mission critical’ shoots with JVC GY HD-1xx series cameras, stick with JVC ProHD media, and you will have a lot less drop-outs, and the ‘cleaning’ light won’t come on very often, if at all. In an emergency, JVC consumer grade, or Panasonic are the next best in these cameras.It also seems like the practice of ‘cracking’ new tapes before first use is something the digital crowd never does. Big mistake. These small tapes, and small transport paths are much more subject to ‘sticktion’ issues than the much larger Beta (or 3/4) tape were. If the tape doesn’t peel off the supply reel smooth, this could cause a data loss without a physical wrinkle at that spot on the tape.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com
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