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FCP not recognizing my deck
Good morning,
I work in the IT dept of a college, and we have a brand new graphics lab used for graphics design and also video editing. We have Mac Pro’s running Leopard and Final Cut Pro. We are trying to use JVC SR-DVM700 decks to capture video from DV tapes. I’m not terribly familiar with how this is supposed to be set up, and even after speaking with the instructors who teach the video editing classes and one of the techs at our local TV station, we still can’t get the two devices to communicate.
We had an old lab with previous generations of the JVC decks and Mac G5’s, and they were working just fine.
We are connecting the JVC decks via FireWire to the Mac (front FireWire port)
Under the Capture Settings tab in Final Cut Pro ‘Log and Capture’, Device Control is set to FireWire NTSC and Capture/Input is set to DV NTSC 48kHz.
When you first try to ‘Log and Capture’, the message “Unable to initialize video deck. You may still log offline clips or use Capture Now.” appears.
Then, if you click on Capture Now, the message “Attempt to capture video without a video device selected. Please select a video device in your capture presets and try again.” appears.
The funny thing is that when there is a tape playing, and you’re in the Log and Capture section and you click the Audio Clip Settings tab, you can see audio is being recognized because the audio level meter is moving.
I appreciate any help you all can give.
Leland
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8 Replies
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Leland,
If you go to https://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/resources/supportdevices.php you can find which devices are officially supported by Apple for a given version of FCP. Not all devices are listed. My Sony DSR-11 has worked with EVERY version of FCP, including 7, but isn’t listed for 7, probably because it’s no longer being made.
You don’t mention what FCP version you’re using, but I don’t find your deck even listed.
You might try “Firewire Basic” device control, too.
Hope this helps.
pvw
Phil Van West
Terra Nova Productions
Denver, CO
Video Production/Post-ProductionMac Pro 8-core 2.66GHz / 16GB RAM / OS 10.6.4 / FCP 7.0.2 / QT 7.6
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Hello Phil,
I posted a notice about my DSR-11 not initializing today and then I just read your post. What settings are you using for FCP 7 to initialize your DSR-11. Would truly appreciate your help.
Sincerely,
Paul -
I don’t know what you mean by “initialize” the DSR-11. I just set up FCP like I always have, usually using the “DV NTSC 48kHz” Easy Setup and “Firewire NTSC” device control.
I usually turn on the deck before starting up FCP, but even that isn’t necessary; you can always just turn it on later and Option-F12 will refresh A/V devices.
pvw
Phil Van West
Terra Nova Productions
Denver, CO
Video Production/Post-ProductionMac Pro 8-core 2.66GHz / 16GB RAM / OS 10.6.4 / FCP 7.0.2 / QT 7.6
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I solved the problem today. You’re never going to guess.. ok, you might.
It was the FireWire cable!
We tried plugging in a Sony HVR-Z1U and FCP still wouldn’t recognize that, but we plugged in a LaCie external drive with a difference FireWire cable and that worked without issue.
So, we walked over to our TV studio and grabbed a different cable (different brand) and BOOM! it worked like a charm.
Apparantly, not all FireWire cables are capable of transferring video? None of the 6 cables I had (GGI FireWire-800 9-pin to 4-pin DV Cable – 6 ft) worked. So, looks like I’ll be ordering some new cables!
Thanks for everyone’s input!
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Thanks for replying to our posts. I learned today that the Firewire port on the DSR-11 is faulty. Hence, FCP will not communicate to the deck.
Thanks again,
Paul -
And yet, finding this thread was only partly helpful.
I have a JVC SR-DVM700U. It has been working properly with FCP 7.0.3, until I upgraded to Snow Leopard.
Now, I get VTR OK, but the other controls of the FCP capture interface screen don’t work.I can get video into iMovie and Quicktime with no problem from the JVC and the same cable.
What Gives?
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field GuideWatch Ty play guitar -
I have or had the same problem I even went to B & H Photo in person to see if they knew what, it could be & no one really knew only maybe that it was the firewire mini to firewire 800 cable was bad but I knew the computer side port firewire worked so maybe it was the port or the wire itself so I bought a new wire & that didn’t work. I was getting the same message the deck wasn’t connected so then i checked all the video & deck setting so I said to myself so let me just to check outside the old final cut pro log & capture tool let me try I Movie camera capture so I did I hit the Icon & it worked.
I have so much vintage footage on tapes so I am going to need to start capturing it all online and digitally & to roll into projects.
I hope you figured it out I know it’s quite frustrating .
Phil Fiumano
NYRockstv -
It’s Final Cut Pro it doesn’t recognize the deck or port, I have an older I mac with the firewire 800 port that works the ports both work and the wire it’s the software on final cut pro 7 or studio that doesn’t. I figure out to try using I movie as last resort & it worked the video started playing in the capture window of I movie. I was going nuts for 3 days trying to figure this out I even went to B&H Photo I said someone gotta know they didn’t know either but now I do .
I know that sony 700 deck it’s worth its weight in gold now either that of you must use your camera to play tapes to the input video .
Phil Fiumano
NYRockstv
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