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Final Cut “Live Capture” of Varicam over HD SDI on Kona LHe
I usually log and capture clips, however in an upcoming shoot, I may not have the time to log and capture off tape. I believe I can save a ton of time (perhaps a whole day) by just capturing directly to my G5 via my Kona LHe card in the studio right off the camera. The camera will be a Panasonic Varicam in 720P 24fps mode which will connect via HD SDI ports on the Kona card. I’m confident in my CODEC settings and connections. My concern is mainly with Final Cut Pro.
My question is this:
The “Capture Now” feature of FCP is very crude. I like to enter Reel, Scene, Take and Description info to every clip which references our Director’s notes. In the past, when I’ve done Capture Now, FCP doesn’t allow me to enter any of this info automatically. Instead I have to go into the Project window after each capture and manually re-name everything. Since it’s a studio shoot, I fear I may not have time to this on every take between takes.
Does anyone have any suggestions or plugins that help with this? Is there a way to get all the logging notes into a clip while using Capture Now?
One more thing:
The DP will be recording to tape as well, but I don’t think I’ll need it for anything but a backup. Tape will be running at the same time as all captures. Regardless, I would expect the timecode to line up correctly to facilitate offlining the project (which could exceed 200GB). If I capture with Capture Now over SDI, will the footage contain the same timecode as the footage on tape? I believe that Capture Now over Firewire doesn’t read timecode correctly, but I wonder if HD SDI captures are different in this respect.
One other possiblity is that I can control the camera via RS422. I would imagine this would solve the timecode issue. Does the varicam have a RS422 port, and if so, has anyone successfully driven the camera transport from FCP?
Since we will be renting the Varicam, I won’t be able to test this in advance, so any input from experienced users would be appreciated.
I’ve also posted this topic in Apple’s FCP discussion board as well if any of you want to chime in there.
Matthew Thomas
Multimedia Director
ThomasArts, Inc. -
8 Replies
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I’d be very interested in hearing how this works for you. I just shot with Varicam and would have liked to have directly captured footage to disc. I’m hoping to try this on the next project. Would the sequence go something like this on set:
“roll camera.”
“speed.”
“start capture.”
“capturing.”
“action.” -
Good Questions, I hope someone answers as I plan on doing the same with KONA 2 and the AJ-HDC27. If I can’t do it LIVE then I would use the camera to digitize via HD SDI and hopefully get accurate timecode.
There is no RS422 plug on the camera, nor is there a firewire port.
I plan on just rolling the tape, let it get to speed and digitizing on the fly.
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Yes. That’s about how I plan on doing this. Roll tape first, then capture. I’ll use the Kona’s DVCProHd 24P pulldown setting since uncompressed wouldn’t be possible with my temporary 2 drive SATA RAID and the footage isn’t really that complex. It’s a series of DRTV commercials in which elderly people speak about Medicare.
It should work, but I would really like my captured timecode to sync with what’s on tape. Chances are this won’t be possible with the Kona card since it doesn’t have a timecode port outside the RS422. Perhaps I could connect the Kona to my BetaSP deck RS422 port while the deck connects to the camera’s timecode port. This might passthrough the timecode. Any predictions?
I’d better remember to bring my Blackburst generator to the shoot in case the rental kit doesn’t have this. Does the Varicam have a Sync In? If so, would it work with just a plain SD blackburst or does it need a fancier one?
Matthew Thomas
Multimedia Director
ThomasArts, Inc. -
[ThomasArts] “The “Capture Now” feature of FCP is very crude. I like to enter Reel, Scene, Take and Description info to every clip which references our Director’s notes. In the past, when I’ve done Capture Now, FCP doesn’t allow me to enter any of this info automatically.”
Are you making sure the little box to the right of each field is checked? I just typed in the reel #, description, scene and shot/take number and did a capture now and it worked fine. As far as your timecode issues click on the link below and it will download the manual, you may be able to sort out a workflow after reading up a little.
http://www.actualfilms.net/assets/HD-camera-manual.pdf
One solution for matching FCP to tape timecode, would be to have a smart slate jammed with the time code from the camera, set to time of day free run. That way when you slate each take if you aren’t able to get timecode into FCP while capturing live, you could always reset the timecode on your clips later using the slate as a reference that will match back to your tapes. Resetting timecode on clips in FCP is a relatively easy and quick procedure.
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Thanks for the Varicam manual link. Page 64 reads about TC and info:
This information is output from the TC OUT connector and HD SDI OUT connector.
So I assume that if I record via Kona2 using HD SDI I’ll get my video, audio and sync timecode.
I’ll let you know Thursday unless someone chimes in who’s tried this already. -
This was very helpful info. I believe the older versions of FCP wouldn’t include the log info when using Capture Now, but it appears this has been added in FCP 5.
Panasonic’s HD SDI does indeed include timecode, so it should work without the RS422 hack I mentioned earlier. However, it would be necessary for the Varicam to start rolling tape before I initiate the capture now, or things could get messy. I also should exit the capture before tape stops.
I look forward to reporting back on my success following the shoot which is this Friday (Feb 17, 2006).
I suppose the only variable that I haven’t been able to clear up yet is that of Genlock. Does the Varicam accept a standard BlackBurst SD signal (from my Horita BSG-50), or does it require a newer HD-specific genlock system?
Matthew Thomas
Multimedia Director
ThomasArts, Inc. -
When I did the capture now I wasn’t able to include log notes, only the descrition, scene and shot/take #’s. Being that you are doing this for the first time without a run through to see if the chosen workflow will indeed work, I would be inclined to use a smart slate as I suggested just so you have a plan to fall back on if the timecode doesn’t transfer to FCP as you would hope. You can rent one for about $50 a day. and it will stay frame accurate for a few hours before needing to be re-jammed from the camera.
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Very good advice. We are currently slating with the camera as master, but this additional technique would cover our butts.
Matthew Thomas
Multimedia Director
ThomasArts, Inc.
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