Final Cut Pro and JVC GY-HD250 24f support – anybody know?

[Charles Roberts]

yeah you’re within spec alright. And that probably only means one thing: software problem. The very next thing I’d test is get another drive for 50 bucks, switch it out with your present boot disk, install a fresh OS and FCP install and test it with no other software installed. If the problem is still around, (which is not gonna happen) then its a basic CPU hardware problem that Applecare should fix. If its gone, then I’d be looking at all that third party stuff on your system (just seeing Atto makes me wince when I think of the clusterf$%k SCSI card drivers have caused in Mac OS version over the past ten years. That’s the test I’d do. Then you can switch your original boot disk back in and decide how you want to deal with what you would now know is the problem. That’s all I got for ya man

[George Strother]

Already replaced the system drive, fresh install, tested with nothing installed but OSX and FCP, replaced the video card, replaced monitor cables, memory has pased 40 hours of MemTest, replaced memory anyway, system has passed all TechTool Pro 4 tests, Raid and Sata both well exceed bandwidth for HDV and both pass uncompressed D1 fine.

It’s been a bit unpleasant, actually. Thus the inquiry about an edit system that can edit HDV.

But then, others are making files that play smoothly, so it must be possible with FCP and Compressor, and why I’m looking for settings I might have missed. Or something.

George
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[Charles Roberts]

if it didn’t work well, then it wouldn’t work well for anyone, and it obviously is. When you put a fresh system disk in and re-installed, did you just re-install FCP and Studio or FCP and all the drivers for all those devices? When I said Mac OS and FCP, I meant check your system running only the base software with no third party anything. That’s the only thing apparently that you have going that most people don’t, the Kona, the Atto, etc.

Also, you were monitoring that hdv how? Out to DCDP or through Kona? If Kona, then maybe you haven’t chosen the right output profile in Video Output.

Good luck

[George Strother]

The OS/FCP test was just those apps on a new drive, nothing else, no other software, no other drivers. It was only to test for just what you are talking about. No joy.

The skipping is first on DCDP and viewer/canvas, then on web/lan compressions. Output to tape or HD monitor is outside of the path to Compressor, so not really related unless I go with a realtime hardware compression system. Too many $$. Cheaper to dump HDV and buy a real HD camera, if those will work.

It’s very unlikely the problem is my system. I have had the exact same results with capture, playback and compression on 3 new MacPro 3.0 FCP systems, 1 with Apple 23″, 1 With Apple 30″ and 1 with Dell 24″. Two systems were in Apple stores, one was a local producer. Also duplicated the results on a G5 Quad with Apple 23″ that belonged to a local FCP trainer. All scenes skip in the same places on all systems. Even new footage shot at their location skips when captured there and skips in the same spots when recaptured here. None could figure it out. I have tested with four different JVC ProHD cameras. When I post this on the JVC HD forums, no one has these problems. All who reply say their computer screens play back fine.

I have been told by many that their systems have no problems and by others that it isn’t possible and no computer monitor can play video smoothly due to the refresh rate conflict. I’m just trying to find out how to get out of the second group into the first group. Of course you can buy an MXO and hook it to an Apple 23″ to get smooth playback, at least according to their ad copy, but that’s still outside of the path to sofware compression, so no help.

So I either have a problem that doesn’t exist unless I am in the room or a universal problem on all computers that can’t be fixed on any system, depending on who I ask.

But then, lots of download and steaming files out there work fine, so … I must be missing something. The end issue is just getting compressed files that play smoothly. To get those I think I need to get timeline files that play smoothly in viewer/canvas.

George
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[Davidfrankie]

I used the HD250 to shoot about 6 hours of tape which I digitized into FCP 5.1.4 using firewire in from the HD50 deck. It came in natively and plays back without a problem. So in answer to your question, yes, there’s a menu option for it and it plays back smoothly. (I used the “HDV 720p — 24” setting in the Easy Setup of FCP.)

I will say that this menu option wasn’t available in the 5.1 version I installed off my DVDs. I had to go to the site and download the latest update to the software. But once I installed 5.1.4, voila! There it was.

My only suggestion is to shoot at least 10 seconds of pre-roll before anything you expect to be usable because the capture tool’s ability to reset after timecode breaks in this format appears to be quite sluggish.

–David