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HDV Capture “Unable to Locate Timecode”
I’m running Final Cut 6.0.6 on a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo iMac, and I’m trying to capture logged HDV 1080i60 footage from a Sony HVR-M15U HDV Deck.
When I attempt to Batch Capture footage from any of 6 different tapes, Final Cut reports that it is ‘Unable to Locate Timecode’. It seeks until it is near the in-point (almost always about 5-8 seconds after the in-point), then it moves slowly forwards and backwards at a crawl, never actually getting close to the in-point.
Capture Preset: HDV
Device Control Preset: Sony HDV FirewireIt demonstrates this same behavior no matter what clip is selected (there are about 80 per tape), and it does this whether or not the clip in questions is near any time code breaks. There are no other firewire devices connected to the computer. I have tried the following steps to correct:
- Trashed Final Cut Pro Preferences
- Restarted the computer
- Powered off the drive and reconnected
- Ran a tape head cleaner
- Checked & Unchecked ‘Create New Clip on Start/Stop’
- Tried all potentially applicable ‘Easy Setups’
- Tried every possible combination of Capture & Device Control Presets (that made any kind of sense)
Any advice would be much appreciated!
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6 Replies
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Might be that your preroll is too short. Increase to 5-6 seconds and see if that works.
SScott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
This error occurs when the camera that shot the tapes isn’t setup properly. If you own the camera, do this.
Go into the Menu settings, find the area on timecode and set you camera to either DF or NDF, not Auto. The default for Sony HDV camcorders is to have the timecode set to Auto. This creates lots of confusion for Final Cut Pro.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
Never let it be said that Wayne Carey is not a hero.
We don’t have the camera this project was shot on; and in fact the offline edit was done on an avid system. That’s when the project made its way to us and we Automatic Ducked it into FCP.
After reading your post, I went ahead and did all of the resets mentioned above, but created a new preset that was NDF. It worked, and now we’re off to the races.
Thanks for your help!
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Should only capture using HDV capture preset using the M15U deck – not HDV Pro RES. Also be sure deck is set for HDV not DV down convert. Use Sony Firewire control protocol. And if all that fails, use Capture NOW and abandon batch capture.
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Glad it worked! Good Job!
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
I’m curious, did you get the batch capture to work properly in the end? I have the same problem, the cameras were all set to AUTO and the capture tool is having a very hard time finding the right TC. I switched my preset to HDV Firewire NDF and that at least gets MOST of the clips to recapture properly, but it’s not entirely reliable. I was just wondering if I should settle for this and accept the situation. I have access to the camera the footage was recorded on, and that too seems to be a little better than the HVR-M15U.
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