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Mini-DV capturing – Audo always going out of sync 18-20 minutes in…?
Over the years, I always come back to questions that I still never remembered to ask or never had the time to trouble-shoot, so now that I’ve remembered, I want to ask everyone.
When capturing from a mini-DV camera, using FCP, fire-wire 400, during about 15-20 minutes into the clip, the clip goes out of video and audio sync in the capturing and encoding process. Is this because the disc can’t keep up with the encoding? If I capture a 10-15 minute clip, we are good, but if I let a 60 minute mini-DV tape capture, I come back, hit ESC, and check the captured clip, and as I scrub through it, at about the 20-30 minutes into it, it’s never consistent in where, somewhere in there, the audio goes to about 1-2 seconds off, and about 30-45 minutes into the clip, it’s about 2-3 seconds off with the audio and video, and it seems such a pain to have to go in and re-align the audio.
Was this a common problem with mini-DV back then? Does it also matter if it is captured from a deck or camera? It happens on my G-4, and on the G5, so I’m not sure. I’ve had some tapes stay in sync, but rarely. I do think it has to do with the amount I’m capturing and may have to something to do with the computer disc spinning fast enough or something, anyone know?
Thanks,
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Salt Lake City, UT
FCP7/Sony EX-3/Mac Quad-Core Intel -
6 Replies
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You don’t say exactly which of the legacy versions of FCP you’re using, but there was an issue with FCP 5’s Capture Now feature. As a test, try capturing a long clip by setting both an in and an out and capturing as a clip.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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You’re talking years ago? Yeah, there were a number of headaches with FCP 1-3 and what’s called unlocked audio for DV.
There was more than one way to encode the audio to miniDV tapes; and FCP would struggle – apple would have specific scripts for specific cameras; often people wouldn’t know about them, they wouldn’t use them, they wouldn’t read a manual.More common on Canon cameras – but today? Nah, not at all.
Best,
Jeff G
Apple Master Trainer
Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Avid & Color Videos Vasst.com
Compressor Essentials Lynda.com -
Yea, it’s pretty hit and miss, every once in a while you get a tape that miraculously captures completely in sync. I think I’m running FCP 5 on a G4 at home. It’s mostly a capture or encoding workstation used for things that aren’t urgent, but yes, I’ve had several suggest capturing it in 15-20 chunks, and that’ll fix it. Any other thoughts?
Thanks,
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Salt Lake City, UT
FCP7/Sony EX-3/Mac Quad-Core Intel -
Are you using a Panasonic deck to capture the DV? I’ve had innumerable issues in the past trying to capture DV with their VCRs.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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I’m capturing using mini-DV cameras.
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Salt Lake City, UT
FCP7/Sony EX-3/Mac Quad-Core Intel -
Hi Tom,
Hard drives are a big culprit for issues like this too. You should have more than 30% of your hard drive available before you start to capture. Especially for sync that drifts. Make sure the Limit Capture/Export file size segment is unchecked.
It sounded like you’re using an older version of FCP (?), I think one version a while back had a Cannon sync checkbox, if so you should probably verify if that’s a feature on your FCP.
Good Luck,
Todd at UCSB
Television Production
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