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Problem Logging and Capturing in Final Cut Pro
Hello to everyone, I hope someone can help me, I am desperate!
I am pretty new to FCP, and I am trying to log and capture miniDV tapes from a SONY NTSC DVcam. I have 25 tapes and 5 years of work to capture and I am going insane!
I am using a Mac and working on FCP 7. I believe my settings are good, all on Firewire NTSC. My problem is, that although I there seems to be connection between the camera and FCP (I can control the camera through my keyboard), I am getting a Preview Disabled striped screen on the computer. In addition, when I try to log the clips, they are sent into the Logging Bin as if I hadnt made ins and outs on them, and they also seem to not have any content (When I try to click on them, it says Media Offline). If I try to Batch Capture, I get one of two messages. Sometimes it tells me there is no video, and sometimes it tells me “Batch Capture: Timecode Error: Unable to locate the specified timecode”.
Does anyone have any ideas on what is going on here?
Thankyou! -
6 Replies
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[Elizabeth Kueneke] “My problem is, that although I there seems to be connection between the camera and FCP (I can control the camera through my keyboard), I am getting a Preview Disabled striped screen on the computer.”
Choose the DV/NTSC Easy Setup first, THEN make a new sequence…then open Log and Capture. You are telling FCP, via doing that, that you want it to look for a DV signal.
[Elizabeth Kueneke] ” In addition, when I try to log the clips, they are sent into the Logging Bin as if I hadnt made ins and outs on them, and they also seem to not have any content (When I try to click on them, it says Media Offline). “
Yes. You have LOGGED the footage, you didn’t capture anything. You made a clip that you can then batch capture with FCP…if you have the right Easy Setup chosen first. But at the moment, there is no media associated with that clip.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thanks Shane, I will try that and let you know.
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Unfortunately that didnt work for me. However, I realized that perhaps I can capture with iMovie, which works just fine, and import it into Final Cut. Do you see any reason why I shouldnt do this?
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Works with iMove…but not FCP. What camera? Try switching the DECK CONTROL to GENERIC FIREWIRE.
#20 Using iMovie to Capture for FCP edit
Shane’s Stock Answer #20: Using iMovie to Capture for use in FCP.
iMovie handles the media differently from FCP, specifically where audio is concerned. So it is not a recommended workflow. Here’s why…
iMovie captures using DV Stream (.dv) standard which does not use timecode. That is a big disadvantage over the way that FCP captures in that you can’t go back and recapture the material at a later date if you need to revisit a project.
The DV/NTSC specification (the one FCP uses) also calls for seperate tracks for audio and video, even if you capture it as one clip. iMovie’ DV stream format is muxed audio and video, which means that they are tied together (I can’t get into specifics because I ain’t no engineer or programmer). FCP is a bit more demanding and captures the seperate audio/video tracks, either in a single media file or as seperate video and audio files. With FCP you could capture video only or audio only because each is defined by the DV specs. while with iMovie you can’t.
Also, if you drop the iMovie footage into the timeline, your will get the RED render bar forcing you to render the footage in order to see it. You can use either QT Pro or Compressor to convert the .dv footage into DV/NTSC in order for FCP to work with it without needing to render.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Ok thanks for your ideas…they were very helpful.
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You posted this fix suggestion over 2 years ago and you just made my day. Swapped out a Sony DSR-40 deck for the exact same model and was getting the “there is no video” message in FCP 7 when trying to capture. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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