-
problems capturing
I edit in FCP 4.
For reasons I don’t quite understand I have never been able to capture in FCP 4.
If I try to log and capture or capture as an “uncontrollbale device”
I end up crashing the program.I’ve worked around this by capturing in FCP 3 (as an uncontrollable device…the only way
I seem to be able to capture).Now, it turns out, this no longer works…
and I can’t capture at all!What would the gurus out there suggest? Is there something wrong with my computer?
Do I need some sort of video card?Please help!
Matt
-
8 Replies
-
You need to pass on some info about your system before anyone can make an educated guess on what the trouble might be: particular Apple computer, operating system version, amount of RAM, video card, hard drive types and capacity, peripherals connected and what they are (including the camera/deck you’re capturing from, etc.
Just a wild guess: If you have any virus protection running in the background such as Norton Anti-Virus, disable it before you start any capturing. There are known issues with that program and the capturing process of FCP.
– Don
-
Thanks Don,
You’re right I should have mentioned that I work on a G4, OS X 10.3.9
My processor is 933 MHz and I run at 1Gig of Ram.
When I attempted my most recent capture I had the miniDV tape in my JVC 2 in 1 deck (miniDV and VHS). It’s connected to my computer via firewire.
I had a separate firewire running from my computer to my new 200 Gig External Lacie HD and this HD is actually connected via a 4 in 1 firewire splitter.I do have Norton running and will try disabling it before capturing next time.
I can’t figure out what kind of video card I have…
Matt
-
To find out your vid card type just go to the apple menu and choose: ‘about this Mac.’ In resulting dialogue box choose ‘more info’ and that will bring up your system profiler which will contain your video card info under ‘PCI/AGP cards’.
I’m also running a G4 and have found the most stable OS for us is 10.3.4. There are known reliability issues with 10.3.9 with some (but not all) G4 boxes. I guess it depends on one’s particular configuration. I’m running the earlier OS with FCP 4.5 and have never had a crash. The setup is rock solid. I only hope that my next Mac is so fortunate.
Just a note: make sure your LaCie FW drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (aka HFS Plus) and choose to turn off the journaling for that drive. Some of the LaCie drives were shipped in FAT32 binary even though the literature that came with the drive said they were already formatted in Mac OS extended. Fat32 is the formatting compatible for both Mac and Windows machines but file size is limited to 4 GBytes, and FCP does not like the Fat 32 formatting one little bit.
Everything else about your system looks good. I would suspect your capturing trouble is because of your Norton App. Norton and FCP definitely do not mix at all.
– Don
-
Well it would appear I’ve a GeForce4 MX, whatever that is.
Your other suggestions sound great and I’m going to try them out.
Thank you so much!
Matt
-
Well Don,
My newbiness is showing.I can’t remember how to format a drive in Mac OS Extended.
I got as far as opneing Disc Utility
and selecting Mac OS Extended
from the pull down menu.I guess I’m afraid to press PARTITION for fear of making some irreversible mistake.
But that would be all I need to do, right?
Matt
-
Open Disk Utility, select the desired disk from the list on the left, choose ERASE from the options on the right of the window, type in the name you want to give the disk, select Mac OS Extended (NOT journaled), then click on ERASE. Journaling is usually activated for the startup/system drive only.
That’s all you need to do. Will only take a few seconds.
– Don
-
Thanks Don,
I captured an entire tape this morning without a problem. You really helped me throught this one…
I am very grateful!Matt
-
You’re most welcome, Matt. Remember to pay it forward 😉
– Don
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up