The Convergent HD Connect SI

[Ken Jones]

That’s essentially what I am trying to communicate. The AJA and Blackmagic hardware both work perfectly by themselves.

The problem is that Final Cut Pro will not communicate properly with the Sony HVR-1500 deck when your are trying to capture HDV footage.

[Ken Jones]

I should add that Blackmagic (and probably AJA for that matter) works perfectly with Premiere when capturing HDV footage!

[Ken Jones]

After attempting to explain the difficulties I am experiencing to several support personnel from Apple, Sony, and Blackmagic, I decided to create a short movie to illustrate the exact problem I am having attempting to capture from the Sony HVR-1500 deck.

FCP will not capture HDV from the HVR-1500 with either firewire or RS-422.
However – both Premiere Pro CS3 and Blackmagic Deck Control WILL capture HDV every time – perfectly, 100%, no errors.

Please see the movie here:

https://homepage.mac.com/kenjones/iMovieTheater47.html

[Gnostic]

Ramona,
I’ve been on the phone with two different techs at AJA and we’ve gone through all the settings, including FCP. The support, as you know at AJA is terrific, which is why, in the past, I have bought 3 different AJA boxs for whatever I was doing, and I’ve had great results.
I don’t believe this is an AJA problem. Ken suggested that there is a bug in FCP, and since FCP is the only element in my chain: (HVR-1500A > AJA iO HD > Mac Pro 8-core, & CalDigit 4-tb drives,) that I have not investigated thoroughly, I’m leaning toward a bug in FCP. However, in order to take care of that pesky problem of earning a living, I have had to dump the idea of HD for the time being and I’m capturing and editing in DV Cam. This is working, but it’s like getting a bad case of the hives just before the prom.

The best,

Michael G

[Ramona Howard]

The Prom…wow that was ages ago….

Stick with it, hopefully it will get ironed out. The stuff works as it should with the right app behind it.

Cheers,
Ramona

I will say what is on many peoples minds in regards to the proper tools……

Sometimes you just can’t take a $500 piece of software (not you, just being general) and do what the big boys do for many times that. The masses simply don’t work the same way the high-end studios work. And, that is why you find a mixture of all kinds of tools in a facility, they don’t do it all on one solution 🙂

[Ken Jones]

Mike,

Have you tried a test with the “AJA VTR Xchange Application” utility? You can download it here:

https://www.aja.com/html/products_macintosh_kona_util.html

It looks like AJA VTR Exchange is the same type of program as Blackmagic Deck Control. Like I said in my previous posts: on my system Deck Control works perfectly and Premiere CS3 works perfectly. Final Cut Pro is the only application I have that doesn’t work with this deck. The AJA site also has plug ins that allow you to capture directly to Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, and Premiere. You might try one of the AJA applications just to see if they do or don’t work for you.

[Gnostic]

Ramona,
Do you mean that Final Cut Studio 2 is not up to dealing with HDV/Pro Res?

I thought that AJA iO HD was developed in collaboration with Apple. Also the AJA manual has a lot of stuff about using FCP. It doesn’t say anything about using what the big boys use. (Avid?)

Michael G

[Gnostic]

Thanks Ken,
I’ll try it (as soon as I can get this job out of the way.)

Thanks, and the best,

Michael G

[Ken Jones]

Michael – did you ever get a chance to check out the AJA VTR Xchange Application utility?

[Gnostic]

Hi Ken,
Re: AJA VTR Xchange: I’ve downloaded it and thank you much.
I had to suspend work on the HDV machine control problems because we have been traveling, shooting and editing. Right now I’m going straight into the Mac Pro via FW and it’s working. (The HVR 1500A deck and machine control.) Earlier AJA had sent a protocol that “also might help” This next week I’m going to be able to get back to work trying to solve the manine control problems.

Thanks,
Mike G

Michael G