Video Noise on HDV capture in FCP (via firewire, from Sony Z7)

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Video Noise on HDV capture in FCP (via firewire, from Sony Z7)

Posted by May Bolton on December 22, 2009 at 12:13 pm

Hello folks,

I am in desperate need of help regarding very noisy HDV video when I capture to FCP. It is noisy in the capture window and no different when I playback in the timeline. I have recently begun shooting in HDV with mini DV tapes (JVC) on my Sony Z7, settings:

Rec Format: HDV 1080i
HDV Progressive selected, scan 25

I am using a firewire to capture the footage and here are my FCP Project/Sequence settings:

Sequence Preset: HDV – 1080p25
Frame Size: 1440 x 1080
Editing timebase: 25 fps
Pixel Aspect ratio: HD (1440 x 1080)
Anamorphic: off
Video Processing: YUV
Compressor: HDV – 1080p25 (though I have tried to switch to uncompressed to see if that made a difference and it didn’t appear to as I thought this might have been the problem to begin with.)

Capture Preset: HDV
Device Control: HDV Firewire Basic 25 fps (not really sure if this is actually the correct setting to use or if this would make a difference in image quality?)

I’m rather at a loss and I’ve read around other posts, I had gain switched off when shooting and I can’t figure out if it is something in my shooting settings that, when seen at full(er) resolution, appears to be very noisy. It’s even day time footage that is noisy.

I am using FCP 6 and the project is saved to a 500GB Lacie External HD..

I would very much appreciate any advice from anyone. If you need further information I would be happy to provide it. I am (as is everyone I’m sure!) trying to capture as close to “Uncompressed” as possible, or at least the best and highest resolution practically possible.

Thanks in advance for your help.
May

Jerry Alto replied 16 years, 7 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
1 Reply

Jerry Alto
December 24, 2009 at 9:26 pm

May- Playback your tape via HDMI directly to a HD monitor. How does the footage look now? If it has issues you need to work with the camera settings. If the playback is clean from your camera then you need to work on your FCP settings. Do not trust your computer monitor…. only judge via a video card to an external monitor. If you don’t have a video card you’ll need to export back to the camera and play via HDMI.

HTH,
Jerry

G5 Dual 3GB Ram
FCP Studio 6.02
External 1 TB SATA Raid 0
Kona LH, Second system w AJA ioLA
Sony Z-1
GV-HD700

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