[Chriswhill]

First I would unplug the firwire so you’re sure the video signal you are getting is from the decklink SDI and not from the firewire In.
Then, check your audio settings, if your deck is set to 8 channel and FCP is set to 4, it won’t capture…or vise versa..

Use the easy-setups to pick the setting you want to make sure everything is as it should be.

You can’t control a deck via SDI signal, you have to use the serial connector on the decklink or firewire as you did. SDI signal only carries video and audio info.

Also check to make sure your deck is set to play out SDI as it might be in firewire mode.

Good luck
-Chris

[Chriswhill]

Yes you can, just set you capture setting to what ever fomat you require? Is your lcient using a MAC/FCP rig? The decklink HD will downconvert on capture, so the only question is what NTSC format will be best for your client.

DV at 23.98 should work great if he’s using FCP.

[Chriswhill]

The 5 series drivers only work with FCP 5… And yeah, if you download quicktime 7, you will have to pay again to get the PRO features back.

[Chriswhill]

Hey Alex,
I edited the film in Final Cut 4.5. I’ve used FCP since version 1.2.5, so I know it well. I prefer the MAC so Premiere is not an option for me. I have to say I was flying by the seat of my pants though in some aspects.

This was the largest film I’ve worked on to date, with a 1.3 million dollar budget, and although I was alone in the editing room aside from the director, there was a post supervisor, a large facility in Burbank handling the mix, a group at Sony handling the music, CCI Digital handling color grading, and a QC facility helping the Sony’s in-house QC department to deliver final masters.

This film was a western, they shot 2 Sony CineAlta HD cameras simultaneusly every day. With no assistant, I was expected to receive shot tapes each night, clone them to HD edit masters, log and capture takes based on script notes faxed from the set each night, and rough cut the days’ scenes for the next morning.

The crew had no time to watch dailies, so all they saw each day at lunch were my edits on DVD.

I digitized the footage into DVCPRO HD for the offline, and then uprezed to Blackmagic uncompressed 4:2:2 HD for the online right in Final Cut. I laid back the final Online to HD D5 tapes, and those became the masters of the finished movie, which the other groups used for color correction, and added the final mix to.

I had edited the movie at 23.98, which was the shooting frame rate. But the sound departments needed the movie on 3/4 inch tape at 29.97, and it had to be broken into 5 20 minute “reels” for theatrical projection. I also had to supply OMF files for each reel.

FCP and the Decklink HD really came through, especially when it came to “finishing”. After the picture had been “locked” for several weeks, and the sound mix was in an advanced stage, the producers decided to make more picture edits.

Problem… I had made my 29.97 version of the movie by laying back to Beta SP, then recapturing the film in standard def 29.97. Although Decklink HD can downconvert on the fly, I had to have 29.97 TIMELINES because the timecode on the OMF files had to match the tapes.

I had seperate timelines for each reel, and I used the original audio from the HD timeline, laid underneath the Beta Sp recature in each timeline. Since the audio was the original HD audio tracks, I could be fairly sure if the HD audio tracks were in sync with my recapture, the movie would stay in sync in the end.

This was a nightmare for re-edits though, and there were several rounds in the end. I had to output “change Lists” from cinema tools to give to the audio groups so they could track where changes were being made. Since I cut at 23.98, I had to make change lists at that rate, and Pro Tools was able to translate that into 29.97. It actually worked, and I was able to get the sound departments all the materials they needed to keep up with several rounds of changes.

And the movie stayed in sync at the end.

After going through that experience, I have complete faith in the FCP/ Decklink HD/multibridge combo. The system was rock solid. I should mention that I had a lot of support at the begining from the DR group in LA. I told my rep what I was trying to do, and he helped to set it up properly from the start.

Best,
Chris
FCP 5 Studio ( the movie was cut with 4.5)
2ghz G2
2.5 gigs RAM
Decklink HD
Multibridge HD
Mackie L1402 mixer w Yamaha Studio speakers
20inch cinema display
17 inch NEC LCD display
Hewlet Packard HD projector
Sony Wega 27inch NTSC
4x La Cie 500 gig each FW 800 drives ( for offline)
DR GROUP custom 8 bay SATA array, 2 terebytes ( for Online)

[Chriswhill]

Sounds like a cool project…. Do you have footage online people can view or purchase?

[Chriswhill]

Your bio says you’re in Southern Cali. Go to The DR Group. They can install it for you. They are the best with tech support. They installed my card. 323-960-1781.

[Chriswhill]

The 2.3 is third Gen.

I think this is the “tight fit” issue mentioned in the FAQ. You have to literally bend the card to get it in. I couldn’t get it in myself so I had my reseller install if for me. It’s a really tough fit to get it installed. Does your reseller offer instalation?

[Chriswhill]

Wow,

In FCP4.5 I used to leave the downconversion option OFF in control panels, and tell is to play out 8 bit NTSC in the VOUT in FCP.

IN FCP 5.02, it only workd on my system if I turn downconversion on in control panels, and leave the video OUT as HD in FCP, the picture looks tons better than it used to.

This is great!

[Chriswhill]

Hi,

These are my opinions, which is what the poster asked for. If he wanted the official line he could have gone to the Avid site.

Even when you render the top layer, which is what I do, you can watch on the NTSC monitor as the Avid struggles to render each filter seperately. And in some cases, you HAVE to render the lower layers first, as the Avid will freeze if you put too many on at once.

I work in high-end network Avid environments, and I know the machine quite well. I’m sure their are techs out there who know it better than I, but that’s kind of the point of my earlier post.

“Why do you need either to black a tape? Hit “play and rec””

Um, I’m not sure where to begin with that. I don’t know about you, but in my world, we need to lay control track on tapes before laying back to them. At least the first minute or two and then insert edit the program to tape.

I’ve worked at several networks, and they all have to do this. In Avid land, we have to do it directly at the deck. This can be a problem if you are using a deck that can’t self-black, or at smaller facilities where the one guy who knows how to set that particular deck to self-black can’t be found. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a tape room with a bunch of other editors, all of us scrolling thorugh miles of menus on some deck trying to get it to self-black, and all I can think in those moments is, “will somebody just get me a Final Cut station for a sec?”

FCP has been able to black a tape since version 1.

“If you cut on the Avid daily and make comments like this, I have to wonder just how well you know the software. Maybe self-taught editing has it’s shortcomings?”

Ouch! I have a BFA from School of Visual Arts in New York, and I’ve been editing professionally for six years.

There’s nothing wrong with sticking with Avid, and Final Cut has many of it’s own quarks, but I think I also have a right to voice my frustration with it and those who disregard FCP and those who use it.

And my post was not meant as an attack on anyone on this forum, if you are here its cause you’ve already taken the plundge and use Final Cut. Bravo!

[Chriswhill]

I use The old Meridian systems running Composer on a G4 mostly. I also use The Adrenaline though.