[Jimmy Stephans]

I have a test running / encoding now, but that system is pretty old and taking hours.

I’ll update as soon as I can.

Thanks

[Jimmy Stephans]

That might just be it. I’ll run another test now and report back.

Thanks

[Jimmy Stephans]

Quick follow-up…

Guy in my office basically comfirmed what I said. On our old MacPro with FCP 6 the MP4 files we get had to be converted to ProRes before he could edit in FCP 6.

These days on newer iMac and FCP X he can import clips directly.

[Jimmy Stephans]

And that might be the issue. I am not sure that all versions of FCP can see / import MP4 without add-on software or conversion.

You’ll need to search around for that answer. I seem to recall a free download called something like “MPEG SLIPSTREAM” was needed for some versions of FCP.

Knowing that we are going directly to FCP we set the JVC to create .MOV files that are native to FCP.

As for the file location – if you are looking at the card in Finder they are located in PRIVATE / JVC / CQAV / CLIP

But, as I mentioned – I am not sure all versions of FCP can work with MP4 directly.

[Jimmy Stephans]

Log and transfer seems to be a software concern – not just a card reader. I would review the software that came with the camera to see what functions it has and how to use them.

We do it different here. We simply drag the clips from the card to an external Thunderbolt hard drive. Once needed we import into FCP from there.

We don’t use software from JVC in our workflow.

[Jimmy Stephans]

Get a newer USB card reader.

I use this one attached to my iMac

Kingston 19-in-1 USB 2.0 Flash Memory Card Reader FCR-HS219/1 ($15)

I also carry one of these with me on the road and copy files from cards to laptops with no problems.

Transcend P5 9-in-1 USB 2.0 Flash Memory Card Reader TS-RDP5K (Black) ($8)

Both purchased on Amazon.

Older readers often don’t read SDHC cards, just SD.

[Jimmy Stephans]

I think there has been only one update. If it doesn’t take 64GB after that – I think we are stuck.

[Jimmy Stephans]

I have that camera. I haven’t tried cards above 32GB yet… but I seem to recall there is a firmware update on JVC site for it to accept larger cards, class 10, etc.

I would check there.

[Jimmy Stephans]

I have that same machine. Older G5, 2.0, Final Cut Studio with Gforce or whatever the card is called. It ran fine.

I later upgraded card to an ATI but not because it wouldn’t run but because I wanted the extra RAM / Power to use higher res monitor.

You’ll be fine. Only thing I did was place a second drive in it and keep my raw footage on the second drive. Nice 7200 rpm / Sata / 16mb cache drive and all is good. Still use that machine to this day. Not a rocket but fully servicable.

[Jimmy Stephans]

Start at:

https://www.everymac.com/

Look up your model (EXACTLY) and read the specs area. You’ll see that they often say that Apple lists one amount of total RAM, but in practice another amount is possible.

Once you know that info its time to buy the RAM. I would used OWC (https://macsales.com/ ) and you can find a link directly to the correct page from https://www.everymac.com/ where you find your model’s details.

If the true max RAM is 8GB its about $120.00 with shipping at the max. If its 16GB and you want to go that high it gets more costly. Thats because 8GB RAM chips, in the smaller laptop sizes, are slightly rare and prices are higher (basic supply and demand issue).

Two 8GB chips will not be double price of two 4GB chips, more like triple.

As for hard drives – check same page at https://www.everymac.com/ where you model is listed and you’ll see your options. I am thinking that best bet is an external Firewire 800 unit. They are faster than USB by far. Thunderbolt drives are even faster but way more expensive at this time. That assume your model has Thunderbolt ports.

What I just ordered: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 3 TB FireWire 800 for about $200.

Not as fast as pro solutions others suggest but I am guessing you are like me and not a full time editor with giant budget so going slow for now.

One thing I like about the Seagate is that they are coming out with a Thunderbolt base soon and we should, in theory, be able to buy just the base and move the drive to it and use Thunderbolt once the price of the base comes down.

Hope this helps.