[Keith Chick]

I’ve never had a problem with L&T (2 years of using my mac), now I cannot get complete files to transfer. I shot a holiday parade and it’s nearly 40 minutes in length. Used Panasonic HMC150 (AVCHD). Tried importing entire file and it only transferred 2:04. Tried breaking it into 4 even sections and it still wouldn’t work. Once again the first clip was only 2:04 and then the other 3 were random lengths. All should have been about 10 mins. Only 1 clip transferred completely, the remaining two clips were about 6 and 7 mins. Every time I try I get different lengths except for the first clip…that always seems to be about 2:04 (so does that tell us anything)? I tried unchecking the “remove pulldown”, and I have nothing else running in the background that I can tell…and I never try and edit while L&T is running. Any recommendations? I have a tv station waiting for this Parade footage and I don’t know what to do. Thanks.

[Keith Chick]

Well…you are pushing me in a direction to learn at least, lol. I think I am starting to understand a little bit about the timeline and the incoming media. I think you are referring to the “sequence” and “capture” presets, right? Right now they are both set to DV NTSC but could have been something else before I started messing with all this. Can I bring the video from my hi-def camera in at DV NTSC? Will that downconvert the resolution immediately? Or should I have the “sequence” and “capture” presets set to HDV and downconvert later?

[Keith Chick]

My camera records to mini DVD discs…I used log and transfer and it’s coming in as the full high def. Somewhere I remember a setting that said “full resolution” or something to that affect.

Yes…as I mentioned, the camera records at 1440×1080.

As I also mentioned…I am not specifically setting anything to “downconvert”…I assumed FCP did that automatically when going to the miniDV. Is it really “downconverting” via software??? It seems logical to me based on how most recording devices work with audio and video, it’s all based on what the recording deck is capable of. It seems that the miniDV will just take the incoming signal and only allow it’s maximum resolution to the tape, not the original hi def resolution. But if I specifically have to set something to downconvert then please tell me where to do that. I thought that might be what you were getting at with the timeline settings.

As far as the broadcast monitor…I don’t get it at all, lol. I understand someone doing this on a high-end level, and full-time, will have that…but I didn’t need it on my PC and was able to get excellent results. In my initial post that was “long winded” I actually did address that to some degree. I was telling you that the quality of video on my computer was excellent and when I did an “export” the files looked great…if I burn a video DVD the video looks great. Even uploading to youtube looked very good. So it seemed obvious to me that “loss of quality” was happening during the transfer to miniDV and that it was probably a setting or two that I had incorrect.

I made the assumption that I want to bring my video in at full resolution, but you are indicating I shouldn’t have done that. Then what should I set the “capture” settings to??? Why is 1440×1080 bad? I thought if I had the highest native camera resolution, that I would have more flexibility with whatever my needs for output are. I guess I figured I can always go down in quality but I can”t add resolution if I bring it in at a lower res. Once again…I’m sorry for not having the expertise you have and maybe sounding like an idiot.

I don’t think I’ve placed it on a DV Timeline (though I don’t know how to confirm that either). I thought that if I brought full resolution video in through log and transfer that the timeline would be the same when I dragged the video onto the timeline.

I greatly appreciate you attempting to help me, I’m trying to be as clear as I can.

[Keith Chick]

I think these are my timeline settings:

“Safe RT” is checked
Playback Video Quality is “Dynamic”
Playback Frame Rate is “Full”
“Multiclip Playback” is checked
“Record to Tape” is checked with “Full Quality”

I think I’m starting to see where you are going…please let me know which of these settings I should change. I can experiment, but your knowledge will save me time and aggravation. Thx.

[Keith Chick]

Sorry…I’m new to this on the mac and Final Cut Pro side of things…I used different software on the PC and never had issues.

I thought the source footage is my Panasonic model HDC-DX1 at 1440×1080 resolution. Yes I’m trying to send hi def video to DV 720×480 miniDV camcorder. Comcast Cable Co here doesn’t accept AVI, mpg, mov files etc. They want a DV, miniDV tape etc.

I tried about every setting possible over a few hours and nothing changed the grainyness…initially I couldn’t get anything to the camera until I got the below settings…here are the settings:

Easy Setup:
Format: NTSC
Use: DV-NTSC
29.97 FPS

Audio/Video Summary Settings:
Sequence Preset: DV NTSC 48kHz
Capture Preset: DV NTSC 48kHz
Device Control: Firewire NTSC NDF
Video Playback: Apple Firewire NTSC (720×480)
Audio Playback: Firewire DV

A/V Devices Tab:
Video: Apple Firewire NTSC 720×480
Audio: Firewire DV
I DO NOT have the “Different output for “edit to tape/print to video” box checked.

How do I check my “Timeline” settings? I’m unsure of what parameter you need to know. Sorry for my lack of expertise.

I do not have an external broadcast monitor…as it records to camcorder I can see it on the iMac monitor and on the LCD screen of the camcorder.

I don’t believe I am downconverting specifically, but I guess I’m not sure. I thought it did that when it was sending the media to the camcorder minidv tape. I never had to do anything on the PC regarding downconverting. I appreciate your help with this as I have a commercial I need to get done this week and I don’t want to have to go do it on the PC.