[Ken Jones]

Watch out! By changing your “Timeline Options” to NDF all of the timelines you create will now be non-drop. This will be a problem if you will be editing long form programs, or especially programs for broadcast.

The capture error message you are experiencing is due to FCP seeing whatever type of timecode your deck is generating. If you put one of the tapes in the deck and roll a few seconds before you select batch capture you should not get this error message.

[Ken Jones]

I could not install 6.8.3. I reverted back to 6.8.1.
I had to pull my Decklink HD Extreme card in order to get my Mac Pro to even start up without the flashing screen and the shut down warning.
It seems to be running fine now with 6.8.1.

[Ken Jones]

Has either of you had any luck with this issue? I have an HVR-1500 and have had the same problem. Premiere and Blackmagic Deck Control work perfectly 100% of the time. FCP captures whatever it wants at random. I even made a movie to illustrate the problem I have been experiencing. You can see it here:
https://homepage.mac.com/kenjones/iMovieTheater47.html

[Ken Jones]

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

[Ken Jones]

I have figured out very little. Sony was gracious enough to loan my VAR an HVR-1500A (the new version of the HVR-1500) and it performed EXACTLY the same as the HVR-1500. In other words it did not work correctly with FCP. The absolute worst part of all this for me is that I NEVER get an error message and FCP just captures whatever it wants and then does not update the time code numbers in my bin. It keeps the original time code numbers! So in other words I have no way of knowing if it actually captured the correct clip or if it randomly decided to begin capturing a few seconds later.

A couple of (lame) workarounds I have figured out:

1. Use at least a ten second pre-roll. This is not even practical in a lot of situations, but at least FCP backs up the deck far enough that the tape is still actually in pre-roll when it is pre-rolling. Unfortunately you still have to sit and watch the deck capture every single clip and make sure it is capturing the correct portion of the tape.
2. FCP performs more consistently if you utilize one of their easy setups. If you start changing the capture parameters (such as codec) the deck misses the mark more often.

Keep in mind – all my tests have lead me to conclude that this is a FCP driver issue. The deck performs flawlessly with Premiere and with Blackmagic Deck Control. Doesn’t AJA have a similar program called “VTR Xchange”? Have you tried a test using this AJA outside of FCP?

[Ken Jones]

Hey – it’s Ernie from the HFC!

I have never had the opportunity to check out a TV Logic.
A client of mine has the Sony LMD-2030W and it looks REALLY AWFUL to me.

I own the new version of the JVC DT-V24L1D – the DT-V24L3DU. The new model has a built in waveform monitor, but is otherwise the same unit. I must say it is the first LCD I’ve used that I thought looked decent.

[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.

[Ken Jones]

I forgot to add – I can capture DV via SD-SDI using RS-422 without any problem. It works 100% of the time.

But trying to capture HDV via HD-SDI with RS-422 (or even with HDV Firewire) is impossible.

[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

[Ken Jones]

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