[Marc Mcdermott]

Thanks for that – I’ll do that first thing tomorrow.

[Marc Mcdermott]

Thanks for all the replies so far. A straight import into Avid does not have the problem. It’s when using AMA that it occurs. The point of employing AMA is to automate as much of this process at the end of the production as possible, when making the online version for grade. The film is a documentary style film using media generated in multiple formats around the world. When I transcoded one of the clips to ProRes the AMA worked fine. but there’s a lot of clips across 70 tapes, and they’re already captured.

[Marc Mcdermott]

I do suspect something to do with the GOP structure myself, but do not understand why it displays fine in both FCP and QuickTime, but the issue arises once ingested to Avid using AMA. It was suggested that FCP was to blame, but I cannot see technically why this would be so.

[Marc Mcdermott]

I’ll send something through now, thanks
Marc

[Marc Mcdermott]

I’ll send something through now, thanks
Marc

[Marc Mcdermott]

I’m editing an HDV feature at the moment, and take the drive home to continue on my macbook in my own time. I haven’t had a single problem there.

My only problem is that there is a compatibility problem with the JVD GY-HD250 camera (and BR HD50E play deck) and FCP, causing scene breaks within takes that we cannot predict or control despite two weeks of exhaustive tests. JVC are looking into it.

No problem at native resolution with the media once in though. Macbook is fine. I use Seagate Barracuda drives for the ingest. They’re rock solid and available cheapest from ebay shop “atlast Solutions!”

[Marc Mcdermott]

The fault was carried through to FCP 6 – much to our dismay, as we bought it hoping to jump past the problem. It was only due to the nature of our work with Apple that we got so much access to Apple Heads. I found the workaround.

I’m not having a go at Apple either. I think their products are great, and they DO listen to feedback and adjust their products accordingly – I can’t say that happens with many other products. I’m generally very happy with them. Since updating FCP6 a few weeks back (and it was a big update) I haven’t noticed a problem. I will make a point of repeating the original tests on the original media when I am back in work and will post my findings here.

[Marc Mcdermott]

Its definitely a glitch in FCP. A patch will be written for it and will probably be a future update. In the meantime – export as QuickTime movie – first export option, (not using QuickTime Conversion). Reconvert from there. This affects mostly those using FCP 5.1.4 that has been updated online, with a quad core intel mac, shooting HDV. Almost no other combination of workflow shows this problem. E.g. a pre intel mac isn’t affected as far as we could tell.

[Marc Mcdermott]

We shot a feature last year with the Varicam, and your problems sound familiar. Final Cut will support the camera, but a surprisingly cheap option may be to get a copy of Edius – this handles it all perfectly in native codec. It may not be the edit system of choice, but it definitely works. I got used to the software interface quickly enough too. The different speeds are displayed correctly in Edius in real time, without the need for rendering.

You can kiss goodbye to relevant timecode however. But don’t worry about that.

As far as we could establish, Avid does not, and will not, handle this material effectively. So Edius for PC systems and Final Cut for Mac. (I believe Edius will load up on a mac too.)

Good luck!