[Mark Maness]

I think the “time of day” format may be your problem but it should still make the new clips automatically. We are using in the HDV mode and downconverting it to DV for now. I haven’t really run into to many of these problems but it does happen from time to time. I think what we have is a new technology running for the first time on FCP so there will be bugs. Also, there may be a translation problem with going from HDV to DV. You do know that HDV is a long GOP format, of which standard DV is not. I’m not sure if the maching has to convert this when downconverting but I’m betting that this is your problem.

Why are you downconverting to DV? Do you have to mix it with standard def footage from another format like BetaSP? If you don’t, I would suggest that you digitize your footage as DVCPRO HD and edit in HD then using your capture hardware, downconvert it to SD video for BetaSP or whatever format that you are using.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

Don’t know about the timecode probelm you are dealing with. I’ve never had that one before but I think I would check your offset number in FCP preferences.

We have a Kona2 system using the XDCAM setup, and I have noticed a luminance shift when digitizing IMX30 and IMX40. Now, using IMX50, I have no problems at all. I feel this might be an artifact of that FCP has RT support for IMX50 only.

When you digitize the IMX30, do you notice a stutter in the playback – kinda like a field reversal issue when played back thru the viewer or canvas windows. I can reproduce it eveytime on both of my systems and they are totally different setups. One is a dual 1 gig G4 with a AJA IO and the other is a dual 2.7 G5 with a Kona2. I don’t feel that this is an issue related to the capture hardware because AJA doesn’t have a IMX codec to speak of, but Apple’s is used. On my G4 system, we have to digitize all of the IMX footage as DVCPRO 50 and the G5 handles IMX50 just fine. I’m not an engineer, but I think it has alot to do with the processing of the codecs and the IMX codec is the newer of the two so it was programmed for the G5. But this is only speculation on my part.

Don’t hang me to dry if I’m not exactly correct. I’m just giving you my experiences and workflow that we have to follow.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

Well, I have never had to have more than 5 streams of IMX so I don’t know about that. The Multicam should work just fine. I did it once. BUT here’s the real problem, FCP cannot handle IMX30 very well at all. You’ll have to render it just to view it from the timeline and the screen will flicker from time to time. We use IMX50 and it works great. No problems at all.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

You might want to check your User Preferences. Look to see if “on timecode break:”, Make New Clip is selected. Give that a shot, otherwise i have no problem with it. I just seem to have the opposite problem. Sometimes it will still make new clips even after I have turned off that option.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

I am a current user of all this new technology. We use the Flip4Mac MXF Plugin and it works greaat. It does only have one issue that I’m not very keen on. When you import your footage, it imports all eight channels of audio even if you only used two of them. But it does work and works really well. There is a word of caution though. Make sure that you shoot all your footage in IMX50 codec only and you need a really fast computer for the video tracks to be realtime. IMX is a processor intensive codec so be aware of that. Oh yeah…. one more thing. You need to have your shots on the disc shot as individual shots as takes instead of the old school of just letting the tape run. If you do this you may end up with a 10 minute long Quicktime movie that you may only need 30 seconds of. So, when you are shooting and you need seperate takes, press the record button off and then on again to make a seperate clip on your disc. This will relieve you of alot of headaches.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

Trinity… Jerry’s right. You’re going to kick yourself in the pants, but its simple and it rather bothersome that youy have to do this. But… Go to your Audi/Video Settings and check A/V Devices. Make sure that you check the box that says Different Output for Edit to Tape/Print to Video and select your HDV settings you are using. Now, it will work. I think this is a bug but I don’t think Apple sees it that way.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

I’m sorry, but I didn’t clarify myself very well. What I meant was that older LaCie drives like most people have don’t handle DV very well at all. I can tell you from experience that is a true statement. Now, all of LaCie’s newer drives have no problem at all and I will continue to use them in the future. But for main media drives, nothing beats out a good RAID of some sort. ONLY firewire 800 drives are capable of DVCPRO HD video and HDV. BUt like I said, a drive that’s about three years old is not going to handle it very well, if at all. I have several of the d2 drives and they will just barely handle DV – one to two streams at the max. I always get some stutter from those drives if I edit a long program. Therefore, a good RAID is always best.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

Ah ha… I know your problem. Simple. LaCie external hard drives are not fast enough for HDV, nor are they going to ever be unless its one the new RAID systems they offer. Now, your RAID… It must be firewire, right. If so, then you need to purchase another firewire card for that. I have my systems with the internal system firewire and a firewire card installed. I use the PCi card for the AJA IO and the internal for DV or HDV control and capture to my SATA drive RAID. Give that a shot.

Let me say that I really suggest that you invest in a SATA RAID or something other than firewire if you plan to stick with HDV. It will be much more relialible. Not to say thay firewire is no good, just not in this case.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

Have you checked to see if in your menu settings that you have TC Make set to Preset? If no, that’s the problem. After that you have to set the timecode on the machine. Firewire will not pass timecode to a Sony DV machine.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Mark Maness]

You need to render your timeline. Even though it is HDv in an HDV timeline, it needs to be rendered again.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions