[Paul Jay]

First thing i’m thinking off:

Do you have the latest BlackMagic Design driver/firmware?
Have you done basic troubleshooting?
Thrashing FCP cache/prefs
Booting with Shift + restart.
Booting with Command/Alt PR

Also you should do some testing without any external drives connected.
To know for sure if the problem is caused from inside or outside the system.

[Paul Jay]

Connect your HDV camera directly to your TV. Play the tape. How does it look?
If still bad you really have chosen the wrong camera. HDV is nog great HD quality.

[Paul Jay]

FX1 is a HDV/DV camera

So it can shoot HDV or DV.
Have you shot HDV?

If yes you should capture it using a HDV1080i50 or HDV1080i60 easy setup.
This way you don’t loose any quality.

Also you have to realize that HDV is heavily compressed codec, which shows in detail.
Even in HD on a HDTV

[Paul Jay]

Maybee i’m missing something here but i think you’re only option is:

1.Create a list of all the clip names/numbers that are used in the final edit and put these files in one folder.

Convert those files from H264 to ProRes 422 or HQ in compressor.
Borrow your friends macs for one day 😛

Compressor on an 8 or 12 core is your friend in Cluster mode-> system preferences -> Qmaster)

When finished.
Create copy of your sequence
Make proxy files offline.
Reconnect with the new 422/HQ files
Copy/paste edit in new ProRes 422/HQ 1920×1080 timeline
Remove attributes Scaling/distort.

[Paul Jay]

On default After effects exports a Quicktime file with Animation codec.
This codec can’t be played back realtime in FCP.
Choose an export codec that FCP likes. Like ProRes HQ or ProRes444.
Or Create a ProRes timeline in FCP. Import your After Effects export and render.

[Paul Jay]

If footage is shot 16:9,
Every clip should have the Anamorphic flag on. If not turn it on.
DV timeline should be anamorphic.

‘Capturing’ 16:9 is just adding Anamorphic flags to the clips.

[Paul Jay]

RAID 0 is super fast. But you better have a good backup strategy. If one disk fails, it’s OVER!!!

[Paul Jay]

Capture scratch?
You mean log and capture window.

Is the capture window black or does it say ‘preview disabled’?

Your deck is connected through firewire? Any other firewire devices connected?

[Paul Jay]

Use the EASY SETUP

Choose format: NTSC
Choose framerate 29.97
Click on formats.

Which one do you see? Is it there? DV50 should be there.
Which FCP version do you have?

[Paul Jay]

Are you dumping with SDI or Firewire to DVCAM?
Check your audio/video settings. Alternative edit to tape/print to video settings could cause this.

If you’re dumping SDI. Choose HD as primary format in AJA control panel. SD as secondary format.
Choose HD playback settings in FCP.
Connect SDI device to Secondary output.