Randy Lee
Forum Replies Created
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The finished product right now is somewhere around 90 minutes, I believe. And it is cut anything like how the producer wanted the part that I worked on in Final Cut, there is a cut every 10 seconds or less. I don’t think that the editor that cut it is going to have time to export everything like that, nice as it would be. It could be, though, that I could get access to a Premiere system if he could send us the files for me to use, and that I could export it all that way. I should know by end of this week what we’re going to have to do. Thanks for all the help!
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That is really what I expected, I’ve kept up enough on reading the COW to have been almost sure, but hey, I had to ask. We’ll see what we end up needing and doing, I’ll hopefully finish up my part tonight, and then when I meet with the producer again I’ll try to get a better handle on exactly what he needs done. Thanks for the input.
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Exactly what I expected to hear, and what I told the producer last night. I’m not sure exactly what he has in mind, but I’m hoping for some solution other than re-digitizing parts of over 50 tapes that I don’t think were very well organized, and if there are other measures that won’t let us re-build the project but will get us the files we need, that might be enough. If I knew just what he needs, I’d have started asking for tapes to re-digitize already, but I hope not to need to.
Premiere exports .AVI files, doesn’t it? What would be the equivalent of say a DV50 or 8 Bit Uncompressed QT, if I were to ask for that?
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If that were needed, and I’m not sure that it is, we should clarify that you would have to be in Quicktime under System Preferences, don’t waste your time in the Quicktime Player, that wouldn’t do you any good. But I really don’t think that you should have to turn that one for DVCPRo 50 exporting. Something else has got to be messed up along the line somewhere. Especially if you were able to use the footage… You could always duplicate your timeline and change the encoder for it to DVCPRo 50, force everything to render, and export a self-contained. Or you should be able to export this codec out of Compressor. Or could you not see or use the footage at all?
Or are you in After Effects and need to render out the footage? More details would help us help you out.
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Hmm… It sounds like you should have everything set up correctly. I’m not sure what to say, as long as you’ve got the camera in VCR mode before you’re starting up Final Cut. I guess I would open up Audio/Video settings and try a bunch of the other Device Control Presets, like HDV FireWire, or Uncontrollable Device… I’m not sure if you can use that one with HDV, but its worth a shot. Otherwise you might have to call the manufacturer, or if you rented, whoever you’re renting from. I’ve never used that particular camera, but from what I used, the XL H1, all your settings look to be correct. I didn’t realize that the camera records Drop Frame, but that really shouldn’t affect capturing at all.
Does anyone else have any ideas? I’m out.
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It can be done, and we’ve got to be close. You can play back the tape in camera, playback std. set to HDV, right? So it is HDV 60i, and it’s not a tape problem?
Could you give us a step-by-step of what you’re doing and the settings that you’re using? Every setting in the camera and Final Cut, and we can see what we need to do from there.
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The best route, if you have any budget at all, would be to contact a Post house in the city that your client is in.
I’ve used AIM, AOL Instant Messenger, to transfer larger files than 4 gig, it gives you a direct connection for file transfers to the person that you’re chatting with. You might have to split up your video and have another person connect and “chat” with someone else on their end to send files right away, but then the post house could easily put the videos together and put them on a DVD or tape for your client.
Of course, FTP or another service like Aspera, which I haven’t used, would work too. But I would definitely recommend contacting a post house in the city that your client is in, so you make sure that your video gets the proper treatment and doesn’t land in the hands of an intern that has no idea what he’s doing, leaving you with a very upset client.
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When you’re testing it again, take it from the top. Final Cut off. Camera in VCR mode. Firewire Cable not plugged in. Check your settings in the menu, set Playback Std to HDV if it was shot HDV, or DV if it was shot DV. Check your Downconvert setting to make sure that it is off if you want it off, or on if you want it on. Shut the camera off, plug in the Firewire cable to both the camera and the computer. Turn on the camera in VCR mode. Open Final Cut.
Go to Easy Setups and if you aren’t down-converting, go to HDV, 60i and under deck control, Firewire Basic. If you’re down-converting pick NTSC DV and Firewire Basic. Open up your log and capture window, and let us know what happens. Make sure you follow all of these steps, you can’t access the camera menus with a firewire cable plugged in, and Final Cut can be finicky about cameras if it is already on when they’re plugged in. Plugging the camera into the computer while turned on can fry firewire ports. Do other cameras work in that port on the computer?
Give us exact details on what else you are doing to try to bring in the footage and we can try to help more. There seem to be quite a few issues with people not checking their settings and then having problems digitizing.
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Yes, a regular Superdrive can burn HD DVD to a normal DVD. You need to make sure that in DVD SP you set the project to be HD. Then you bring in your video and menus if needed as usual, build as usual, and can either burn from DVD SP or Toast when you’re done. The actual physical DVD is the same as any other, a DVD5, also called a DVD-R or DVD+R. The only difference is that the 0s and 1s that you’re burning to it conform to the HD DVD spec instead of DVD. And make sure that your projects are short enough to fit on a normal DVD, over half an hour or so won’t fit. I believe this sort of thing has been discussed before on the COW, so if you’re going to go that route, a quick search should give you everything you need.
Best of luck to you, and let us know what route you end up going with.
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Did you figure it out yet? A COW search for your camera would have come up with directions on how to get it working. You need *not* have the firewire cable plugged into the camera, set it into VTR mode, (not the next click out on the wheel, external control or something of the kind), then hit menu and pick your settings (to downconvert or not to downconvert, that is the question….). Turn the camera off (Don’t want to fry your firewire ports), plug the firewire into the camera and the computer, turn it back to VTR mode, turn Final Cut on, and choose the appropriate setting, HDV or DV and a Firewire Basic control.
That should give you enough to muddle through, since I don’t have the camera or Final Cut in front of me to give exact settings and details. Good luck. I loved the camera when I had my hands on one. Enjoy, and let us know if you need anything else.
Oh, and it seems like when I was laying back to tape as DV footage, I had to use Firewire, not Firewire Basic, to control it. Hope that helps.