[Ted Coakley]

Hi Shane, thanks for your reply!

[Shane Ross] “It is a direct copy, only the container is changed from MXF to MOV”

When I view the camera original footage on computer (an editor can use a MXF/P2 viewer like P2ViewerPlus, don’t need to be the shooter) what I SEE that FCP has made is clearly NOT a “direct copy” of what I see that the HVX200 made. I can see this by the fact that there are outer/edge image elements in the camera-original footage that are seen in P2ViewerPlus, that are NOT seen in FCP’s Log/Transfer .MOV files.

Despite being a shooter for 20 years, and an every-blue-moon editor (going back to “The Cube” and Razor if you remember those! plus FCP 2-7 and various Premieres), I don’t fully GET scaling/anamorphic/squeezing/containers/codecs. I know how to frame/compose/block/light/expose/direct, but I’m no tecchie and it’s always a struggle for me to keep up with the changing formats/technologies!

What I DO know is that this HVX200 DVCPro HD camera original shows outer/edge parts of the image that the FCP .MOV files don’t.
Regardless of the explanation, it IS happening.
Not much is being cropped, yes a small fraction, no not a huge chunk.

[Shane Ross] “Camera Viewfinders are set to OVERSCAN…so you can see all of the image. And several broadcast monitors have this option too, so you can see all the way to the edge.”

I hear ya, I think about that, too! But, regardless of camera viewfinders or broadcast monitors being set to overscan, I’m looking on a computer screen in a P2ViewerPlus window that shows all the camera original MXF/HVX200/DVCProHD image – which does NOT show up in the FCP Log/Transfer .MOV files.

[Shane Ross] “Know that TVs and Computer displays will crop that edge anyway…and you cannot plan to have the full image seen. This is why there are ACTION SAFE and TITLE SAFE zones.”

I do know that many TVs will crop the edge (albeit mostly older models, tubes and the like), but computer app windows (i.e. QT, VLC, FCP, etc) don’t typically crop image files. Even if some TV or app DOES crop the image, I don’t want FCP Log/Transfer (or anything else) pre-cropping my camera-original in the first place! Otherwise, there should be a FCP-LOG/TRANSFER CROP zone in my viewfinder in addition to ACTION SAFE and TITLE SAFE, right?

[Shane Ross] ” I’m wondering if FCP’s and QTs interface crops a little of those edges.”

I’m wondering that, too 🙂 It appears it does do that – and not just on the display, but FCP maintains the same cropped image on Export (as I can see the same cropped image exported in Finder). Is it doing that? If so, then a) is it supposed to? b) Is there a way to get it to NOT destroy part of my image, or are we to be stuck with that edge destruction (cropping) as an inherent quality of FCP Log and Transfer? I’m thinking those are the questions I need answered, if anyone here knows those answers.

Thanks!!

[Ted Coakley]

Hi Steve, thanks for your reply!

In my case, FCP is NOT scaling my 720pN24 .MXF/DVCPro HD footage to 1280×720.

What FCP is doing in my case is converting my 720pN24 .MXF files/DVCPro HD footage to 960×720 .MOV files (as I can see when I Reveal the resultant Clips in the Finder), which are lacking some of the cropped-out edge imagery (as I can see in Finder, FCP and QT). So, scaling to 1280×720 is not the explanation in my circumstance – so the problem remains.

By the way, even if the footage WERE being scaled from 960×720 (1.33:1) to 1280×720 (1.77:1), that should only cause a cropping in one dimension (not both both a vertical crop AND a horizontal crop, as I’m seeing in my situation), right?

Finally, whatever the reason for the cropping, in no case is it “no problems, nothing to worry about” that FCP is cropping my footage. I don’t want to be dealt footage to work with that is different than the way I chose to shoot it (does anyone?).

Thanks again,
Ted

[Ted Coakley]

Hi, I’m looking for how to do the same thing on FCP7.
Any solutions known for this?

Thanks,
Ted

[Ted Coakley]

Jeremy,

Why do I not want to hear about it being a firewire bus conflict? Is that a major pain to resolve – like hard to find a good PCI card, or some other reason?

[Ted Coakley]

Jeremy:

The doubt I mentioned is because as an application develops/progresses, newer versions are not supposed to take away capabilities of previous versions, but rather maintain and/or add them. Thus, if FCP4.5 can handle 32kHz, then fcp5.1.4 should also be able to.

And, note: with no changes made on my computer, the Media Time, Reel field and audio/video sync problems have suddenly disappeared for the last 6 captures.

There is not a 32kHz dv Easy Setup in 5.1.4, NOR in 4.5. I had to create preset/Easy Setup for that, myself.

[Ted Coakley]

Jeremy:

I didn’t mention the 32kHz earlier, because that hasn’t caused conflict with FCP4.5, for years, and I really doubt Apple would design the later FCP5.1.4 to all of a sudden not work with 32kHz audio.

Why would FCP be transcoding to 48kHz on the fly if my sequence and capture settings are for 32kHz?

As for the deck sending 32kHz audio out as 48kHz, nope. You can adjust the deck to record in either 32 or 48, but it automatically sends out whichever signal is on the tape. That’s what I gathered from going through the operations manual and the remote-controlled menu functions last night.

[Ted Coakley]

Hi Wayne, thanks for your reply.

The Media Time Start/End resetting problem and the Reel field changing problem both just started yesterday, lasted through about 8 captures, then the next six captures did not have the problem.

The audio/video out of sync was on about 5 of those first 8 captures, then on none of the last 6 captures.

The Capture process playing through the segment twice problem has been on all 14 of those captures, though on some of them, the first and/or 2nd pass wasn’t on the entire duration of the segment.

This is all from VX-1000 footage (minidv, 32kHz audio, DropFrame), and it is default & permanently set to record time code – you can’t change it to NOT record timecode.

The timecode IS recorded properly on the footage I’m digitizing, as it reads fine from my deck’s Display function, it shows on my studio monitor, and FCP 4.5 and QT both show the timecode as fine. It is just FCP 5.1.4 that is having this problem.

I AM set up to Make New Clip at Time Code Break, but none of the footage I’m digitizing has any Time Code Breaks.

Editing is part of my bread and butter, but if running correctly FCP 5.1.4 SHOULD be good enough.
On that note, I have friend working in Hollywood, working on A-list shows shot on film, cutting with FCP 2 or 3 on some old mac from that era, and using his old box tv that you have to bang the side to get it to warm up as a “studio monitor”. Of course, he is an exception, and I’d prefer to have the newest of new (if I had an I.T. person to work through all the kinks and roadblocks that come with each new update), but the point is, that if working right, nobody usually has the NEED to update/upgrade/BUY each new version (a.k.a. eat everything fed to them). He just has his old setup dialed in right, and flys on it all the time….

Thanks for your reply. Any more thoughts?

[Ted Coakley]

what is rs-422?

[Ted Coakley]

Hey Jeremy, your help is much appreciated.

As for NDF, nope, my footage was definitely originally recorded DF. It was shot on a camera that only can record DF.

As for splitting DSR11 to the Mac, and FW drive to the PCI card – I could try that (take time to find where the best deal is, go buy it), and I might, but I suspect it is not related to that. The reason why is that for several years, and still now, w/FCP4.5, this problem doesn’t happen (as I have FW drive plugged in to FW800 and DSR11 via FW400).

It appears to be related to FCP5.1.4’s capturing, not to the hardware arrangement.

Any more thoughts on it?

[Ted Coakley]

Why should I try Capturing from DF video into a NDF project? What good would that do?

(sorry, I don’t get the point of that).