[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Kevin Monahan] “Thax is the MAN! Probably one of the best troubleshooters on the board.”

Uh Oh. Now I have to try to live up to the HYPE 😉

Thank you, Mr. M.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

But in your first post you clearly stated that you created a “Custom Canvas Size” in the Sequence Settings.
This is not the same thing as using the “Crop” settings in the Motion Tab.

A “crop” will not change the aspect of the video, it will only add black bars at the chosen edges of the image. The image will remain unaltered except for the “mask” that appears over it.

Custom Canvas Size can affect the actual aspect of the image and therefore degrade it.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[seth823] “for no apparent reason, when I switch to a custom canvas size (in the Sequence Settings) and then rerender everything – all of a sudden a bunch of interlace-looking lines appear on everything (even after I export).”

No surprise here.

Maintaining image-size/aspect, as captured, is a major factor to maintaining the highest quality finished image.
Changing the Canvas size can be very destructive to a video image when it requires pixel interpolation, reposition, expansion, and re-rendering to fit the adjusted aspect.

For the best quality results, you can CROP the 4:3 to 16:9 letterbox (and if you reposition the image, make sure that the VERTICAL change is to an EVEN WHOLE number).

If you must “squeeze” the image, it would be better if you used the “aspect” control in the Motion Tab (under the Crop section) to “squeeze down” the vertical size and do not make any expansion of the horizontal aspect, nor do any repositioning vertically.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[jhwilson] “why couldn’t I then use the Firewire NTSC to start the recording of the DSR-11 and try it that way?”

Because you need to have FCP controlling a TAPE (and the TC needs to be ON the tape) for the “controllable device” setting to work.
If you try to initiate a RECORD on the deck using FCP, then FCP will NOT be in the capture mode (FCR would be attempting “playing a timeline” out the FW.)

The DSR needs to be in the PLAY mode for FCP to initiate a capture (INCOMING files to FCP).
If attempted, once you manually stop the deck and/or try to go into deck Record mode, FCP will detect dropped frames.

All of this is moot anyway, because to have the DSR-11 be controlled by FCP FW, the deck must be in the “DV” input mode and the analog inputs to the deck would then be switched off (no switcher input or external audio would go to the deck).
Manually switching the input setting would result in FCP losing contact and dropping frames.

What happens if you don’t hit RECORD on the deck, (no tape in the deck at all) but just let the video/audio “loop through” (e-to-e) the deck (A-to-D transcode) to FW and FCP?

I say this because if that works, you might be able to use (here I go again, until you respond to me on this) a CAPTURE CARD (Canopus or otherwise) instead of the deck that is in RECORD mode (which MIGHT be a factor in this).

As you can tell, I have a lot of trouble-shooting experience (decades of it).
As new gear and technologies come along, it takes work to discover what causes certain problems under certain conditions.
So please keep me in the loop so we can try to get this fixed for you one way or another.

If anyone else lurking can suggest something we’ve overlooked, please post-in.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[jhwilson] “I am suspecting a time code issue with the non-controllable device.”

I’m just not so sure about this.
While its an interesting theory, I don’t think that, logically, it should be the problem.
Even if you have a TC “present” in the signal, FCP won’t be able to “control” the device and so you’d still need to use “Capture Now”.

I’m not sure what you have tried:
Have you been able capture cleanly for an hour from the DSR-11 while PLAYING a TAPE… AND still only using the “Capture Now” feature?

I suggest you experiment with the following:

Hook a DV camcorder DIRECTLY to the Mac via FW.
Do not put a tape in the camera.
Just turn on the camera, point it at something and hit Capture Now (non-controllable device) and see if you start dropping frames.
Since the non-rolling camera will not generate TC, you’ll see if you have the same problems you do with the Videonics > DSR-11 as the input source.

If it is OK with just the non-playing camcorder, try connecting using the Videonics > DSR-20 combo.

If it is still NOT working with just the non-playing camcorder, you could try the adding TC-generator box that was suggested.

Please post back as you experiment.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[jhwilson] “even though it leaves me where I started.”

Not if trying another capture card (like a Canopus) works better for you.
https://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1222384&CatId=1424

But, from your description of the problem (starts OK, then starts dropping frames after a time) sounds VERY MUCH like it IS a “too slow/too full” hard disk problem.

100+ GB HD’s are very expensive these days.
You might install a new one and see what happens.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

I don’t think I mentioned TimeCODE.
I did discuss TimeBASE.

If you’re using a digital source (like the Videonics) and still getting dropped frames, it may be that your Capture Scratch Hard Drive is too slow to make a long-term captures.
Is it an internal drive, and NOT the one with the Mac System folder and FCP on it?

If you experience no problems with capturing from the DV tape that you record during the live show, that may be your best solution.

I know it adds another hour to the production, but some things just don’t work given a certain combination of gear.

(You might try using a different camcorder or a digital capture card to transcode to FW and into the Mac/FCP.)

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

What KIND or analog source are you using?

If its VHS or similar tape-based source, (or even some free-running sources like a live camera) there is usually severe timebase error (video NOT playing at the standard and constant frame-rate).
A monitor can usually compensate for these, but they can wreak havoc when trying to dub to another video device (which is attempting to record the video frames at a more precise and constant speed.)

The best way to dub a tape with poor stability is to connect its deck through a true timebase corrector (TBC) and/or frame sync device (with a large enough “window” to compensate for the non-standard source.

Or, if you have access to a small digital “Video Mixer” (more precisely called a digital Video SWITCHER),
Panasonic, Videonics and DataVideo all offer these units.
The switchers can act as effective TBCs because they use internal digital clocks to “create” a stable video signal even from from various “un-sync’ed sources.
So you can feed your unstable VHS (or other source) into the switcher and send the switcher’s “stable” output to your DV deck.

Panasonic:
https://www.studio1productions.com/vid102.htm
https://www.studio1productions.com/vid100.htm
and others

Focus:
https://www.focusinfo.com/products/mx-4/mx4.htm
https://www.focusinfo.com/products/mx4dv/mx4dv.htm

And the best of the bunch, DataVideo:
https://www.datavideo-tek.com/products/se_800_main_page.htm

Certain of these video switchers can usually be rented from companies that set-up “Hotel Ballroom Events” in most cities.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

A possible solution for this kind of thing is by using a “whole bunch” of FireStore drives.
They connect to the FW camcorder and record to HD.
Then unplug it from the camcorder and connect to the Mac for immediate editing (or FAST transfer).
You could periodically change/add the FireStores as the “live event” continued.

Here’s a link
https://www.videoguys.com/FireStore.html

Quote:
“Once you have finished shooting, FS-4 and FS-4 Pro are mounted to your Mac or PC editing system like a normal FireWire hard disk drive. Transfer clips to your NLE’s media drive at up to four times real-time or edit instantly with up to three streams in real-time* using FS- 4 as your media source.”

There’s a FireStore Forum here on the COW.
https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_view_posts.cgi?forumid=178

Maybe, post a question there?

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

I just did a “Search Posts” and found a lot of discussion of this.

Set to “All Active Posts” and INCLUDE the Archives.

Use the exact term: Sony DSR1500
(Don’t use the “dash”)