[Tom Matthies]

A “Q” monitor is simply a Sony monitor that is capable of accepting different standards of video, NTSC and PAL for instance, without any modifications. It can “playback” different video standards depending on what format is fed into it.
Tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller

[Tom Matthies]

Also looking at t picture of the TBC on line. You want to feed a reference signal to the REF. input on the TBC. If you don’t loop it, you need to terminate it. Then take the advanced sync (ADV SYNC) from the TBC and hook that up to the sync/reference input of your deck. Hopefully you are using a broadcast deck with this input. Make sure the deck is set to external or “TBC” reference if equipped.If tour deck will accept it, also hook the subcarrier output (SC OUTPUT)from the TBC to the deck as well. Then take the composite video from your deck and hook it to the off Tape Video input of the TBC. If your deck is so equipped, feed the dropout compensator signal (DOC RF) into the TBC as well. That should be about it. If you are using a consumer type deck without the various inputs, you might want to try using a full frame TBC or Frame Synchronizer instead of your TBC. You won’t have control over the vertical phase otherwise.
Tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller

[Tom Matthies]

Note the phrase “RED footage” a couple of posts up. The LHi won’t be able to display the footage at it’s native resolution. I believe that the Kona 3 can.
Tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller

[Tom Matthies]

As John notes above, it’s really not so much the software, it’s the way you are using it. If you are cutting multiple cameras, do use the multiclip feature. It will eliminate many of the problems you are experiencing. Also you state above that you are using USB drives for media? Another bad idea. USB drives generally don’t work well for editing. Use Firewire 400/800 or eSATA if you are on a budget. Dump the USB drives.
Tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller

[Tom Matthies]

FYI- I tried to set in negative handles while capturing. Doesn’t work.
Oh well. Seemed like a good idea.
Tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller

[Tom Matthies]

Use the razor blade to add cuts to the top track(s) over the clip you are changing. This way it will only need to render the small part you changed rather than the entire timeline.
Tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller

[Tom Matthies]

What is the output format of your switcher? Is it an analog or a digital output? Composite or component? Find out just what is coming out of the switcher and hook it up to the correct inputs on the IO based on the format-analog composite, Y/C, component or SDI video. You should be able to open up the IO control panel, set the inputs to the correct settings and see video. Final Cut may over ride these settings but it will tell you if the video is getting into and thru the IO. Try doing this with FCP not running. Now if you see video thru the IO, open up FCP and go to the capture presets and select the AJA one that matches your switcher’s output format. Open L&C and see what shows. Make sure that you have both audio AND video selected for capture. I have a suspicion that you are not selecting the proper IO format to capture (or feeding the IO the wrong inputs based on the switcher’s output format) and that’s why you have no video. Check this and post back.
Tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller

[Tom Matthies]

Actually, Bob, the D2 format was considered to be “Composite Digital”. A composite analog signal was digitized, turning it into a data stream and recorded onto the tape. Kind of like feeding an analog composite signal into a frame sync and then recording the resulting digital information onto a tape. The parallel digital thing was utilized to allow digital transfer in and out of the machine. I don’t believe that component SDI digital had been invented yet. Or at least it wasn’t in wide use. D1 was about the only component digital option at that time. Using the parallel digital signal through a digital switcher like an Abekas A-82 would allow “lossless” (yea, right) digital compositing when fed back into a D2 machine. I saw a demo where 100 generations of green screen compositing was done using pre-read on a D2 machine. At that time, it was like watching magic. Now we all take things line that for granted. We’re so spoiled…
Tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller

[Tom Matthies]

Eureka “Flash Across” Free plugin that will do this. Google Eureka Plugin
tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller

[Tom Matthies]

Low RF can cause excessive dropouts to become visible. It can cause a noisy, grainy looking picture. Lines moving horizontally thru the picture. tearing at the top or bottom of the picture especially when the tape path is misaligned. It’s easy to see low RF. It can be very difficult to find just what the cause is. To properly align a machine takes specialized tapes, jigs and tools and a lot of know how. The best thing to do in a PVW-2800 is to look at the tracking meter and turn the adjacent knob to maximize the deflection of the meter to the right. It should be solid and steady-no wavering. Basically, you are looking at the RF level in a simplified way.
The 2800 is usually a pretty solid machine. If the meter is showing good tracking and you don’t see any tearing or flagging at the top or bottom, you’re most likey good to go. If it varies too much, you see tearing or noise in the picture, you might want to contact a qualified repair site.
It’s also possible to get excess RF off of the tape. This will usually indicate badly worn heads. It sometimes can be seen as short, black horizontal streaking going to the right of certain highlights or areas of very fine detail. You’ll know it if you see it. It’s ugly.
Tom

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.–Ferris Bueller