Has this happened to anyone?

I'm running FCP 4.5 and hooked up to a Sony DSR-20, with the video/audio output set to firewire (with mirrored on desktop)....

I'll start up FCP, with the deck on... and it all works great (video/audio output over firewire from the timeline)... but then stops output to the deck for no good reason.

here is the head scratcher.... if you "print to tape" it works great (audio/video output to the deck).....

BUT... if you "preview" the bars and tone to the deck, I get nothing...

AND.... I can still log, capture and control the deck through log and capture...


just no video/audio output from the timeline.





any thoughts?

When faced with similar problems I have only had success fixing it by quitting FCP and throwing away preferences.

When relaunching FCP don't forget to (re)set scratch disks.

There were two things which might cause this in older versions of FCP, so probably worth taking a look.

1. Make sure the canvas and viewer windows are set to "fit to window" using the button at the top. If you set the view to 100% instead, sometimes it would disable firewire output randomly.

2. Close the log and capture window when not actually capturing. If left open it would also cause the same problem.

Otherwise, Mike's suggestion is the current wisdom. Here's some more detailed info about deleting/restoring preferences:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=310257&postcount=6

danke mucho... will give it a shot.

When you say throw away preferences or trash preferences I don't understand what you mean.
Do you mean that you just change them?
I'm having a similar problem when I try to insert edit to my sony dsr-25 on DVCAM tape.
FCP won't let me do it. But I thought that was because FCP assumes that because I'm using firewire it thinks I'm using a consumer grade mini DV recorder, and the manual says that preview is disabled when using mini DV format.
Michael

Sorry, I explain that I'm using FCP 5 on G5.
Michael

#8 External Monitor Viewing.

Shane's Stock Answer #8:

A simple path is mac > firewire > camera or deck > rca cables > tv

Then start up your camera and tv, then open fcp.

Then go View > External video > all frames
Video playback should be Apple firewire NTSC (If you are using an NTSC set)
Audio playback should be Audio follows Video

Techinially, this should send synched video to your TV

If for some reason you can't view your timeline on your external monitor, there are a few things to try:

1) Make sure that the camera/deck is connected and powered on BEFORE you open FCP.

2) In the Final Cut Pro menu select AUDIO/VIDEO Preferences and make sure your signal is being sent out thru Firewire DV.

3) Go to the menu and select VIEW>EXTERNAL>ALL FRAMES.

4) Click in the % box above the image and select FIT TO WINDOW.

5) Go to VIEW->refresh A/V devices

6) Make sure the Log & Capture window is closed

If you want it to play in both the canvas and the external monitor you need to go to the FINAL CUT PRO menu and select AUDIO/VIDIO settings and make sure MIRROR ON DESKTOP is selected under the PLAYBACK OUTPUT section