Canon XH A1 as a deck
 

Hi,

I tried to print to video from Final Cut into the camera. Somehow I did not get the settings right. It was set to Manual mode and the camera would not record onto the tape. I think there was no communication with FCP.

Is there a way to get this running fine?

Many thanks.

Kind regards,
Pavel

Hi Pavel..............
 

VCR mode, not Manual.


CS

Probably camera problem
 

Thanks Chris, it seems this will be Canon's issue. I can't get signal into the camera even in VCR mode, just blue screen remains there. I tried to play with different settings - nothing helped.

Interestingly, today as I was capturing different material from my other camera, an older Panasonic, I left it in VCR mode, then moved cursor onto the timeline in FCP and the picture immediately appeared on the Panasonic's LCD. (same FW cable as used for Canon)

Hmm, what to do ... send to repair facility I would guess.

Pavel

The DV tape tab wasn't set to SAFE was it?

Cheers.

I think its just a setting either in the camera or the editing software. I've only tried to print to tape on the XHA1 one time. I was unsuccessful and had a similar problem. It was'nt a big deal because I was just playing around withthe camera. I dint spend anytime trying to figure it out. I'm also fairly certain that i've seen a similar post ont he fourm before about this.

Nope, a brand new tape is used. The problem is that the picture does not appear on the Canon's LCD at all. Sequence settings and all that has been checked and experimented with.

Hi Kevin
 

I agree. What strucks me that the old Panasonic works fine, but the Canon does not. It is HDV project so I can't use the Panasonic as a deck.

Thanks.
Pavel

Some good News
 

Ok, I found the thread

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/what-hap...rint-tape.html

I deals with Vegas issues. I remember in 2002-3 I printed SD project from Vegas to Canon GL without problem.

Anyhow, after reading the thread I managed to get picture onto the Canon LCD (select View / Apple Fire Wire PAL) only in PAL resolution. Also I had to change in sequence settings Square pixel aspect ratio and turn on Anamorphic to get correct aspect on the Canon's LCD.

Now I wonder since the FireWire preview is only available in PAL would the film by printed in HDV?

Thanks a lot.
Pavel

Research
 

Here are additional info from Capturing HDV Into ProRes Via FireWire | Moviola ? Training for Avid, Apple & Adobe | Production & Post Production Rentals & Sales | Los Angeles, Hollywood, Burbank
in relation to ProRes, but addresses also some of the Print to Video / Tape output possibilities.

Quote:

Outputting To HDV Tape from FCP:

Even if you capture and edit your HDV as ProRes, you can still output to HDV tape. Just like native HDV, your only option for recording back to HDV tape is to go to the File menu and choose Print to Video. If you do need to go back to HDV tape, be aware that the video will need to be conformed back into HDV, which could take a pretty long time depending on the length and complexity of your sequence. This conform will happen automatically when you choose Print to Video.


I rendered out the entire piece (1920x1080) ProRes (LT), made a new sequence for it imported in to FCP and now printing to HDV video.

Anyway, I will do my best and share it here.

Regards,
Pavel

No LUCK :-(
 

Hello,

no luck so far. Is there anyone who managed to output HDV signal to Video from FCP to XH A1 successfully around?

Many, many thanks.

Found another thread here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xh...video-hdv.html

Still no luck ...


Seems this post is becoming a monologue. :-)

Would anyone share their wisdom please?

Thanks again.

Print to Video HDV to Canon XH A1 from FCS3
 

Ok, got it running - I followed these instructions. They are simplified for use with XH A1 and FCS3:

1) Turn on your XH A1, with NO firewire cable connected, make sure the following is selected:

PLAYBACK STD: HDV
AV to DV:OFF
HD DOWN-CONV:OFF

2) Then connect a firewire cable between your XH A1 and your Mac

3) Start FCP

4) Go to Final Cut Pro menu, select Easy Setup, Select HDV 1080i60/i50

5) Go to A/V Settings and select the following:

Sequence - HDV 1080i60/i50
Capture - HDV
Device Control - HDV Firewire Basic


After the footage was conformed to HDV I did get preview on the Canon's LCD.

Be careful here, you must first press REC+PAUSE on the camcorder and then quickly press "OK" in FCP to begin the Print To Video process.

NOTE: The sequence setting must be set to 1440x1080. HDVi50
compressor, it will not work with HDVp25.


My last question would be should I set the sequence field order to Upper or None?

Hope this helps & thanks for tolerating my ignorance.
Pavel.

All over
 

Ok, quick update.

Once I got all tests running fine, in hopes I loaded the master sequence and begun the print. But after while FCP's conforming made complain that I don't have sufficient hardware to render at requested quality and bit depth, because of 'Looks' plug in.

Oh, well. I tried.

Now the good news
 

If you have gone all the way here with your reading I congratulate you.
Why?

Because I finally managed to print to video smoothly.

Here is the recipe:

Firstly export the entire colour graded project with effects, etc. into a self-contained movie if you work with HDV. Then load the movie file into FCP7, place onto a new sequence, affirm the settings (see attachment on the exact sequence setting).

And then happily print the movie onto the tape via firewire and with preview on XH A1 LCD.

The quality is great and because it is interlaced I imagine the content will be viewable on many decks including Sony ones.

Hope this helps any other DVInfo friend if one needs to print to video their the beloved movie project onto MiniDV in HDV format using Canon XH A1 as a deck.


Kind regards,
Pavel

Re: Canon XH A1 as a deck
 

Thank you Pavel for continuing to problem solve this issue oh so long ago. I am struggling with it today but may just switch gears to a different camera. It should not be so hard! I have changed the settings to match up etc. It finally starts to record on my camera then stops and refers to the output connection or something like that. Way too frustrating.
Will seek out a borrowed panasonic camera. But thank you for all you posted. Does anyone have an update that might be useful?