Importing in FCE 4 with Sony V1U
 

Hey Everyone,

When importing footage in HD 1080i, 30p in FCE 4...I noticed I get no transport controls when choosing HD import through FIREWIRE/iLink.

How and what is the best way to import HDV with FCE so I get TRUE HD. I have a nice external drive on the FW800 bus of my MacBook Pro 4 gigs of ram...the NVIDIA 512 video card. So I have enough power to work...

I am just having 'issues' with the quality of the video....trying to import it in HD on the Sony V1u.

Whats your best advice?

--C

Wow...amazing response. ::rolleyes::

--C

FCE vs. FCP
 

I believe that you are not getting more answers because there are few using FCE with the V1u. I ran into the same difficulties working with FCE and getting answers from the community. From my understanding, FCE only works with an AIC codec and therefore you get no logging controls with HDV in FCE. I was able to import AIC 108060i in FCE strictly as a "capture now" and it broke clips up using my start/stop on camera. These seem to be limitations of FCE vs. a pro suite.
I upgraded to FCS and can now work in a variety of different codecs including ProRes422. Additionally, I ran into trouble with line twitter when trying to burn a DVD from a QT.mov file in iDVD. The FCS suite with compressor and DVD Studio Pro cured all these issues.
I'm a newby trying to figure this stuff out but with the FCS purchase, have found a workflow that works smoothly.

James,

Thank you so much for the info. I did (and was) able to get the same results you spoke of where FCE did 'import now' and broke up the clips as it saw fit with HDV. Luckily, the client I am doing these for called up and said "Could you please do these in SD and NOT HD"...so fate, as it were, cut me a break for now. :)

I will upgrade to studio as I have experienced issues in render with HDV that are concerning with FCE when any correction or effects are applied.

Again, for your experience, I say thanks a million!

--C

Blind leading blind
 

No problem but this is a bit of blind leading blind. I suspect that some of your issues with FCE would be resolved if the knowledge base was here. Perhaps the best part of the upgrade to FCS is the amount of resources available to work through these issues. BTW, if you do upgrade you'll find the same frustration with trying to capture directly in ProRes422. These aren't big deals with 20 or 30 min. of footage but when you start capturing multiple tapes in a project, it can drive you crazy. Good luck.