Capturing 24p in Final Cut=Dropped Frames
 

Hi, having a little problem here. I shot some 24p footage with the Canon XL2 for the very first time yesterday. I used the 2:3:3:2 advanced pulldown when shooting.

My setup is this:
Mac G5 Dual 2.0
Final Cut Pro HD
Lacie External 120GB Firewire Drive

I have my XL2 connected to the Lacie Drive via Firewire.
I have the Lacie Drive connected to the G5 via Firewire.
I set the Sequence Preset to DV NTSC - 23.98
I set the Capture Preset to DV NTSC Adcanced (2:3:3:2) Pulldown Removal

When capturing, I immediatley get the "dropped frames" error, and capturing stops. This happens every time. I am confused as to why this is happening because I just finished a project that was captured via the same method above, the only difference was that the footage was regular interlaced, 29.97 fps video. It captured fine then with no problems. The difference now is that I'm capturing 24p, AND I'm using the new XL2 instead of the XL1s. So I'm wondering if the problem lies within those two variables?

Now, I decided to do a test and just tried capturing the same 24p to my regular internal Mac Hard drive instead of the Lacie. That method captures normally. Amazingly enough, I didn't change the daisy chain and it still worked. (Camera -----> Lacie -----> G5.) So, apparently it works fine capturing to my system even though it has to go through the Lacie external drive first, yet somehow trying to capture straight to the Lacie firewire drive will result in dropped frames? Something is odd here. Is this a XL2 problem, a FCP 24p problem, or just a problem with my external drive?

I come from a PC background where having a separate drive for capturing is pretty important. I assumed the same for the Mac so I bought this Lacie drive. I'm wondering if I really need it now, as it seems to be capturing fine on the Mac harddrive. Any comments on this would be appreciated. thanks

I have the same computer. It seems lots of people get dropped frames when capturing to an external firewire drive. The internal ATA drive is faster. The best alternative is to keep your 160GB internal drive as your boot drive, with all of your applications on it, then install another internal ATA drive in the extra slot in the G5. Apple has all of the wiring and even the screws you need already inside for you! I installed a new 250GB ATA drive in about 3 minutes, and they only cost a little under $200. Use that as your capture/scratch disc, and you should be all set.

It's a problem with the daisy chain. Sure you can leave it chained and still capture to the internal drive. If you capture to the firewire drive the data goes from the camera, to the firewire drive, to the computer and back to the firewire drive. That's the problem! Just leave it out of the equation or put it on a separate bus and NOT daisy chained.

ok thanks guys, for now I'll just capture to the Mac harddrive until I can get a new internal drive. thanks for the comments.

Connect the XL2 directly into the front FW port of your G5 - or make sure it has its' own dedicated FW port from the back of the computer. Do not connect your DV camcorder, in this case an XL2, to the FW loop out of your hard drive(s). It's ok to loop FW hard drives together of course, but it is best to give your DV cam its' own dedicated FW port.

- don