JVC/FCP Time code breaks
 

Hi,

Is there a way to turn time code off in FCP when capturing from the JVC? I tend to power on/off my JVC a lot during a shoot to conserve battery time, which apparently creates time code breaks. The result is that I have footage which FCP cannot detect, so I'm hoping that turning TC off in FCP should allow continuous capture via "Now" throughout my tape. I've never encountered any issues like this in Premiere Pro capturing continuous shots from my XL1, so I'm hoping it's a quick setting somewhere. I have tried User Preferences and a unchecking a TC setting, but that hasn't worked so far.

Thanks
Jeremy

I just think the easiest thing to do would be to buy a battery pack that lasts for more than 4 or 5 hours shooting time and get out of the habit of turning off/on the camera. I had the large pack on my XL1s and it would last at least 6 hours. When i bought the JVC, I knew the advantages of the large pack and didnt mind spending the money. All the best.

I understand what you are saying Dennis, but frankly, it's silly to have the camera generate drop frames all over the place only because you turn off power. If that is indeed the case, it should be addressed by JVC via an upgrade fix, rather thank by users buying bigger batteries.

Jiri,
I thought that using 'capture now' would do the trick and bypass the timecode anyway. No??

I don't know Dennis. I was just responding to the fact that instead of talking about the fact that drop frames are generated because of the camera being turned off, you suggested keeping the camera on all the time. This may be a solution in some situations but in many it's simply not possible nor practical. As far as I know (and have experieced), most professional cameras don't exhibit this behavior.

I was only suggesting that as you mentioned you had a habit of shutting down all the time. I have had no problem with mine but then again, I dont shut down during a shoot which could last 2 hours. I do have a problem with time code breaks sometimes and maybe this is indeed when i do shut down. I have no idea but my workflow is different from yours in this way. I may be having the same problem as you.

This is how you do it !
 

Yes there is a way to "turn off" the TC when capturing from JVC. Here is how you do it. (Note: Not working when shooting HDV only DV (long story))

First. Open Log and Capture Window, under Capture Setting there is the Device Control drop down menu. Click on it and select "Non Controllable Device" This bypasses the TC. And then Capture with the "NOW" button.
But you will have to press the play button on your Camcorder to.

A good thing to know also when shooting, have the Preset/Regen button on your Camcorder turned on "Regen" so every time you power on and off you will keep the same on going timecode,

Note somtime you need to REW. the tape just a little to get it back into the timecode.


EiB

The whole problem is avoidable if you just hit "RET" on your lens after powering up. The function is to "grab" the last TC on the tape.

All pro cams that I have worked with easily lose TC if powered down.

I appreciate everyone's reply. After experimenting with settings in both Final Cut & my camera, I am convinced that FCP cannot capture parts of a tape which have TC breaks, even when I select non-controllable device & change my capture settings. bummer - but definitely a learning experience. Justin, I will try your suggestion on using the RET button after power-up between shots now. Capture will run about 3-5 seconds as it "searches for media" then finally starts to capture. It also cuts the end of my clips short.

On this tape, I shot a freestyle mountain bike event which of course - has all of the great stunts during the TC breaks. aaarg. I can see it on the tape, but can't capture the best stuff. Otherwise, the material which I can capture looks pretty good - except for shakey video when I'm zoomed all the way in (via shoulder mount). Limited to 30P on this cam, I suggest turning motion smoothing off as well.

Thanks!
Jeremy

I don't use Apple computers, but I believe there is another capture utility you can use in conjunction with MpegStreamClip that will allow you to capture the tapes. Then you can bring the captured footage into FCP. I don't know the details, but I think I've read this.

HDVxDV is the other capture program. It's free (for 30 days) but you lose timecode.

I haven't used it much but I'm 99% sure that it captures all your footage.

In the case described above where the action is on the pieces being dropped by FCP, it would be worth a try to capture using this program. Might be able to get those shots at the end before the TC breaks of the bikes bouncing off rocks, or whatever.

Hi Jeremy.

There is a way to capture and use ALL of your missing bits of footage. I've included below a cut and paste of a post I made last September. It was for 720p25 footage, but it's easy to adapt it for other frame rates:



"I guess we shouldn't throw away our old workarounds just yet (especially event videographers).

I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but I think this workflow should be effective for adding those missing first seconds of footage into your HDV 720p25 sequence in FCP:

1. Capture the missing seconds of footage as an .m2t file from the camera or deck using DVHSCap. DVHSCap is part of the “FireWire SDK 20” package and can be downloaded from this page:
http://developer.apple.com/sdk/#FireWireX
2. Launch MPEG Streamclip (available from this link: http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html ) and open the .m2t file you wish to convert.
3. Fix the timecode breaks. (press “Apple-F”, then click "Proceed"). This is a good idea if you've captured the last few seconds of the previous shot when using DVHSCap.
4. Select your In ("i") and Out ("o") points.
5. Select “Export to Quicktime” (Apple-E).
6. Scroll through the “Compression” codecs and select an uncompressed codec (such as "Apple FCP Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2" or "Apple FCP Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2"). I do NOT recommend selecting "Apple HDV 720p25" as this will introduce an extra step of MPEG-2 compression which will tend to degrade and add artifacts to your image (especially if you are intending to export your final sequence from FCP as HDV 720p25).
7. Drag the “Quality” slider to 100%.
8. Deselect both “Interlaced Scaling” and “Reinterlace Chroma”.
9. Make sure the “Frame Size” is “1280 X 720 (16:9)” or "1280 X 720 (HDTV 720p)". There should also be a message "No scaling will be performed" when you have this right.
10. “Frame Rate” - type in "25"
11. Click “Make Movie”.
12. Type in the file name, select the destination and click "Save".
13. Import your newly created Quicktime movie into FCP and drag it into your HDV 720p25 sequence.

I would imagine that it would be rendered and then behave like all of the footage that was captured directly through FCP.

And because the clip is less than 10 seconds long, making it uncompressed shouldn't cause any problems with drive space."

Thanks David - that's great information. I will definitely give that a try. As it turns out, iMovie HD has no issues with time code, so I used that to capture my footage and imported the files into FCP. I'm relieved to have found such an easy solution. Even my Apple Pro Rep couldn't figure it out, but we discovered that iMovie does the trick - I feel much better now, but obviously surprised. Overall, everything turned out great. Thanks again for your post, I do appreciate the help.

Jeremy

I have a few questions regarding these fcp capture work arounds.

I tried the dvhscap method for the first time and I have been getting lots of data breaks once I output the file from mpeg streamclip. I got 8 data breaks in a 50 minute video.

What causes these data breaks?

I am also trying to figure out how I can find the breaks once the file is imported into fcp. I am sure there would be a noticeable break in the audio/video but I rather there be an easier way.

What a mess, lol.

Does the HDVxDV software do a better job?