Adobe On Location - Setting up HD200 Camera
 

I have been trying for an hour now to set up On Location CS5 with my HD200 camera. First off, I am able to see camera output via the field monitor in On Location and the camera is identified properly via firewire. The issues I have is when I attempt to record a clip, nothing happens, nothing is recorded. (perhaps my laptop - I3 processor is under powered although I have 4 GB DDR3 ram)

The camera is set to Syncro as I use a DR-HD100 hard drive for most shoots. If I look at recording file format drop menu, the options are grayed out. I have my HD200 set up from 720x60fps.

Any ideas / help would be appreciated!

I think you need to set to an HDV spec. Rich, try some different camera setting, including DV for testing purposes.

Actually thats a good question Paul, I wonder if onlocation can actually capture at 60fps 720p.
Will test some more - thanks.

Tried a few more settings, 720p at 30fps and onlocation still won't record anything. Very strange as I see video in the field monitoring. Will have to open adobe support ticket I think.

Have you tried it without the DR-100/syncro? I've used onlocation with Cineform and HD111E. I'm not sure how the 200 is different or if it has any other menu options.

I did try all the settings other than syncro also, but still had the same issues. I will try another PC and report back, maybe there is an issue with my laptop - thanks.

Same issue XH-A1
 

I'm having what sounds like the same issue with my XH-A1 and OnLocation CS5. The field monitor looks fine, the Record button is clickable, but OL will not create a clip.

since the camera is displayed by the program, it is not a firewire issue. Does the camera record to tape while connected? If it does, then it's not a camera issue either.

The best bet would be to reinstall On Location and try again with default settings.

I tried the same camera on another PC with onlocation installed and it works, I think it's my laptop that must be underpowered, either that or the I3 processor is not supported.

OnLo has been around for a number of years, so your laptop should not be a problem as far as speed. I have a 5 y/o lappy that I use and it works fine. Try 1440x1080i and see if it works.

On Location is able to capture DVCProHD from the HVX200. Serious Magic added that ability before they were bought out. The HVX cannot be set to 24pn mode, or the FW was disabled the last time I worked with one...

You won't have very good results with an HDV capture setting because the HVX isn't an HDV camera and OnLocation isn't capturing baseband and compressing the video...it's taking a data transfer. 1080 DVCProHD has a 1440x1080 framesize at 25fps (European, etc.) settings, but at North American settings of 29.97 fps, it's 1280x1080. The DVCProHD codec saves a 960x720 framesize in 720p mode.

Also...in 720p, the 'television' standard framerate is 59.94...there is no other framerate that the FW port will carry, which is why when you set the camera for PN mode, where the camera actually dumps redundant ('pulldown') frames in the 59.94 fps stream when you choose to shoot with a cadence of 23.976 or 29.97, the FW port goes dark.

Make sure that On location knows that it's looking for DVCProHD data...which it probably is if you see a picture, but also verify that your settings for recording are consistent. (I'm not in front of a computer with OnLocation at the moment, so I can't list each one, unfortunately.)

If memory serves, this sounds like a bug we found very, very late in the game that is caused by a webcam being detected. The telltale sign of this bug is that the webcam is listed among the cameras in the dropdown list when you click on the Field Monitor panel tab. If you see it there, then you'll need to disable the webcam. This applies to builtin webcams as well as USB webcams.

Incidentally, the fact that all of the Recording File Format options are grayed out is by design. OnLocation records HDV only to the M2T format, so you don't have any options.

Hi Mark,

The webcam may be an issue as it is one of the cams thats listed. I will disable and try again.
Thanks for the info all!

Rich

Last night when I posted, I was going off of memory, and I was none to sure that I was on the right track. I've now double-checked the bug report and, miracle of miracles, I was right on the money.
This bug is limited to HDV; the other two supported formats (DV and DVCPRO) are not afflicted.

Sorry for the hassle. I hate to tell a customer he needs to disable a perfectly legitimate piece of hardware or software in order for our program to work right. Chalk it up to a late change in the code and insufficient testing with a webcam in the equation.

Thats great Mark, I really appreciate your post! I figured it was a laptop issue :)
I will test this out again next week to see if the problem is resolved by disabling the onboard web camera.
Thanks again!