HDV capture problems

[Paul Alister]

My problem is occassionally when capturing recorded HDV from either my deck or from my JVC HD101 (at 25p), several seconds wont capture. It's playing through my monitor but the capture device suddenly cant locate it. Then after several seconds or so it resumes capturing! I use new JVC HD tapes and this does not happen when capturing SD. This non capturing has happpened only a few time in a tape ( of one hour), but understandably its a concern. This is my second project Ive shot on HDV and its happened both times.

I use FCP studio and OSX 10.4.8.

Any solutions?

Thanks
Paul

[Chad Terpstra]

None yet for 24p or 30p. See this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=80679

[Diogo Athouguia]

When I upgraded the firmware to able the Anton Bauer's batteries info to be displayed, the thechnician told me that the upgrade causes some kind of incompatibility with FCP. I didn't care because I use Premiere.

[Paul Alister]

Im seeing my JVC tech guy tomorrow who says there is a firmwear upgrade to fix this problem

Paul

[David Knaggs]

Originally Posted by Paul Alister

Im seeing my JVC tech guy tomorrow who says there is a firmwear upgrade to fix this problem

Hi Paul.

Could you please post the results of this (your new attempts to capture) after your firmware upgrade?

Rob Castiglione has the GY-HD111 (with what we've been assuming is the latest firmware) and it still had problems capturing (which caused Rob to have to solve the capturing problems in a different way).

So, if this really does "fix" the problem so that we can go back to recording timecode normally (i.e. in REGEN mode) and never have any gaps or breaks mid-clip, then we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

[Paul Alister]

David,
Sorry, it turned out it was the BR HD50 that needed the firmwear upgrade and event hen its not guarenteed to fix the problem, according to the tech guy I spoke to. I explained I have the same porblem when trying to capture through my camera! He said it's a problem Apple is aware of and working on.Hopefully there will be (another) upgrade soon for FCP that resolves this problem!

So in the meantime Im interested in ANY work arounds besides buying Lumier or any other MAc program, unless there is a cheap HDV capture pragramme out there that works?! I will also look at the suggesting in the link by Chad, including recording in rec rather than regen.
Thanks

Paul

[David Knaggs]

Originally Posted by Paul Alister

He said it's a problem Apple is aware of and working on.Hopefully there will be (another) upgrade soon for FCP that resolves this problem!

Hi Paul.

Yes, I'm becoming more convinced daily that the only true and satisfactory solution will come from upgrading FCP to be less "temperamental" with regard to capturing native HDV 720p and I suspect that they will have to change the way FCP perceives and handles the incoming video stream and its metadata (i.e. timecode, etc.).

The main thread listing the current workarounds with FCP is a "sticky" at the top of this forum:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=75138

Originally Posted by Paul Alister

So in the meantime Im interested in ANY work arounds besides buying Lumier or any other MAc program, unless there is a cheap HDV capture pragramme out there that works?!

Here's an oldie but a goodie. It's free. It works using AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) which is supposed to be visually lossless and gives excellent results. It doesn't retain original timecode, but it will capture everything perfectly (no breaks or gaps). And it's quite fast, once you get used to it. It's rock-solid.

Below is the full method, step by step (it's just a cut and paste from a post I made back in July):

CAPTURE:
Capture the .m2t files from the camera or deck using DVHSCap. It is part of the “FireWire SDK 20” package and can be downloaded from this page:
http://developer.apple.com/sdk/#FireWireX

CONVERSION:
1. 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.
2. Fix the timecode breaks. (press “Apple-F”, then click "Proceed").
3. Select your In ("i") and Out ("o") points, or omit this step if you wish to convert the entire clip.
4. Select “Export to Quicktime” (Apple-E).
5. Scroll through the “Compression” codecs and select "Apple Intermediate Codec".
6. Drag the “Quality” slider to 100%.
7. Deselect both “Interlaced Scaling” and “Reinterlace Chroma”.
8. Make sure the “Frame Size” is “1280 X 720 (16:9)”. There should also be a message "No scaling will be performed" when you have this right.
9. “Frame Rate” - type in "25"
10. Click “Make Movie”.
11. Type in the file name, select the destination and click "Save".

EDIT IN FINAL CUT PRO
1. Launch Final Cut Pro.
2. Open "Easy Setup", select "HDV - 720p30" and click "Setup".
3. Make a new sequence (Apple-N).
4. Double-click the new sequence to open it, then select "Sequence - Settings" (or press Apple-0).
5. In "Editing Timebase" select "25".
6. Under "Compressor" select "Apple Intermediate Codec".
7. Click "Advanced..." and under "Preset" select "HDV 720p" then click "OK".
8. Then click "OK" on the "Sequence Settings" window.
9. Now import your converted AIC files and drag them into your sequence and (if done correctly) there should be no need to render.

[Jonathan Nelson]

Originally Posted by David Knaggs

Hi Paul.

Yes, I'm becoming more convinced daily that the only true and satisfactory solution will come from upgrading FCP to be less "temperamental" with regard to capturing native HDV 720p and I suspect that they will have to change the way FCP perceives and handles the incoming video stream and its metadata (i.e. timecode, etc.).

The main thread listing the current workarounds with FCP is a "sticky" at the top of this forum:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=75138



Here's an oldie but a goodie. It's free. It works using AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) which is supposed to be visually lossless and gives excellent results. It doesn't retain original timecode, but it will capture everything perfectly (no breaks or gaps). And it's quite fast, once you get used to it. It's rock-solid.

Below is the full method, step by step (it's just a cut and paste from a post I made back in July):

CAPTURE:
Capture the .m2t files from the camera or deck using DVHSCap. It is part of the “FireWire SDK 20” package and can be downloaded from this page:
http://developer.apple.com/sdk/#FireWireX

CONVERSION:
1. 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.
2. Fix the timecode breaks. (press “Apple-F”, then click "Proceed").
3. Select your In ("i") and Out ("o") points, or omit this step if you wish to convert the entire clip.
4. Select “Export to Quicktime” (Apple-E).
5. Scroll through the “Compression” codecs and select "Apple Intermediate Codec".
6. Drag the “Quality” slider to 100%.
7. Deselect both “Interlaced Scaling” and “Reinterlace Chroma”.
8. Make sure the “Frame Size” is “1280 X 720 (16:9)”. There should also be a message "No scaling will be performed" when you have this right.
9. “Frame Rate” - type in "25"
10. Click “Make Movie”.
11. Type in the file name, select the destination and click "Save".

EDIT IN FINAL CUT PRO
1. Launch Final Cut Pro.
2. Open "Easy Setup", select "HDV - 720p30" and click "Setup".
3. Make a new sequence (Apple-N).
4. Double-click the new sequence to open it, then select "Sequence - Settings" (or press Apple-0).
5. In "Editing Timebase" select "25".
6. Under "Compressor" select "Apple Intermediate Codec".
7. Click "Advanced..." and under "Preset" select "HDV 720p" then click "OK".
8. Then click "OK" on the "Sequence Settings" window.
9. Now import your converted AIC files and drag them into your sequence and (if done correctly) there should be no need to render.

Thank you for pasting that procedure. I think I am going to try that method on my next hdv project. I just finished capturing a tape that was split up into 30 different clips. What a complete mess this has been. I will miss tc but it sounds a lot easier then what I have been dealing with. Biggest problem will be archiving.

Hopefully, Apple will have an update soon. I wonder what causes this problem.

[Paul Alister]

Yes thanks very much David, very much appreciated what you wrote. I will look at it on Monday and stast using it until Apple indroduces an upgrade that fixes this problem!

kind regards
Paul

[Jonathan Nelson]

Seriously, where would we be if it wasn't for all these smart people who figure out a way around these issues!


We would be up shit creek without a paddle or at least I would.

[David Knaggs]

Tim Dashwood did all of the early research and posts into AIC and its workflow. (I just simply adapted it for my specific uses with 720p25.) We're very lucky to have him as moderator of this forum. (Same goes for our other moderator Nate, who did a lot of early pioneering work with this camera.)