xl1s capture...what happened?
 

I recently got my xl1s back from the canon factory service center in NJ. I Shot a few tapes worth of footage at a local recording studio and when i captured the footage, the audio is out of sync. 4.08 seconds it seems. Im using final cut pro4 and have never had this problem before. Im also having very jumpy and sloppy video playback. im using a g5 dual. again, never before have i had this problem. does anyone know whats going on? are there capture settings either in fcp or on the xl1 that im overlooking? im coming into fcp 48k ntsc. the audio is just 12 bit, as its important for reference only. im really confused as to what i did that made things different. perhaps something was done during the factory service that i need to reset for my particular situation??

please help.

heath

How does the footage look and sound when you just play it back on a television?

looks fine through the rca outs. I've noticed that in the logging info, its got my audio listed at 16 bit, which may expain the 4 second buff. how do i change that for when i want to import 12 bit audio? Also, on the video thing.. its only jumpy looking in the canvas. not when im just marking in the viewer... for this project i have the video source data on the same drive as my system data, but i have done this in the past with no problems. im thinking about deleting everything and trying to recapture with 12 bit to an external fw drive. maybe that will fix my problems..

suggestions?

heath

Heath,

12 bit mode also changes the sampling frequency to 32khz. This may or may not be related to the audio sync issue. Make sure you tell FCP that your audio is 32khz.


=gb=

That is the problem. The capture and sequence settings should agree. If you shot 12 bit, then it's 32KHz, that's the way it is. Get your settings right and recapture your footage and you'll be all set.

it appears as though fcp4 wont accept 12 bit audio. i guess i shouldve investigated this before shooting. anyone know a workaround? ive already adjusted the audio, but im still having really jumpy playback on the canvas. the view looks great. is this a processing issue?

When I first switched to FCP 4 from FCP3 I noticed it was acting 'funny' in the canvas, but it stays in the canvas, whenever I render it out of FCP its still just as smooth as the day I shot it. Good luck with the audio problem.

Heath, what everyone is saying is that FCP does accept 12 bit audio, but you have to check your settings during your capture and your timeline to make sure they are the same.

So while FCP does accept 12 bit audio you could always try exporting your audio out as 16 bit 48khz aiff and then reimporting it and lining it up. This might force FCP to treat it the way you want if it is acting funny.

I just dont see where to get 12 bit audio for capturing. I see, under preferences, that i can go to advanced quicktime audio settings and either select 8 bit or 16 bit.... but no 12. i switched my capture to 32k and tried again to capture, this time no audio made it through. i assume its because of something i changed either accidentally or from trying to solve this issue. Ill never record 12 bit again, i know that.

how, though, can i change to 12 bit capture for this situation?

you know, i haven't done this in a long time because it was such a pain. i can't find 12-bit anywhere today either! from FCP help it looks like you should set your sequence and capture settings to 32khz 16 bit because really all this means is that your sample rate will be the same but your number of samples will just be off... i don't think 16 bit vs. 12 bit should matter:
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During capture, make sure that you always set Final Cut Pro's sample rate to that of your recorded source material. Mismatched sample rates can result in pops and crackles in the audio, incorrect audio/video sync, and generally diminished sound quality. Use the following rates, depending on your source material:

• 32 kHz if you're capturing media from a DV camera that was set to 12-bit recording

• 44.1 kHz if you're using your microphone input or other audio interface

• 48 kHz if you're recording from a DV camera set to 16-bit recording or if you're recording from an audio interface capable of this rate


If you edit clips into your sequence that don't match your sequence's audio sample rate, Final Cut Pro resamples your audio during playback. Mixing 44.1 kHz audio and 48 kHz audio sounds acceptable, but if you want to do this, your audio will sound best with the audio rate of your edited sequence set to 48 kHz. Upsampling audio in Final Cut Pro sounds better than downsampling it.


WARNING: Mixing 32 kHz audio (12-bit) and 48 kHz audio (16-bit) in the same sequence may result in slight audio distortion and will reduce the number of real-time mix tracks available to you.

The settings are under Final Cut Pro HD>Audio/Video Settings>Capture Presets Tab>Click on the preset in the list, that you want to edit, probably DV NTSC 48 kHz. If it's locked, it's a default and you can only edit a copy. Change the audio to 32 kHz, 16 bit. I think older versions of FCP had a 12 bit button, but I wouldn't swear to it. Give it a new name and you have a new capture preset in your list.

thanks guys, this is pretty much exactly how i dealt with it. there is no 12 bit setting apparently, but the 32k rate is hugely idiotic of me to have used, anyhow. Really, i didnt notice until after starting and i didnt think to double check beforehand because it had never before been set to 12bit. canon repair reps mightve thought it was cute, mark one for them. its my own fault. they did, however, really quickly deal with my broken camera and get it back to me. kudos to them.

thanks for the help, players.