Shooting directly to computer
 

I have HDR-HC3, anyone know if you can shoot and see on fly what you are getting on your computer? I have FCP HD express and QT pro, thanks!

You can capture just like when you capture in playback, but have it in recording mode. I do believe firewire cables can not be very long though, so does limit your mobility. (I have the A1, but would think with any camera you could do this, plug it in and try)

firewire cables can be up top 75 feet without a repeater. I have shoot direct to computer with 50 feet in sd without any problem fcp works great for this, sometimes the picture seems a little jumpy but this is NOT in the final product
ken

Interesting, I looked it up after you saying that, they don't recommend longer cables for everything other than cameras. Good to know if I ever want that set up.

Wow, I am a still photographer, this sounds like shooting tethered. Honestly, I prefer not having a cable flying around, and can capture at peace later, but it would be nice to get some super long FW cable ( any recommendations?)

and set up lights and just "see" without capturing what I'm getting on the computer. Is this possible with the HDR-HC3 and FCP HD express?

Try this little Gem
 

Since your working with FCE your on a Mac.
I use this little application VeeScope Live on my MBP to record directly to disk.
It even has a live Vector Scope and Waveform and can do chroma keying.
At the present it records in DV and DVCProHD but the company told me that an update will bring HDV support.

http://www.dvdxdv.com/

Try this little Gem
 

Since your working with FCE your on a Mac.
I use this little application VeeScope Live on my MBP to record directly to disk.
It even has a live Vector Scope and Waveform and can do chroma keying.
At the present it records in DV and DVCProHD but the company told me that an update will bring HDV support.

http://www.dvdxdv.com/

I am happy to explore new apps, but do I have to if I have FCE HD express?

Hi Kevin

I video wildlife in the garden straight onto my laptop hard disk. I have a 20m firewire cable - the longest I've been able to buy with 4pin connectors at each end.

The only problem I've had is in getting used to a second or two delay between operating the A1 from the laptop and seeing the result - especially if you are zooming or focussing manually. Also one day I was recording through the open kitchen window (when I had only a 2m cable) and had a problem with the sound - I recorded a loud bird call, which played back on the laptop and was close enough to the A1 to be picked up and recorded again - and again - and again etc. The answer was to turn off the sound on the laptop.

Oh, and I was using premiere elements 4

The QT plot thickens
 

I was going to say you can just use iMovie 08 or 06 but I've just tried it on HD and there's a delay of about 2 seconds. Not a lot of use! The delay is much less on SD.

Also, I used to use a videograb window in GraphicConverter on SD for monitoring, but with HD I can't stop it using the built in iSight instead of my A1. It works fine SD 4:3 but distorts 16:9 as 4:3. There's a short delay here too.

Here's the bit I found interesting: when I tried a new video recording in QuickTime (7.4.1) Pro this is what happened:

• I can tell it to look for the A1 for video and microphone in QT preferences
• SD 4:3 works fine
• SD 16:9 distorts as 4:3
• HD gives me a black window in the correct aspect ratio and also gives me a message about a QT component missing and directs me to the QT components download page. But it doesn't tell me which is the missing component (I already have the QT MPEG component).

*This is the same message as I get when trying to capture QT HD files from my Firestore FS-4 Pro 60 GB. Maybe I'm getting somewhere now - I'm going to get Applecare on to this. I'll let you know how I get on.

EDIT: Forget the FS-4 ProHD. For some reason I hadn't noticed this thread:
www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=82616
It looks like I'm another member of the "I wasn't told this when I was sold the package" club.

I would still like to find why QT Pro doesn't like making movie recordings in 16:9 SD and HD.

thanks,
Colin, what is SD, A1,

You tried on FCP express HD, and there is a delay of 2 sec, why?

Now for judging composition, and , exposure etc, that would not matter really.

Most of the thread is over my head. Bottom line, easier to monitor with a field monitor than a laptop or desktop?

Sorry Kevin - "Standard Definition" and Canon XH-A1.

I hadn't tried using Final Cut Express for live capture from a camera, but I gave it a try just now. Standard Def 4:3 gave me a small viewer window but I couldn't get it to capture. Standard Def 16:9 came up with the wrong aspect ratio and I couldn't find a setting in Easy Setup to change this.
It may be that I have to change setting on my camera but I couldn't get FCE 4 to record live from the camera.

Hey Colin, I thought A1 on this board was the Sony A1.

Life is confusing enough for those of us who happen to have both the Canon (XH) A1 and the Sony (HVR) A1.

I believe iMovie '06, '08, and Final Cut Express can't record HDV "live" from the camera, since they only work with Apple Intermediate Codec and must transcode the incoming HDV signal. I know the live video image in iMovie '06 is disabled with my Z1 outputting in HDV mode, and I suspect iMovie '08 and FCE are in the same boat since they only work with HDV by transcoding to AIC.

I've read here on the forums of people using Final Cut Pro (which can work with native HDV) for live recording, and ScopeBox currently has a new version in beta testing that will record HDV, but I expect it will be quite expensive. If Veescope comes out in an HDV version, that could be promising.

If someone else has gotten Final Cut Express to record HDV live from the camera, I'd love to hear it. I'm trying to avoid buying multiple copies of Final Cut Pro to support switching to HDV.

-Terence

I record with quicktime pro
because when I record with imovie 6 it crash very often and it take 3 or 4 time of restart to make it work good.One other thing important
is to leave a cassette in the camera in my case(sony A1u).But quicktime pro is the most reliable.