I don't THINK I've got any FCP settings wrong, but it's very possible. Same for the A1. But it's the first time I've tried to do anything in HDV. FCP is saying "no communication" when I go to capture mode. I'm at the 1080p24 setting in FCP, 23.97 sequence. In the camera the downconvert is off as required. There's video coming into the computer but no control at all.

Bill, check your device control presets. There are variatons of FW control and you may not have the right one selected.

Just a thought...

-gb-

I checked that and think it's the right one. Unfortunately I'm at home now and can't tell you which ones I tried, but I believe I went through all the HDV ones.

I dunno if it helps but i was having problems getting my PC to work with my A1. I was plugging it into my front IEEE cables. I unplugged my external hard drive and plugged it into the rear one and now totally works. My guess was that just using one of my firewire was the solution. I doubt it helps but I understand the headache you are going through.

-Jimmy

I had a similar problem.

I managed to solve it by finding some App on the Apple Discussion boards that allowed me reset FCP to it's factory settings. I setup the defaults again and voila it worked.

It's called FCP Rescue 5 and can be found at http://fcprescue.andersholck.com/.

Hope this helps.

Scott

Go to Audio/Video settings and "Create Easy Setup" and go for the HDV settings. This worked for me as opposed to manually changing things around.

I did an easy setup, but what about Device Control Presets? What's that supposed to be for loading 24F?

Try these...

Sequence Preset: HDV - 1080p24
Capture Preset: HDV
Device Control Preset: HDV Firewire

You have the latest version of FCP right? I figured you did, but just in case...

Yes Greg. FCP 5.1.2 running on a Quad Xeon Intel Mac with the latest firmware.

These are generic tips that I'm sure you've already tried, but I'll put 'em up here for others:

First and most important, when you change settings in FCP, you have to open a new project for them to take effect.

Second, the camera has to be plugged in and on before starting FCP.

Third, I'm sure you've unplugged all other firewire devices to see if it works then? No firewire hub, right?

Fourth, (with a new Mac Pro, this isn't a prob,) some versions of Quicktime (7.1.1 specifically) broke the capture control.

good luck

Thanks for all the posts. I'll work on it some more when I get time (shoots going on the next few days). I'm fairly confident that what I did was not have the camera turned on and switched to the proper mode before I opened FCP. Simple thing but I forget about that because my normal work mode is to flip the breakers that turn on all the decks and monitors before I ever turn on the computer. I had the camera plugged in but turned it off (I always power down before unplugging any firewire thing even though allegedly you don't have to--I've seen too many fried drives) and moved it to the front firewire port so I'd have easier access. I think when I powered the camera back up I did not restart FCP. So I'm fairly sure that's the issue, since I was getting video into the system, just no control buttons.

Hey all,

I just got an A1 and I'm having the same problem. Shot some test footage in 24f mode, and I can't get FCP to see the A1 with the HDV1080p24 Preset. I'm still testing through the different possibilities, but if anyone has been successful in capturing 1080/24f footage to FCP 5.1.2, would y'all mind confirming the settings you are using?

Thanks in advance.

I don't have the A1 just yet, but thumbing through the FCP options, it seems as though you need to make a new device control preset under FCP menu > Audio/Video Setup

The "HDV firewire" and others are set to 29.97 fps, you'll have to duplicate that and change the frame rate to 24

See if that helps at all

I'm still having trouble getting FCP to recognize the camera.
Here are my settings:
Camera is on Ext. Cont., HDV24F

FCP 5.1.2:

Sequence Preset: HDV - 1080p24
Capture Preset: HDV
Device Control Preset: HDV FireWire Basic (tried HDV Firewire too)
Playback Output Video: None
Playback Output Audio: Default
Edit to Tape/PTV Output Video: HDV (1440 x 1080) 24p
Edit to Tape/PTV Output Audio: Default

In Device Contro Presets I have the frame rate at 23.98. I tried 24 too.
Nothing works.

Oops. Heheh...the camera is supposed to be in VCR/PLAY mode, not EXT. CONT. I had tried that already and it didn't work...but what I did this time was disconnect the camera, open FCP, click "continue" and let it fire up. THEN connect the cable, turn on the camera, and all is well. I used the basic 1080p24 easy setup.

OK, I got some clips loaded on the laptop yesterday and they looked out of sync but I didn't think anything about it because it's the slow iBook. But when I exported as a QT, they were, indeed, out of sync.

Bill,

Although I usually work in 1080i60, your experience led me to do a test clip at 1080p24. My audio/video settings in FCP are consistent with yours with one exception - under Device Control Presets, I left unchanged the choice of HDV FireWire Basic NDF and I did not change the default frame rate which is 29.97. I know that is contra-instinctual but it works. I was able to capture a clip and the audio sync is fine.

I did note that in the interface between the XH A1 and FCP 5.1.2 there was an even greater sensitivity to the pre-roll/post-roll time. Make sure that your in point has at least 5 seconds of video before it and at least 3 seconds of video after when you select your in and out points when you log the video. When I set my in point without that amount of pre-roll time, it simply failed - no message, no indication of why. But when, using the same clip, I chose an in point about 7 seconds after the clip began and an end point with about 5 seconds of video after the end point, the batch capture went perfectly.

Although I don't think that the hardware matters, I am working on a Mac Pro. I hope these observations help you solve your problem in capturing the video.

Interesting. Thanks for the tip. It could have had something to do with the minimalist iBook. I'll check it out on one of the editing computers when I have time. The 29.97 thing sounds weird. It came in at 23.97 OK with that setting?

I placed the clip on a 24F timeline and it played perfectly in the canvas. As a further test, I exported it to compressor and encoded it using H.264 (LAN) at full size.

I did a terrible job as a matter of photography - the background was better lit than my subject and so the camera, which I had left on auto focus, focused perfectly on the background rather than on my more dimly lit subject. That was entirely my fault. BUT, here is the good news, the 24F log and capture, batch capture and timeline all worked exactly as they should. It both sounds (sync) and looks fine (apart from my subject being poorly focused). Now I have to remember to turn on peaking so that I can tell when my subject is not in focus!

If I were not so embarassed by my error, I would share with you the H.264 version. It is, from the point of view of 24F capture, edit and playback, exactly what it should be. I assume that the explanation for the device control frame rate setting is that it is necessary as part of the firewire protocol.

Yeah, the cable is always the first thing to check, especially in audio.