Canon HF-10 - FCP Import What am I doing wrong?
 

I borrowed a friends HF-10, shot some test footage, and imported the clips into FCP using Log and Transfer.

The clips imported fine but on playback in the viewer, the clips look like some sort of stylized effect has been applied. Same holds true when brought in to iMovie.

Is there a setting somewhere along the line I might have missed? The footage plays fine in the log and transfer window.

Would appreciate any guidance here as I have worn out a spot on my head due to all the head scratching!

Thanks

Update - Canon v. Apple
 

I spoke with the folks at Canon tech support and they tell me the camera is fine. It DOES playback properly on my HD TV through the component out. Canon says it is an Apple problem. Spent 30 minutes on the phone with Apple and they say it is a camera problem. Preview on log and import is fine. Playback with QT or through FCP is NG.

Is it possible that my older Mac Pro 2 x 2.8GHz Quad Core is at fault?

Anyone have any thoughts, please share.

Thanks

Is the "stylized" effect small lines- are you talking about interlacing?

Reed,

Your computer is unlikely to be defective. How about doing a screen capture and saving it as an attachment in this thread? This will give people here a chance to take a look at what you are seeing, and possibly allow us to assist you.

Larry

Screen grabs of video
 

Here is a link to a page with three screen grabs of a sample clip. I opened a clip with QT after importing it through FCP Capture & Transfer

Photos http://web.me.com/jrgidez/HF-10

I am taking the camera to my local Apple Store to load footage on one of their machines to see if the same thing happens.

The problem is clearly visible in the 2nd and 3rd shots. It looks like some form of severe motion artifacts, which ordinarily should not be a problem with a dual quad core 2.8 GHz Mac Pro. My first thoughts would be possibly insufficient RAM, possibly a highly fragmented hard disk, or some playback codec problem, all of which are computer and NOT camera related.

Let's see what you find out at the Apple Store. Possibly others here also have opinions.

Larry

Camera OK
 

Thanks for your observations Larry. I did go to the Apple store and the clips from the camera loaded and played fine on a Mac Pro there so the camera is not at fault.

I have 8GB of ram on board so I don't think that is at fault. I just finished a complete reinstall of FCP and that did not make a difference on a re-captured clip. I don't have time to call Apple back today as I have an appt in NYC at 6 but I will try them tomorrow.

In the meantime, I will run a diagnostic on my drives. Could MXO be monkeying with things? I may remove it from my system and see.

The Matrox MXO is a device I am not familiar with, but I would consider it highly suspect. Can you disconnect if and see if the problem persists?

Matrox MXO
 

Larry

I did indeed disconnect the MXO and tried the transfer again. Same results. I suspect a either a corrupted codec or possibly a conflicting program. Since the results are the same when I transfer the complete directory to my desktop and then invoke the file transfer, I don't think there is a USB conflict.

Could also be the video card I suppose.


Reed

A very bad case on interlace combing. It looks like the MXO may be not playing nice with QT player. MXO is a very good product for use with FCP.

So you may not have the latest software or settings may not be correct. Reread MXO docs.

Disconnecting may not be enough.

Matrox MXO is out
 

Removed hardware and software. BTW, software was up-to-date.

Smearing on video worsens with motion on the playback.

Guess I'll be on the phone with Apple tomorrow.

Reed,

I might suggest taking a look at settings everyplace to be sure that camcorder, monitor, FCP, etc. are all set for the same frame rate, field order, resolution, etc. Maybe reinstalling newest QuickTime also since FCP installer has older version.

Check
 

Hello Larry

That was one of the first things I did. Funny thing in all of this (maybe not really 'funny') is that my iMac (intel core 2) behaves the same way. As I write this, that machine is undergoing an archive and reinstall of Leopard. Since BOTH machines should be able to handle this footage (albeit one slower than the other) I find it curious that they behave the same.

Not going to monkey anymore with my Mac Pro as I have a couple of big deadlines looming.

I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

Reed

Wow!!

This certainly seems to incriminate Apple software based on the other tests you have reported.

I would welcome a chance to take a look at a short clip from your camcorder in which this flaw is evident. You could take the .mts file found in the STREAMS folder in the BDMV folder and email or post it.

It would be very useful for other FCP users here to see if they run into the same issue.

I very deliberately and joyfully dumped my most recent 8 core Mac Pro Xeon 3.0 GHz machine and FCP after finding it to be so painfully slow for doing AVCHD work, and also had a prior quad core MacPro as well as a dual processor G5 MacPro running FCP, both of which handled HDV with relative ease. I frankly detested the way Apple AVCHD was handled and how slow Compressor was, even on their highest performance MacPros.

Therefore I have no hardware or software here to repeat your experiment, but will be glad to see how the clip itself behaves, and also think that others here might be willing to spend a bit of time taking a look as well.

Larry

Apple says.......
 

.... to ZERO my hard drive and reload everything! He suggested this over taking it to the Genius Bar.

I do have the original drive that came with the system which was replaced with a bigger drive when my system was delivered. I can put that it, update it, and see what happens.

Anyway, in the interest of all, I will keep this thread updated.

Reed