"No Communication" in FCP
 

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

Similar Problem
 

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.

New A1 User Same problem
 

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.