Mac Genius: What's This Problem?
 

I'll get right to the point.
When i plug in my camera to my Power Mac, it makes a sort of -Me-moo- sound repeating and than its just a soled -mee-. And now, it's constantly dropping frames, final cut is crashing, and it doesnt always drop frames in the same place, making me think that this is a problem with the COMPUTER not the tape?
How exactly is video taken in from the computer? Would it be through the Firewire (thats how im plugged in)? Or does the graphics card have anything to do with it? I have a 64mb graphics card, or something like that (but it still has two dvi outs? weird?) So does anyone know if i should buy a new firewire PCI-X card? Or A Graphics Card? Or any other suggestions?

First question....

Do you have an external hard drive on the same firewire bus as the camera? If so, you need to separate them by installing a second FW board. Your graphics card has nothing to do with bringing in the video/audio.

If not, your existing fw bus may be encountering a problem. Once again, try a different FW bus by using an additional card to isolate the problem.

If you can plug your camera into another computer (say at an Apple store), that might help to nail down the problem.

You might actually need a new FW cable, try another one if you can.

May be time to schedule an appointment at the Apple Store to have it repaired.

Just my troubleshooting thoughts that came to mind first.

-gb-

Yeah, they are on separate boards, and I am out of warranty (by a while) so i think i will buy another firewire card, i was planning on that anyways. Another thing that happens is when i plug it in at first, and its making that mee-moo sound, i have to jiggle in the camera, and than the HDV sign on the camera stops blinking. It blinks in unison with the sound, so could this be a problem with my A1 maybe?
This is the reason I bought an HV30 so i could capture, but of course THAT doesn't even work on any computer i try (thats for another thread though)
Sorry about leaving out the previous information in the previous post, i was going back to edit it when i already saw your reply, thanks for the speedy reply!

Which model of computer? Processor, RAM, hard drive capacity? Which version of Final Cut? What version of MacOS are you using? These are questions that we need to know to move this problem along.

That sound is very odd and if it happens on all the FireWire ports, it's possibly the camera that's dysfunctional. However, until we know your system, it's very hard to guess.

Alright here it goes!
Specs:
Power Mac G5 1.8ghz
Ram:1.5gbs
OS 10.4.11
HD is a 160 but i use an external 500gb Lacie.
Final Cut Studio 6.0.4
Attempted on A1 AND HV30.
Capturing in ProRes 422 (HQ)
I'm sending my dad with the tape tomorrow and an HV30 to see if he can upload it on his avid at work.
Symptoms:
Constantly dropping frames in random places.
Randomly Quitting.

I know its a low amount of ram and basically the bottom of the line processor, but the thing is, I've done this before, and its worked. Now it just STOPPED working. This is my first bar mitzvah i've ever shot, and I've run into a HUGE snag, just my luck=( This has gotten so severe that me (a "Macaholic") is debating buying a $1,000 Windows system and putting avid on it.
Once again thank you for your help and speedy replies!

G5s are not recommended to digitize ProRes 422 in HD, particularly if you're transcoding from HDV. It'll work fine in native SD most of the time, although you're working with an older G5 model, which certainly negatively impacts your likelihood of success. Yes, your RAM is way too low for video work on any modern computer. Have you tried just digitizing the native HDV?

Yeah i've tried to do it in normal HDV codec, and it worked better! but i still got frame drops=/ I think it looks like time for a MacPro? Or would you suggest getting more ram and hoping that fixes the problem?

Nah - why waste the money on upgrading a several-generations-old computer? Just put that $200 you'd have spent on RAM into a new Mac Pro instead. If the budget is too much of a stretch just yet, perhaps you could just shoot SD for your project(s) for the time being, and wait until you get paid for another job before you pounce?

Besides, I don't think HDV encoding puts too high a demand on RAM - although I'm sure it factors in. It's got to be more a question of processor cycles. A new machine is in order.

I was both hoping you say id need a new machine, yet dreading it. hahaha guess i'll have to put my steadicam dreams on hold

no! No! Don't buy a PC yet. Sounds like hard drive fragmentation or processor overload. I capture ProRes 720p on a dual G5 all the time. You might not be able to capture ProRes with a single processor. Try capturing an m2t stream right off the tape with DVHScap and transcode it with MPEGStreamclip or use ClipWrap. You are pushing the limits of your system.

is there a way to defrag a mac hd?

yeah i actually just purchased that after googling. hahaha man i hope this works! its either new MacPro or steadicam, and i much rather use the steadicam!

I have a dual G5 1.8 Power mac and I have no problems capturing HDV and editing it as ProRes. I looked at your specs and the only thing that could be causing the problem is your hard drive setup. You should get a second internal drive. Never capture video to the system drive and only use the external for storage.

Software defragers are not recommended for a mac and can mess up your system. Your better off having a 2nd drive dedicated to video that you delete after your project is done.

Do not do the following with your system boot drive, only with data drives.

You can transfer all the files on the fragmented drive to an external drive. Reformat the fragmented drive and return the files to the reformatted drive. Fragmentation will be reduced substantially.

Again, DO NOT do this with your system drive!!!!!!!!

that was a close one, i was planning on doing it to my system drive tomorrow! hahaha honestly at this point, i don't know whether its the camera or the computer. I'm going to sammys tomorrow and I'm going to try uploading on their MacPro. I assume they will let me since if it works there, i'll be buying one.

Loren,

There seems to be a few things that could potentially be problems with what you're attempting.

First FCP 6.0.4 has proven to be much more stable on 10.5 than even 10.4.11; there are many API's and other code-monkey items that were optimized in FCP 6.0.2 specifically for OSX 10.5 and have proven buggy with 10.4.

Next FCP especially wants to see even amounts of RAM, even in the G5 machines. Bring that 1.5GB up to an even 2GB at least - or better yet max the RAM out to what your budget can afford; FCP 6 and especially OSX 10.5 will take advantage of all the RAM you can throw at it.

Next, you might be suffering from an ill-maintained directory. Purchase and download DiskWarrior from Alsoft, create the bootable disk and run it's routines.

Also, download and run all the automated routines in Onyx; it too will clean up old files and fix errors that can cause these issues.

Lastly, iDefrag can be used on the boot/OS drive with ease and if it's never been done would substantially improve performance. The publisher of iDefrag also has a CDMaker program which will create a bootable disk with iDefrag as the only app which will allow you to defrag your OS drive. We've been using iDefrag on our OS drives once a quarter for 3 years with zero failures/errors. HOWEVER, you must only defrag a drive that has FIRST had any directory issues fixed - that means DiskWarrior must be run first before anything else.

Before plunking down cash on a MacPro (which ultimately isn't a bad choice) try this stuff first and if you're still having issues let us know.

well the verdict is: It was the camera, i went to sammys and tried using my camera on a macpro, and than theres set up there. It worked on theirs, so it was my camera, and i sent it in for repair today. 3 weeks=(