FCP4 - Trouble using "Capture Now"
 

This is the first time I've ever attempted capturing in Final Cut Pro 4. I usually capture in FCP2 since it is much better. But anyway, I have the capture disc set up and everything looks proper. The capture window only updates maybe once every 5 seconds (very slow). I click "Capture Now" (batch is not an option for me as I want to do it myself). It takes maybe 8 seconds and finally begins capturing after allocating disk space. I press "ESC" when finished and it just goes back to the Log and Capture window. No option to save the clip I just captured. It's just GONE!

I am using a Dual G4 with DDR RAM. I just added 512 more megs of RAM today. Should I not have done that? Does FCP's performance DECREASE with more RAM? It is the same brand of RAM that Apple installs.

Any ideas?

Tell me more about the disk space, size, ext, int, how they are set up to capture.

Disks are all internal. I am not capturing to the boot drive, but the 60 Gig Maxtor drive I call Drive 2. I only have 2 drives at this time. Capture and scratch disks, everything is set to use Drive 2. I didn't see any other settings. Final Cut Pro 4 is obviously installed on the Mac OS X boot drive, which is not Drive 2. There are usually around 45 Gigs of space free on Drive 2, and yes, it is 7200rpm.

Final Cut Pro 2 (installed on the same drive as FCP4, only under OS 9) uses Drive 2 as it's capture and scratch disk, etc. It works fine. So I assume there must be something totally messed up in my FCP settings. But when inputting video through the firewire in FCP4, the updates on the capture window are extremely slow, so I don't think it is a drive problem. If you like I can always do a screen shot of a particular preference menu and post it here so you can see how it is set up.

Do you have Norton anti-virus software installed? It conflicts with Capture Now. Capture Now seems to have some problems and is not as stable as it could be. In Preferences look to see what the Capture Now time limit is set to. If set for too long, FCP has problems allocating disk space. If set too short it may not start capture or will end too soon with spinning ball. FCP 4.02 may help. But if you're capturing from XL1, there are increased reports of other capture problems. So it may solve some problems, but cause others.

With a certain video card too much RAM is a bad thing. Not sure if this is the case for you.

Capture Now is limited to 30 minutes (at least according to the dialog I get). I don't have Anti Virus (I'm on a Mac--don't need it). I do have FCP 4.0.2, and what I was trying to do was capture from the Sony Media Converter Box (I forget the model number, but it was the first one available I believe). I haven't tried with an actual camera yet. It seems to be a data issue with the firewire in my not-so-expert opinion. It's as if it is coming through in spurts.

FCP2 still works effortlessly, however, so it's GOTTA be a bug in FCP4. I hope they release a few more updates soon.

Try it just once without the Sony box. I t may not be certified for FCP 4.

I tried with a camera and it works *mostly* fine (I'll get to that in a minute). Why would the box (Sony DVMC-DA1) not be "certified" for FCP4? It worked great in previous versions. You would think that Apple would want to improve compatibility in newer versions instead of decreasing it. Apple needs to fix this now.

As for the camera, it seemed to capture the data just fine. However when I pressed "ESC" to finish capturing, the clip just went away, and I have no idea where it went. In FCP2 when I do this, the clip appears in a window above and gives me chance to save and most importantly rename the clip. FCP just sends me back to the log and capture window. Is Apple purposely trying to make FCP more difficult to use?

Did it actually capture the clip? On other forums, some posters are saying the clip doesn't capture. The Sony DVMC-DA2 is listed as certified for FCP 4. The older model, is not listed. Discontinued products are not certified, but may still work. Apple doesn't have the time/resources to certify every product that could conceivably work with FCP 4. They will only test current products that are still in manufacture and general usage in the market place.

In your particular case I would check to see if it actually captures the clip. You might want to look under view and see if a capture window needs to be enabled, or it could be a flaw in FCP 4.0.2. I would also try the capture with and with out the Sony box to see if anything changes.

It captures, but I have to hunt for it. It puts it in the Capture Scratch Folder under "Untitled Project".

[rant]
So I guess I have to buy new stuff whenever a new model comes out just to guarantee compatibility? I don't know about Apple, but I don't have those kind of monetary rescources. You buy something and you expect it to work for a long time, especially if it doesn't have moving parts, like the Sony box. Why is Apple changing the method it used to deal with Firewire data anyway? It worked fine before. Why change it? What was wrong with it? I guess I just don't understand their logic. I assume that they don't care about the XL1, since the XL1s is out? To hell with the tons of people who have the original XL1, right? (yes, this kind of thinking is making me angry). Apple DOES have the time. Just hire a guy to hook each device up and see how it is dealt with. I'd guess no more than 5 to 10 minutes per device at maximum would be required. If they care about all their customers, they have the time.
[/rant]

I used to think that capture now was limited to 30 minutes and that wasted a lot of my time. It is not!!! Go into your scratch disk preferences and change the limit to whatever you want.

Capture now is a bit non-intuitive, but you'll figure it out. It behaves differently when you have a logging bin set and whether or not you have saved your project yet. Try it!