Capture problems in FCP4
 

Dear all,

I ALWAYS had problems capturing from my Canon XL1-s to FCP (no matter which version) on a G4 to a Firewire 400 Lacie 250GB HD. Quite often sound would be out of sync (we are talking of up to 2 to 3 seconds, especially it seems, when capturing long bits). I once heard that that might be due to the fact that MiniDV has the sound not locked to the image (while DVCam for that matter has). Is that one of those half-truths and moreso, anyone knows a workaround?
Now, with FCP 4.1 a new problem occured. Trying to capture an entire tape on the 'Capture Now' function, would almost all the time lead to a window saying something like: "Capture now successfully finished, capture has reached the end of the tape." which it hasn't at all, plenty still to go, no TimeCode break detectable! This problem seems to occur at random places in the tape, and capturing a loged clip with proper Ins and Outs, running through the same troublesome tape works fine (more or less). I have set my Users Prefs to: "On timecode break: make new clip" (which seems to do the job):

Anyone experienced similar problems? is that a hardware-setup problem? Anyone know what to do?

All the best to you, Oliver.

The audio sync issue is not related to locked audio. Locked audio (as in DVCAM) only insures frame accuracy to 1/3 of a frame. Standard DV is accurate to the frame. Your audio issues are more common to captures performed with some Canon cameras because of Canon's FireWire implementation. The audio problem is well documented and you can find previous posts and suggested solutions in our archives. You can search the archives by using the link in my signature.

Capture issues are less frequent with FCP 3, and in particular, FCP 4. Can you post more details about your computer, OS, ram, etc.?

Dear Jeff,

thanks for your prompt reply!
I am using the 15inch Powerbook, 1.25GHz, 512 MB of RAM, OS X 10.3.2, 80GB of internal HD plus 250GB on Lacie drive Firewire400, connected to the computer via FireWire800, using 9pin to 6pin FireWire cable & QuickTime V6.4.

Looked for other posts on the issue already, but will try again.

Thanks again!

Oliver.

You may need to up the ram to the maximum. Do you have a standard install (OS and applications on internal drive)? Have you tried using the FireWire 400 connection as opposed to the FireWire 800 port? Is FCP updated to 4.1.1? Do you have any other FireWire devices connected when you try to capture?

Hi Jeff,

my system configuration is pretty standard, Apps and Mac OSX all on unpartitioned internal HD (80GB). I use FCP 4.1 (no more dots afterwards). I only have my camera connected to FW400 port and my Lacie drive connected to the FW800 port (even though the drive FW400 only). Haven't tried swapping them around yet. More RAM? I would have thought 500 should be pretty much. To be honest, I thought spending sooo much money on this powerbook should get me something that just works without adding and tweaking and so on. Wishful thinking I guess...

And what's it all got to do with this new message "Capture now has reached end of tape etc.", when neither tape nor timecode nor HD-space have finished?

Can't remember if it makes any difference capturing to the internal or to the external HD. But I learnt that I might be better off, loging the tape with Ins and Outs and capturing them then instead of 'capture now'. I just wanted to safe myself (and the camera!!) from forwarding the tape to find the Out TC and then to rewind back to the beginning to actually start capturing.

Thank you very much for your help!

Oliver.

Hi Oliver,


I posted a message some time ago, explaining I have exactly the same problem. Look for a post with subject 'strange capture problem', and you'll find some answers to this ennoying capture-problem.

Oliver, the 512mb ram is the bare minimum and I would increase the ram. Apple supplies enough ram to do basic tasks and processing. But video editing is very taxing on the processor and system resources. Run the Software Update (it's in the System Preferences window and under the Apple Menu) and make sure you have the latest version of software.

The Capture Ending message sounds like it might be related to breaks in timecode. It may also be related to issues with Canon's FireWire drivers for the XL1 Try setting the Capture Preferences to FireWire Basic.

Thanks Jeff, thanks Eugene,

ok, I will feed my G4 a bit more of RAM. Will let you know if it helps. Thanks again!

Oliver.