Burning DVD's for duplication
 

Hi everyone,
will be getting my new Dual 1 gig in a few days and needed some information. Heard that there is a problem duplicating DVD's off of the standard DVD's that are burned on the computer.
True? Anyone with experience in this matter? Anyone with problems playing the DVD's back on standard consumer players?

You input appreciated- thanks,

Jeff Patnaude

If you need uncompressed video and want to stay with Avid, you could always offline with Xpress DV and take your EDL to your rented bay and online. It would save you suite rental fees. The files transfer seamlessly and flawlessly between systems. Most of the folks I know are doing this when using any other format but DV.

At 5:1 DV really isn't phased much. When you get into Betacam, etc...that's when you might start seeing artifacts.

Hopefully in later versions Avid will be forced to release Xpress DV with more compression options to compete with FCP, but it's a double edged sword for them. They need to stay competitive with FCP, but they also want to sell more MCs, which is good and bad for the XpressDV users.

Hello Jeff,
There are two flavors of DVD media; "general" and "authoring". The former is slightly crippled (by design) and has a lower capacity than the latter. Your Mac burns general DVD's. Theatrical releases are burned on "authoring" discs.

No problem whatsoever playing DVD-Gen's in any reasonably current player.

If you're planning on a mass duplication for wide distribution check with your dupe service. In general, none want a disc as a master. Older sevices might want a DAT of the disc. Word has it that some services are finding it most convenient to use a FireWire drive containing the disc's contents.

FCP 3 Audio Capture 48.00 discrepency
 

Hi Guys,
I'm a newbie so please bare with me :)

When I capture from the Cam to the computer, I realize that sometimes the audio is transfered at 48.01 rate (or 47.779) and sometimes to the normal speed of 48.00 I find myself breaking the same 40 min DVCam tape into two 20 min capture sessions, so just in case I get the audio discrepency, then I will end up redoing 20 min capture as oppose to 40 min.
My preferences are all set to 48 khz. the weird thing is I use the SAME tape/footage for capture and I get 48.01 (or 47.779) transfer and then I redo it and I get the right 48.0 transfer for the same footage!

1- what is going on?

2- Is there a feature to let me find out if the capturing is being done (in resl time) with the right speed (much like the feature:Abort Capture on Dropped Frames) without waiting 20 min for the capture to be done and then checking it?

Second problem:
3- I already had captured 3 tapes before realizing this problem. I broke the tapes into 20 min captures each, then I made sub clips of each capture. Now I realize SOME of the sub clips are in 47.779 (or 48.01) speed and some are in normal speed. I tried to highlight the "wrong speed" sub clips and do a Batch Capture but -for some reasn:)- it ended up capturing the ENTIRE 40 min tape. My time code is not broken up (I figured that since all I have are interviews and all the tapes' time code go from 0 to 40 min, so if it was interrupted it wouldn't be going to 00.40.00.00, would it?:)
So...any suggestions :)

BTW, did I make any sense? :)

If it's too bad...you'll probably have to ditch the audio and loop it.

If it's really-really important...hire a pro.

Thanks...
 

Thanks for the reply!
checked with an engineer that I know, and he explained a "DLT" (digital, Linear, Tape) master that a lot of the older places are looking for. Firewire drive sounds like a good alternative.

Jeff

Sorry for my nomenclatural error, Jeff. Indeed, I did mean "DLT", not DAT.

Of all the things I've lost over the years I miss my mind the most.

Au contrere...
 

DVD-R General discs are becoming more and more established as an acceptable master by dupe and rep houses.

Here in Boston, the major house here have no problem with using DVD-R G as masters.

And to chime in with you, firewire drives are a great medium to use in delivering masters. Every serious DVD Authorer should have one as a backup, in my opinion.

Welcome to mini DV NLE. My first suggestion is to read this explanation on Adam Wilt's page http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-FAQ-tech.html#LockedAudio This will explain some and give you a better background on what's going on in your set-up. Now for some questions. What version of FCP are you using? What OS are you using, OS X or 9.x.x? It doesn't make a great deal of difference now but it may help in the future as you ask more questions. When you capture, is the Sync Adjust box checked in Final Cut Pro>Preferences>General ? If not, that box needs to be checked when you capture. Also, make sure your capturing at 29.97 fps not 30fps.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,
Well it is FCP 3.0, OX10 and I am capturing at 29.97 fps and the "Sync Adjust Movies over 5 min" box was (and still is) checked, now was this occasional 48.01 and 47.79 sync problem a fluke? I hope so :)

P.S. Thank you for the welcoming matt and thanks for the link, I will definitely check it out.

Jeff, are there similar capture problems with PAL video on FCP 3? Or is this a dropped frame in NTSC issue only?
Will I be forced to capture only 20 mins of footage at a time in PAL?
Best,
Ram

Daniel:
...Would be delightful if you could post those uncompressed-options-with-FCP links you mentioned. The Kona card sounds interesting, I hadn't heard of it till your response.
Also: When's FCP 4 coming out? Should I be getting FCP 3 now? :-) [Plan on getting my NLE setup within the fortnight!)
Best,
Ram

It's not a drop frame issue. Read the link to Adam Wilt's page that i posted above. It's a mini DV problem of sorts. Normally, the sync adjust box takes care of it. I believe there is another issue involved with PD150film's setup. I'm going to post a reply for him this morning.

Jeff

Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge and FCP
 

I have purchased the Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge and I'm having several issues, both capture and playback. I'm not sure if it's the Dazzle Product, FCP, or me.

I am running an iMac G3 500MHz with 256RAM. MAC OS 9.0.4
My capture/edit software is Final Cut Pro 1.2.5

1) footage previously captured directly via firewire plays back through Hollywood DV-Bridge with severe flickering of color. I have switched monitors, firewire cables and RCA cables and still have the problem. Also, thinking it may be a PAL issue, I tried resetting default of the DV Bridge to NTSC and still have problem.
(A recommended fix on Dazzle.com)

2) footage captured through Hollywood DV-Bridge seems to capture and playback fine on computer, however DV-Bridge will not play new clips to external monitor. Green LED turns orange when captured clip is loaded into FCP playback or record window.

I have the same questions posted to Dazzle, but this site is usually pretty fast with info.
Any help would be great.

Thanks
Kev

Hi Kev,

I've used Dazzle units, not recently, but not with a G3. The Dazzle unit worked fine with a G4 and FCP 2 in OS 9.x.x I used it to get video in and out for a client. No problems. If Dazzle doesn't have an answer I'd say send it back. I just checked Apple's site and the Hollywood Bridge is not on the Qualified Devices list for FCP 1.2.5 and that sure could be your problem. I'd certainly ask Dazzle about it.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60885

Jeff

JVC mini DV and DV CAM!?
 

I shot my footage on Sony PD-150 wih the DVCam option. Now i am editing on FCP 3.0
My question is: can I capture my tapes using my JVC miniDV dual deck (model # HR-DVS2U) or should I use my Camera to finish capturing to he hard drive? Is ther a difference in using either to capture to FCP, since I filmed using the DVCam option on my camera as oppose to the regular miniDV option?
I rather use my mini DV deck so I don't have to wear off the head on he camera !

I don't think the JVC can play back DVCam. I think you would want to use the Sony so you'd have locked audio and avoid your other problem, even if the JVC could play it back.

Jeff

well jeff, I have the "audio playback quality" set on high. So whenever I play the footage that is 48001.2 hz I get a beeping. BUt if I play it on low or medium then I don't get the peeping when it's played. Not sure if this info wil help.
Also, is there a way to check when I am capturing to see if the audio capture is being done at 48.0 khz?

Hello:

I agree with Jeff. Perhaps, in the future, you should shoot without using the DVCAM option since JVC uses DVCPRO. I relly don't know if any harm is done.

Regards,

Kyle "Doc" Mitchell

umm, what's a DVCpro? Although the quality stays the same between mini-dv and DVcam, I was told to use the DVCAM mode to prevent dropouts! Suxh a life fo a newbie lol :)

DVCPro is Panasonic Broadcast's proprietary response to Sony's proprietary DVCAM.

How many real time audio tracks do you have slected for playback? This is a preferences setting. While we're on preferences I would suggest that you delete them. This is the article on The Knowledge Base at Apple that covers deleting preferences, #31197. Go to the support section, Knowledge Base, and enter that number. In OS X Preferences folder (~/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data. Delete this file and restart your computer and try your captures again. DO NOT do this in the middle of a project unless absolutly necessary. All your settings will be lost and need to be entered again. Once I get my preferences the way I like them, I make a copy of the preference file and rename it Spare File. That way if I have to trash them, I don't have to set everything over again.

Other things to look at are what Firewire control are you using? How are your files setup? For optimum performence the OS should be on one partition, FCP on a second partition, and capture to a second drive. If you are running everything and capturing to one large partition that could be part of your problem.

Jeff

Thanks for your help.
I think I have figured out some of my problems.

I upgraded my OS to 9.2.2 and that made the output MUCH better but still not acceptable. The color still won't sync up. Someone said the DV-Bridge is not very stable and recommended a converter from Canopus, which I have used with Avid DVXpress and never had trouble with.

As for the input issue, I was using DV aspect 720x640 and when I switched to square pixels 640x480 it showed up fine. However, now the clips need to be rendered.

Now for a new set of questions.

1) If I upgrade to FCP 3.0 will I still have to render.
2) can I mix the different clips into the same sequence?

Thanks

Kev

When I used the Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge it required no rendering in FCP 2.02 I believe. It did what you would expect and the color and everything closely approximated the original footage (VHS). I think the clips could be mixed after rendering. Try one clip if not it can always be deleted. Has Dazzle responded to your questions yet?

Jeff

I just did another test. I captured VHS composite to FCP at 640x480 and it played in the timeline without rendering. Even though it still had the red line over the clip. I imported a DV captured clip and put it in the seq. and then had to render the VHS clip. But now my color won't lock again.

Dazzle has not gotten back to me yet.

I'm returning the product and going with the Canopus one instead,

Thanks for all your help.

Kev

The Canopus product is very nice also. I think you just got a defective Dazzle unit. Sorry for your luck and let me know how the Canopus works out.

Jeff

FCP doesn't recognize firewire
 

I just installed OSX on my Mac. After re-installing FCP 1.2.5 (I know, I know, I need to upgrade) it doesn't recognize the firewire and gives me continuous errors. I went back into i-Movie and I can import footage just fine.

Is there a setting somewhere I can get FCP to start seeing that I do have firewire and everything is working fine?

All the settings are basic : R/T is 8 tracks, Audio quality is set on High. I just did a capture and I checked the audio rate on the browser after it was done and it is 42:0000.6 HZ I can play it from the browser at high quality but it beeps! The sync is NOT affetced! again, it is in sync until the last frame! But I was told the beeping when I play it in high quality is due to the discrepency of the capture! I am not rying to stomp u guys I swear :) It's just annoying why I can recapture the same footage and get a perfect 48.0 khz and do it again and get an odd HZ number!

Reduce the number of RT tracks and see what happens. What G4 are you running it on? Are you using FCP 3.0.2?

Jeff

Forgive my confusion, but you ARE using FCP in OS 9 right? Not in OS X via Classic?

try opening the capture device prefs and set the firewire preference to firewire basic. Or maybe you have Media Cleaner installed, that will have given you extra extensions that will mess with FCP, extensions for another capture card.

BTW, why did you reinstall FCP. Please tell us a little more about the system you are using, what other video software do you have on there as well.

Only FCP 3 will run in OS X, FCP 1.2.5 will not run in Classic (if it does it will be buggy). FCP 1.2.5 is designed to run in OS 9.x.x (I recommend 9.2.2 for maximum stability). Basically FCP 1.2.5 can't find the FireWire extensions it needs. Run FCP in 9 and you should be good to go.

Jeff

Check these links out then...
 

http://www.aja.com: Kona 10bit uncompressed card

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage.asp?Product_ID=108: CineWave series of uncompressed cards

http://digitalvoodoo.net: 10bit uncompressed cards

http://www.auroravideosys.com/Pages/igniter.html: Aurora Igniter card

My advice to you is to purchase FCP 3 now and then upgradde when the next rev is released, which is not in this quarter.

For a nice review of uncompressed options with Kona, here ya go:
http://www.lafcpug.org/review_kona_card.html

Happy filmmaking!

unfortunately...
 

Your JVC miniDV dual deck (model # HR-DVS2U) does not support DVCam. However, for your info, the Sony DSR-11 does. This deck is a fav of mine since I just used it to digitize some PAL footage in FCP with no probs whatsoever.

FCP 3.0.2 Log and capture
 

Hello, hoping someone might be able to give me a hand. I just upgraded to 10.2 today and I cannot capture video off of a non controllable device using capture now. Anyone have any ideas?

I get a black screen that says that it is allocation drive space. After about 40 minutes I used force quit to kill FCP. Checked out the scratch drives after I noticed it was still writing something and one of them had almost filled up with unreadable files. The 120 gig in question had 23 Gig left.

Everything was working just fine until I upgraded today.

G4 733, 1.5 Gig Ram, 380+ Gig drive space, was running 10.1.5.

Upgrading to Jaguar I chose the upgrade option so all of my Pref's would stay the same.

Help is much appreciated.
JayT

Hmmmm....
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Jay Thompson : Hello, hoping someone might be able to give me a hand. I just upgraded to 10.2 today and I cannot capture video off of a non controllable device using capture now. Anyone have any ideas?
JayT -->>>

Wow. Very interesting.....

What were you trying to capture from and how were you connected?

I just upgraded myself today and just tried a capture now off of VHS deck and experienced no problems as of yet.

We'll get to the bottom of this!

Jaguar...What do you think?
 

Here's a new thread to see how members are doing with the latest and greatest upgrade to Mac OS X, JJaguar Mac OS 10.2!

Here's my story:

Last night I went to the 10:20 Jaguar party at the Cambridge Apple Store. Approx. 800+ people stood in a line which wrapped around the mall from the entrane of the store to the back of the food court. Amazing number of people, full of energy. I was imagining that everyone was to buy a copy of Jaguar!

Installed it today. Flawless upgrade on both my iBook Dual USB 500mhz and my dual 1gig FCP suite. Experienced no problems, although the install on my iBook was sslloowwwww....

Digitized PAL footage and NNTSC footage today from deck and from FireWire drive. Working in the timelines on mmy project. Opened up a couple of past projects. Rendered timelines, applied Timecode print. NO problems.

I do not expect to be interrupted in my editing workflow at this point. Sure, there may be some issues that arisse, but I feel very comfortable that Apple and the FCP team have done their work to make this latest OS upgrade a charm to use.

Floating very highg at the moment, this is truly a new level of usability for the Macintosh. My wife, a PC Network Admin/Manager, is taken by the OS and has become a "switcher." I am hoping this is a cascading effect across the base of Mac users.

Enjoy the upgrade, please share your experiences and issues!

Thanks for the help.
 

Daniel,

I'm using a JVC SR-VS20U for bringing in VHS media via firewire. Since it's a DV deck and a SVHS deck combined I can use the Firewire port to bring in the media, I just cannot control that portion of the deck with the Firewire protocol or if you can I have not figured it out yet ;) so I use capture now. I did notice a post on Apple's support page of someone having the a similar issue but no responses to that yet. I was thinking of completely rebuilding my computer to see if that helps, but I kinda hate to do that without figuring out what the problem is first. This is the only thing I have ran into, I can do anything else in FCP, except Capture now.. Weird.. I really like the new features in 10.2, and my 733 has new life.. Wow what a difference.. Hope this helps.

Thanks again for your help.
JayT

Now I'm really confused
 

Just as a test I connected up a Sony Walkman GV-D800 Digital 8 recorder, Popped in a tape did capture now, Guess what, captured media just fine..

tried the JVC, same problem, I did try different media just as a test and no difference. Hmmm,

Again, thanks for your help.

JayT

Don't Rebuild yet...
 

Do me a favor and don't rebuild your Mac just yet. I do not believe that to be the issue. Rather, I believe it to be an issue pertaining to the deck in question. I'll have to ask some of my friends who use it to see if you can control the VHS portion of the deck, my feeling is that you cannot and that you do in fact have to do a Capture Now. The issue to resolve as well of course is why you are experiencing your Captue Now issues.

Allow the weekend to passs and I'll get word straight form the source (JVC).

Otherwise, others, please chime in.