successful FCP native HDV capture
 

we'd all just about given up that FCP would ever capture HDV via FW without breaks and various problems ( Prem Pro does a MUCH MUCH better job ).

so now I have a setup thats been bullet proof so far on a G5 2.5G running FCP 6.0.2 / QT 10.4.1+.

use the HDV->ProRes preset !

its been reliable, it actually captures the TC unlike the AIC preset which does not. it captures over breaks - sometimes you get a new clip, sometimes not, but the point is everything comes in.

the downside is its a "hard" capture. FCP throws the deck into play without machine control you can touch and just loads the footage. ProRes does take about 5X more space, but does provide benifits like being able to load the footage into combustion which wants nothing to do with HDV native material. for me this would of saved at least one full week of time loading 30hrs of material. you can put a tape in at the head, start capture, and walk away. no its not quite a fully native mpeg2 capture, but prores is the next best thing.

Steve,

When it does start a new clip how much time does it lose before capturing again?

I don't think its losing anything, or if it is, just a few frames. it only breaks on camera cuts so far as I've seen. I've loaded some longer 5-6 minutes clips without a problem, and if anything it tends to simply capture over camera cuts about 50% of the time. depends on the tape.

its a vastly better way to go if the HD space isn't critical. My G5 won't capture ProRes HD 720 via using the Kona SDI or analog inputs, but it will happily capture the HDV stream via FW and convert to prores reliably. this brings new life to the older machine.

I came across this exact same method last week after doing a two camera shoot with my 111E (with up to date software upgrades) and a rented 251E.
Importing 720 25p from the 251E camera as HDV resulted in a loss of 7-8 seconds from each shot. I thought I had previously resolved this issue by making adjustments to the settings in FCP but with the footage from the 251E it wasn't working. I don't usually use the tape from my own 111E as I have a DR HD100.
Re-setting FCP 6.0.2 to import HDV720p ProRes(HQ) resulted in the 251E footage importing with a loss of 6 frames from the head of each shot, well actually not lost, this 6 frames was imported as a separate shot! One shot was 35 mins long and came in as a single file(other than the 6 seconds at the head).
As I now had the 251 footage as ProRes I needed to capture the 111E footage the same, this came in perfectly, each shot complete with all frames (longest take about 11 minutes).
This definitely appears to be the best way to bring footage into FCP6 but I don't know why the there was a 6 frame loss on the newer 251E, although it was not a problem for editing.

The other benefit of ProRes422 over AIC is that is that it actually captures TC, which is awesome if you need to batch capture later.

[QUOTE=Steve Oakley;854625]
so now I have a setup thats been bullet proof so far on a G5 2.5G running FCP 6.0.2 / QT 10.4.1+.

use the HDV->ProRes preset !

its been reliable, it actually captures the TC unlike the AIC preset which does not. it captures over breaks - sometimes you get a new clip, sometimes not, but the point is everything comes in.


I'm getting the same results with a G5 DP 2.0, Kona card, 4 GB Ram, 2TB Raid.

I assume you mean via FW. the kona -> prores HD captures never work for me. that said, it seems that with the latest QT and FCP updates, apple has pre-released a little some upcoming features I think. I today captured 192khz 24bit audio - something that was never supported. played 8 tracks of it back in the TL, although FCP was downconverting it to 96khz 24bit... which was still quite fine.

Yes, the captures were over firewire.

I've really been burried for the last couple weeks shooting and I come back to find this! GREAT NEWS!

-Adam

What are the exact Easy Setup Settings?

The only one I can find is HDV>Apple ProRes 422 1080p24.

Daniel Weber

Upgrade
 

Has anyone had success capturing via FW in FCP after upgeading the firmware for the BR-HD50? (Version 1.09)

V1.09 didn't change anything in regards to FW capture that I've noticed. I 've had it installed for a week.

the preset simple says "HDV - ProRes" there is no other info attached to it. its at the bottom of the presest list. machine control is HDV. maybe some one wa s playing with making a preset on your machine as thats not a stock setting in FCP6.x

not to take this out of subject...but does anyone know where I can find minimum specs for a G5 running Final Cut Pro to edit my GY-HD100 footage?

Before I got into HDV i was able to edit all day and night using my 2GHz Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro with FCP 5.1.4. Now with my JVC HDV footage, I am chug chug chugging along and it is killing me. I am not looking for something like super high end...I just want at least to do two layer video without crapping my computer...mabe I would need a cheapy BlackMagic card?

Any ideas?

BTW, just for information, I was delighted to see that Premiere interfaces with the HD100 without any of the problems showed by FCP. I still have to put some stress to it but for anybody considering editing on a Mac with the HD100, Premiere is perfectly functional.

Paolo:

so the clips are not chopped up into many clips? Is this is true, then this would be the way to go. What would make Premiere better or equal to FCP?