Newbie Question - Transferring footage to my computer...
 

Greetings all,

I just recently purchased the HVR-z7u, and am looking to wade out into the videography world rather soon. I see many people are having issues transferring files from the Compact Flash card into FCP, which i ordered two days ago unaware of such issues.

I'm sure, due to my lack of experience, I'll be asking what many may consider simple questions.

Today's question is, what is the best way to transfer footage from tape to my Mac. Do I need to purchase a tape player/recorder that interfaces with the computer? If so which ones would you suggest? Am I able to use my camera as the VTR using the I-link? I must confess ignorance as to what exactly the I-Link interface does, and am also a bit nervous about plugging in my camera into the computer "to see what happens".

I would appreciate any wisdom that you are willing to impart. Thank you in advance for your time.

i.LINK is Firewire, which your Mac loves. Just plug in the cam and Use the Log and Capture function in FCP. Just make sure everything is powered off when you make the connection. Then fire up FCP; it should see the cam right away.

I believe if you use the CF card with the MRC1k, you use Log and Transfer rather than capture, but it's still pretty simple from what I'm told.

Pretty good documentation in FCP which will walk you through the steps.

If you're doing a lot of tape capture, you might want to get a VTR. The Z7U can work as a VTR, but doing so will run the heads & gears down faster, so it really depends on how much work you're going to be doing.

If a HDV VTR is too pricey, you can also get a Canon HV30 or HV40, which will be able to play 1080i & 1080p tapes out of a Z7U. They won't work as nice as a stand alone VTR, but using a $500 camera for rewinding, playing & capturing tapes is probably better than using a $5,000 camera.

I would suggest you get a Lexar CF card reader. Either FW800 (or FW400 if you don't have any FW800 ports on your mac). Log & Transfer through FCP is a LOT faster than Log & Capture.

You will need to download a Plugin from Sony to get FCP to see the footage on the CF cards.

Make sure you don't skimp on the CF cards you purchase. Get at LEAST 133x, but I prefer 300x cards, a little over kill, but I have had much fewer problems & save a little extra time getting the footage into FCP.

Also format your CF cards each time you use them. It takes only a few seconds & should help reduce any errors.

Format the cards in the MRC1 on the camera, NOT in the Mac! I ruined a card this way.

Most people have been reporting better results simply using a "Delete All" rather than re-formatting. But yes, always format in the unit, as Sony points out in their documentation.

Thanks
 

Thanks for the help. Everything is working (so far) just as everyone has said.