Failure to Import DV tapes on HDV camera

I went to Log and Capture after connecting the camera to the iMac and this came up:
"Unable to Initialize Capture Device
Device is not connected or the capture preset is not setup correctly. You may still log offline clips.
This might also happen if you play DV footage in an HDV device."
I have a bad feeling that the last sentence happens to be the case and I honestly don't know what to do. Yes I am using a Sony HDV camcorder and I taped on DV tapes, but that shouldn't be this big of an issue right?
Any suggestions as to what I should do?
Thanks
P.S. - I have the new iMac 20-inch and am using the latest FCP that just came out.

Hi Sean, since this is your first post and you have the latest version of FCP plus a new Mac, I'm guessing this is your first experience with FCP. So, welcome to the forum.
A few thoughts come to mind:
◊ FCP prefers to communicate with camcorders via Firewire, not USB
◊ The camcorder needs to be in the Play mode, not Record
◊ The camcorder needs to be in the "DV out" mode (select that in the camcorder's menu)
◊ In FCP, go to Easy Setup and select "NTSC" and "DV-NTSC" (the USA standard as opposed to PAL)
◊ When you go to the Log and Capture window, click on the Capture Settings tab and by Device Control select either Firewire-NTSC or Firewire Basic (if one doesn't work, try the other). If still no luck, try Uncontrollable Device then do a Capture Now
◊ Sometimes FCP prefers the camcorder be connected and turned on before opening the FCP application
If you have iMovie, try that just to see if it gets your Mac to recognize your camcorder. iMovie is a consumer program with wide tolerances and is designed for plug & play. FCP is a program for professionals who need to create a product that meets exact specifications, and, as you're finding out, provides the user with a lot of options. Pick the wrong one or ones, and things might not go the way you planned, or, might not go at all.
The manuals are actually well written and contain the answer to just about any question you might have about FCP, if you know where to look.
Good luck & happy editing

Similar Messages

I have 2012 iMac with 4 GB RAM. Every time I'm importing vedeo using MiniDV HDV Sony camera, FCP X is importing normally, with 2.5 GB of RAM free. Then, after 10 or 15 min of importing, FCP is frozen, and free RAM is close to zero. What happens?

I have 2012 iMac with 4 GB RAM. When I turn FCP X, I usually have 2.5 RAM free and the program works normally when I edit. The issue is importing video. I use a Sony HDV camera to import from miniDV tapes, and Apple says Sony HDVs are supported. Yet every time I'm importing, it works normally for 10-15 min, then the amount of free RAM quickly (yet gradually) is reduced to almost zero (I used Memory Clean to dicover it) and then FCP X got frozen and I need to force quit it and start all over again, to work for another 15 min. Horrible! What is it?

Are using 10.0.7 (the latest version)?
Memory problems seem to have been alleviated with 10.0.6 and 10.0.7.
Please post the screenshots of Activity Monitor, as Tom asked. This will at least let us see if it is FCP X itself gobbling a lot of RAM or if you are suffering from the problem of OS X not releasing "Inactive Memory" in a timely manner - an issue that has been there for a long time :-(
You didn't mention whether you have the 27" or 21.5" iMac. Unfortunately, in the 21.5" adding RAM is a big hassle. But if you have the 27", then seriously consider upping the RAM. It is quite inexpensive, from the likes of Crucial or other reputable third parties.

I imported a video and when I play it back, the audio does not match the video. When I view the tape in my camera it looks fine. I've tried imported twice and each time it doesn't match. What can I do to fix this?

I imported a video and when I play it back, the audio does not match the video. When I view the tape in my camera it looks fine. I've tried imported twice and each time it doesn't match. What can I do to fix this?

The default settings mostly likely use an audio sample rate of 32k. This doesn't work probably in FCP. You're probably better off capturing the tape in iMovie.

Imovie HD will not import from my Sony HDV-FX1

Please Help.
I have an IMAC G5 running with OS X 10.4.3, and I'm using a new Sony HDR-FX1 camera. The first 3 movies I made worked great, but yesterday I tried importing video and now it won't import or even display. Imovie displays (HD-1080i-30) after the movie title on the top bar, when I plug in my HD camera. I can control the camera with the play, stop, fast forward and rewind buttons, and even though I see the video on my camera it won't import. If I put an old non HD tape into the camera I can get it to import, (after changing the camera settings).
I've repeatedly tried the Garage band fix, but to no effect. I've also tried my old, non-hd camera, which works fine.
I also tried resetting my imovie plist as suggested on another post.
Is Apple acknowledging this problem?

I figured out what happened,
I somehow turned the "i.link conv" on my camera to "on(HDV-DV)", when I switched it back to OFF all my problems went away. OOPS!, Sorry!

Will Sony HVR-Z1E HDV Cam (PAL) work with iMovie 6.0.3

Hi
I'm about to make a short film and have the possibility of hiring the Sony HVR-Z1E HDV Cam (http://www.sonybiz.net/biz/view/ShowProduct.action?product=HVR-Z1E&site=bizenGB&pageType=Overview&category=HDVCamcorders) for the shoot.
Has anyone here used a camera like this with iMovie HD 6.0.3? Can iMovie import the footage and edit it?
Or should I immediately be thinking of Final Cut Studio or Final Cut Express?
Cheers
Ewan
Power PC G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 1.67ghz 2gb RAM

"..I'd only be able to use the DV shoot mode on the cam ... But you say it works well?!.."
Perfectly: if you shoot in HDV, iMovie HD converts the incoming HDV footage into Apple's Intermediate Codec "on-the-fly" (..it converts the MPEG-2 HDV into a form which iMovie can handle, retaining all the extra detail of hi-def..) and that's what iMovie edits.
You can then send your edited movie back out to a clean tape in the camera, and it's converted back to the "native" HDV format as it's exported from iMovie.
At present, hi-def DVDs can be made only by using Apple's DVD Studio Pro (expensive) software, which burns hi-def onto normal DVDs ..but they're playable only on a Mac, not on an ordinary DVD player.
So if you want to keep everything as hi-def when you've finished, send it back to tape, and not to iDVD (..which will knock it down to standard-def when creating a DVD from your hi-def iMovie project..)
Because a huge amount of processing is needed for converting incoming HDV into AIC in 'real time' (..and the faster the Mac processor, and more RAM, the better..) your G4 will NOT be able to import in real time.
You may also get occasional - temporary - glitches, in that the sound of some clips may seeem to be running slow, and be low-pitched, after importing. This is an artifact of slower-than-real-time importing, and if you quit from iMovie after importing, then restart the program (thereby clearing memory caches in your Mac), clips should play normally.
Any rendering - dissolves, titles and other F/X - will take longer than with standard DV, as there's more data per frame to be manipulated. Straight cuts should be OK.
"..an issue with the Firewire 600 port.." ..There's FireWire 400 and 800, but maybe "600" was a slip of your keyboard..
"..a lead with a four pin firewire camera plug on one end and a Firewire 800 plug on the other. Works perfectly well for the Handycam. I wonder if it'll do the trick for this bigger beast?.." ..It's never worked for me! (..Maybe I've used a badly-wired cable or two..) ..I couldn't get a 4-pin-to-9-pin (FW800) cable to work, ever, with any normal 'consumer' Handycam ..nor with the FX1.
..But you seem to have got it to work, so it may work with the Z1 after all.
"..I'm hiring so there are limits.." ..Don't forget to download the instruction manual (..when you're ready, click to download it as a .pdf here..)
[NOTE: That's for the US/International version: I can't find the European (E suffix) manual at the moment, but I'm sure you can if you Google a bit. There's very little difference between them. You'll want to choose and use 1080i/50 (UK-PAL), not 1080i/60 (US-NTSC).]
Note that - I don't know what you're shooting - you can set up focus and zoom transitions before you actually shoot them; so if you need a smooth zoom from close to distant, while changing focus, too.. instead of just pressing the zoom button and relying on the autofocus to get it right, you can pre-select start zoom and focus settings, and end zoom and focus settings, then press the 'Do-It!' button, and the camera will handle the changes as pre-programmed ..while you're busy slow-panning, for instance.
For more of a "film look" you can also use one of the built-in Neutral Density filters ..but as that opens up the aperture wider, focus becomes more critical: hence the usefulness of the pre-set focus and zoom.
I normally shoot always at a shutter speed of one fiftieth, and never let the camera choose automatically. I find this gives -s-m-o-o-t-h- action, but also provides a good range of apertures, too.
Be sure that you get a big spare battery with it, unless you're shooting near to mains power. The standard battery lasts - as with most cameras - about only 40-45 mins, so be sure to get several, or one really big capacity batt.
Shoot and replay your tests before the actual shoot, so that you're sure the hired camera has clean heads, with no 'mosaic' drop-out on the tapes.
Er, can't think of anything else ..going to watch 'Murder She Wrote' now..

Importing sound formats from Digital Cameras

I know this is partly covered elsewhere, but if anyone comes up with a way to import video shot on digital cameras and then saved on iPhoto, please let me know. I have a wonderful Casio Exlim S880, that outputs Quicktime movies direct, but with DVI ADPCM audio -- which iMovie '08 simply rejects. Speaking to Casio engineers in Japan, they rightly see it as Apple's problem.
I know I can convert these movies using iSquint, QT Pro, or iTunes, but to do this over a lot of files is a pain. It SHOULD be possible in iMovie. This major problem aside, I'd be happy with iMovie's lower level capabilities.

Not only are we dealing with apples and oranges here, we're dealing with two entirely different philosophies and reasons for existence!
"..So no one's at fault precisely, but without iMovie having access to high quality input, it defeats its purpose of the software itself being low cost, no?.."
Camera manufacturers are just that: camera manufacturers. They earn their money by selling cameras; making them simple and efficient to use, pretty to look at, and - as Jon says - they aim to "store video in the smallest space possible while retaining reasonable quality". They don't really give a hoot what you do with the video after you've shot it.
..Like Kodak, when their main business was making film: you buy (or bought) the film ..but what you actually used it for (scientific recording, family snaps, wildlife photography, cataloguing postage stamps) they didn't care about.
Apple, on the other hand, doesn't make cameras (though they used to sell some of the first digital snapshot cameras, and the standalone iSight). Their - intangible - product is "ease of use".
That's what Apple sells: "buy our products, and we'll make portable music easy to use; we'll make photo-manipulation easy; we'll make web-browsing easy; we'll make electronic mail easy; we make everything to do with computers easy; we'll make video editing easy".
The camera manufacturers aren't necessarily talking to Apple ..the camera manufacturers go off on their own route, trying to give their individual products Unique Selling Points so that people will buy theirs in preference to another manufacturer's.
They aim to cram as much data as possible into the smallest (physical or virtual) space possible, add pretty design, long battery life, low price, reasonable reliability (so that they don't have to take back faulty devices) with a high profit margin. They want to get their items to market as soon as possible.
They don't want to consult with people in other industries (Apple, in the "ease of use" business), they just want to get their product on shelves.
(..In the case of Sony, and HDV video, there was some involvement with Apple, so that Sony could reassure users - primarily pro and semi-pro users - that the material they shot really could be edited. But miniDV pioneers JVC never bothered with that. And Sony never bothered talking with Apple, I believe, about Sony's "consumer-oriented" microMV format..)
Polaroid, uniquely, never needed anyone else: their film developed by itself, so you didn't need to go to a developing lab to get your pictures done (..though they had other hardware partners; Eumig, for instance, made their Polavision movie hardware). Other camera manufacturers sold cameras, but (apart from Kodak or Fuji-branded cameras) the film developing was always done by a somebody else - you bought a Konica or Olympus or Pentax or Nikon or Canon or Leica or Hanimex or You-Name-It camera; then you bought some film from someone quite different (Agfa, Orwo, Kodak, Ilford, Fuji); then took your pics, then took the film to a third outfit to have the material developed ..the camera manufacturers were far removed from the eventual picture-development process. Kodak introduced new films and new development techniques ..but camera makers were generally uninterested in that; their gaze was on f/stops, lens materials, shutter timing, new materials for camera bodies.
And so it's been with video: camera makers have bought and used chips, lenses, tape transport mechanisms, microphones, and assembled them into their own products, with their own arrangements of sockets, buttons and battery placement and cosmetic designs.
Then they've devised, or licensed, new methods for compressing video, so that more can be crammed into smaller storage, with fewer moving parts, making things cheaper and simpler to build.
The "unravelling" of that compressed audio and video for editing - as distinct from simply plugging a camera into a display for replay - has generally not been the camera manufacturers' worry.
One more analogy: car makers assemble cars. It's generally not been their worry about how roads are made; optimum camber-angles on bends, and coping with surface water run-off, and grading the gravel and asphalt mix for optimum adhesion.
You can't use a car without a surface to drive it on. But I don't think that Toyota and Tarmac devise their products in collaboration with each other.
Camera manufacturers make hardware to pile onto shelves and to sell to people who want some equipment in their hands.
Apple sells an experience: "ease of use". They generally have to react to what the hardware manufacturers are putting on the market ..except when they devise the hardware themselves, as with iPods, iPhones, display screens and Apple TVs. And, of course, Mac computers. By devising and selling both the hardware and the software, they make Macs, iPods and iPhones "easy to use".
But when someone else makes the hardware, and they're constantly changing it, and messing about with the new features, and Apple wants to provide that missing "ease of use" capability, then Apple can't always keep up with new developments as fast as customers would like.
Check the interoperability before you buy! Think what you're buying: are you buying the hardware, or are you hoping to buy the fun and useful experience?
If it's the experience; does the manufacturer provide that experience, or are you likely to need a third-party to provide it ..as with film developing, audio and video processing and editing, having decent roads to drive on, having the right sea-state to sail on?
If it's an experience you're after ..check the whole train of interlocking 'components' before committing yourself and your cash.

Timecode Break Issues when Importing, but plays back in camera fine?

Hello,
I am having several timecode break issues. The tapes play fine on the camera in "playback" mode but once I try to import through firewire into final cut express it gives me multiple clips. I have tried using Imovie and QuickTime Pro for importing the footage. Imovie gives me delays in the footage and so does QuickTime Pro.
Why am I getting timecode breaks when importing through final cut express, but then it plays back fine in the camera? I am using a Macbook pro with Maverick and a Sony HVR Z5U camera.
Any helps would be great. The footage is in DV.
Thanks

Why am I getting timecode breaks when importing through final cut express, but then it plays back fine in the camera?
Because the camera basically ignores the timecode when you just play back a tape in the camera. While it may display the TC on the LCD screen as the video plays, the camera really doesn't care about TC during plain old playback. However, with 3 different apps all encountering problems capturing the video, it would appear there are actual TC breaks.
Questions
Is this a problem with one or a few specific tapes, or all tapes you try to capture from?
Also, the HVRZ5U is an HDV-DVCAM-DV camcorder ... are you downconverting HDV material to DV?
Do you have *ANY* other FW devices connected to you Mac when you try to capture video from the camera?
In FCE, you might try using the DV NTSC DV Converter easy setup, which ignores timecode, instead of the default DV NTSC easy setup.

Adobe Premiere elements 10 has lost HDV camera in device manager..help

Our Sony V1E camera was recognised in Adobe Premiere Elements and we could capture footage fine.. suddenly the device manager can't see the camera..but ..strangely..it can play and rewind the camera etc etc.. just cannot capture?? waht has gone wrong?? It's connected with firewire.
Help?

All our configs are for Pal HDV 1080i mode in camera and Adobe element project preset is Pal HDV HDV 1080i 25 to match camera.
The elements device manager can shuttle the tape in the camera forward/back etc but cannot capture in the HDV capture mode
If we put the device manager into DV mode it will capture the footage even though the camera is in HDV mode?
Previously the device manager captured the HD footage and recognised the camera itself in the window and suddenly it doesnt recognise the camera in that window and can only capture HDV footage if we go to capture mode for DV camera where it only recognises a Micorsoft DV camera VC generic setting??
That tells me that the port and cable are working perfectly.
Could a setting in Premiere elements be wrong?? DV/HDV device control is selected in preferences. HD anomorphic is also selected.

Viewing External video through HDV Camera!?

I am trying to record some footage on to an HDV tape. The camera I am attempting to use as a deck is the Sony HDR-HC5 (it is a consumer based camera) I have my sequence set up as the preset for HDV1080i. But for some reason I can not get an image on the camera to show up. When I change the input on the camera to DV, I can see an image. But not when I change it back to HDV.
If anyone knows if this camera can actually take an hdv input that woud be great!
Cheers,
Jesse

Hi,
Are you recording a video or capturing (then trying to monitor your HDV footage externally?
You need a capture card to monitor HDV.
Also there are some threads reporting specific issues with your camera model,
Use the the search tool of the forum to check out topics about the HC5.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6015237&#6015237
Good luck,
G.

Problems with importing video tape into iMovie '08

I'm using a canopus advc 110 to import video tapes from a vhs recorder into iMovie. BUT, the process often stops after only a few minutes when I still have a long way to go. I'd like to be able to leave it to work for 20-minute chunks (longer if possible, but I think that's about the limit), but it keeps stopping after a few minutes. When I come back in the room, it keeps trying to import (time in upper right corner keeps going) but had quit earlier according to time on the lower center of the iMovie screen. This is adding to my frustration and time, which is limited. Any suggestions??

The canopus advc 110 will work IF you have a perfect tape.
Look at the Grassvalley ADVC300 it has the ability to compensate for bad tapes. Using Line Time Base Correction (LTBC), ADVC300 instantly cleans, stabilizes and preserves old VHS and Hi8 videos in clean DV format. No need to monitor, just start and forget. Fast forward the tape all the way and then rewind all the way before import will never hurt.
The program that comes with the ADVC300 has some nice filters that can improve video and audio of the source material. The ADVC300 will take Audio and Video from any source and convert it to FireWire (iMovie will treat it like a camera).
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc300
The ADVC300 is for anyone who wants to do editing and is concerned about quality of color and speed, for the novice it is an incredible gizmo that will restore VHS tapes to a state close to the original fixing midtones, highlights and shadows on the fly. Not only can you simply convert analog to digital you can actually manipulate the signal going in (if you want to).
A bit pricey bit it WORKS.
I would use iMovie 06 with iDVD 08/09.
iMovie 08 and 09 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.
Your workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, so iMovie 06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie 09, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 08/09 is a "lossless" combination.
iMovie 09 is a wonderful programs assuming that you're using it for what it was designed to do, assemble videos to share on the Internet.

Use of DV and HDV cameras with Final Cut Express

I have both a DV and HDV camera. How do I switch between one and the other in FCE?
Somehow I was able to change FCE to work with my HDV camera but now, when I want to work with my DV camera (to print an edited piece to video tape, for example) FCE keep telling me it cannot find the HDV camera.

Thanks for your response. Dumb question. I edited a piece while FCE was set to HDV (although the original video was not HDV -- it was a transfer from 8 mm home movies) so I assume FCE thinks the video is HDV. Just how, then, do I put the edited sequence into a new DV sequence? As you can see, I'm fuzzy about the finer points of FCE. Thanks.

Sony HDV cameras and FCP - any problems?

Hello.
I'm looking at buying either a Sony HVR-V1U or HVR-Z7U. Just thought I'd check and see if anybody has had any problems with these cameras and FCP when used in either their DV SP or HDV modes. Any problems with the HDV format for that matter?
Thanks.
Canada John

I'll second that; I have a V1-U also, and I've had no problems capturing, and using Print to Video back to tape in the camera.
As for the HDV format in general, the hassle is the long rendering/conforming time required to finish your sequences.
With FCP 6.0.2, though, you can capture with the V1-U via FireWire to Apple ProRes; this eliminates the long render times, but your captured files will be roughly 5 times as large.

Importing HDV-recapturing media imported as DV to HDV

Had problems importing HDV shot on a Canon HDV camera using a Sony HD700 deck so imported as DV due to time constraints (family video). Project is finished but read a recent post by redtruck changed my settings and can now import as HDV. Question I have is with the new DVC Pro HD settings, can I go back to the original project and just recapture all the clips in the new format? Or are there other considerations. Using FCP 5.1.4
Thanks

A quick update. I tried to re-capture a single clip. Set deck to HDV instead of Auto as suggested in other posts. When I go to re-capture, it recognizes the start point, clip show up in capture window but doesn't recognize end point of clip and just keeps trying to capture past the out point. Have all AV settings at DVD Pro HD and device control preset at DVC Pro HD firewire. Set AV device playback output at Firewire DVC Pro NTSC (720x480) and audio at Firewire DV.
Any suggestions?

Trouble importing HDCam Tapes

Project I am working on is a Dutch feature film 24fps shot all over the world on RED.
Except for the Indian part - which was shot on HDCam. Today I started to try and capture these tapes and I have not been able to do it right - and it's night now. I am kinda desperate.
They assured me they shot the material at 24fps. So I set the J-H3 System Frequency to 24 and Monitor frequency to 48hz. I had no image. Then monitor frequ. set to 60hz. No image.
Then i saw that the timecode on tape was 25 fps. Called the set again (in China now) to ask if they were sure they shot on 24 fps. Yes they were sure.
But when I set J-H3's system frequency to 25 and Monitor frequency to 50Hz, I had image.
So i captured a tape in 25 fps. Checked then if timecode was the same in the clip as it was on tape. It wasn't. Difference becomes gradually bigger towards the end. So that looks like a 24/25 difference.
So I then tried changing the capture settings to 24 (and keeping the device control at 25) and i tried it the other way round, and i tried putting both at 24.
All of these options gave me clips that had weird frame rates like 24,77 0r 24,02 or 24,52.
And with all of these different options, the timecode kept "walking away".
The other problem I have, is that I do not have a decklink card that can capture HD at its full 1080 resolution, so i have to downconvert it to SD through the SDI of the J-H3.
So I capture them in Pro Res 422 HQ SD. And that is quite a pity cause I edit the material that is shot on RED in Pro Res 422 HQ 720 HD.
But when I capture the tapes, they are 4:3 fullscreen. And when I tag the anamorphic field of a captured clip, it doesn't look right. People look to wide. It looks as if it really is supposed to be non anamorphic.
But that would be strange, as the rest of the projects aspect ratio is 2.35:1
Can it be that the image is cropped (sides cut off) when downconverted to SD in the J-H3?
A monitor that i connected to the composite out in the J-H3 showed the same strange 4:3 image...

FCP X automatically splits imported tapes into their individual clips and there is no simple way of preventing this.
The clips will be listed in the order in which they were shot which is fine if you are importing a tape that is exactly how it was shot in the camera.
However, if you have edited a video, putting clips in non-chronological order and then export it to tape, FCP X will return those clips to the chronological order in which they were shot .......... which jumbles up your edited project.
There is no cure other than to recapture with FCE or Legacy FCP.

Imovie imported DV tape clips (no more)

I am importing DV tape into imovie 11 and in the past it alway was broken into clips when importing. It no longer does. Is this due to the updated version since my old version did.
I cant find any settings to change.
Thanks - Rick

Hi
No it doesn't work like that - iMovie looks at the tape and reads the TimeCode and when it finds a break it starts a new clip. So it doesn't analyze the picture or audio to do this - and in analog material as VHS, Video-8 or Hi8 - there is no timecode at all after it's been converted to digital via A/D-box or Camera with Video-through function.
May be - something in iMovie settings/preferences that needs to be set - my look like this (sorry Swedish)
and
If this doesn't work - I would trash iMovie pref file (or rather and easier - Create a New User-Account in System Settings then log into this and re-try. )
Now iMovie should behave when a DV tape is importe (that are recorded live - not a copy from any analog device)
Yours Bengt W

Failure to Import DV tapes on HDV camera

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