Capture Entire Tape Of Clips

Hi all,
Quick question: I used to use Sony's Vegas product before I saw the light and switched to the Mac. One thing that I really liked about the Vegas product was how it captured a tape ... it essentially broke the tape up into clips based on the timestamp/record button. It made going through a tape much easier.
Is there a way with FCE 4 to capture an entire tape, but have it broken into clips automatically?
Thanks in advance.
B.

Yes. I did this yesterday with FCE4.
The process can be found "Automatically Creating Subclips Using DV Start/Stop Detection (p. 283)" in the FCE4 electronic manual.

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Batch capturing entire tape...recomended???

Is it a good idea to attempt to batch capture a tape in its entirety? I am having problems doing this...I do a lot of events that last often over 2 hours. Instead of capturing footage in clips, I just capture the entire tape. When I'm done with the project, I simply make the clips offline.
I'm in the process of reviving a project now, and one tape in it's entirety(55 min approx), captured OK, but I am having problems with another tape. I am getting a broken timecode error, when I don't see how this is possible...because I let the tape freely run. Also, under the logging info, the media ends before the tape ends, which means that is space left on the end of the tape without any timecode. Yet when I batch capture, it still goes to the end of the tape.....isn't a batch capture suppose to go by the clips media in and media out points?
All help is greatly appreciated.

I do this often. There are two shools of thought on this method -
Capturing entire tapes allows one to scroll through non-linearly and make subclips. The advantage to subclips is that they are serachable and you can add comments. The downside to this method is that the files are large, and you may be capturing much more metarila than you need. I often do this when working on docs with very high shooting ratios. The most recent one had 190 tapes for a 1-hour program, which led us to use offline RT for our cutting format and then recapture for online.
Logging and capturing single clips fives you the advantage of starting out capturing only what you know you might use, you can input the logging info at the start, and will have several small clips that may be easier to manage. Since at some point you'll have to familiarize youself with the matreial anyway, you might as well do it at the logging stage.
Several factors can contribute to perceived TC breaks - reusing tapes, camera stops, shooting format (HDV, for instance, will show a TC break each time the camera stops). If you are capturing whole tapes, you might do well to let FCP create new clips on TC breaks and just let it roll. Make sure the TC format matches between your tape and settings (DF vs. NDF)
Regarding rolling off the end of the tape during capture, you might be very close to the end with the clip you are capturing. You might try lowering the post-roll value in the device control preset in your A/V settings.
Hope this helps -
Max Average

Capturing entire tape

Hi, I am trying to capture an entire tape, instead of doing it clip by clip. I go to Capture Now...and then hit play on my camera. It seems to capture everything. However, in FCP, it only has the first minute or so. BUT...when I go to Finder and into my actual scratch disk manually, and open that captured file, it plays the entire thing in Quicktime. Why is it only showing it as being a minute long in FCP?

John:
If you play the QT file from your scratch disc and see the complete tape, it was captured ! By a chance, didn't you add some IN/OUT points by mistake in FCP?
Again, if your AT file is the complete tape, try just importing that file in your project and you must see the complete footage there.
Hope it helps ... and/or make sense !
Alberto

FCPX will is capturing entire tape footage with import

Need some help please. I import as I have done on lots of other projects the footage from my consumer Sony HC9 (HDV) camera.
This time however FCPX is not capturing the last 7 mins on the tape. It seems to stop at 55:54:15 for some reason. The import goes to the end of tape and looks like it is working, but when I start editing I can see the last 7 mins or so of footage has not been captured. Tryed to do another capture in a new event> Same result! Any ideas why? Cheers

Bryan, seems very odd that the archiving method didn't work
Anyway my first suggestion would be to try capturing the last 7min of your tape using a manual method. You can do this by using QuickTime Player 10.0. Choose File - New Movie Recording and be sure to change your capture settings.
My second suggestion would be to try iMove. If nether of these work, then you can bet your bottom dollar that the cause is more likely to be the tape not FCP X.
Let me know who you go.

Capture Problems. 50 clips per tape.

Hi Everyone. I am in a bit of a jam. I have a dozen tapes to digitize. For some reason, FCP acts as if there were Time Codes breaks all over (although there is none). The result is my tape end up divided in 50 clips, which is really annoying because the director needs to derush and I need one clip per tape for that.
I am using: MacBook Pro 17 Unibody
4 Go Ram - 500 Go HD
Sony Z7 via forewire
Tried with HDV capture codec and Apple Pro Res 422 (when I switched to Appel Pro Res 422, it worked and I got one clip for an entire tape, but then it started splitting again for the next tape)
All your help & insights will be much appreciated.
Take care.

you can go into your user preferences and on the first page, stop the create new clip on timecode breaks,
or you can drop all 50 shots on a new timeline then export as a self contained QT movie, then import that back in as one clip (you could even export a copy with the TC reader burnt in)
or when you are capturing do capture now and have device control set to non controllable, but you will lose the camera tape timecode on this one

Capture a tape and separate clips

I am new to Final Cut Express 4 but I have had extensive experience with various Premier Elements, including PE7 as well as with WideStudio 10 & 11. Notwithstanding all that I cannot find out how to capture the DV tape from my camcorder (Sony DCR-HC40E) so that each 'clip' is separated. In the other products above, once you have clicked to separate clips, (by time-codes) they were all captured and recorded as separate clips. In FCE I tried capturing with Batch Capture but that did not work. Can someone please help me as to what i need to do?
Thanks in advance
Belatamas

Hi Meg The Dog
thanks for your suggestion. I did read Page 192 but was not very clear to me. Do I take it that first I have to capture the entire tape in one 'hit' and then segregate the tape into clips? With other programs I used, the 'capture' itself segregated and recorded each clip as it was recording/capturing the tape. The 'segregation' was based on each clip's time code. Is that not the case with FCE 4? Does that mean that I cannot 'capture' all my clips on a tape in one hit as i used to? Or have I misunderstood you response?
Thanks again
Belatamas

Problem capturing DV tape to FCP 10.1.3

New to FCP X and having problems importing the entire tape.
Importing dv tape using Sony SDR-11
OS X 10.9.4
Processor 2x2.66 GHz 6 Core Intel Xeon
External Hard Drive 1TB (set up for FCP media storage)
Currently the footage is importing in small increments of 2-3 minute clips and I am trying to capture the entire tape.
Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated as I have been not been able to figure this one out.
Liza

Ross
I am trying to import 50 mins or so of a lecture. One continuous shot. No stopping or starting of camera.
Fcp will only import small increments of the tape. The clips are never of the whole lecture even if I tried
To edit them together. If only I should be happy at this point.
I really dont know what to do. Every tape I try to import ends up with small increment clips. After the import the message always says tape has been entirely imported. But this is incorrect.
I have even gone to the manual and no help there.
How did you fix your problem?
Thanks for you input.

Capturing from tape to computer NO WORKY :(

We all know and hate this error:
"Capture encountered a problem reading the data on your source tape. This could be due to a problem with the tape. Capture has been aborted and your clip has been saved."
I did a search on the discussions and tried the following with no success:
-changing to FireWire NTSC Basic
-going to Easy Setup and choosing NTSC
-changing to non-controllable device
Problem happens on a MacBook Pro and PowerPC PowerMac - both have Tiger (10.4.latest). Two different cameras (Canon XL-2 & Sony DCR-TRV1). Two different tapes, and two different FireWire Cables.
I'm driving home to try on my iMac with 10.5 --- I know it should work there.
Please help.

Actually Michael's comment does help in this case and this could be the one in a million time that reusing tape has come back to bite you. You're using mini dv tape which is at most, 5 bucks so there is no excuse to reuse a tape. It's not a dbeta or hdcam or hdcam sr or d5 tape; it's cheap!
Reusing a tape, especially a minidv tape makes as much sense as blacking the entire tape.
I worked on a show for ten years that broadcasts worldwide and they never ever ever reused a tape. Dirty program, clean program, camera iso's and vhs iso backups so say around 20 tapes. PER SHOW and more loads if the show went long. Never reused a tape, not even a vhs or minidv that had been used for roll in elements.
As you've got a Canon camera, you may also check your configuration as far as you firewire devices are concerned. If I were a betting person, I'd say this tape will not work with your iMac either.

Need to capture entire contents of a mini DV

What is the easiest way to capture entire contents of a mini DV? Must I create an offline clip and specify the media start and end points and do a batch capture, or can I use Capture Now?
Thanks,
John Link

If you use Capture Now, it will get everything minus any preroll needed to start a new clip on a timecode break.
If you change Device Control to Non-Controllable Device, in the Capture Settings, you will get absolutely everything but there will be no source timecode. Should you ever need to recapture that will make it very difficult/almost impossible to recreate your work accurately.

Can I capture Beta tape and have its timecode appear in my capture file?

I have a BlackMagic multibridge eclipse running with FCP Studio3 on a MacPro. I’m capturing BetaSP footage from a Sony Digibeta Deck via SDI and deck control via RS-422 through my Elcipse.
My client wants matching timecode btween the source tape and my resulting capture on Final Cut. Is this possible? I hear there is timecode in the SDI signal that I am capturing from the Sony deck, but I don’t think I’m getting that timecode transferred to my capture at the same time.
How could this be accomplished? Would I need additional software or hardware to accomplish this?
My need is urgent.
Thanks,
Steve

The timecode is being captured. Open the clip in the VIEWER...note the timecode at the top...it will match exactly what is on the tape. If this wasn't possible, FCP would be a HORRIBLE NLE and not used for broadcast TV editing at all. But it seems you captured correctly (RS-422, SDI)...so the file you captured will match the tape.
It's easy to check and compare.

Can FCP7 Regen Time Code when capturing from tape to allow for TC Breaks?

Can FCP7 Regen Time Code when capturing from tape to allow for TC Breaks? Or does it start capturing with time code from the tape and then just keeps rolling regardless of TC breaks on the tape, thus not matching code after the first TC break? I don't see any preferences where you can ask it to regenerate the code it is writing based on the code it's receiving from the tape (i.e. continuous jam). I'm guessing it just keeps on going with the code it started with. Anyone know different?
Thanks!

It is not clear from your post what you want FCP to do when it encounters the timecode break on the tape that it is ingesting.
You have three choices:
If you choose "Make New Clip" then FCP will stop, roll the tape forward to legitimate code, and then attempt a pre-roll and start capturing again. The new clip will have timecode that corresponds to the timecode on the tape.
If you choose "Warn After Capture", FCP will keep ingesting and the timecode will continue contiguously from the source code of your starting clip, meaning it won't match the tape after the point of the break.
MtD

Capturing DV tapes to large drive

I have over 100 DV tapes that have never been archived or logged in any way. I have two 1TB drives and would like to capture each of the tapes separately in such a way that in the future I can use FCP 6 (on an Intel Mac pro) to edit these tapes. I will be using my camera as the video input device and would like to put a tape in and "walk away" while FCP captures the tape in real time. My thought is that once a tape is captured the digital computer file is much quicker to navigate than using the camera as a video playback unit. I realize that 2TB will only go so far. I would like each tape to have a corresponding computer file.
My question is what is the best way to capture these tapes so each tape has a corresponding file that will be usable by FCP when the time comes to edit them into different projects? Is it as simple as doing a "log and capture" for each tape giving each a unique reel number?

Well, I'm obviously in over my head, but I unfortunately find myself with quite a bit of time in the next couple of months to try and pull this off.
As mentioned above I would like to capture many DV tapes. At this point I do not want to do any editing. I want to capture them in a way that does not limit me in the future when I try to create and edit numerous projects. I have a large dedicated drive. What is the best way to accomplish this:
What should the folder structure look like at the "Finder" level?
Should each tape be a separate project?
I do not know what is on these tapes and I would like not to preview them before they are captured. Is it possible to change the "Name" or add a description after the tape is captured (since during the capture process I will have a better idea what is on it)?
What is the best way to capture these tapes allowing for the greatest flexibility in the future. I'd like to avoid spending two months doing it the wrong way.
Thanks for the "leading zeros tip"
Thank you all for your help.

How much loss in capturing from tape?

Looks like the days of tape are numbered. If they haven't already, everyone will be using tapeless formats before too long. I have a large library of HD (miniDV format) tape. When clients want raw footage, I copy tape-to-tape using two camcorders and send a copy of the raw footage. That will soon be impossible, because no one will be able to play the tapes. What's left is to use CS4 to capture the tape footage directly to a hard drive or memory stick and send that. I have no idea how much loss of data there is doing that, and hope someone might have some numbers to share.
Thanks.

A Firewire transfer from tape to computer is a copy operation... so there is no loss of quality
Of course, those files are "about" 13Gig per hour for DV (I don't know the size for HDV) so sending a file to someone is going to mean several DVD's to write the files, in 4Gig segments, or copying to a USB hard drive and sending that back and forth

8mm and Canopus or Digital 8 for capturing 8mm tapes?

I have a Canopus 300 that I've been using for capturing VHS tapes. I also have an 8mm camcorder. Will that camcorder + Canopus do as good a job as a Digital 8 camcorder or Digital 8 playback deck?
Thanks!
MikeR

Probably only a side-by-side comparison using the same test footage would provide a definitive answer as to which path produced the better result.
The data stream on a Digital8 tape is the same DV stream that is on a miniDV tape. The data is identical, it's just the physical tape that is different. You can only get 1 hour of DV onto a 2-hour Hi-8 tape, because the Digital8 camcorder runs the tape at approximately twice the speed.
My Sony DCR-TRV460 is smart enough to recognize the signal and switch between modes. I even have a few tapes which have regular analog 8mm video on part of the tape and Digital8 on a later part of the same tape. When it reaches one of these changes, the camera automatically stops and switches mode, then starts rolling again.
Not all DV is exactly identical, I have found out. There is a small discrepancy between the way Panasonic cameras record DV and the way Sony cameras record DV. I found this out when a colleague sent me a miniDV tape recorded on a Panasonic camera. I took it to a video shop to have it copied over to a Digital8 tape, which should have been a direct digital copy. But at the shop they told me Panasonic records DV in a slightly different way. The result is that there were some glitches and artifacts on the copy, and some audio problems as well. If you stick with all one manufacturer you should probably not run into that problem.
The downside is that I have found Sony camcorders to suddenly fail to operate at the worst possible moments, and for no apparent reason. This has happened to me several times, in fact my TRV460 died a couple of weeks ago. It is always wise to have an expert repairman who is knowlegeable about Sony available at all times.
I think that the Sony deck (GV-D200) might be exactly what you need for your project, but at $500 for a new one (or maybe $250-$300 for a used one on eBay) that would be a significant cost.
Message was edited by: Bob Weaver

Weird thing happens when capturing from tape...

So I'm using Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 and I'm capturing from tapes. I either set in and out points or capture the whole tape when I do this. When I start capturing, what would sometimes happen is Premiere would stop capturing the footage in the middle, but there's no kind of error at all. What it seems to me is that Premiere would think that my out point is earlier than what I said it was so it would capture only part of the footage I wanted into my bins, but then I can just move the in point to where it left off and it would capture the rest of it (though it may stop several times). The captured files don't seem to be corrupt either. Does this make sense to anyone? I'm just wondering if it's the program itself, the tapes, or something else?

please guys can you guys just try it out for me and tell me if it happens to you too. i've already heard from an x200 user that this happens to him as well. it would be better to hear from more of you guys.

Capture Entire Tape Of Clips

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