Erratic Capture of DV Footage

I have submitted a bug report on this, but I'm curious if anyone has any similar issues with capturing.
This concerns capturing DV footage on a Sony DSR-11 deck. This event footage was originally recorded on Sony DSR-1800 decks using the NTSC DV Widescreen preset. I logged and batch captured 17 clips from a 184 tape, and conformed them to 16:9. The clips ranged from 2 minutes in length to 24 minutes. Of the 17 clips, 13 were recorded on the scratch drive as expected at 720x480. But 4 of the 17 clips were recorded at 1280x480 px dimensions.
Since the original batch capture, I've tried various means of capturing the same clips -- smaller batches, single clips manually, single clips in to out, and about 20-25% of these attempts result in recorded 1280x480 clips. The obvious other alternative is to recapture the wrong clips, and that works - subject to the 20% wrong statistic.
Mac Pro, 8-core, 32 GB RAM, OSX 10.6.4.
Any feedback from PP CS5 users with similar issues or workarounds will be appreciated.
Thanks,
--Jim Sphar

Dennis,
I've been using the DSR-11 for about six years, and yes, it is finicky. It loses in-points, and occasionally fails to capture logged clips, but I've captured countless hours of footage from it, and it has never captured a clip at the wrong size with the offending clip sandwiched by two that were captured at the correct size. PP CS5 capture software is suspect on this one.
I have fiddled with the control settings a bit with no joy. I have not yet tried to punch in manually, but I will try that.
Since I have another 3 hours of footage from the same event on a second tape, I'm considering capturing those clips with CS4 to see if I get any errors there. I believe I should be able to import the CS4 clips or project into CS5 for editing.
Thanks for your suggestions. I appreciate your participation in the forums and your tutorials.
--Jim Sphar

Similar Messages

Unable to Capture PAL DV footage

I'm working on a project that requires I edit with both PAL and NTSC footage shot on mini-DV. I was about to purchase a plug-in to convert the PAL footage to NTSC, but find that I can't even capture the PAL footage to begin with.
I tried using both a deck and a camera as the source device to capture from and they both play the tape just fine and on the camera's LCD (not a PAL camera by the way), I can view the footage perfectly, but still FCP does not acknowledge any video on the tapes.
I've even tried capturing on iMovie-it tells me that the footage can't be captured because it is 'half-frames' and mentions LP and SP modes. Would this really matter and why does my camera play it just fine?
Also, when I play the tape on the camera and plug-in to a television, the picture keeps rolling, but again, plays perfectly on my non-pal camera.
I've tried switching all pre-sets to PAL, but it doesn't help.
I'm about to make a dub tape with a PAL camera (Sony Z1U) and see what happens, but if anyone has any other suggestions, I'd really appreciate any help.
Thanks.

I tried using both a deck and a camera as the source device to capture from and they both play the tape just fine and on the camera's LCD (not a PAL camera by the way), I can view the footage perfectly, but still FCP does not acknowledge any video on the tapes.
I have never seen an NTSC camera that plays PAL tapes!
Alberto

When capturing mini dv footage into fcp, the media comes in sped up.

when capturing mini dv footage into fcp, the media comes in sped up.
fcp 4.5
g5 running OS 10.4.10
has never happened before.
[email protected]

DVCam decks should automatically lock onto the control track and playback OK, it's normally not the case the other way around with regular DV decks that don't pick up on the fact it's DVCam material and play back slowly and with picture and sound breakup.

Capturing Varicam HD footage at standard def and more!!!

Hi there, i hope some one can be of help to me on this one.
ok, basically i am preparing a project which i intend to shoot on a Panasonic Varicam to edit on FCP via firewire drives. I have done this before on another project and edited (with great difficulty) at full resolution, even though the final project was delivered in standard def. Taking this on board and knowing that this project will also not need to be delivered at HD size i would like to capture the footage at standard def.
Firstly, i just wanted to check that this should be as simple as plugging the Varicam into our G5 and capturing at DV size?
Secondly, is there any way that we can capture the Varicam footage at standard def while still capturing at the higher frame rates the Varicam offers?
Also, there seems there could inherantly be some problems with using the variable frame rate with the Panasonic Varicam and FCP. Any advice or pointers with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give on this
Alex
G5 Dual 2.7 Ghz

Not to worry!!

Capturing DVCPro50 24P Footage

If anyone could help, I would appreciate it. I am trying to capture Anamorphic DVCPro50 footage shot at 24 fps (Panasonic DVCPRO50 Deck). I initially captured the footage with the following captured the footage DV50 48KHz Anamorphic. The footage looks great on the timeline (DV50 48KHz Anamorphic), but it is sped-up. I made a new timeline (DV%) 48kHz - 23.98 Anamorphic)and the footage moves at the correct speed, but I have to render the footage. Is there any capture setting that coincides with this timeline setting? Or is the deck playing the footage at the wrong speed? Where have I gone wrong?
Please advise.
Thank you.
Message was edited by: Brian Hunt1

Did you shoot 24p or 24pA?
At either rate, you captured as 29.97 with that preset. Which is why you must render it on a 23.98 timeline.
I'm not sure why it's speeding up the footage, are you positive that is happening?
If you shot 24pA and want to work on a 23.98 sequence, recapture using the DVCPro50 Anamorphic Advanced Pulldown Removal preset.
If you shot 24p, work on your 29.97 timeline with the footage you have already captured, and make sure it is really speeding up.

Unable to capture Canon HDV footage with Sony v1u camera

I'm trying to capture hdv footage filmed with a canon video camera with my sony v1u. My sony footage captures as it should, but the canon footage, although playing fine on the sony camera, will not capture to cs4. Any suggestions?

Check all camera settings and make sure they match the original filming mode on the other camera... and veryify your PPro settings match
If that doesn't work, try http://strony.aster.pl/paviko/hdvsplit.htm

HELP! Audio Drops Out When Trying to Capture Canon XL2 Footage

Please help me out here. I'm a freelance camera operator w/ a Canon XL2 and several times now I've gotten calls from the editors saying they're having problems logging my footage, mainly the audio drops out quite a bit, and I'm not talking bout one second for every 2 or 3 minutes. No. It's like every 10 seconds the audio drops in and out.
What's the deal? Two times the guy was using a Panasonic DVX-100A to capture, another time it was a SONY DSR mini-DV deck. With each incident I had to go over with my XL2 and use it as the capture device, which is a pain.
The program they're using is FCP HD or 5. But I think even when they just play the tape in their Sony or Pany cameras, the audio may still suck.
Help me out here, I can't be the only one with this problem.
Thanks.
-R

Well Robert Swanson, I hope my post wasn't taken offensively, it certainly wasn't meant as such. The only Canon camcorder I owned was the GL1. After switching to Sony's I can honestly say it would take something significant to go back. And, I was merely relating my experiences in trying to capture from other Canon camcorders so that I know where you are coming from. However, I am interested in the HVX being the "noisest" camera on the market. I am seriously considering this camera and would be interested in a review that points this out. I would be using the hard drive recorder instead of P2 cards.
Mike

I am unable to capture 16:9 footage shot on Sony DSR PD170 correctly.

It appears "stepped or skipped". The audio is in sync, but the picture looks as though a few frames are skipped. Sort of like the old "Max Headroom" tv show. I am using firewire cable directly from the camera to the computer. Recorded on miniDV tape - new.
My Capture Settings are:
Device control: Firewire NTSC
Capture Input: DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic
Audio/Video Settings are:
Device Control Preset: Firewire NTSC
Video Playback: Apple Firewire NTSC (720x480)
Audio Playback: Firewire DV
I have FCP 7.0.3
OS X 10.5.8
Camera is Sony DSR PD170
I logged the footage without a picture or audio in FCP, used my camera's monitor. FCP was reading the TC in the Log and Capture window, and I was able to input In and Out points to log.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Russ,
Many, many thanks for sticking with me. I've finally got the footage to work. Checked it by shooting new 16:9 footage and inputting it as well. Have gone back to the original and discarded the iMovie stuff.
Believe my problem was in my settings when I changed these, everything worked: Under System Settings.> Playback Controls I changed RT to unlimited, Video Quality and Frame Rate to Dynamic, and Record to Full Quality, Frame offset is 4. (I don't know what the frame offset is.)
Under User Preferences> Render Control Render and Resolution are now 100%, Codec is same as sequence codec, Quality is Best, and I've checked always use best quality when rendering
Sorry, I don't know what the settings were before I began, just know that I changed some of them to these. Thanks again.
Aliciachi

How to capture Vari Cam Footage with PanasonicHD1200A

Hi there. Thanks to those people who answered my previous question about the Vari Cam codec. I hate to say I am still a little confused.
I should specifiy now that I am capturing footage from DVCPro tapes recorded on a Panonic Vari Cam (720p). The deck I am using is a panasonic HD1200A and I Have a AJA kona LS capture Card.
I want to edit for final output for PAL, so 720x576 (it will be 4:3 letterboxed 16:9) and a frame rate of 25.
So my question is which of Final Cut Pros many capture presets do I use. Do I need to downlaod a third party Codec.
I tried using DVCPro HD 720p60 codec but this doesn't deliver the Data rate I was told to expect (14 mb/sec rather than 5.6mb/s). However it does seem to work. Will I simply have to scale the final movie to fit the proportions of PAL 4:3? As this is a green screen shoot how will my Key be effected by the Codec, GOP, P an B frames, or will final export with a quicktime conversion solve this. I appreciate your help in clearling up these mysterys of HD
I am on a dual processor G5 with 3 gig of Ram.
Thanks Sincerely
Peter Stenhouse

Great! It was shot at 720p25 (so i'm told) there was no use of the variable fps.
I'm not delivering a DV master I want to deliver broadcast quality and as I also dong alot of post, a green screen key, I need the best quality possible. We shot on HD because, we originally we were going to shoot some slo mo. Typically the director changed his mind, didn't shoot any and now I am going through HD **** for no real reason (though the more filmic color space will be nice I am sure)
Via Component sounds like a good idea, though I still need to adjust the deck to output 25fps rather than 30, which it somehow seems to be doing at the moment.
Ordinarily I would capture from digibeta, but we only have the HD deck over the weekend so don't have the luxury of capturing offline RT and then onlining 8 bit uncompressed has I normally do. But I digress.
I don't particularly want to have to work at 30 or 60 fps, beacues I never have before, and because the final output is for PAL Broadcast.
I really appreciate your advice, the glimmers of hope that your words of wisdom provide.
Sincerely
Peter Stenhouse
Excuse the ranting, I'm pretty stressed, I hate colliding with the first hurdle this hard.

Capturing VHS-C footage: Will this method work?

Ok, I'm new to the whole Video and Digital manipulation realm, but I wanted to run this by everybody before I tried it out.
Two questions:
1. Would this work:
- Capturing at DVD quality (I mean, it's VHS-C tapes, not exactly IMAX level stuff)
2. I'm using my S-VHS player and my DV player as a bridge to my computer. Which of these two is better/higher quality (or either I guess):
         a. Plug my s-video into my vcr and dv player, then usb into my computer, then capture that video using the dv camera as a bridge
          OR
          b. S-video into my dv and vcr, capture the footage onto my DV camera, then import that captured footage from the DV camera.

If you are passing the video through your DV camcorder using AV-DV option, the camcorder is converting the AV to DV, the camera would do the same if you were recording that input to tape. Either way it is DV. When you capture DV via Firewire, you are capturing a stream of binary data that meets the DV IEEE1394 standard. It makes no difference if the stream comes from the pass-through, or from recording to tape first and then capturing the tape. There is no change in quality loss between the methods. Recognize however, the source was only VHS and the DV copy by either method can't be better than the VHS.
As for USB, I do not believe that Premiere pro can capture a USB input, the Premierr pro miniDV/HDV option is only for IEEE1394 capture.
Your USB connection may be passing through a camera-specific utility and being recorded as a AVI file on your HDD. You then have to import that file to Premiere using the project panel

Capturing lots of footage for multiple projects?

I've got 50+ DV tapes with years worth of footage that I want to transfer to my hard disk so that I can eventually make some movies. Do I have to capture to a project in FC4? I want to transfer all the video and then pick out clips for projects as I need them. (Something like the clip browser in iMovie, but I can't stand editing in the new iMovie). My first thought was to create a single project and capture all my video there. Then when I work on a project I can just use clips from the "capture" project. Any thoughts on this approach?

I capture all my tapes in FCE and then copy the clip files from Capture Scratch to folders on an external FW drive that is my 'video store'. (Among other things, it simplifies backing up all my source media clips.) After copying the clip files to the external drive, I delete them from Capture Scratch and I do not keep the FCE project(s) in which I capture the tapes.
To help keep the clip files organized, I do this:
• give each tape a unique reel number and name at the time of the shoot
• assign the reel number & name in FCE when I capture
• store related clip files in a folder with an appropriate name (for example, if I have 4 reels from a single shoot, I keep them together in a single folder)
• keep a log of each tape in an Excel workbook
When I start a real project, I can import any/all of the clip files from my external drive for any project.

Capturing Old Hi8 footage using Sony TRV310 DIgital 8 Camera Using Firewire

I have read many of the previous posts regarding capture of old Hi8 footage. I recently purchased a MacPro and am in the process of converting my video and photography work over to it from a PC. I have both a MiniDV and the above mention Digital8. There is no problem capturing new footage shot with the Digital8 since it is recorded in digital format. However, I have years of old Hi8 tape. I get the "VTR OK" message, and can use the on screen control to advance and view the tapes. However, when I try to capture them into FCP 6.0, I get a message that it is waiting for a time code. Is there a setting that I need to change to get around this?

Thank you all for your prompt responses. You were on the money.
I used the "uncontrollable device" setting with "Capture Now". This allowed me to used the camcorder's on board controls to advance the video for capture. When you use the "uncontrollable device setting, you no longer get the "VTR OK" status message. You get a "No communications" status message.
The capture of the hour long Hi8 tape went fine with no dropped frames that I can tell. However, at the end of the capture, I got a message that the "Audio Sample rate for the file was different than the Audio sample rate of the source tape. And, that the audio and video might be out of sync". Sure enough, the audio is slightly out of sync with the video. I'll have to look back in my old camera manuals to see if I can find what the audio sample rate for Hi8 is and make that adjustment.
Again thanks.
CG300zx

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.

How do I capture video game footage?

Hi,
I plan to do a movie about my character that I play in World of Warcraft and need to capture video footage of the game.
How can I do this?
Can quicktime pro capture the footage of can some other third party software do the job?

You'll need some screen capture software. I suggest you look at Snapz Pro (Ambrosia).
You may have to change your display resolution and you may not get every frame unless you make the game window as small as it can be.

Easy Set-Up Capturing Mini DV footage Sony TRV30

Hi -
I go back and forth and use iMovie for some quick and easy projects and for the longer more elaborate projects I use Final Cut Express.
It's been so long since I've imported footage into FCE that I can't remember my easy settings.I've tried a number of them and they don;t seem to work.
I have a Sony HandyCam with firewire and a firewire cable to a MacPro.
I know I can easily import into imovie then export a quicktime, but I'd rather have it straight away in FCE.
Can anybody give me the sequence and settings for capturing in FCE?
Thanks!
Anne Z

Hi Ann
Without knowing wether you are a NTSC or PAl. Try EASY SETUP--DV NTSC FIREWIRE BASIC or PAL FIREWIRE BASIC. If that does not work try easy setup--DV PAL or easy setup--NTSC or failing that use dv setup.
I hope that works...try trashing preferences..Something Tom Wolesky suggests
Justin... Durban.. South Africa

Erratic Capture of DV Footage

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for