FCE4 and JVCMG155U

Hey all-
I have been frequenting these forums alot lately it seems. I recently returned my Sony SR42 HDD camcorder for a JVC MG155U HDD thinking that because the JVC has a firewire option and the Sony does not, it would be alot easier. I like the idea of an HDD because I didn't want to have to import video (I use it for coaching and usually take 1.5 hours worth of game footage) in real time and thought it would be quick.
Anyway, long story short, JVC's website does show a tutorial on importing video from the camera into iMovie HD, but that is real time (plus for some reason I can not import it into FCE4). When I hook it directly via firewire, I use the capture function and that also imports real time, but will not import anything over 3.2 seconds.
I also tried just taking the video files via USB off the camera, then using Visual Hub then bringing them into FCE, but that makes the video somewhat grainy (and at Highest Quality).
My question is, does anyone know of an easier way to get these files into FCE without sacrificing time and quality?
Thanks all!

If you are referring to the non-US keyboard issue (FCE shortcuts not working with localized keyboards on Leopard), this is not yet solved in v4.0.1. The same workaround is still working, though...
Piero

Similar Messages

FCE4 and HDC-SD9 (Panasonic)

My iMac and Powerbook aren't recognizing the camera. I changed the Easy Set-up config in FCE4 and still can't see it, although it mounts to the desktop.
If I use iMovie 7 it finds the camera, loads the clips in the preview window but crashes on import. Same thing occured on the iMac.
I've read the manuals and searched the forums. The only solution may be to use Voltaic or some other conversion app. I'm hoping someone here might have some experience with this camera or advice on what to do when iMovie crashes or FCE4 can't even find the device.

Well, Stevie at least held up a Panasonic AVCHD camcorder when introducing iMovie 08 on a keynote. And even though documentation never says anything specific other than general AVCHD support, until recently both FCE4 and iMovie 08 widened all imported AVCHD footage by 33%, and this got strange with camcorder footage in Full HD. This because the camera he held up had a sensor of 1440x1080, but the AVCHD standard also supports 1980x1080. Apple has neither ever supported 5.1 surround audio which is part of the AVCHD standard. So you can´t generally "import AVCHD" files into these Apple products, only certain sensor sizes, no surround audio, and only as long as you present it in the camcorders original directory structure (as opposed to both VLC (trunk) and Voltaic which reads the MTS files directly, and also can convert these to native quicktime files WITH 5.1 surround!).
That´s why I feel Apple has only hacked and dabbled with the implementation of the standard in these two products.

FCE4 and Leopard

If I recall, I saw Threads some time ago where there were issues with FCE4 and Leopard. Have these been resolved?
Thank you.

If you are referring to the non-US keyboard issue (FCE shortcuts not working with localized keyboards on Leopard), this is not yet solved in v4.0.1. The same workaround is still working, though...
Piero

FCE4 and iDVD Anamorphic Ken Burns

I created a 60min movie in iMovie8 using three media: 1) NTSC Anamorphic DV from a Panasonic PV-GS80, 2) JPEG 2816x2112 stills from a Panasonic DMC-FX3, and 3) 848x480 motion JPEG video from the DMC-FX3. An iMovie 8 project in 16:9 aspect was burned to DVD by iDVD and viewed on a 16:9 LCD TV with no problems encountered and pretty decent quality.
However, frustrated by the lack of basic features in iMovie, I purchased FCE4 after speaking with an Apple rep at Best Buy who assured me that it could import iMovie8 projects. Although I was carrying a disc with my iMovie project, I wasn't allowed to verify this in the store. Unfortunately, Apple's claim that iMovie8 projects can be imported into FCE4 is grossly misleading at best. They say "With iMovie ’08, putting together a great movie is as quick as drag and drop. When you want to add professional polish to your project, simply export to Final Cut Express 4 and edit like a pro." In fact, contrary to the FCE4 manual, iMovie8 projects cannot simply be opened: Incompatible files. Apple tech support told me iMovie8 projects must first be exported as XML.
The truth is that iMovie8 projects must be tediously recreated for FCE4 because it can't use MP3 audio files (must recapture from CD's), it doesn't recognize transitions (must recreate Ken Burns effects from scratch), and DV NTSC video clips are captured by iMovie8 at a mysteriously bloated 6.4 MBps rate rather than the 3.6MBps they should be (must recapture all DV). Apple must retract its claims or fix its products to enable upwards migration.
Nevertheless, having recreated 10 minutes worth of movie in ten days of experimentation and reading most of FCE's 1152-page manual, I have yet to produce acceptable output from FCE. Besides the frustrating discrepancies between the manual and actual FCE4 operation, my biggest problems have been to maintain the 16:9 aspect in iDVD, and to render still images (with modest Ken Burns motion) with any semblance of quality in the final output.
The FCE4 project settings are DV-NTSC Anamorphic 48KHz. Anamorphic video from the PV-GS80 is captured at 720x480pix, 29.97fps, DV/DVCPRO NTSC, 3.6MBps, 16-bit audio, NTSC pixels, Ana=Yes, Field=Lower (even). Stills are imported at 2816x2112pix, 29.97fps, Photo-JPEG, Square pix, Ana=No, Field=None. Motion JPEG is captured at 848x480pix, 30fps, Photo-JPEG, 1.6MBps, 8KHz x 8-bit audio, Square pix, Field=None.
All these media appear correctly in 16:9 aspect within FCE4. However, unlike iMovie8, when FCE4 exports as QTMovie, the movie is not recognized as anamorphic by iDVD, so it is burned in a horizontally compressed 4:3 aspect. Why are there no options or controls when exporting as QTMovie, which seems to be the only way to avoid unnecessary processing and image degradation?
Experimenting with FCE4's Export Using Quicktime Conversion, I was able to export the movie at 848x480, but at a huge cost in time for unnecessary transcoding and the resultant degradation in image quality.
Experimenting with the Anamorphicizer third-party software that this BBS recommends to solve the incompatibility between FCE and iDVD, I found that the anamorphic aspect is recognized properly by iDVD, but still images are now unacceptably stretched horizontally. This seems like a poor solution to a simple problem of incompatibility within Apple's own products.
Most recently I stumbled upon the observation that if a FCE4 sequence begins with a few frames of anamorphic DV from the Panasonic PV-GS80, this sequence can be exported as a QTMovie which iDVD will recognize as anamorphic, resulting in a DVD with the correct aspect. This doesn't always work, e.g. if the audio is removed from those few frames, or if their opacity is set to 0% to hide them. It reminds me of the Auto Conform feature in FCE4, but my Preference/Edit/AutoConform=Ask, and FCE4 has never asked. Furthermore, this works even if AutoConform=Never. Unfortunately, I don't want to start my movie with a DV clip but with a still, and this results in a 4:3 movie in iDVD. Furthermore, this "fix" doesn't seem to stick: after editing, the sequence can revert to 4:3 in iDVD for unknown reasons. I can find no mention of this behavior in the docs, and FCE4 shows no differences in properties between these sequences, so I don't know why it happens. Nevertheless, it seems preferable to Anamorphicizer, because still images are not stretched. Can anyone tell me why this happens so that I can control it predictably?
My biggest remaining issue is that FCE4 renders still images with Ken Burns slow pans and zooms unacceptably poorly. First, some images but not others seem to have gross interlace distortion throughout the clip, as if the JPEG were interlaced. It seems like this problem develops after editing even for stills that once looked OK. Adding the Deinterlace filter merely softens the distorted images. Oddly enough, adding the Deinterlace filter or the Shift Fields filter and then deselecting it seems to fix the problem. I've tried changing the Field Dominance setting on stills from None, but no help. Since the original JPEG is progressive, this seems like an FCE bug. How can I avoid this distortion in the first place?
Finally there is the issue that Ken Burns style pans and zooms create unacceptable aliasing and shimmering in the output, even if the motion is minimal. Easing zooms by changing Scale fast at first then slowing down doesn't help. Easing pans by changing in several steps (because the Center parameter can't have Bezier controls) makes the aliasing even more noticeable by changing the rate of shimmering in discrete steps. When still images contain significant detail and linear edges, there seems to be no level of Ken Burns motion that will result in a reasonable image on DVD. Why are these artifacts so much worse than with iMovie?
As a newcomer to FCE4, I am very disappointed in Apple's failure to ensure a reasonable migration path from iMovie. Perhaps they have forgotten how the basic "bait and switch" strategy is supposed to work! I hope someone here can help more than two hours of hold time with Apple Tech Support helped me. I would be interested in any recommendations for other vendors' products that produce better results with less aggravation. If not, I am about ready to get my money back for FCE4!

"This will explain what you can do about this..."
I shouldn't be required to purchase QTPro just to fix the anamorphic bit in the movies exported by FCE, especially when iMovie8 sets the bit properly. Seems like an obvious FCE bug to me. Tom, any thoughts on why a segment with an anamorphic clip first is handled properly?
"Where are you seeing the image degradation? Are you looking at the output on a video monitor?"
I'm editing using a 21" ViewSonic LCD monitor, but then I burn DVD's to view on an LCD HDTV. The artifacts are apparent on both displays.
" Changing anamorphic values after the material has been edited into the sequence will result in image stretching."
I assume you mean setting the Anamorphic bit on my JPEG stills: I haven't done that. I'm saying that after using Anamorphicizer, some still images were definitely stretched horizontally. I created these by simply dragging a folder of JPEG images to the FCE browser. Other than setting the still duration default, I don't know what else I should do.
"If you add motion to the images interlacing will be introduced. "
I understand, but it is much worse on some images than others, so I'm trying to understand how I can minimize the ugliness of aliasing and shimmering. On some still images, FCE seems to me to have started with two mismatched frames, so that very exaggerated aliasing appears consistently throughout the clip, seemingly independent of the motion. I suspect data corruption in FCE, and I remember a warning in the manual about corruption being caused by copying sequences too many times, but can't find it now. Could this be my problem?
I've also found that even though FCE claims to be a reference editor, not touching the original files, there is a problem with handling portrait versus landscape JPEGS. After importing JPEGs, sometimes the FCE image matches the file in the Finder, and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I have found that if I rotate the Finder file, Save it, then Rotate it back and Save again, FCE will finally get its version rotated correctly. This never works by only changing the source file one time: I must do it twice.
"If you're uncomfortable or unhappy with the application you might be better off using another one."
I am mostly disappointed that FCE seems to be so out of sync with other Apple apps, and perhaps buggier than many. My guess is that iMovie and FCE are on a collision course instead of a rational product relationship. I would be happy for any recommendations, because I feel that the time I've invested in learning to use this seemingly overly embellished software may not have been well spent. On the other hand, if someone can correct my misunderstandings, I will be very grateful.

FCE4 and Sony 12E avchd recorder and importing mts files

Hi
I can import my sony no trouble and fce4 is excellent but what i want to do is to save all my sony data (mts) files onto an external hdd and then access these from fce4 ?
Well i copied my files to the hdd but fce4 doesnt seem to recognise the mts files (they are greyed out) ?
Is there any way i can do this ?
Cheers
Dave

FCE doesn't work with mts files. Where did these come from? If they came from a camera and include the whole folder structure that contains the metadata they can be accessed from the log and transfer window. If not you might be able to convert them using Voltaic.

FCE4 and OSX 10.5 not working?

Every time I try to log and transfer from my HG10, FCE4 crashes. I see that others have this working with 10.4 so I assume it's just another case of OSX 10.5 not working properly or are others having no problems?

Thanks Tom, I appreciate your trying to help but I'm a computer professional and I know that having a Windows server on the same network as my Mac is not going to cause a transcoder process to crash: I've used windows network drives for FCP scratch disks for many years with no problems. In this instance, I am trying the network drive as an alternative to the 'native' method as that's not working for me (i.e. log and transfer from the Canon HG10 HDD).
The system crashes about 2 seconds after placing the clip in the queue in the log and transfer window, which implies it's the transcoder process that's failing (it's a SIGSEGV always pointing to the same address which means a bad pointer in the code but this may be that it's making bad assumptions about the version of a library it's loaded).
I believe that preference files can become corrupt and cause badly written code to crash but I've deleted the ones highlighted in the previous post with no success - are there others I should be looking to delete? Is the transcode process actually QT or FCE itself?
[[ OT: I have had more problems with OSX 10.5.1 than I've ever had with any version of OSX (since 10.0): my wife's MacBook Pro has kernel panicked several times and she only uses iLife. Mine hasn't panicked but it has locked up a couple of times and applications crash randomly (although a lot less on 10.5.1 than 10.5). ]]
This is really frustrating as I investigated which camera and software to buy very carefully and I see that Apple even recommends the camera I bought (canon HG10) on it's online store when you select to buy FCE4 so it clearly should be working.

FCE4 and frame rate issues

Hi All,
I'm totally new to FCE and video editing in general, and have dived in with two feet. I'm trying to edit some screencasts I have produced. My main aim is to cut out dead sections of the screencast and add a voiceover to them. I tried various screencast-specific bits of software, but they didn't seem to allow much in terms of editing, and one (Camtasia Mac) decided to eat a day's worth of work by corrupting the saved file.
So, I thought I'd grab a copy of FCE and give that a try. I've bought Tom Wolsky's FCE4 Editing Workshop Book (whose name lead me to this forum). I was also quite interested in the voiceover feature that FCE has, as that should come in useful as that is the main reason I'm editing these screencasts in the first place.
The main issue's I've been having is that FCE is intended for DV editing, and I'm trying to edit a screencast, so I'm going slightly against the flow here. e.g. my screencast was captured using QT X at 1024x768. Which FCE can't deal with (I only found out after buying FCE... I head FCP can deal with non-DV standard frame sizes, but it beyond my budget). So I've been using MPEG streamclip pretty successfully to convert the H.264 source into Apple Intermediate scaled down and padded to 1280x720. I can then export from FCE back into Apple Intermediate and into MPEG Streamclip to crop off the pillarboxes and save to the final output format.
I've come to the conclusion that as long as I can get my source material into what FCE expects from a DV cam then it seems to handle it OK.
Some of the test clips I imported into FCE seemed to work fine, but then the longer full length source (about an hour) had trouble. The speed had gone all funny. I looks like the screencast source is at around 4.6fps and FCE decided that it should really be 46fps! One of the test clips appeared to be 5fps, and FCE seemed to be OK with that and kept it at 5fps.
I'm currently re-converting the source with MPEG Streamclip to 29.97fps and hopefully that will import OK (even though it is taking ages to convert and I'm writing this sitting here patiently!).
So was wondering if anyone know what the deal is with frame rates in FCE. Why does it sometimes seem happy with my low 5fps rate, and sometimes it decides it should be 10x faster. And does anyone else have any further comments or suggestions/tips about using FCE for editing screencasts?
Thanks,
Matt

Tom, thanks for the help. I'm currently running it through Streamclip now as I type. Hopefully that should sort it. I guess screen capture software use a lower frame rate as they don't need to have a high frame rate usually for the stuff they are doing.
-Matt
PS. btw... great book! Certainly helped me get orientation around FCE. Definately needed as I had no experience of video editing and the workflows and terminology is all foreign!

What is it like to edit HD with FCE4 and multiple video tracks

I would like to get an idea of what it's like to edit HD on final cut express on an Intel based Power MAC (let's say 2.8GHZ with a large hard drive and 4mb of memory)
If one was to have 4 video tracks and a track of green screen with various transitions ( 4 minutes of video)
I really can't get a handle on this when reading the threads and forums.
When I hear people say I have no trouble editing HD on an Intel 2.8 power MAC, I often wonder that may be the case if you are editing one track of video, but what about multiple tracks, transitions and green screen layers?
If anyone is doing this on FCE with an Intel based Power MAC, I'd like to hear what you are experiencing. I know it;s different for everyone but I'd like to hear some examples and times

Four streams of video with effects can be handled by FCE using Unlimited RT, but it does depend on the computer and the drives. The internal drive of an iMac for instance would be hard pressed to do this without a lot of stuttering on playback. A fast external drive like a RAID would be needed to get good performance.

Just bought FCE4 and now that Lion is out, will it be compatible ?

I am in the process of getting a new computer too so should I get one that still have snow leopard or will it be ok with lion?

FCE 4 has been discontinued and was (is) the only version of FCE supported on Snow Leopard.
FCE 4 may or may not work on Lion - you will be on your own there. It may work but there is no Apple support for FCE 4 on Lion.
Again, FCE 4 has been discontinued. The forward path is now Final Cut Pro X, which is supported on Lion.

Sony HVRV1U not recognize in FCE4 and Imovie8: why?

Hi, I am a new Imac user and am trying to transfer the mini-dv from my hvrv1u through either of these software but no window pops open to acknowledge the connection. I am using the proper fire800-i.link cable, the Imac is a 3.06GHz core duo with 8G memory on mac os 10.6.6.
This camera is not on the Apple list as compatible: is this the real problem or is there a work around? Never had this problem on my pc.
And, is there a mini-dv camera under 500$ that I could use on the Imac. I need big help on this please. Many thanks.

.... but no window pops open to acknowledge the connection...
That only happens on Windows, not Macs!
To check if your Mac has seen the camera: go to Apple Menu: About this Mac: More Info:
- then select the "Firewire" label on the left hand pane. Does the camera get listed on the right hand pane?
Almost any Firewire camera will work with a Mac (including the V1!)
(BTW: This is the MacPro forum, not iMac, but what the ****! )

FCE4 and The Magic Track Pad

Hello All,
Has anyone here used The Magic Track Pad with FCE4? How does it flow with the program. Is it better than the mouse?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Mike

Search is your friend:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12005731&#12005731

File Compression and FIle Conversion in FCE4

Hey All,
I just purchased FCE4 and being the novice that I am, it took me a little while to understand why I kept getting the dreaded "file unknown" errors. I have since figured that out and have figured out how to convert/import files into FCE4.
Now the tough part...
I have already started a project and have been cutting old VHS-to-DVD-Ripped from Handbrake into Quicktime movies.
I guess I saved them in the wrong format/frame rate or something (even though they are .mov) and now am faced with the task of going through 200 clips and exporting/converting into different formats. IS THERE ANY METHOD/PROGRAM where I can just select all of these and convert/export them in the correct format?
Doing them one by one will take weeks...
Additionally, since the new files are bigger, when I am exporting from FCE4 to iDVD, does the compression of these files to fit on a DVD seriously affect the quality? The movie will DEFINITELY be over the standard 4.3 Gigs and its already a compilation of home movies so I don't want to destroy the quality too much.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank You!

There will be quite a bit of degradation of already degrade material. Handbrake unfortunately was not the right tool to use. You'd be best off going back to the DVDs and using MPEG Streamclip to rip them to QuickTime using the DV NTSC codec at 29.97fps.

FCPX and FCE4 on same HD ?

Will it be possible to keep both FCE4 and FCPX on same Mac.
I am an Hobby Filmaker and I would like to keep the possibility to edit the "old" stuff.
Thanks for your opinion.

Unless this only applies to Final Cut Studio, I understand Apple recommend you run the two on separate partitions.
Andy

New Mac Mini + reinstalled FCE4 = no capture from my Canon HV10?

I used to have an iMac 24" with FCE4, and then I switched to a 2010 Mac Mini 2.4GHz 4GB and reinstalled FCE4.
I don't remember exactly what the menu options looked like for capturing in the past, but I do recall it was dead simple. I would select some sort of Capture menu item and it would start my firewire-connected Canon HV10 playing and capturing (while showing a 0-1sec delayed preview of what was being captured.
Now I have two capture menu entries: Capture Project..., and Capture... . Capture Project doesn't work (it errors about selection error, batch capture, no sequence), and Capture pops up this big window that I never recall seeing before along with an error: "Capture Preset must have a video or an audio digitizer set to capture. Please change to desired preset in the Audio/Video Settings." I'm not even sure where the Audio/Video settings are; they don't appear to be in User Preferences, System Settings, or Easy Setup. And incidentally, I have my Easy Setup set to AVCHD 1440x1080i60, which I believe is correct for my video camera.
I have confirmed that my machine sees the camera device in the Firewire list:
HV10:
Manufacturer: Canon
Model: 0x10
GUID: 0x85000124CAFB
Maximum Speed: Up to 100 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 100 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
HV10 Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10001
Unit Spec ID: 0xA02D
Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the fast and correct solution! I don't know why I got the setup wrong this time, or for that matter why I got it right on my previous install
Now that I have configured my Easy Setup the way you described, my capture works just as it did before.
Thanks!

Trouble capturing HDV footage from Sony Z5U in FCE4 - any ideas?

I've shot about half an hour of HDV footage with the Sony Z5U. Have the computer at home connected to my Mac with a firewire. Tried with both firewires that I own. I've used a similar camera before to capture footage recently with no problems.
Gone through the Easy Setup in FCE4 and changed it to HD, HDV1080i60. In the camera, the VCR mode is set for HDV, the Video Out for Component says "1080i/480i", the down convert and DV wide convert are for letter box.
Any ideas on what the problem is? Do I just have 2 bad Firewire cables? or a bad port on my computer/camera?

Do you want to downconvert, or do you want to capture HD? Switch off downconvert. Switch off iLink.

FCE4 and JVCMG155U

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