Final Cut Express HD- capture footage

Can you capture footage live to My iMac computer. I hook up a fire wire to my camera and it only captures for a second. Then says the tape is near the end eventhought it is at the begining of the mini dv tape.

Welcome to the Apple support site.
It appears you have wandered into the wrong forum.
You want the FCE forum
Good luck.
x

Similar Messages

Sony DCR-TRV140 w/Final Cut Express 4 - Capture format question

A big thanks to the forum for patience and direction. You all have helped me get an older digital camcorder hooked up to the Mac to date.
I'm now able to capture video from the camcorder to FinalCut Express.
So, on to today's question...
I have a Sony Digital Handycam DCR-TRV140. I know that it's NTSC (mainly because it says so right on the side of the camcorder). But I don't know what capture settings to use in Final Cut Express to get the best quality video onto the Mac, and ultimately onto DVD's or digital files I publish to my family over the net.
So when I go to the menu path Final Cut Express -> Easy Setup, I have a number of options to choose from... I (think) that I know that the best format option to choose from the dropdown is NTSC... But I don't know what to choose from the drop down list.
Here's a picture of the drop down list:
https://wu20hg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pNUoJrOOSdf-4NJq3OjEIyrt38TEU64-Pid2LRNbw kG9grywxFV1qA2NshK8uSxl6eiTlYiq4uNbG86CJRUantQ/FinalCutExpressTim1.tiff
Specifications for the Sony camcorder can be found here:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=1055 1&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11027762
or here
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DCRTRV140-Digital8-Camcorder-Streaming/dp/B0000634T4/ ref=cmcr_pr_producttop
Can you help me decide what is the best option to choose? If it depends, maybe you could explain what it depends on...?
Many thanks!
Tim

The differences among the Easy Setups have to do with audio sample rate, device control, and widescreen shooting.
The Anamorphic setups are for widescreen. If your camera doesn't shoot widescreen (16:9), you can ignore them.
DV media is generally recorded with audio at 48kHz or 32kHz. Choose according to the audio recorded by your camera (some offer different record options). If you capture with the wrong audio selected in your FCE Easy Seutp, you'll get a warning message at the end of the capture.
What FCE Setup are you using at present? I'm guessing it's either DV-NTSC Firewire Basic or DV-NTSC DV Converter. If that's working for you, stick with it.

Why doesn't Final Cut Express reconize my footage from my NX70

I had a Sony MC50 and it would read that footage and I could work with it. I bought a Sony NX70 and it will not read that footage. It is the same type file AVCHD 1080/60i FX! From what I see there is no defferance in footage. Only thing I changed was camera.

Ok so what your saying for what ever reason when converting the footage inside the camera it's not getting done right?
I'm saying that based on the specs, the camera is probably working as designed but perhaps in the internal conversion from 60p to 60i the data being output cannot be recognized by FCE. Not because it's being done wrong, but because there may be some leftover data embedded in the output that causes FCE to think it's not getting pure unadulterated 60i data. FCP and FCP-X are much more 'forgiving' about this than FCE is, probably because FCP and FCP-X support 60p AND 60i whereas FCE only supports 60i.
As I said before, call Sony tech support to inquire about NX70's handling of it's native 60p recording vs. its output at 60i. I'm just suspicious that is where the problem lies in FCE's inability to recognize the footage. It's more likely to be a design issue than a specific problem with just your NX70 but more research will be necessary. The fact that your friends can capture from the NX70 with FCP indicates the camera is functioning properly.

Capturing Footage from Canon HV40 to Final Cut Express Issue

I own a Canon HV40 camcorder and shot a short film using the 24p HDV 24F Cine Mode feature (for film look). I've captured the footage into Final Cut Express, but the footage is running at a faster speed. I know this may have something to do with frames per second in the user preferences section.
Does anyone have the concrete solution to this problem and will I have to recapture my footage under a different setting?
Please advise.
Thank you!
- Eric

Hi Eric,
FCE only supports frame rates of 60i, 30p, 50i, and 25p. To edit 24p footage you'd need Final Cut Pro.

Final Cut Express anomaly

Why does Final Cut Express stop capturing video at approximately 5:04 to 5:16 minutes saying: "end of tape".
I start at the place where it stopped capturing, start capturing again and another 5+ minutes goes by and "bloop!" the "end of tape" message appears again. Capturing has stopped.
What's up with that????

I bought, installed and used the FCE in 2005. I used it for 5 years before it started acting up. All of a sudden the "end of tape" message would appear and the capture stopped.
> Capture limit set in System Settings to 59 minutes.
>Regardless of Time Code breaks, could be 1 hour tape continuous video, it sops at approx. 5 minutes and a few seconds (never the same twice).
> Digital Tape (1 Hour, Sony, TDK, FujiFilm, whatever) on Sony DV Camcorder. Have used same one for 12 years here at work.
>Capturing straight to internal HDD.
     >Sometimes tot he original HDD sometimes to the added HDD (also internal).
          Both are formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
     >Final Cut Express HD 3.0
          (When filling out the Info on the site Final Cut Express was NOT one of the options, that's why it says Final                Cut Pro X, sorry.)
     > OS X 10.5.8
Thanks for your responses.

Trouble capturing footage to final cut express

hey this is quite urgent....
i am trying to upload footage to final cut express from my sony DCR-HC52E. it sais VTR OK and plays and pauses and stuff but i cannot see anything it just stayed on those coloured bars.
i can see it playing on the camera though...
i got it working once with this camera, just cant remember how
any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi
My table for this was once for iMovie - BUT it's more General than that so You might find help here.
*NO CAMERA or A/D-box*
Cable
• Are You sure that You are using the FireWire Cable - USB-Cable will not work for miniDV tape Cameras
FireWire - Sure not using the accompany USB-Cable but bought a 4-pin to 6-pin (or 9-pin) FW one ?
• Test another FW-Cable *very often the problem maker*.
Camera
• Test Your Camera on another Mac so that DV-in still works OK
• Toogle in iMovie pref. Play-back via Camera (on<->off some times)
• Some Cameras has a Menu where You must select DV-out to get it to work
• Camera connected to "charger" (mains adaptor) - not just on battery
• Camera set in Playback mode - NOT Recording mode
Does Your Camera work on another Mac ?
Sorry to say it is to easy to turn the 6-pin end of the FW-cable 180 deg wrong.
This is lethal to the A/D-chip in the Camera = needs an expensive repair.
(Hard to find out - else than import/export to another Mac ceased to work
everything else is OK eg recording and playback to TV)
A/D-box
• Is the dip-switches set right ?
• Set to same standard as recorded/editing eg NTSC 29.97fps or PAL 25fps
• Try resetting it
Connections
• Daisy Chaining most often doesn’t work (some unique cases - it’s the only way that work (some Canon Cameras ?))
Try to avoid connecting Camera <--> external HD <--> Mac but import directly to the Mac then move
the Movie project to dedicated external hard disk.
• FireWire-port - Can be re-setted by - Turn off Mac and disconnecting Mac from Mains/Power for 20-30 minutes
Mac
• Free space on internal (start-up) hard disk ? Please specify the amount of free space.
(Other hard disks don't count)
I go for a minmum of 25Gb free space for 4x3 SD Video - and my guess is 5 times more for 16x9 HD ones
after material is imported and edited.
• Does Your Mac have a FireWire Port
• White MacBooks - don't
• MacBook-Air - don't
if not then a few Mac’s has a PCM-CIA slot and there are FW-Cards that makes a FW-port this way
else - NO SOLUTION
Only option as I get it is either
• Use another Mac to Capture material (to an external USB2 - Mac OS Extended formatted hard disk - or -
• Change to another Camera that can be used with Your Mac (no there are no miniDV tape Cameras that can)
• If Your Mac-Book has a PCM-CIA Card place - then there are FW-port-Cards and then
You can import via this - but I've not seen this on more modern Macs. My PowerBook G4
has one and this FW-Card-port works greatly.
SoftWare
• Delete iMovie pref file may help sometimes. I rather start a new account, log into this and have a re-try.
• Any strange Plug-ins into QuickTime as Perian etc ? Remove and try again.
• FileVault is off ? (hopefully)
• Screen Saver - OFF
• Energy Saver - OFF
Using WHAT versions ? .
• Mac OS - X.5.4 ?
• QuickTime version ? (This is the heart in both iMovie and FinalCut)
• iMovie’08 (7.1.?), 09 or 11 ?
• iMovie HD 6 (6.0.4/3) ?
*Other ways to import Your miniDV tape*
• Use another Camera. There where tape play-back stations from SONY
but they costed about 2-4 times a normal miniDV Camera.
• If Your Camera works on another Mac. Make an iMovie movie project here and move it
over to Your Mac via an external hard disk.
(HAS TO BE Mac OS Extended formatted - USB/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange WILL NOT DO)
(Should be a FireWire one - USB/USB2 performs badly)
from LKN 1935.
Hi Bengt W, I tried it all, but nothing worked. Your answer has been helpfull insofar as all the different trials led to the conclusion that there was something wrong with my iMovie software. I therefore threw everything away and reinstalled iMovie from the HD. After that the exportation of DV videos (there has not been any problem with HDV videos) to my Sony camcorders worked properly as it did before. Thank you. LKN 1935
from Karsten.
in addition to Bengt's excellent '9 yards of advice' ..
camera set to 'Play' , not rec/computer/etc.?
camera not on battery, but power-line?
did your Mac 'recognize' this camera before...?
a technical check.
connect camera, on, playback, fw-connected...
click on the Blue Apple, upper left of your screen ..
choose 'About../More..
under Firewire.. what do you read..?
More
• FileVault - Secure that it’s turned off
• Network storage - DOESN’T WORK
• Where did You store/capture/import Your project ?
External USB hard disk = Bad Choise / FireWire = Good
If so it has to be Mac OS Extended formatted
----> UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange is NOT Working for VIDEO !
mbolander
Thanks for all your suggestions. What I learned is that I had a software problem. I had something called "Nikon Transfer" on my Mac that was recognizing my Canon camcorder as a still camera and was preventing iMovie from working properly. After uninstalling Nikon Transfer and doing a reboot, everything worked great.
I never liked the Nikon Transfer software anyway--I guess I'll get a cheap card reader and use that to transfer photos in the future.
*No Camera or bad import*
• USB hard disk
• Network storage
• File Vault is on
jiggaman15dg wrote
if you have adobe cs3 or 4 and have the adobe bridge on close that
or no firewire will work
see if that halps
DJ1249 wrote
The problem was the external backup hard drive that is connected, you need to disconect the external drive before the mac can see the video camera.
MaryBoog wrote
Maybe your problems is solved in the meantime, but for all others this might help as I had the same problem, also have the Sony HDR-HC7, but the 7e (Europe, PAL). I found this link today and it works perfectly
//support.sony-europe.com/tutorials/dime/videotransfer/vtransfer.aspx site=odwenGB&sec=DVH&m=HDR-HC7E
What I exactly did.- put camera in play mode - open guide - choose connection guide - choose comp./printer (where to transfer movie to) - select connection.- i-link (on my camera) but equal to firewire - OK - choose HDV - choose NO for conversion of i.link.
Settings are shown then (VCR HDV/DV.- HDV and i.link-conv..- OFF), press OK, OK, END.
Switch camera off. Connect firewire cable to camera & Mac. Switch camera on, in play/edit mode.
Open i-movie, choose import from camera. On screen below the camera connection is shown.- DV (HDV). Now you can import, automatically or manually.
This worked perfectly for me. Took me 2 days to find out. Could not find any clear thread explaining what I had to do on the camera and the manual was not clear either.
Yours Bengt W

Final Cut Express-Capturing footage off of mini dv with no timecode

Hello,
For some reason my canon xm1 isn't showing timecode from the mini dv. I've already played footage from the same mini dv off of another mini dv deck and it did show timecode. Now Final Cut Express won't allow me to play clips in because it has no reference. Is there a way around this?

Hello Franco,
Welcome to the forum. There are lots of good people here who can provide advice & help.
What is your exact hardware setup - are you using any external Firewire hard drives? What version of FCE are you using; what Easy Setup are you using in FCE (DV-PAL, for example).
Did it work before or has it never worked with FCE?

Final Cut Express won't capture audio with the video anymore, why?

I have used Final Cut Express 4 for over a year now with no problems, but recently I am unable to capture any audio with the video from my camera. I can do it through iMovie no problem. I can't figure out if I changed a setting by accident because everything looks normal to me. Could another program be interfering with this? Quicktime Pro? I have no idea how to fix this.

First of all, we need a bunch of information in order to help. Please provide the specs of the footage and the sequence you are using. Also, are you using DV, HDV, or AVCHD? Do you hear audio when the clip is played in the viewer, or is there no audio at all once the clip is captured/ingested?

Anamorphic Footage on DVD...Final Cut Express 2.0.3 & iDVD 4.0.1

Hello again everyone,
My latest project involves 5 short QuickTime Movies edited together in one sequence in Final Cut Express 2.0.3. I am trying to now burn that sequence to DVD but I am having some "issues"...
Three of these QuickTIme Movies are DV PAL Anamorphic and the other two are DV PAL (not anamorphic) and all five have been edited into a DV PAL Anamorphic Sequence in Final Cut Express 2.0.3. This works great when viewed in the canvas.
What I have been trying to do next is export the whole sequence using File/Export/QuickTime Movie so I end up with one whole exported QuickTime Movie, containing the five other QuickTime Movies, that I can then import into iDVD 4.0.1.
The export works fine and I can import the new QuickTime Movie into a PAL iDVD 4.0.1 project but the footage looks 4:3 and not anamorphic.
When exported the QuickTime Movie does not seem to have preserved the pixel aspect ratio of my sequence (anamorphic)...
Can anyone please offer some advice here? What is the best way to export Anamorphic PAL sequences out of Final Cut Express 2.0.3 as QuickTime Movies that can then be imported into iDVD 4.0.1 (or DVD Studio Pro and other apps) with the correct pixel aspect ratio (Anamorphic PAL)?
Is this something that iDVD can't handle and needs to be done in DVD Studio Pro or do I need to change my export settings in Final Cut Express 2.0.3......or do I need to export it from Final Cut Pro instead?
Regards,
Justin Pamenter

I think iDVD 5 is the first version of iDVD to support anamophic. Sounds like you did the right stuff in FCE. You had the Easy Setup on anamorphic when you captured and when you created the anamorphic sequence.
Take a look at the iDVD forum or Google "iDVD Anamorphic".

Iphone footage into Final Cut Express

I left a question earlier in this forum and would like to update (hopefully that's proper process!). I'll repeat the question, in case:
I'm trying to get footage from iPhone 4 to Final Cut Express. I'm using MPEG Streamclip 1.9.2. In the tutorial I found, they did an export to Quicktime, selecting the Apple Intermediate Codec as the compression, 29.97 as the Frame, and "1280 x 720 (unscaled)" as the frame size option (I'm also selecting frame blending and better downscaling, and turning off interlaced scaling; the rest are Streamclip defaults). My version of Streamclip doesn't have a 1280x720 (unscaled), so I've been forced to select 1280x720 (HDTV 720P). Not sure if this is my problem.
On recent attempts, I've managed to get the clip into a QuickTime format (using the settings above) in a way that doesn't look stretched (can't tell whether it is or not). When I import the clip into FCE, it comes in without having to be rendered, and looks as if it's not stretched there either. But as soon as I drop the clip into the sequence and try to play it, I get the "Dropped Frames" warning. I'm already operating in RT Safe mode, and rarely/never have problems w/ dropped frames with clips that were captured from my Sony camera/tape. Is the AIC codec more demanding of faster drives? (I'm using a 200Gig external Apple drive at the moment). Or is it because I have been forced to export as a 1280x720 HDTV 720p as opposed to unscaled?
In FCE I've set easy set up to:
Apple Intermediate Codec, 29.97, and HDV AIC 720 p30; Is this a match with the Export QT version?
And if so, would the clip be coming into my sequence without having to be rendered? Since I haven't had to upgrade my hardware for my other camera, I'd be reluctant to go out and buy more external disk power, in the event it doesn't do me any good.
I know there are several posts on people trying to get iphone footage into FCE already, but they don't seem to apply and, after hours on the internet looking for a solution, I'm at my wits end. PLEASE HELP
Thanks in advance!!

The 4s records video as MPEG4/AVC (H.264)/1080p/30fps in a .mov filetype. Final Cut Express is NOT designed to edit this kind of video. You need to convert the 4s video clips to QuickTime/Apple Intermediate Codec/1080i before importing them into FCE. You can use MPEG Streamclip to do the conversion. In FCE you also need to select a matching Easy Setup (should be AVCHD Apple Intermediate Codec 1920x1080i60 for converted 4s clips) and create a new Sequence to edit your video. This should eliminate the constant re-rendering problem.
ps. Final Cut Express was discontinued in 2011 even before OS X Lion was released. It is no longer supported by Apple and there is no guarantee it will run properly on Yosemite. Just so you know. Final Cut Pro X is the currently supported app.

Trouble capturing to Final Cut Express HD 3

Upgraded to Leopard last night and also added Final Cut Express HD 3. I have been using Final Cut Express for about 4 years and using my Canon XL1 & GL1 to capture with no problems. After upgrades I hooked up my Canon XHA1 (firewire)
and wanted to capture some HD footage to play with the new stuff.
When I go to capture (using capture screen control buttons), the camera starts and the capture screen stays black for about 5 seconds then stops camera. VTR at bottom of screen is showing connected. I've tried many things with no results. played with camera settings. Need some help.

Do a forum search for QuickTime 7.3. It doesn't work with FCE versions 3.5 or older.

Capturing into Final Cut Express

I work within Final Cut Express and up until now i was capturing footage via a sony camcorder with a firwire connect.
But i have just recently bought a panasonic gs 500 which comes with a usb cable connection. So i plugged it in, opened Fianl Cut and it doesnt recognise the camcorder being attached? I know the camcorder works with Final Cut, so i wondered if it is because i need a newer version of Fianl Cut to work with usb connection, or that i will need to buy a firewire cable for my camcorder? Any help would be great, want to get capturing footage.

Most camcorders that I've encountered don't come from the factory with a FireWire cable - you have to supply your own. A USB cable is usually included to transfer stills, not video.
Again, FCE captures via FireWire, not USB. Beyond that, USB cannot sustain the throughput required for video. Even though the USB2 spec appears to be faster than FW400, that's simply not the case in real life. The explanation involves the electrical, signalling & protocol characteristics of USB vs. Firewire.
USB cables (esp. the cheap ones packaged with cameras) are much less costly than FireWire cables. We might like the manufacturer to bundle a FW cable with the camcorder, but the manufacturer sees that as an unnecessarily expensive accessory.

Audio De-Sync during Capture in Final Cut Express

Hi, I use Final Cut Express HD and have recently come across an unusual problem. When capturing footage I find that around five minutes in or so the video freezes for a few moments. After the footage has been captured the audio now goes out of sync at the point the video froze, lasting for the remainder of the clip. I've tried different settings in the easy setup but the problem persists. I only got this new mac recently and the problem happened right after I installed it.
The only changes I have made to the set up was that I moved the folder that all of the footage/renders etc. to another part of the mac, which cFinal cut made me reassign in it's menus. Could this be the cause?
I do a lot of work in Final Cut and this is a large problem for me. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

If you have been altering the Easy Setups a lot you may have corrupted the preferences.
So trash them completely like this
Misc1 Trash Prefs
Then set the correct Easy Setup.
If you are not sure which to use let us know exactly what video format you are using.

Real-Time Capture in Final Cut Express

Hi All -
I own a music venue, and we're considering adding video recording services (current we just offer audio). To reduce labor, I'm planning on a fixed mounted camera (brand/model TBD) from one of our lighting trusses (on the ceiling). We'd like to stream the video footage into a PowerMac and/or PowerBook in real time (presumably via a long firewire cable), thus avoiding the use of tapes, etc... So two questions:
1- Can Final Cut Express handle direct capture of video in Real Time? If so, are there any constraints, such as 7200 RPM harddrive, no HD, etc..., that I need to be aware of?
2- We plan to capture audio separately so that we can mix it in 16-track format in our ProTools HD studio. Will FCE work with a time code (SMTPE, etc...), or are there other prefer methods of keeping the sources in synch?
Any other thoughts from concert film masters would be appreciated! We're a small venue (150 person capacity) and will be using this mostly for student recitals and local bands - thus we need to be frugal and minimize the number of people needed to run it.
Thanks!
Raja
Red House Studios
www.redhouselive.com

1. There are limitations to the length of FireWire cable data can be streamed. You might want to check up on this. FCE captures DV in realtime. You'll need a fast drive either in the computer or an external FW drive at least 7200rpm with 8MB cache.
2. No.

Final Cut Express 4.0 | Cannot Capture from New Cannon Vixia HV40

My iMovie captures the footage fine. But the Final Cut Express doesn't see the camera at all - any ideas how i can actually use the Final Cut Express 4.0? Ive always been frustrated with it. even on my old camera there were Capture issues... so I gave up with it... I'm about to purchase either Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premier for my business and this is frustrating to the point where I'm leaning toward Adobe. I can't even get started! Haha
1. I opened the "Log and Capture" and there is no cameras showing.
2. My Camera is plugged in and turned on;
3. iMovie captures it fine;
4. I've read that the Cannon Vixia HV40 should show up on the desktop of my mac and it doesn't but iMovie sill recognizes it;
5. When I go into the Mac Preferences I can see the Cannon Vixia is connected by firewire

First trash your preferences. If you don't know how do a forum search.
How is the camera connected to the computer? Are there any other devices connected to the computer?
What settings are you using in FCE? Are you using the correct settings that match your media exactly?
1. Is the camera recognized when the application is launched?
2. Excellent. Is it in VCR mode, set to playback HDV and not downconvert?
3. That's terrific. Then you can use that media in FCE. Or you can learn how to do it in FCE.
4. Where did you read that? It's complete garbage. The Vixia HV40 is a tape based camera. They don't mount on the desktop.
5. You mean System Profiler? Or something else?

Final Cut Express HD- capture footage

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for