HDV Capture to External HD

Is this possible on the iMac? I am thinking about getting one in the future for HDV editing with a Canon XH-A1. I hear there are problems using two firewire devices on the iMac.
What external drives are recemmended for this workflow?

Try looping the camera's connection through the FW drive, then connect the FW drive to the iMac. It may or may not work. Depends on the drive... higher end setups such as those from G-Technology and Weibetech or CalDigit seem to work just fine doing this, but we've read here about some that don't... but give it a try.
If it drops frames or doesn't work OK, you could capture to your internal then after capture, connect the drive and move the media over to it using the media manager.
USB will not be fast enough at all for capturing video with.
Jerry
Message was edited by: Jerry Hofmann

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5.1.4 update breaks HDV capture? Unable to Initialize Capture Device

Problem:
Final Cut Pro cannot capture standard 1080i60 HDV footage from Sony FX1 camcorder. FCP reports "Unable to Initialize Capture Device" when the log and capture window is opened. However, the footage CAN be captured in iMovie (which is interesting, and unacceptable). When HDV>DV downconvert option on camcorder is activated, footage CAN be captured as anamorphic SD, so the camcorder and FW do work.
The problem is occuring on a rock-solid FCP system that I use on a regular basis (mainly for SD editing). It has been approx 2 weeks since I last attempted a HDV capture, the system has been working great with SD footage (still does).
Factors that have changed to my knowledge since HDV capture was last functioning properly:
*Added a new external FW drive into regular usage (a different brand than normally used, no issues with it so far).
*Updated FCP to 5.1.3, and then 5.1.4 when that fix came out. All SD captures and work have been fine so far.
Here's what's interesting...I had a copy of the FCP v5.0.4 .app that I had saved an archive of prior to the crossgrade update. Guess what? I can load it up, and it captures HDV without any problems! With that in mind, this looks like an FCP 5.1.4 issue. But I am at a loss on how to proceed further in troubleshooting. Many thanks in advance for any assistance.
Matt Jeppsen
FresHDV.com
---NOTES---
What I have tried:
*Attempted capture with a different Sony FX1 camcorder.
*Swapped firewire cables and system firewire ports.
*Attempted capture with camera FW chained to an external HDD.
*Unplugged all other external firewire devices from the system.
*Trashed FCP prefs using FCP Rescue 5, created new project using Easy Setup (for HDV).
*Tried different variations of FCP A/V settings, tried all the HDV FW device control presets and the HDV AIC capture preset.
*Per instructions at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301852 I removed the numbered Quicktime pckg Receipts and re-installed the latest version (7.13). Post-install/reboot, I repaired Disk Prefs and Verified the disk using Disk Util.
*Have also attempted installing QT 7.13 2 and 3 times in a row, also trying disk prefs repair BEFORE the post-install reboot.
Final Cut Pro Audio/Video Settings:
Sequence Preset: HDV-1080i60
Capture Preset: HDV
Device Control Preset: Sony HDV Firewire
Sony HDR-FX1 IN/OUT REC settings:
*VCR HDV/DV: HDV
*COMPONENT: 1080i/480i
*i.LINK CONV: OFF
*TV TYPE: 16:9
*A/V->DV OUT: OFF
System/Software Facts:
*Final Cut Pro 5.1.4
*Quicktime 7.13
*PPC Mac G5 2.7 Dual (2.5GB RAM)
*35GB free on System, 45GB free on internal FCP Scratch disk
Final Cut Pro 5.1.4, G5 DP 2.7 (PPC) Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I think I figured out this vexing problem. I too was having the same issue. Check to see that your Quicktime is newer than 7.1.2. If it isn't you'll have to upgrade it. I only upgraded to 7.1.6 here because I was afraid of going to a really new version. http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime716formac.html. After I upgraded my quicktime, I ran software update and the Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 update appeared. I hoipe this helps.

Cannot capture to external drive

been said before, by myself and others, here we go again.
Canon XH-A1 , HDV 1080i footage.
way back 6 months ago..
i couldnt capture to external disk on PBG4.
then i got a MBPro , still couldnt cap to external disk.
then i got a mac Pro , still cant cap to external disk.
at least it now captures to system drive,
at first it had unknown error, then just crashed on initializing log n capture,
reinstalled QT, trashed prefs, repaired permissions and kicked the dog.
APPLE!!!! FIX IT!!!

in the PBG4 it was a PCM FW400 card in the slot.
BUT,
if it will capture to the system drive then how would some supposed timecode problem prevent it capturing to an external drive?
so you reckon i should add PCIe FW card to the Mac Pro?
blimey..!!
also,
before changing to the MacPro FCP on MBP went crook,
adding a basic transition caused a crash,
re-opening the main sequence was gone,
finally found an autosave file in the trash!!
while i am here, other questions not answered elsewhere,
if i were to capture the camera's HDV tape info via component out into a Blackmagic card would that give a better overall quality?
would this make editing easier?
is there any difference in doing this (via cap card) versus changing the HDV to ProRes or PhotoJPG in the sequence?
Or,
would capturing from HDMI out (my camera doesn't have it, but just imagine),
into capture card, give a better quality image?
also,
would a card help with rendering times?
also,
since compressor is so slow and bad,
what is the best program to compress an excellent looking QT output file for writing a SD DVD?
so far the basic Visual Hub program does a better job much faster,
but still doesn't look very good on DVD,
what other programs are there?

HDV Capturing Problem.

Hey,
I'll start real quick by getting to the point and stateing my problem.
When captureing HDV 1080i tape footage, it just stops randomly
after about 4-8 clips. Different each time. Heh.
Now I'll give you some information on my equipment, ect...
Computer
Windows 7
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T6400 @ 2.00HGz (2CPUs), ~2.0GHz
4 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
Software
Adobe Premeire Pro CS5
Hardware
Sony GV-HD700 Digital HD Videocassette Recorder
Boss usually gives me just regular DV footage to work with.
This time he's given me an HDV 1080i wedding.
1. I set up my project...
2. Set Capture Footage to HDV.
3. Set my Scratch Disk.
4. Set Sequence Presets to HDV 1080i30 (60i)
5. Set my Tape Recorder to HDV (instead of DV that I usually work in.)
6. Here's a picture of my capture screen letting me control it,
    but not letting me Record.
7. Click Settings and switch over the DV and capture it, just to see if it works. It
    does but its only in 720. So basiclly didnt work. Derp.
8. Look around some more and find somone saying to go to the Tape Recorder,
    and change the i.LNK CONV to OFF. I do that. Also set my capture device
    to Sony, Standard, because a guy said it worked for him with the same Tape
    Recorder I have. Also because GV-HD700 isn't even available.
9. Open Capture again and Record button shows up. Yay right? No. I hit record
    and it dosent really capture anything... Dunno why. It plays the tape on the
    recorder but dosen't capture. Here's a picture...
10. So then I I'm like, what does this Tape Button do?
11. Make sure I have Scene Detect ON. Then I click TAPE.
12. Then it starts captureing footage! Yay right? Heres a picture..
13. Everythings going great. I can't see the footage on my screen, but that doesn't
     seem to be a big deal. The footage is playing and I can see clips captureing.
Then it just Stops. Just Stops captureing. The tape keeps playing. But no more
captureing. What is the problem here? I'm out of ideas and I don't know what to
do anymore.
Hope someone can help me out.

Try this for HDV capture http://strony.aster.pl/paviko/hdvsplit.htm
Do you have at least two hard drives?
My 3 hard drives are configured as... (WD = Western Digital)
1 - 320G WD Win7 64bit Pro and all program installs
2 - 320G WD Win7 swap file and video project files
3 - 1T WD all video files... input & output files
Search Microsoft to find out how to redirect your Windows swap file
http://search.microsoft.com/search.aspx?mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US
Trying to use only ONE Hard Drive for Video Editing
You are a music conductor, with a baton that you use to point to various parts of the orchestra... this is like Windows pointing to various parts of the hard drive to do Windows housekeeping or to load program segments for various functions
Now, at the same time and with the same hand... while still using the baton to conduct the orchestra... pick up a bow and play a fiddle... this would be doing something with your video file at the same time as all the other work
You as a person cannot do both at the same time with the same hand
A computer is a LITTLE better, in that it can switch from one kind of task to another very quickly... but not quickly enough for EASY video editing
You need AT LEAST two hard drives (separate drives, never a partition http://forums.adobe.com/thread/650708?tstart=0 for more) with Windows (or Mac OS) and software on your boot drive, and video files on a 2nd drive so the boot drive is not slowed down by trying to do everything
I find that the three drives I use work very well for me, for editing AVCHD video... some people use a 4th drive, so video INPUT files are on drive three and all OUTPUT files are on drive four... I only bought a mid-tower case instead of a full tower case (my bad... but had to fit in the space available on my office desk!) so I use the three drives that will fit
Depending on your exact hardware (motherboard brand & model AND USB2 enclosure brand & model AND external hard drive brand & model) AND the type of video file, you may... or may NOT... be able to use an external USB2 hard drive for SD (Standard Definition) video editing
Steve Grisetti in the Premiere Elements forum http://forums.adobe.com/thread/856208?tstart=0 and Jim Simon in the Premiere Pro forum http://forums.adobe.com/thread/856433?tstart=0 use USB externals for editing
A USB3 hard drive connected to a motherboard with USB3 is supposed to be fast enough for video editing (I don't have such, so don't know) but eSata DOES have a fast enough data transfer for video editing... I have not used this eSata Dock... for reference only, YMMV and all the usual disclaimers
http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-BlacX-eSATA-Docking-Station/dp/B001A4HAFS/ref=cm_cmu_pg_ t

Are there benefits to the Blackmagic Intensity Pro for HDV capture ?

Are there benefits to the Blackmagic Intensity Pro for HDV capture ?
I have a Sony HDR-FX1 that records in HDV 1440 x 1080
I have already captured the footage to miniDV tape.
Can the intensity card get the full 1920 x 1080 video ?
I now use Premiere to capture my video and my HDV is in mpeg2 and my SD is in DV type 2 AVI
What format does the intensity card capture at ?
Are there other ways to capture that would make the footage better.
From what I have read allot of people have had problems with these cards.
Im just looking for the best way to get the footage off my camera with the best resolution.
Thanks: Glenn

Glenn,
I have posted this before in the PC Buying Guide (post #23 and later), but have a look at this diagram:
The problem is that once recorded to tape, the material is compressed to MPEG and there is no way to get the data back, that were lost during compression. The only thing you achieve is that you lose device control, lose all timecode information, lose all metadata like date and timestamp and exposure data and lose the capability of scene detection. There are no gains to compensate the losses.
Compare it to a glass of orange juice, that was made by heavily compressing oranges. How do you think you can reconstruct the original oranges that the juice came from? Were there 4 large oranges or 6 small ones or a mixture? Were they light colored or were they dark or a mixture of light and dark?
BlackMagic in their marketing may lead you to believe otherwise, but the truth is they can only guess at how many oranges were used, their size and color. It is nothing more than a guess.

Still cant capture to external disc

so i spent the money and got a new macbook pro 2.33,
installed FCP 2,
have a 250G external drive on the Firewire 800.
same problem as before with a canon XH-A1.
will not capture to external drive,
reports "general error" when hit escape,
all looks good until then.
can capture to the system drive.
this seems to be a particular problem with this camera and a powerbook/macbook.
anyone got this combination to work?

Mark,
I have a MacBook Pro as yours, a Canon PAL MVX4i (same as NTSC Optura 600), and some FW LaCie.
Contrary to other people experience in general I have no problem whatsoever to capture to the external disks, if the external disks are LaCie FW400 Porsche (I have 3 of them I bought at different times, the last one a month ago) - It does NOT work instead if I try to capture to the LaCie Rugged 80GB (FW800)!
When I successfully capture to the LaCie Porsche drives they are all 3 daisy chained to the FW800 port with an adapter cable, and the protocol I use is Firewire PAL (NOT Basic, but the full featured one); it works with the camera either connected to the MBP FW400 port or daisy chained with the other 3 disks. BTW this same configuration works also with my iMac G5.
But when I tried to capture to the Rugged drive (it was connected by itself to the same F800 port) FCE and FCP were getting stuck when I tried to start capturing, and the only way to resume was to either disconnect the camera or to force quit FCx.
This is my experience. A few more notes.
The 2 ports in the MacBook are based on the same FW bus (you can check it in the System Profile), and this seems to be the problem for some Canon/LaCie configurations. That's why in general using a FW card (with a dedicated FW bus) should solve the problem, even if personally I never used it.
The common opinion is that in fact there is (in some configurations) some incompatibility between the Canon and LaCie FW protocols.
Piero

HDV capture card

I'm looking for a capture card that support HDV camcorders, for G5.
But it seems that doesn't exist any card: I found only HD or SD capture cards.
The only HDV capture card that is able to native editing hdv video in realtime from hdv camcorders is the canopus EDIUS NX (and canopus velxus 300 in Japan); but the problem is that canopus hdv card is only for PC.
I called canopus and they said me that these cards will be for MAC when Apple will release the new powermac intel-based.
So I read in the apple FCP 5 HD page this:
"Native HDV Support
Final Cut Pro 5 supports native long-GOP MPEG-2 editing for working with camera-original HDV video. Unlike other solutions, Final Cut Pro 5 acquires HDV media via FireWire and keeps it in the original format, transferring it into the system without any generation loss. Output via FireWire back to an HDV camera or deck, or transfer your native HDV to DVD Studio Pro 4 for an end-to-end native HDV workflow."
I know that it is not possible capture a video by firewire from a camcorder without further compressing it. I know that it is for this reason that pro use capture cards (that have dedicated processors for this).
So I think that there aren't HDV capture cards for mac because the hardware companies don't make new cards for only few months, so they're waiting the new intel-based macs. If so, this firewire technology of final cut pro 5 is a compromise for these last times, or is it really like the capture-card processing? and if so, how is it possible capturing a hdv video by firewire without further compressing it?
Do you know about a HDV card for MAC or is it really good using Final Cut Pro HD 5 with firewire ?
Thank you.

It all depends on what type of work you are doing...
Capture Cards are for use with other formats that cannot be captured via firewire: BetaSP, Digibeta, HDCAM, D5. They are also require for outputting to these formats.
Not many broadcast facilities will take a DVCAM master...some will, but most won't. And depending on your client, they may or may not take an HDV master. They may want an HDCAM or D5 master if they are producing HD content. For that you need a capture card and high speed drive RAIDS.
Why do other pricier systems come with capture cards? Because they are sold that way. FCP, out of the box, is ready to edit DV, DVCPRO 50, DVCPRO HD and HDV...FULL RESOLUTION...no compression. Any need to do higher end requires a capture card.
Shane
"There's no need to fear, UNDERDOG is here!"

Correct settings for HDV capture

Hi. I'm using Premiere CS5.5. I went on a few forums to get the correct settings for HDV capture.
I can record the footage fine. However I saw a few things which didn't seem right.
After capturing the HDV footage, the file was a .mpeg file. Secondly, the clip was 1 hour and 10 minutes and
it was only 11.3 GB. Does this sound right? A 55 minute .avi file is 11.6GB. I thought a HDV clip would be quite a large size file.
If this dosen't sound right, is there somewhere I could go to, to check that my settings are correct? By the way I'm filming and capturing with a Canon XHA1.
The footage is 1080i. HDV. I've exported it and it looks fine. Just want to make sure I've captured it correctly and to the best quality.
Thanks for your help.

The HDV format was advanced by Sony and others to use the same miniDV tapes used for SD. In fact, your Canon XHAI can record and play either without changing the tape transport speed.
Your observation in relative file sizes is due to the fact that HDV is highly compressed (MPEG), whereas, SD (AVI) is not as highly compressed. This is one of the reasons folks (such as Harm) don't consider HDV to be an edit format, but just a delivery format.
Note that what Harm was saying is symantics--you capture an analog source through a capture card that digitizes it. When you transfer a image file from HDV or SD, it is already digitized, so a bit-to-bit transfer occurs.

"Lacie Rugged" for hdv capture?

Is the 160gb 5400 rpm buss powered drive good enough for basic hdv capture and editing?

I'm not a big fan of the larger 3.5" drive based Lacie units, as Shane already pointed out, they have a very poor record for reliabilty ....
... the "Rugged" however, one of their smaller 2.5" format drives, is an excellent little drive, very robust and in my own experience its very reliable. It will be more than adequate for HDV capture and editing.
Note: if you are not travelling regularly and do not need the added peace of mind of the big rubber bumper then there is little point in spending the extra money on this one, there are plenty of alternative drives that are equally reliable AND that have 7200rpm drives inside for that extra oomph when you want it.

No preview for hdv capture window

When I try to capture hdv I am not getting a preview of the footage in the capture window while browsing the footage. I realize that I will not get a preview while capturing but I should get the preview while just browsing through the footage yet all I get is a black screen. I do have full control of the camera via premiere and the captures do actualy work. This used to work fine with cs3 but stopped working with cs4. The regular DV capture works fine with the preview. Its a sony fx1 hdv camera. Also when I click on capture setting nothing happens but if set to dv capture the capture settings give me options including preview settings.
Thanks in advance.

Well, it's actually a sad shortcoming of Premiere CS4.
I'm new to PPro, and CS4 is my first, in fact I'm new to video. What little I know, I've been doing with Final Cut.
So the answer to your question is actually "it's by design", hence my commentary.
Ref: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/PremierePro/4.0/WS00B136B2-33DB-49a0-B247-6521242FDBDAa.html
On the Mac, it's actually worse - HDV capture preview is totally non-existent.
http://www.macworld.com/article/136525/2008/11/pprocs4.html
It's a minor annoyance for me, and it could still "grow" on me - since video isn't being transferred to PC while previewing, there is no perceived delay, and the keyboard shortcuts, I and O, are the same (with FCP).
Landed on this post after searching for what I thought was a capture setting problem, and also found the above links that answered it for me. Hope this helps.

Pp CS6, HDV CAPTURE, NO VIDEO PRIOR TO OR DURING CAPTURE

pp CS6 pc, HDV CAPTURE, NO VIDEO PRIOR TO OR DURING CAPTURE.
wITH CS5.5 YOU WOULD SEE VIDEO IN THE PREVIEW WINDOW BEFORE PRESSING THE RECORD BUTTON. THEN IT WOULD CAHNGE TO A BLUE SCREEN DURING CAPTURE. NOW JUST BLACK BUT IT DOES RECORD FINE.
ANY IDEAS? BUG? SORRY FOT THE CAPS...OOOPS.

During capture? That is new...
Ann Bens wrote:
I captured some hdv this weekend in CS6 and i had preview during capture. This would be windows.

CS4 HDV Capture and playback issues

Hey,
I am having trouble with HDV capture and playback on Prem Pro CS4. I tried all the steps mentioned on the article posted by Adobe, http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405478.html
None of these steps have helped anything. I used the cleanup utility, re-installed everything and started from fresh and nothing happens. Capture is always out of sync, it ignores in and out points when batch capturing and playback is all jerky regardless of quality settings. The weird thing is, this only started happening out of the blue. I was using it on a project and it was fine. I hadn't used Prem Pro in a little while and then all these problems began. No change in hardware.
I am using Premiere Pro CS4 on Windows 7 and capturing HDV footage via firewire on a Sony Z7.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

With Win7, if you have not already done so...
Legacy Driver and Capture http://forums.adobe.com/thread/694890?tstart=0
- And a Picture http://forums.adobe.com/thread/727755?tstart=0

Capturing to external HD

Is anyone else having problems capturing to external HDs with FCP6? FCP6 is no longer recognizing my LaCie HDs or my Western Digital HDs. This is a sparodic problem. I have a lab of iMacs, Mac Pros, old and new. Thanks

did you update? did you change your workflow? did you change your tape format? are you using firewire? how full are your drives?

No HDV capture option

I downloaded the trial about a month ago (and was disappointed there was no HDV capture option, only DV). So I purchased the Production Premium Suite (cs5 of course) but after installing (twice) I still do not have the option of HDV in the "capture format" dropdown. I only get DV.
It is the student version, but I have used the student version of cs4 with no problems.
An ideas?

Here are some screen captures.
Click the settings dialog next to the RED X to get the Capture Settings to come up below.
Can you get these settings ?
GLenn

Canon AH X1 HDV Capture

It took me a couple of days to figure this out, but from some other discussions I have read here some people are still trying to figure this one out. I hope this helps those still having trouble.
I could not capture HDV into Premiere CS5. The capture window would say device offline and the record button was grayed out. However, DV worked fine. I went through the XH A1 menus over and over, and everything said HDV, including the front dial of the camera - HDV was lit, not DV. I searched through the web and was able to piece together the solution.
The XH A1 does not allow certain menu options when the firewire cable is connected to the camera. So, when I was seeing the DV downconvert option grayed out on the camera VCR/Play menu, I assumed that meant it was off, or unavailable. Wrong!
I turned off the camera and disconnected the firewire cable. I then turned the camera on to VCR/Play and opened the menu. The DV downconvert option was no longer grayed out; it was available and it was set to ON. I changed that to OFF, turned off the camera, reconnected, etc. I selected HDV 1080i and opened capture. It worked. I could capture HDV 1080i.
Of course. the blue screen appears in the capture window saying HDV is being captured - there is no real-time monitoring of HDV capture like there is in DV.
Bottom line: set the camera options before you connect the firewire cable. The DV downconvert is set to ON by default. Make sure it is set to OFF.

Im having the same problem as you by the sound of it (apart from Im using CS3). I can capture in SD in Premiere Pro CS3, but not in HDV. I've looked at the capture settings and the only option I have is "DV Capture". Am i right in thinking that there should be an option in this drop down box called something like "HDV Capture"?
I have shot some footage on my Canon XH A1s in HDV, but after using countless converters I have come back to PP CS3. I tried HD Split first of all, but the files it creates,".m2t", don't work in PP CS3. Can any of you guys suggest a converter to take these .m2t files and convert them to AVI's?
Also, any help you can offer me with PPro CS3 would be very much appreciated. I have got the Canon Progressive HDV preset on my computer, so I can start a HDV project I just can't capture from it. On the capture window however, I can control the camera using Pley, Stop, Pause, Fwd, Rew etc. But the record/capture button, is greyed out. Any ideas?
Any information you can supply me with would be fantasitc and much Appreciated.
Cheers guys.

HDV Capture to External HD

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