IMovie capturing HD Video at 1/2 - 3/4 speed then quits

I'm using a sony HC3 HD Camcorder and a Mac Pro with Dual 3.0 Ghz processors and 2GB of Ram.
I'm trying to capture some video from the camcorder , but each time I do the capture slows down to 1/2 -3/4 speed then quits capturing all together. I've made several attempts all ending the same way. I've Verified all disk permissions and attempted to capture the video to 4 different hard drives ( all of which I performed a "repair" on via disk utilities).
To make matters more odd, the video captures fine on my Macbook Pro using the same camera and cable
I've performed a Hardware test on the Mac Pro as well, but no problems were found.
Anyone with any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much!! ( All updates have been made to the software as well)
(Not sure it matters, but I'm using a Radeon x1900 video card)

Hi John
You need:
- 13Gb free space per hour movie on Your hard disk - plus
- 10 Gb to let Mac OS run OK - plus
- 1 - 4 times 13Gb x hour of movie material to let iMovie have work space.
= 1 hour movie needs minimum: 13Gb + 10Gb + 13Gb = 33Gb free space.
If this doesn't apply eg 150Gb free then I would
- Run: Repair Permissions (Apple disk util tool)
- Delet iMovie pref file
- last - start from CD/DVD or external hard disk and Run: Repair Hard disk
(Apple disk util tool)
Yours Bengt W

Similar Messages

Capture analog video

Hi, when i have a g5 with finalcut 5 i can capture analog video (betacam conected to a dvcam recorder then with a "non controlable device" and then "capture now") now, with the mac pro and fcp 6 i can't.
there are no signal to capture, what can i do?

The deck is in e/e if you can see the analog signal in the log and capture window. If you can't see it, it's probably not in e/e... keep looking, all pro decks have this function. The other thing you should be able to do is dub the source tape to the digital recorder. Make sure too the input selection on the machine is set up properly.
Jerry

Unable to properly capture HD video from miniDV tape in FCE

unable to capture HD video from miniDV tape
When I connect my Sony HDR-HC3 miniDV HDV camcorder to my iMac via firewire cable and use Final Cut Express to capture the video from the tape, I do not get a Capture window that allows me to specify in and out points, I just get a playback window that immediately starts capturing and the only option I have in this window is hit ESC to stop capturing. If I let this capture window continue to capture the video from the camera with miniDV HD tape, then the entire tape would be captured as one massive single video clip.
QUESTION: Is there something I change or do to make the proper capture window appear where I can specify in and out points to capture from tape for each clip?
NOTE: using same camera and tape with iMovie with automatic capture enabled, all the clips get captured properly. I also tried to use the manual setting in iMovie and it worked too.
More details(read only if you want more information)
I have a several miniDV tapes containing HD video created on a Sony Sony HDR-HC5 and Sony HDR-HC7. Unfortunately, both these camera were stolen, and I have since moved to a camera that uses flash memory, not tape. However, I need to get the video footage off these tapes, so I bought a used Sony HDR-HC3, it plays the HD miniDV tapes just fine and iMovie reads the video from this camera just fine, but Final Cut Express does not.
When I setup Final Cut Express, I used the Easy Setup and specified:
Format: HD
Rate: 29.97 fps
Use: HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60
These setting match those of the camera and recorded tape. If I use any other settings but these, then Final Cut Express never sees the camera and never opens any capture window at all. Using Quicktime 10 movie inspector on the clips captured by iMovie from same camera, all the clips match this setting too.
Final Cut Express version 4.0.1
iMovie 09 Version 8.0.2 (821)
iMac 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB 1067 MHz DDR3 running
Mac OS X Version 10.6.4
My Final Cut Express scratch disk is a Seagate 2TB external USB 2.0 Hard Drive that has been formatted to be Mac OS Extended (Journaled). This external disk is also where iMovie successfully captured all the video from the same camera.

Thanks for the answer. It makes me sad. I thought using Final Cut Express would be an upgrade to a more robust editing system from iMovie, yet iMovie does a superior job of logging and capturing video from HDV video on miniDV tape in comparison to FCE. Not only does iMovie capture each clip on the tape into it's own video file automatically, it also includes timestamp information in the filename indicating when the clip was originally recorded, which appears to be something that is missing from Final Cut Express. Now I realize that HDV miniDV cameras had a relatively short life span in the consumer marketplace and have since all been replaced by flash and hard drive based AVCHD cameras, but from circa 2004 to 2007, miniDV HDV camcorders were very popular and I am sure there are lots of consumers that must be super frustrated by Final Cut Express limited ability to log and capture clips properly from these cameras.
Assuming I do not want to make a rough cut of video in iMovie and prefer to begin my editing project in Final Cut Express (not doing XML export of iMovie project), I need to determine the best way to get clips captured via iMovie into Final Cut Express and determine if there is anything inferior in the iMovie captured clips that I need to be aware of. So far it appears that both iMovie and Final Cut Express reduce the 5.1 surround sound captured on the HDV miniDV tapes to stereo sound, which is not a big lose given the 5.1 sound was recorded from camera's built-in microphone, but it makes me wonder if the video is reduced in any way by the iMovie import process, examining the video in quicktime's inspector window the video appears to be the same in both iMovie and FCE, but I'll research the answers to these questions elsewhere on this forum and post additional questions if I do not find the information I need.

Can i connect a Samsung VP-D381 to iMovie to import videos?

I have recently bought a Samsung VP-D381 Mini DV camcorder, and have just tried to connect it to iMovie to import a video that i have just recorded, only to find that Samsung do not have any software or drivers for the Apple OS...
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how i could get this to work?
Thanks

Hello,
(I posted the same answer to a similar thread)
I have the same camcorder and same issue, though with iMovie '09.
Symptoms on my Samsung VP-D381 are :
I can import when in Camera mode (live capture)
I cannot import what has been recorded on tape (import window stays blue)
I can forward and rewind and stop.
I found a trick I hope will be useful for you :
open iMovie.
without connecting it yet, put your Panasonic on "Play".
when video plays, plug the DV cable in.
iMovie opens the video import window and then you should see the tape playing.
press the "Import" button to capture the DV stream.
Let me know if you find other ways to get it to work. I'm quite frustrated Samsung cannot make a DV camcorder work with iMovie, 14 years after DV went out!
Pierre
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Trouble capturing analog video using Quicktime 7 in Yosemite

I am attempting to use Quicktime 7 Pro under Yosemite to convert old 8 mm or Hi8 analog videotapes to digital .mov files. The tapes are being played through a Sony TRV350 camcorder, which digitizes the analog video, and outputs digital video via the iLink (Firewire) output, which then goes to the Thunderbolt input on my MacBook Pro using an adapter. I start the camcorder and then start QT7 Pro.
This DOES WORK - for a short while. After taking in 32MB of data or a minute (of a 90 minute video), QT7 stops capturing data with a message:
"Recording stopped because the format of the source media changed. Media of different formats cannot be recorded to the same file"
What does this mean and how do I get around it?
PS: There are not many ways to convert these old tapes. Under Yosemite iMovie will no longer accept video from a Hi8 camcorder. There is some discussion of older iMovie HD but this does not work properly under Yosemite at all.
Need to digitize these old family tapes - any help will be appreciated

One tiny wrinkle is that "Save" from Vidi gives an error message but "Save as" works fine. I suspect Vidi may also stop working with the next OS X release.
Since you did not indicate the specific nature of the error message, I don't know if this is a "fixable" problem or not. The difference between the "Save/Record" and "Save As.../Record As..." options is that the former automatically stored the captured files in a designated location using a default filename. You may wish to check or reset the preference settings here to see they are causing your issue.
Yes, the conversion of a 90 min tape does give a 21 GB file but I don't care - these family videos are irreplaceable and storage is cheap.
This sounds about right—i.e, the normal average DV-25/DVCPRO-25 total data rate is on the order of 28.5 Mbps (or about 13 GB/hour) with DV-50/DVCPRO-50 about 57 Mbps and DV-100/HDV about 114 Mbps.
One more question. Now that I have a DV file, what can I use to convert to a more compressed format that preserves quality? QT7 to save as H.264 is best? Or something else? Toast?
This normally depends on your goals and personal workflow preferences.
For instance, if you are editing content (i.e., trimming; merging; adding titles, fades, transitions, effects, etc.), I would normally use the export/share options that are available from within the editing app itself. On the other hand, for simple trims and export/share of files, I would normally use QT X or QT 7 Pro depending on the specific project needs and/or level of manual control desired. For totally edit-free conversions, I would normally use the encoder options now built into Yosemite (or Mavericks) operating system at the Finder level or the free HandBrake app. (The former basically employs a non-anamorphic approach with high/low quality or target device controlled quality options while the latter has a better graphic user interface for anamorphic strategies with more manual control for truly customized exports as needed.)
EXAMPLE 1: The family normal has Thanksgiving at my brother-in-laws home in PA so my son hosts a second "pseudo-Thanksgiving" dinner on January 1st for the relatives here in NJ. This year I wore a GoPro and within minutes of returning home created the following "trailer" of the gathering (with a total absence of any real planning or forethought) using iMovie to shared the file directly to Mail for posting to others. In this case, I used the video editor to both edit and share a "quickie" video with the rest of our relatives from the East to West Coast. I.e., it seemed the most efficient workflow for the mini-project... SAMPLE VIDEO
EXAMPLE 2: On the other hand, several yeas ago I was asked to post a "quickie" tutorial showing how to layer audio and video content. As this was a relatively simple project, I used QT 7 Pro for this project. Here is the resulting SAMPLE FILE created while making the tutorial.
EXAMPLE 3: In cases where the quality of the source file varies drastically—one video being an 80 year old cinema classic and the next a just released blockbuster loaded with special effects—and/or the source files are not "natively" compatible with QT, I prefer HandBrake for its ability to "tweak" settings over a wide range to create "universal" playback files for all mobile devices, local network streaming, and sharing via internet... SAMPLE 1959 TRAILER
EXAMPLE 4: Lastly, when I simply want to just transcode one or more QT compatible files (for any number of reasons) at the Finder level without having to open a dedicated converter utility, I simply select/highlight the files in the Finder and pass them to the Yosemite/Mavericks operating system for conversion... POCKET RECORDER SAMPLE FILE
As you can see, you have a myriad of options to choose from depending on your personal preferences, needs, goals, etc. As to H.24/X.264/MPEG-4 AVC, yes I would recommend sticking with any encoder that adheres to the JVT standard since it has become a default Mac system standard and, with different settings, is extremely scaleable with regard to use—i.e., it can handle anything from cellular streaming to Blu-ray or multi-K Hi-Def resolutions. However, for all-purpose use, I stick to High Profile (current mobile, TV, High-Speed Internet compatible) or Main Profile (older mobile device, original TV, lower-speed platform compatible) anamorphic encodes at level 3.1 which nicely covers data rates from less then 100 Kbps up to 14 Mbps or anything most users will ever need.

ISight Capturing Live Video

hi all,
I just got a macbook with a built in isight camera. The isight works fine for photobooth and iMovie. The problem i have is capturing live footage. I'm unable to have a video chat on ichat. Also, i tried using it on ustream.tv. It doesn't work. I changed the settings on the adobe flash player but it still didn't work. So, I think the problem is capturing live video.
please help! It's frustrating me
Thanks,
Labze89

Thanks for clearing that up, Labze89
Based on that info, your iSight can certainly capture live video.
Ustream identifies itself as a beta site, so you should expect to encounter some problems, but you should be able to resolve them.
Good quality streaming video requires broadband speed. More info below on this subject. Contact your ISP if you need to purchase additional speed (bandwidth.)
Streaming live video also involves proper settings for your modem (and router, if you have one). If you have not recently rebooted (shut down for about a minute and then restarted) your modem and router, do so now. Be sure to let the modem's self-test finish before starting the router. Let the router's self-test finish before restarting your Mac. Rebooting sometimes is all that is required. If restarting does not correct your problem, you will need to consider other possibilities.
At least for users in the USA, enabling your router's "UP-n-P" setting is often all the router configuration that is required. However, sometimes manual port configuration is required. If so, the instructions for your router will give you the info on how to check and change the settings. What setting values you must use will come from the service (Ustream or iChat) you want to use.
If you have enabled your Mac's System Preferences > Sharing > Firewall, enabling your router's "UP-n-P" setting may allow you to stream video without additional configuration of your Mac's Firewall. If the problem persist when your Mac's Firewall is set to "On" and your router's (if you use one) UP-n-P setting is enabled, you may need to configure the necessary ports on your router and in your Mac's Firewall. Search "Help" on your Mac or see this link for Mac OS X 10.4 Help: Setting advanced firewall options.
Also, your ISP must not be blocking any ports required by the service you are attempting to use. See the ustream.tv FAQs for help on your ustream.tv problems. For your problem with streaming video, check FAQ #s 9, 7, and 15 first.
To minimize possible conflicts, disconnect all unnecessary A/V peripherals (such as eyeTV, game consoles, iPods, etc.) and quit all other applications while troubleshooting your problem. You can try adding them back one at a time once you can make your streaming work reliably.
If these and the other FAQs do not help you resolve your ustream.tv problems, and if you do not get help from some other Ustream user here, click ustream.tv's Contact Us link for email help directly from the people who determine how the site works. They should be your best source.
<hr width="85%">
If you use dial-up, or if your broadband speed is not fast enough, iChat AV will also have video problems.
The Mac OS X 10.4: iChat AV system requirements show all requirements for using iChat AV. For instance, you will not be able to use iChat's video if you do not have at least 100 Kbps broadband both up and down. You can test your internet service's uplink and downlink speed (bandwidth) at Speedtest.net.
If you need to post back for more iChat AV help, please confirm that your system meets all system requirements and list your uplink and downlink speeds in your response.
Jim
PowerBook 1.67 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.10) G5 DP 1.8 External iSight

Capturing live video

I am trying to capture soccer games live and while searching through this forum I found it was very easy to capture live video with a DV camcorder so hopefully my next question is possible as well.
Am I able to upload (stream?) this video instantaneously so other people can view the video live?
MacBook Pro 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Daniel,
Have you considered using conference recorder along with ichatav? I think it's freeware (not sure).
Keep in mind iChat quality won't even come close to iMovie quality. That's a given.
However, on my own G4 733 DA Mac system I am able to use both iMovie6 and ichatav3 at the same time (I have 3 ADS FW web cams on my system that i can switch back and forth from at will, as well as a sony 3 chip camera and a video capture card from canopus)
In fact yesterday I used iMovie6 with an internal Canopus video pci card to capture a TV show to my HD, while also holding an ichatav three way video chat. And if that wasn't impressive enough all on it's own ; i was also able to launch QT Broadcaster and Safari on a third FW web cam.
So yes, it is possible but I don't necessarily recommend doing this because it tends to overwork the cpu and at worst it can cause a kernel panic. However, mine worked smoothly & flawlessly .... although each additional app I opened slowed performance down significantly on most other open apps.
Btw.... Don't try this at home because at worst, it could trigger a kernel panic.
I'm fairly open to risk taking myself because I have mult. systems to work from. And I've only had a kernel panic twice in my life (both of them on my laptop).
Lastly. this should tell you something about laptops in general. Don't expect to overwork them like you can a full size G4 or G5 tower. Most laptops simply aren't built for this.
SDMacuser

FCE4 Capturing Audio/Video Out of Synch

I run a school video lab and all of a sudden we have started to have major isues capturing HD video from our Canon Vixia cameras (both 30s and 40s). The audio and video is out of synch and I cannot figure out why. We are on iMacs running OS10.5 or above and capturing through firewire 800 cables.
Our only salvation has been to capture through iMovie and then edit the footage in FCE.
Any thoughts?

Try here and the associated links:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/9519074#9519074
Can you tell us the Properties of the Sequence you are working with?
Al

Capturing/Importing Video

I am new to a Mac so please bear with me. I have not been successful in capturing/importing video (from my camera) using iMovie. The camera is a Sony DCR-IP5 using MicroMV tape. It is connected with a firewire to the Mac, yet is not recognized.
Is this a software issue and if so, what is recommended.
Thanks,
Ron

Instead of typing it all out again-go to Dan Slagle's site and read I have a Sony DCR-IP camera and it does not work
:)Sue

Problem with rolling frames on VCR to iMovie capture

I have a video tape copy of what was originally 16mm film, when I import from the VCR comp out via my mac firewire, the original film frames are visible 'rolling' up the screen, they are not visible on the original video, in simple terms I assume my imovie capture rate is at odds with the original film speed, but I don't know how to correct it - any suggestions ?
Thanks
Ron

Hi
If VHS is in PAL. And A/D converter is set to PAL (25fps) and iMovie is set to 25fps. There should not be any rolling of frames.
Do You see the VHS-VCR on a TV during Capture ?
What A/D-box or Camera do You use and this is set SP-mode/PAL 16-bit audio etc ?
And iMovie set right too ?
I use a Canopus ADVC-300 (now Grass Walley ADVC-300) to convert and this has a TimeBase correction so I get e very good result. No rolling frames.
Yours Bengt W

Capturing Analog Video in iMovieHD

Is there any technique or third-party software which will do optical scene detection on captured analog video? Or any way to break the input video into scenes using time increments? Both these options are available in a number of Windows environment video editing packages, but seem to be missing in the Apple Mac world.

Is it on a tape you can read with your digital camera? If so import it from there. When I've done this I've used stop start and rewind to select more logical clips which can then be split in editing but iMovie HD will take the lot.

Unable to capture analog video.

Hi,
I am running Premier Pro CS3 on a Windows XP machine. This is a new machine to me provided by my work. I am trying to capture analog video from a VHS deck that has both S-video and composite outs. The IT folks installed an ATI TV Wonder HD 650 PCI Digital & Analog TV Tuner to use as a capture card. In the device manager it shows up as an ATI Radeon HD2400 card. I don't have anyway of discerning the difference, and this may or may not be the main issue. When I open Premier and try to capture, it does not recognize the card as a capture device. Any clues about how to make this work would be great.
Thanks,
sarah

Premiere Pro does not natively capture from TV or graphics cards.
You will find links to many
free tutorials in the PremiereProPedia that will quickly show you how things are done in Premiere Pro.
Cheers
Eddie
PremiereProPedia (
RSS feed)
- Over 300 frequently answered questions
- Over 250 free tutorials
- Maintained by editors like
you
Forum FAQ

Capture HD video in Final Cut Express with a Sony HDR-FX7

When try to capture a video from my new Sony HDR-FX7 using the HD Format Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60 the preview screen never shows the video being captured. In fact the video is never captured. Any suggestions to how set the 'Easy Setup'? When I try to capture with NTSC format the software keeps looking for a timecode that it will never find thus stops within a minute of starting. I would love to capture some video from my new Sony HDR-FX7 but not having much luck tonight. Have any helpful hints?

First, trash your preferences. Setting different incorrect settings and opening the capture window is a good way to corrupt the prefs files. HDV AIV 1080i60 is the only one to use if the camera is correctly set to output HDV.
Please give your full system specifications, what computer, what drives, how everything's connected, what settings are on the media (you really did shoot HDV?), and finally what version of the software, of the OS, and of QuickTime are you using?

DVHSCap to Capture HDV VIdeo

FCP does not support the JVC GR-HD1U but I have found that people have been successful capturing the video through Apple's DVHSCap then converting the data to .m2t transport files using MPEG Streamclip (I will post what I read below). I have downloaded DVHSCap but cannot figure out how to capture the vide from my camcorder. If anyone is familiar with DVHSCap I would very much appreciate some advice. Thank you all very much for your time!
Andrew
[ QUOTE ]
Iam looking for the correct FCP set ups for digitizing HD from the
JVC JY-HD10 .recorded on the camera in HD mode.
I can get camera control -FFW -ply- rewind- but no video in the digitiz window?
FCP 4.5 1.33 G4 powerbook 1 gig ram
[/ QUOTE ]
Apple and FCP 4.5 do not yet officially support JVC's HDV camcorders.
However, I have had very good results, over the past year, using Apple Development software to capture HDV files from my GR-HD1U. Then using free-ware software to convert the resulting .m2t transport files to QuickTime .mov files. I then drop the QT.mov files into an FCP bin and edit as usual using FCP.
I use Apple's DVHSCap application to capture HDV camcorder data tapes via firewire and convert the data to .m2t transport files. DVHSCap (for Panther) can be obtained by going to:
www.apple.com/firewire/
click on 'FireWire SDK 19 for Mac OS X (Download)
double click XFireWireSDK19e.pkg (to install the SDK)
DVHSCap (and similar VirtualDVHS) can be found in
/Developer/FireWireSDK19/Applications/
I also use a freeware program 'MPEG Streamclip 1.0.1', which is available from:
http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/mpegstreamclip.html
I use MPEG Streamclip to:
1) Locate clips of interest and set their 'in' and 'out' points,
2) Set the, optional, number of 'bad lines' to crop from the sides and top of each frame,
3) Re-scale, if desired, to 720p or 1080p,
4) Export to QuickTime...
5) Drop the resulting QT.mov file, which contains synced 'video and audio' data, into an FCP bin.

I don't have experience with your JVC format or deck but here is something you may want to read.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/FCP6HD_and_BroadcastFormats.pdf
Page 19
*Important: If your computer has a PCI graphics card installed and you are logging or*
*capturing HDV footage, Final Cut Pro does not preview video or audio in the Log and*
*Capture window. You can still log and capture, but you need to use your HDV camcorder*
*display to preview video.*
I realize you have 5.1 but read this entire section on HDV, it could help.
Good Luck
Z1

Best way to Capture Analog Video (via DV)

I have no issues with capturing DV video froma DV Camcorder in PRE. The process is very smooth and I really am comfortable with it. However, when I am capturing my old wedding and other personal VHS tapes (via an ADTech Pyro AV) I really hate the capture capablities within PRE ( I am use PRE 7).
I was wondering if there is any advantage to using PRE for the DV Capture for my Analog material verses using either Windows Import Video, or using some other capture program like Pinnacle Studio (which allows me to specifiy the length of the capture verses having it just run on until I stop it.) Most of my VHS tapes are 2 hours in length and I would like to be able to say capture 125 minutes then stop (so I could just run the captures at night or while I am otherwise not using the computer.) With PRE7 it will just continue capturing forever until I stop it, which creates some enormous files that then need to be trimmed.
(Does anyone know a way to tell PRE to just capture for x amount of time on a analog to DV Capture?)
Is a DV Capture the same regardless of program? Is there any advantage to actually running the capture through PRE7 verses external where I can provide better control over the length and time of the capture.

If your ADS Pyro AV Link is set up right and capturing over FireWire, you should get the same quality no matter what program you use to capture -- and that quality should be as good as the original. Premiere Elements does nothing to change the video data of DV as it captures; it just saves it as it comes in.
But I would not recommend using any program or device that captures as anything other than DV-AVIs. Otherwise you're dealing with conversion issues and possibly incompatible video files, etc.
Does that answer your question?

IMovie capturing HD Video at 1/2 - 3/4 speed then quits

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