Capturing live via firewire into FCP 6.

Using XL H1 to capture live, long form (60-120 minutes) demonstrations without breaks via firewire into FCP6, with and without tape recording.

2 annoying issues......

1. In FCP 6, when capturing live via firewire into the MacPro workstation, sometimes FCP will quit capturing and we get "Searching For Media". Last time was after about 90 minutes.

2. We many times get FCP saying "Searching For Media" when we trying to capture. FCP sees the camera, but the data stream or something isn't there. This never happens when the camera is first turned on. Usually, it's after starting and stopping FCP recording, especially when the stoppage has been for 20 or more minutes or after multiple start/stops. We can always correct this problem by either cycling the camera on and off, or by opening the tape door and then after it cycles, closing it. This happens with or without a tape being used to record.

We also were able to duplicate problem with HV20, just not as frequent on the number 2 problem. Haven't tried anything longer than 30 minutes, so we haven't seen the "searching for media" message on the HV20 after it starts capturing, just when we start.

note........ the camera isn't asleep. when this happens, we still have a live image in viewfinder.....

Have tried different HDV/firewire settings in FCP6 to no avail.

Anyone had this problem or anything similar?

Thanks in advance......

Jim,
I would not want to be the one who tests this set up for reliability although I understand its allure. 90 minutes is an awfully long time for a computer to due anything without falling asleep or performing some procedure which interrupts the recording. When you have a tape you can always recapture it but live into the computer you only have one shot at it. You don't say what kind of Harddrives you are using but I would suspect the issue is related. You need to provide more details about your set up before much trouble shooting can take place.

Hi Jim,
I just remember something similar with a scanner connected via FireWire. During very long scans it disconnected the FireWire after a while.

The problem was due to a badly written FireWire driver of the scanner.

The author had a workaround to put a harddisk in the FireWire chain and that disk was able to correctly keep the FireWire awake.

Don't know if this will help you, however it is an idea. Good luck! /Johan

I've been doing NLE systems and capture since they came out on both PC and MAC based systems. We have also streamed and captured hours on end.

It's been suggested more than once, that capturing that long a time period is kind of a crazy idea with FCP and firewire. With so many FCP installations, I find that hard to believe.

15 years ago we could capture for hours on end. It was component or S-VHS video, but we had no problems until we passed our file limitations. Maybe it's more a firewire/FCP/MacOS issue.

Back then we ran our OS's bare bones. Today, that's not as easy.

We can make it work, but I'm thinking we may bypass firewire at some point and go capture either SDI or via Component.

If FCP is the problem or the MAC OS, then maybe will try something different.

I have had a little better luck on long captures to a PC, but haven't tried the 90 minute length yet. Sort of strange there, cause firewire on the Mac is generally a little more stable.

The next problem we are having with the firewire capture, is to be able to continue the capture when we change tapes. FCP and other Aps, either stop or start on a new capture. We are trying to have one file for the capture.....
We can work around this, but still looking for an answer there without leaving FCP.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions........